BassMaster
Elite
September 11-17, 2006
Table Rock Lake, MO
9th
$14,000.00
This is the event I was waiting for. With hopes of quick, deep limits and the opportunity to catch shallow largemouth I was feeling very confident before practice even started. The first day of practice tended to be slower and tougher than I anticipated with the deep fish scattered and not many relating to the bottom. The first day of practice produced an eleven to twelve pound limit working a drop shot rig in 30-40 feet of water with a YUM Houdini Worm in green pumpkin on a seven foot, medium action, St. Croix Spinning Rod spooled with eight pound, green, SilverThread Line. The next day I spent fishing the James River looking for shallow largemouth. I was able to catch one nice largemouth on a BOOYAH, white buzz bait and three other small keepers on a Zara Spook. It was a cloudy and perfect day for the shallow largemouth to bite, so I wasn’t feeling very confident with this pattern when the sun broke out during the tournament.
The first three days of the tournament I decided to stick with the drop shotting working as many good, deep spots as I could within the eight hour time period. The first day I only managed to land three keepers, losing two nice three pounders at the boat. The next two days I was able to land all of my keeper bites and moved into seventh place for the final day. The final day was cloudy, so I elected to make up some ground by throwing a 1⁄2 oz. BOOYAH Blade around standing timber. This produced two keepers, but it wasn’t the size I was expecting. After several more hours of throwing the spinnerbait without a bite I moved back out deep to try and finish my limit. This move only produced two more keepers, so I fell to ninth place for the event.
BassMaster Major
August 21-27, 2006
Arkansas River, AR
11th
$14,050.00
With the Arkansas River low, clear, with very little current it made the fishing extremely tough. The first day of practice I managed to catch three keepers working a pearl and black back Bomber 4A Crankbait along rocky rip-rap. The second day of practice produced three more keepers flipping a 4 inch, YUM, black neon tube to shallow river grass and wood in backwater areas. With not much else to go on I decided to fish the shallow grass pattern.
The morning started out slow with a couple of short fish by 10 a.m.. I proceeded to move into an area I hadn’t fished and this proved to be the best decision I would make all week. The small creek was no more than two boat lengths wide with several shallow areas that made it difficult to get in. Once in the area it dropped three to six feet and had scattered laydowns mixed in with the grass. I proceeded to catch my first 3.5 pounder off of a laydown and missed a quality bite on the next laydown. I continued to work into the creek and caught a 4.8 pound lunker off of a grass clump. I finished out my limit in the next 30 minutes. The second day of the event I was only able to catch short fish from this area and had to hope that my previous days weight would be enough to take me to the top twelve. I ended the day in sixth place for the start of the top twelve. During this event I fished in a hole course switching spots every hour and ten minutes. I felt good about my chances, but I unfortunately was only able to catch short fish during the course of the day. I ended the tournament in 11th place.
BassMaster Elite
August 7-13, 2006
Potomac River, MD
10th
$14,500.00
My three days of practice could have been over in the first few hours of the first morning. I pulled into a weedy flat to fish with a black, YUM Buzz Frog and proceeded to get six or seven blow-ups in a 300 yard stretch of the grass. I went on to find some similar areas to practice in. I found a few areas where I received more hits on the frog and was able to catch flipping the heavy, matted vegetation with a 1 ounce TG Weight and a green pumpkin, YUM Wooly Bug flipped on a seven foot, medium heavy, St. Croix Casting Rod with an Ardent XS Reel spooled with 20 lb., SilverThread, Fluorocarbon Line.
The first day of competition was tough on me with strong west winds and lots of clouds and rain. I was able to catch two quality bass on a 1⁄2 oz. BOOYAH Blade working the outside edge of the grass. I then worked the Wooly Bug as the tide continued to fall. This produced two small keepers, and at the end of the day I lost a good four or five pounder on the BOOYAH Blade, which would have given me my limit. The second day of competition had calm, sunny skies with very little wind. This allowed me to work my BOOYAH Buzz Bait and YUM Buzz Frog effectively over the shallow grass. I knew it was going to be a good morning when a 4.5 pounder exploded on my buzz bait. I proceeded to catch two more 3.5 pounders on the buzz bait. I moved to a few different areas after this, and I worked the black, YUM Buzz Frog allowing me to catch five more keepers throughout the day. My fish weighed 15.8 pounds and moved me up 33 places in the standings. The third day of competition proved to be better tha n I could imagine. In the first hour of the morning my black, BOOYAH Buzz Bait produced an awesome limit of 18.5 pounds. I moved around to let the area rest and save it for Sunday. The move paid off with another 4.5 pounder on the black, YUM Buzz Frog. I had 20.8 pounds and put me into sixth place at the end of Saturday. On the final day of the event it was a little bit slow for me. The Buzz bait didn’t work at all for me. I was able to catch a small limit of fish coming on the Buzz Frog. I finished the tournament in 10th place with 50 pounds.
