Saturday, June 25, 2011

June 25th OHL- Realtors' Assn tourney....

I fished a tourney today with my regular team partner, Dwayne on Old Hickory. We had a solid plan to hit some marina slips early, where we felt fairly certain we could catch a limit. I had smacked em pretty well in there last weekend. The problem was that the event didn't blast of until 6 am, a full one hour past safe light, and we had a long run down lake.

We made the trip down to the creek, and we had no problem getting on the marinas. We did, however have a big problem getting a single bite. The bait was gone, and we knew it wasn't going to happen. So, around 7 am, we went into scramble mode. We fished down near Dupont and Lock 3, but we only managed a couple of short fish there.

We moved around, working our way up lake all day, and DD landed the first small keeper at the mouth of Drake's Creek around 9:00 am. At around 10:00 we stumbled on to a group of fish inside of Cedar Creek on a secondary ledge near the park. We were able to add 3 more keepers here, but they were all small. We moved over to another secondary ledge in the mouth of the creek behind small island, and we caught two more, including our limit fish. By 11:30 we had a small limit of around 8 lbs, so it was time to move and look for a couple of kicker fish. We eased into Station Camp, and we were able to cull on small keeper on a round point near the marina, but it only upgraded us by ounces.

As time started winding down, Dwayne moved us slightly further out of the creek to a bank that the creek channel ran near, and on the second cast, DD stuck a good one that weighed 4 1/2 lbs on the rig. We stayed on that bank for the remainder of the day, but that was all we could catch.

We weighed in 10.75 lbs, which was good for around 9th place (35 or so boats).

It was a decent day, but not what we had hoped for.

Until next time.

RBK

Saturday, June 18, 2011

June F3 tourney Sat. 6-18-11...

Omar and I headed across the river to a major creek at first light and I caught the first keeper of the morning on a buzzbait. Then, we moved to the marina slips and I caught 2 more keepers on a spinnerbait. We then eased over to a round point and deeper flat adjacent to the marina, and we caught 4-5 on a crankbait, and by 7:15 I was culling fish. One of the crankin fish was the biggest of the day at 16 1/2".

We moved out to a major creek point off of a duck blind, and I caught a nice 15 3/4" largehead on the rig, but no one else was home. We bounced around in the creek for another hour or so, but we couldn't find them.

We eased down river to Cage's Bend, and I was able to upgrade a small amount flipping wood and grass, but by now the weather was turning nasty. We ran quickly down to Cedar Creek Marina and waited it out for an hour or so. We fished a awhile in Cedar, but the fish did not bite well after the thunder and lightning.

We ended our day back in the creek we started in, and Omar was able to add his third club keeper of the day off of the marina slips.

On the day, I had four legit keepers for around 8 lbs, and 5 that counted in the derby for 9.4 lbs. I ended up second to Bill, who had over 10 lbs.

It was a tough day, but not too bad all in all. If Omar and I had been in a team tourney, we'd have had around 11 lbs on our best 5.

Later

RBK

Sunday, June 12, 2011

TBT June at Barkley....

DD and I had to go into this one blind since neither of us could get away to pre-fish on Barkley. Dwayne does not have much history on Barkley in June, but I do, so I planned our day around some topwater in the early hours and then ledge fishing for most of the day.

We ran down river (North) from Dover and pulled up on our early hole around 5:40 am. The water was stained to muddy, so I figured we may struggle here. I threw a frog and buzzbait, and Dwayne chunked a spinnerbait. he landed a solid 2 lb LM early on on a point with bushes and grass. We had a couple of other bites but could not hook up. We moved further North and went into a bay near the waterfowl refuge to try a hump and some creek channel drops. The water in Ford's Bay was much cleaner, and we nailed about four fish here on the rig and added one keeper here.

Then we spent the balance of the day jumping from main lake drops to creek mouths and cuts off the main channel. We scraped together a limit of cookie cutter 15-16 inch fish and culled a couple of times. We landed about 20 on the day. We ended up with 9.4 lbs and finished 13th on the day. It took 16 lbs to win.

Next we're off to Old Hickory for our rescheduled club tourney.

Tight lines.

RBK

Saturday, June 4, 2011

6-4-11 OHL with Omar D......




