West Point June tournament

Sunday - June 26, 2011 - day 46

Spalding County Sportsman Club West Point June Tournament
5 AM - 1 PM water 87 degrees, mostly sunny, very hot day

We started before daylight to try to beat the heat - once again it did
not work. I started on a rocky point throwing a black spinnerbait -
no bites. Ran to a second rocky point and tried spinnerbait and
crankbait - nothing. As the sky got a little light at 5:50 threw a
buzzbait and missed one hit.

Ran to my favorite topwater point at 6:10 - threw a Sammy some but got
it tangled in the braid line. I picked up my rod with a popper on it
and caught a small keeper spot on the first cast. My bad luck
continued - the rod I throw it on is the custom rod I won at the Mid -
Tennessee Classic in 2002. I lifted the fish over the side of the
boat and as I reached to unhook it, it flipped and broke the top 4
inches off the tip of the rod.

I tried to untangle the Sammy but it was too dark to see well enough,
so I tied the popper on another rod. For the next 15 or 20 minutes I
got a hit on every cast - landed three more small keepers, four short
fish and two hybrids. The fourth keeper got tangled in the net and it
took me about 5 minutes to untangle it - when I started casting again
the sun was peeping over the far bank and I never got another hit!

I fished a buzz bait on some shady banks and got several short fish.
By 9 AM it was HOT and I was soaked with sweat. Started desperately
trying to find my fifth keeper. Fished a dock at a ramp then worked
out on the end of the ramp with a jig head worm. Got it hung as as I
eased in to get it loose I went over a brush pile in 12 feet of water
with fish holding in front of it.

My new HD Lowrance depthfinders are amazing. I had the side and down
scan on and the fish by the brush were very plain - don't think I
would have realized they were fish on my regular depthfinder. I
backed off and caught a small keeper spot and got two hits there.

By 12 I had not gotten another hit even tho I tried bridge pilings,
other brush piles and points. Went to a point with brush on it and
threw a big crankbait and got it hung. Rather than going on top of
the brush I layed that rod down and threw a jig head to the brush, and
got my sixth keeper - it culled on of my 12 inch spots, but it was
only 12.5 inches long

At 1 I had not caught another bass. I came in third out of 15 with
five weighing a whopping 4.81 pounds - had one of only two limits.
Winner had five at 6.30, second four at 5.40. Big fish wasx 3.58 -
one of only 7 largemouth caught and the only fish he had. Three
fishermen zeroed.

Another tough day!

Ronnie

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