Tough Night Tourament

I fished the Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament last night at Jackson
Lake, a 4750 acre Georgia Power lake ringed by cabins and full of skiers,
skidoos and pleasure boaters. We fished from 7 PM till 2 AM trying to beat the
heat and the crowds.

In Friday night tournaments held by a local marina it has been taking five fish
weighing about 7 pounds to win - decent bass have been very hard to find. I
went down on Wednesday and looked for deep fish and bait with my depthfinder
and fished a little, but did not catch anything.

When we took off I went straight to my favorite spot - a long ridge running off
a point at the dam. It is narrow and rocky then flattens out as it drops, with
good drops off the flat out in 18 to 25 feet of water. People have putout brush
piles out on the flat. Some folks say it is an old roadbed or railroad. I have
had good luck on it over the years, especially at night.

I stopped on a brushpile way off the bank in about 15 feet of water and started
fishing. Nothing hit in the brush so I started working toward the bank, keeping
my boat out in about 15 feet of water and running a crankbait across the ridge.
I usually work back and forth on this ridge, waiting on fish to move in and
feed. I could see bait and bigger fish under me if I got in to about 10 feet of
water so I stayed back.

I got to the bank and missed a bite on some brush in about 6 feet of water when
I switched to a Carolina rig. I started back out on the point and when I was
about 100 feet from the brush pile I started on I noticed a runabout idling
toward me. When I was about a long cast from the brush he stopped and dropped
anchor right on top of the brush pile.

I turned and started back and caught a keeper spotted bass on a black Trick
worm on a Carolina rig. Only 13 inches long and probably about 1 pound, at
least I would not zero tonight! It was 7:30. When I got to the brush where I
had missed the bite, I felt another and stuck this fish. Another 13 inch spot
on the same Trick worm - two in the livewell at 8:00.

I fished the ridge back and forth, throwing crankbaits, spinnerbaits and worms
Texas and Carolina rigged. I missed a couple more bites. It got dark at about 9
and I switched to a Mag 2 worm on my Carolina rig. There are so many big
lights on the point where I was fishing that I had no trouble seeing my line
and watching where I was fishing - that is one reason I like this place.

At 10:30 I felt weight and set the hook and landed a small largemouth. It
barely made the 12 inch line on my keeper board and I hoped it would be culled.
A couple of casts later I was pulling my lead through some rocks. Not paying
attention, I got the rod tip over my head and felt a fish pull. I tried to set
the hook but the rod tip was behind me and I reeled as fast as possible - and
got a
keeper bass the top. It jumped three times before throwing the hook.

A few minutes later a bass almost jerked the rod out of my hand and I landed my
biggest bass of the night, a 13.5 inch spot. At 11:15 I again felt weight and
set the hook - another 13 inch spot. A limit with 2 hours and 45 minutes to
fish - surely I would get another keeper to cull that tiny largemouth.

I worked from the bank to the boat anchored on the brush pile back and forth,
even circling the anchored boat. He had put out a light under the water and I
felt like that messed up the whole outer end of the point so I stuck with the
ridge.
I missed several more bites - maybe small fish, nothing there when I set the
hook.
At midnight another boat pulled up and started fishing out past the anchored
boat and worked in to me. It was another guy in my club - he said he did not
have a bass and was going home. He said another boat he had talked with one of
the guys had a limit and the other had two, including a 3 pounder. I figured I
had about 5.5 pounds with the little fish I had caught and knew a 3 pounder and
a decent
second bass would beat my limit.

At 1:45 I cranked my big motor for the first time and ran to a point right at
weigh-in. Did not want to take a chance on a dead battery. Nothing hit there.
At the weigh-in several people brought in a few little fish. We had 22
fishermen and ended up with 10 Zeroes. My five little fish weighed 5.95 pounds
and won the tournament. Another fisherman had 4 weighing 5.77 for 2nd.

The guy with the 3 pounder did have one - a spot weighing 3.57 pounds - twice
as big as the second biggest fish. His two weighing 4.76 was good for third.
His partner had the other limit - I checked the smallest one and it was right
on the 12 inch line. When the scales showed 3.95 pounds for five bass I told
the weigher to start over - the scales must be off. They were not and that was
4th place.

Pretty tough tournament but the water was 83.5 on top. Don't know where the
bigger bass are hiding - I had fished some excellent rocks out to 28 feet deep
but all my bites came in 6 to 10 feet of water.

Winning this tournament moved me to first in the club. Wonder if I can hold on
through the next 4 tournaments?


Ronnie

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