Had a fun morning on the water on the lower end of Old Hick today. Omar and I hit the water right at 5 am and headed over to a pair of islands to try the topwater deal. We only caught 3 small fish here, so we moved into Drakes Cr to try the marina slips. That was not working at all, so we moved into a cove with a lot of bank grass. I had a few half-hearted blow-ups on a frog, and Omar caught a few small ones on a lizard.

We moved out to a primary point at the creek mouth, and we nailed 3 solid keepers on a rig and football jig. Next we eased down to a flat near Lock 3 , and I nabbed the one pictured here on a Series 5 Crank in about 6 ft of water. That was the only one in the area, so we moved back up to the points in Drakes Cr.

We caught around 10 more fish here, with 5 or so being solid keepers. Most of them came on the C-Rig in 7-10 ft of water.

On the day, we landed around 20 fish with 9 or so keepers. Our best five would have gone around 13-14 lbs.

On to Lake Barkley next weekend for the TBT tourney.

RBK

Monday, May 30, 2011

Memorial day- JPP...




We caught around 15 fish today on Priest despite the Memorial Day traffic. Most came on plastics on roadbeds and points in 5-10 ft of water. I lost an absolute giant on a spinnerbait in the marina slips early this morning. It snapped my 15 lb line like it was sewing thread. Picture is the best of the day that Jeff caught on a grub on a hump near the LHSP ramp. I was his personal best smallie.

Back to OHL next weekend.

RBK

Sunday, May 15, 2011

OHL 5-15-11- best bag of the year in TN....




I met my buddy Chris at the public ramp in Drakes Creek, and we headed out for a half day trip. We started on on some marina slips, but no takers here (too early in the year). We tried the shallow bank grass in between the 2 marinas, but it was not working. As I trolled out of the grass cove, I decided to chunk the Zell Pop on the point, and a nice 2 1/2 lb keeper loaded up. From here, we eased out toward the mouth of the creek to a point on the upriver side. Chris caught our first fish of the day here on a crankbait, and he landed another one here too. One of the fish was a solid 3 lb class fish. We worked the area for about 30 minutes, and Chris nailed another solid keeper on the C-rig here.

We then ran upriver to the 2 foot cove, but we did not have any luck here. Next, we moved across the lake to Bluegrass cove. We fished a drop in the back of the creek, and Chris caught a really solid 3 lb class fish on the rig.

Next, we eased up to a narrow cut past Avondale, and we caught 4-5 more fish on a chatterbait and spinnerbait in the grass and around some docks. 2-3 of them were keepers but no big ones.

We went back down to a cove near the Avondale ramp, and we nailed two more fish there on plastics. One of them was a solid 2 lb keeper.

We decided to finish out the day in Drakes Creek fishing out off the bank more with a rig. We targeted points near the creek channel, and it was a good decision. On the first point near a concrete wall, I caught the big one of the day, which is pictured here. We also caught another solid keeper fish here.

We continued to run the pattern for the next 30 minutes, and we nabbed 3 or so more keepers, including another 3 lb class largemouth.

For the day, we landed around 12 keepers, and our best five would have gone around 15-16 lbs.

Great day on the water.

RBK

Saturday, May 7, 2011

F3 Club tourney OHL 5-7-11...

Due to the high water on Priest, we decided to move the May tourney to Old Hickory. My partner for the day would be Steve Becker. We had 4 boats fishing today.

We headed out of Spencer Creek and made a long trip down lake to a small cove down lake and across from Bluegrass and started covering shallow water around some docks, shore grass, and scattered wood. I caught 2 club keepers in the cove and lost a giant that just pulled off.

We then moved up to Bluegrass, and ran the same pattern, but we only caught a couple of fish here.

Next we ran up lake about 3-4 miles to a cut near Avondale. We pitched plastics and spinnerbaits to wood and grass. I was able to round out my limit on this flat, but I did lose a nice 3 lb class fish here.

We checked one spot in Cedar Cr, but no takers here. We now had about one hour left to fish, so we decided to fish in Spencer Creek, near the ramp. I caught my largest fish of the day, which was a chunky 18" largemouth, on the lizard with about 15 minutes left to fish. The fish was sitting ounder a deeper lay down in 3-5 ft of water.

I finished first, and tied with Sam for big fish of the day. It was a nice day on the water. For the day, Steve and I landed around 12 fish.

Tight lines,

RBK