Club tournament - Lake Oconee

9/21/08 - Lake Oconee - Spalding County Sportsman Club tournament
7:00 AM - 2:00 PM - water temp 78-79, cloudy, breezy and cool - fished
alone, partner called last night and said he could not get off work.

Took off and ran to a deep bank with rocks and tried a spinner bait,
then buzz bait them popper. Not a hit, although there were shad
everwhere and even saw some mayflies hatching - ducks and bluegill
were feeding on them by a dock. Went across to a pocket with a deep
dock and tried it and the point, then another deep point. Caught a
bluegill on the popper.

Headed to my favorite area - had three places in mind to fish. As I
approached a deep bank with docks saw a boat there so peeled off
toward a point - where there was another boat. Then went to another
series of secondary points and there was a boat on them. In
frustration I went back the way I had come to a deep cove with docks.

Tried the buzz bait going in then picked up my jighead worm and
pitched it to the first dock. Felt heavy when I tightened up so I set
the hook and a solid 2 pound bass came to the top and I swung it right
into the boat. One in the live well at 8:15.

Next cast to the dock I got a 13 inch throwback. Had to get the
pliers to get the hook out and decided to retie. Could not get the
knot to hold - realized I had picked up the rod with 12 pound Pline
Fluorocarbon line that I have been having trouble with. It breaks real
easy and I have to tie several knots to get one to hold. Have broken
the line several times on the hookset. I should have left that rod at
home since I had not planned on using it, picked it up by mistake. My
heart sank as I remembered swinging the two pounder over the side on
that line - a miracle it held. Put that rod away and got the one
with the same jig head tied on 15 pound Pline Flouro - have not had
any problem with it.

Fished that area then headed back to a deep bank and stopped just
upstream of a boat in a pocket. There is a rock pile in the middle of
it but it looked like the boat there was fishing the bank. When he
left I eased in and got a 13 inch throwback off the rock pile.

Worked out of the cove and on the main lake point I got a hit on the
jig head on a long cast and set the hook. A small bass jumped and I
half way fought it to the boat - then it started pulling harder.
Finally landed it and it was a 14.5 inch keeper - much bigger than it
first looked - two in the live well at 9:15.

Kept fishing that bank - series of docks and small points and
seawalls. Worked each dock carefully, hitting every post with the
jig head. Not a bite. Hit about 20 docks that way - usually can pick
up some fish on them. While working between two docks I threw up near
a seawall and got a hit - set the hook on a strong fish and landed
another solid two pounder - three in the live well at 10:15.

I realized I was on a pattern - didn’t matter where I was, as long as
I was throwing the jig head I got a keeper on the quarter hour!

I went another deep point and worked it hard - lots of brush and
rocks. Got one short fish. After fishing that point I worked into a
small cove and as I came out started pitching to the docks at a condo
complex - lots of simple post and walkway docks, no boats or brush.
They are fairly new. On the fourth set I felt pressure and set the
hook - fish felt real heavy and it fought hard but when I landed it,
it was barely 14 inches long. And it was 45 minutes late - it was noon
now, and there were four in the live well.

I fished two more areas and got a 13 inch throwback. At 1:15 decided
to run back to the weigh-in area so I would be close. I like to fish
there, two good points and a bank that holds a lot of the released
fish.

Another club member was on one point so I went to the next one. Fished
it then into the cove. Two more club boats came in behind me. Near the
back of the cove I caught a 13 inch bass by a dock. After unhooking
it I noticed a school of shad on the surface a little further back. We
had talked about fishing under shad at out last meeting. Threw the jig
head to them and it never hit bottom. Set the hook on my biggest bass
of the day - put it in the live well and looked at my watch - 10 till,
time to idle in.

I was shocked at weigh-in. Fourth place was one keeper at 2.78, third
was one at 2.79. Second was two at 3.17. My five weighed 9.85 for
first and that last fish I caught was big fish at 2.81 - .02 heavier
than the second biggest fish! Glad I saw those shad.

Ronnie

http://fishing.about.com