BassMaster Major
July 24-30, 2006
Lake Wylie, NC
51st
$0.00
The first day of practice started out smoothly with three
keepers on the first main lake point. These fish were taken on a 10 inch,
YUM, Ribbontail Worm, in plum, Texas rigged with a 3/8 oz. TG Weight and
a 4/0 hook. I was casting the worm on a seven foot, medium heavy, St.
Croix Legend Elite Rod with an Ardent Reel spooled with 14 lb., SilverThread
Fluorocarbon Line. I continued to try and make the structure fish cooperate
by alternating between the big worm and a citrus colored Fat Free Shad.
The rest of the day only produced a few more keepers and a couple of short
fish. The next two days of practice I concentrated on shallow boat docks
with a 3/8 oz. BOOYAH Jig in brown spice and a YUM chunk in green pumpkin.
The jig only produced a few small fish, and the only sizeable fish came
on a small, gold, Crazy Shad worked on shallow, rocky points and pockets
with docks. The top water bite seemed to be the best as far as quality
fish, so I planned on doing this for most of the tourn ament.
The first day of the tournament started out nicely with a three pound
fish on the Crazy Shad. I then went several hours without another bite
trying some main lake points with a Texas rigged worm. I then caught my
second, and final, keeper of the day around 1:00 on the Crazy Shad. The
second day of the tournament I started out again catching a keeper on
the Crazy Shad. After not receiving a bite for several hours I switched
to a green pumpkin YUM Dinger working it along the shallow points. This
produced nine or ten short fish, but I never got another keeper bite.
I finished the tournament with under seven pounds and was unable to make
the cut.
BassMaster Elite
July 10-15, 2006
Lake Champlain, NY
14th
$11,700.00
New York has great lakes! Champlain is a beautiful lake
and is an incredible place to fish. The first day of practice I spent
fishing for smallmouth in the central part of the lake. I worked rocky
shoals and banks with scattered grass in 8-15 feet of water. In the morning
I was able to catch several fish on an Excalibur Jerkbait, but later in
the day I switched to a 1⁄2 oz., watermelon, YUM Mega Tube and a
Carolina rigged, watermelon candy, YUM Lizard. This day produced lots
of fish but none over the three pound range. I then decided to finish
out my two practice days fishing in the southern portion of the lake.
In this area I concentrated on main lake grass beds in 8-12 feet of water
pitching a Texas rigged, YUM Wooly Bug in black and blue and a BOOYAH
Jig in brown spice along the edges of the matted grass. This pattern produced
several largemouth and a few in the three to four pound range. I was also
able to catch a few fish working a black, YUM Buzz Frog over the shallow
grass in 3-5 feet of water.
The first day of the tournament was very windy, so it made getting to
the southern part of the lake quite difficult. Once I arrived I was able
to catch a small limit of fish weighing just over twelve pounds fishing
the YUM Wooly Bug. The next two days of the event were much better as
far as the wind and the size of the fish. I was able to catch 20.8 lbs.
on my YUM Wooly Bug, which was heavy stringer for the day! The third day
I caught another nice limit weighing just over 15 lbs.. This allowed me
to finish the tournament in 14th place with 48.5 lbs. of fish. I really
enjoyed my time in northern New York.
BassMaster Elite
July 3-9, 2006
Oneida Lake, NY
$0.00
What an amazing fishery for smallmouth! Due to recent rain
Oneida Lake was about a foot to two feet above normal. The lake had relatively
clear water with an abundance of grass and rock. I spent the first day
in the western half of the lake mainly targeting smallmouth. I was fishing
the outside grass line in 8-12 feet of water. My first keeper came on
a 1⁄2 oz. BOOYAH Blade in golden shiner working it quickly along
the edge of the grass. This produced several fish as well as working a
Houdini Shad fast over the top of the grass. As the day went on I switched
to a five inch, watermelon candy, YUM Dinger Texas rigged with an 1/8
oz. weight. I would work this bait slow along sandy bottoms with sparse
grass. This produced a couple of smallmouth in the three pound range.
The next day I moved to the mid-section of the lake fishing rocky points
and shoals with a 1⁄2 oz., YUM Mega Tube in green pumpkin. Most
of the fish were taken on the rocky points in 8-12 feet of water. The
final day of practice was very windy, so I decided to try and fish for
some largemouth in protected bays. This produced one largemouth over four
pounds and a few more 2 1⁄2 lb. largemouth fishing shallow cover
with a Texas rigged, YUM, green pumpkin tube.
