Yesterday BassAddict and I spotted a 3 and a 5 holding in a particular spot.
We tried to catch them, but we had already run the boat over them twice
before we saw them. Oops.

This morning in the Yuma Pro Am tournament (I didn't draw a partner so was
fishing solo) I went right to that spot and started flipping to them. I got
the 3 on right away, and was pretty happy. Then I worked back towards the
spot and made a couple flips "just in case..." BAM! The five nailed it. I
was majorly jazzed. After I got it in the livewell and my hands quit shaking
(my hands weren't really shaking, but I felt like it inside) I decided,
"what the heck." Give it one more try. BAM! Got one close to four. Yeah that
fast.

In my first 15 minutes of fishing I had 3 fish for over 11 pounds. That was
the last one in that spot, but I decided to see if it was a pattern, and I
headed up river looking for similar spots. I picked up a short and small
keeper in the next spot. Of course I headed off again looking for the same
type place. (I had one in mind)

Between my 2nd and 3rd spot I got a low oil warning off the computer. Oops.
Been a while since I filled the oil tank. I was running on the reserve oil
tank of the engine from that point. To be safe I decided I better head back
down river after my third spot.

Spot 3 looked perfect, but they wouldn't take a flip bite. I spent 20
minutes picking it apart. Then I pitched a senko up and let the current take
it through my spot. After a few tries I got a good one, but it wrapped me up
and got off. A new senko and right back to the same spot. I nailed a little
1.75 apx. That one turned out to be my small fish of the day. Unfortunately
it was deep hooked. By the time I got back down river it had rolled over so
I put it on ice so as to not waste it.

Back down river I headed as my computer display kept telling me how little
oil was left in the reserve tank.

I flipped a bank near Fisher's and caught a couple shorts and a couple
keepers but was only able to cull once. Then I senkoed some backwaters. In
one I spent an hour chasing what looked like a six that just kept ahead of
my boat. It never spooked off, but it wouldn't take a bait either. In the
mean time I picked up several shorts and ignored some keepers that I figured
would be no help. The whole time that big one kept cruising out ahead of the
boat. It was almost acting like a prespawn cruiser.

Back out to the current for another no help smaller keeper. It might have
culled my dead fish, but that is both illegal and specifically against the
club rules. I just headed back to Fishers' I whacked a couple dinks in
there, and one that might have been a keeper, but Fisher's didn't show me
any love.

What the heck I thought. I figured I probably had fifteen pounds so I would
not be ashamed to show up at the scales. I headed in early and got
everything setup for weigh in.

Turns out my 5 weighed in at 15.01. I did say it was gonna be really close
to 15. Guess what the one I thought was five pounds weighed? 5.01. With my
dead fish penalty I wound up with 14.81, but it was enough for 1st place...
and... 1st place big fish. Woo! Hoo!

Bob La Londe
www.YumaBassMan.com