For both days of the tournament I started out fishing for smallmouth which
became more difficult to catch my limit on the rocky shoals. After I tried
this tactic I went shallow fishing for largemouth. This produced a few
more keepers each day. I finished the tournament
BassMaster Elite
March 13-17, 2006
Sam Rayburn, TX
$0.00
The first day of practice was awesome! There was a great topwater bite.
I was able to catch 10-15 keepers working a black, Zara
Spook on 17 pound, SilverThread Line with an Ardent XS Reel. I was using
a St. Croix, Legend Tournament, medium heavy, casting rod. I was also
able to catch several quality fish on a green pumpkin YUM Dinger. I was
working both of the baits in the back of pockets in two feet of water
or less. This pattern produced several fish over four pounds and a number
of three pounders. The next two days I spent working on this pattern,
as well as trying to find other ways to catch bass, including sight fishing.
The first day of the tournament seemed to start out smoothly. I had a
limit that weighed about twelve pounds by 10:00 a.m. using the black Zara
Spook. At the end of the day I lost a six pounder on the Zara Spook. It
would have really helped to move me up in the standings. The final day
was more difficult with a strong northeast wind blowing straight into
some of the pockets I was fishing. I was only able to land four bass,
which totaled eight pounds. I lost a couple of fish on the Spook and a
nice one on the green pumpkin YUM Dinger. It was another disappointing
finish for me. I am hoping to see things pick up for me at the next event!
BassMaster Elite
March 6-10, 2006
Lake Amistad, TX
$0.00
What an amazing place to fish! Within the first five casts
I caught one over 2 1⁄2 pounds and proceeded to catch fifteen fish
off of one area. The water was very clear and had many of the same characteristics
as my home lake, Table Rock. The water was about seven feet low, but there
was plenty of flooded cover all the way out to twenty feet of water. The
water temperature was in the mid 60’s and many of the fish were
moving up to spawn. During the first day of practice I caught a limit
that would weigh about 18 pounds fishing the new Xcalibur Stick Bait in
pearl melon on main lake points and ridges. The next two days of practice
I spent a lot of time looking for bedding fish as well as some time working
the Xcalibur Stick Bait and a Bomber Fat Free Shad on the main lake humps
and flats. On Tuesday I caught a five fish limit weighing over 27 pounds
fishing the Fat Free Shad in the pearl shad color. It was so unbelievable
to see the quality of fish being caught.
The first day of the tournament was very windy with 4-5 feet waves, and
unfortunately, the winds had changed directions 180 degrees causing me
to be unable to fish my main fishing spots. I ended up fishing protected
pockets with a watermelon red YUM Dinger casting it on 14 pound, SilverThread,
Fluorocarbon Line. I was using an Ardent XS Reel on a seven foot, medium
heavy, St. Croix, Legend Elite, Casting Rod. I finished the day with a
small limit weighing twelve pounds. On the second day of competition the
wind was very light, and I was able to catch a limit of fish slowly working
a Fat Free Shad in 10-15 feet of water along main lake flats with scattered
trees. I was only able to catch 14 1⁄2 pounds keeping me out of
the Top 50 cut.
BassMaster Classic
February 22-25, 2006
Lake Toho, FL
33rd Place
$10,000.00
This was a very exciting event with all of the previous
Classic records being broken on the first day of the event. During pre-practice
a major cold front moved in for the first day of practice with highs only
reaching in the low 50’s. This made practice a little slow, but
I was still able to get some quality bites on a black Buzzfrog and a Texas
rigged, six inch, Houdini Worm in sour grape or black with blue flake.
I spent one day of my practice in Lake Toho and the other two days fishing
Lake Kissimmee. During Classic week fishing was very good after a week
of warm weather. I was able to get lots of bites pitching and casting
a six inch, sour grape, Houdini Worm to isolated patches of arrowhead
grass in 1-3 feet of water. I was also able to catch one over nine pounds
(accidentally) on the worm. The fish just wouldn’t spit out the
bait with the LPT! I also had six good bites on the Buzzfrog working it
in 1-2 feet of water.
The first day of competition was great! I was able to catch twenty-six
keepers all on a six inch, sour grape, Houdini Worm with a 1⁄4 oz.,
Excalibur, TG Weight using 17 pound, Fluorocarbon Line. I was pitching
on a St. Croix, seven foot, medium heavy, Legend Elite Casting Rod using
an Ardent XS Reel. The second day was very similar, but the wind had picked
up out of the southeast. I caught another limit of fish on a YUM Houdini
Worm and caught one four pounder on a black Buzzfrog finishing the day
with a limit of fish weighing twelve pounds and two ounces. I missed making
the cut by just a little more than a pound. I was happy to be a part of
such an amazing event!
