Fishing a Tournament in the Cold, With a Cold

That's a great job of toughing it out Ronnie.I hope you feel better and get
some bites.
"Ronnie Garrison" wrote in message
...
Got back from Antarctica on Sunday, Jan 31 and woke up with a sore throat
on Monday - probably from the stress of being cooped up in a tin can at
28,000 feet for 14 hours with about 350 other folks.

Anyway, felt terrible all week, did not get out of the house Wed - Friday,
BUT, I did go to my club tournament on Sunday. Should have stayed in bed,
but did not want to miss the second tournament of the year in the Flint
River club. I missed the first Spalding County tournament while gone -
didn’t miss much, high that day was 27 and windy, colder here than in
Antarctica! Only five showed up to fish and four fish landed, but one was
a 5.97 pound largemouth.

Sunday I drove to Sinclair - was weak and shaky, but a couple of Tylenol
helped. I was the last one there, paid my fees and got my boat in the
water just as everyone else blasted off at 7:30. The sun was just peeking
above the trees on the southeast shoreline. The dawn was clear and cold
after a lot of rain all week, and the barometric pressure was going way
up.

Air temp was about 30 degrees, water temp was 49 and pretty stained, a
chartreuse spinnerbait disappeared down about six inches. I ran a few
miles to a point at the mouth of a creek that drops into the river.
Started with a crankbait around the stumps and dead grass on the point. It
was still in the shade so I had hopes something was feeding early. After a
few casts I picked up a spinnerbait and dropped it right on the edge of
the grass. As it fluttered down I started slow rolling it and immediately
felt a tug. When I set the hook the fish felt solid.

In the cold water the bass did not fight much and I was a little surprised
when it came to the top about 20 feet from the boat - it was a solid 3
pounder. I was so excited - and maybe a little goofy from the cold - that
I just lifted it over the side. Not a good idea usually, but this fish was
hooked solidly and I put it into the live well - not a bad start on a bad
day.

I worked that point, hitting the grass, stumps, docks and even a small
rock pile, with spinnerbait, three different crankbaits, a jig and pig and
even a Carolina rigged Senko, for about an hour without another bite.
Decided it was time to find a similar place and ran across the river to a
small creek entering on that side. That point has grass on both sides of
it, some brush going into the creek, grass and riprap in the back and
several brush piles out in the cover.

The river side of the point was in the sun by now and nothing hit, so I
fished into the creek on the shady side of the point. I was alternating
with cranks, spinnerbaits and jig and pig to the docks, grass and brush in
shallow water. Nothing hit.

The boat was in about 15 feet of water and about half way back I started
seeing shad suspended down about 6 feet deep, and something under them. I
dropped a gold Hopkins spoon down and jigged it a couple of times, and it
got heavy. I thought it was a stick on the line but when I reeled it up it
turned out to be a 12.5 inch bass - my second keeper at a little after
9:00. That felt pretty good - I had almost six hours left to fish and two
in the livewell.

That small creek was full of shad - even saw some on the surface near the
back. The whole creek had solid shad in the back half,down about 6 feet
deep.I fished under them for two hours with jigging spoon, crankbaits,
Carolina rig and even a crappie jig. I had one thump on a Senko Carolina
rigged but did not hook it. After two hours I gave up and went to try some
other spots.

During the next two hours I did not get a bite anywhere I tried, so I went
back to the shad. Still nothing there. Ran a mile or so to a steep rocky
bank and fished it for an hour with a jig and pig but nothing. Ran to a
bridge near the weigh-in and worked it with a jig and pig for the last
half hour. Still no more bites.

When I pulled up at the ramp and tied my boat up, and started walking to
the truck it was like walking uphill in mud. I did not realize how weak I
was and the walk to the truck was awful - all 100 yards of it! I managed
to get the boat loaded and parked, and got my two fish out and went to
the scales.

My two fish weighed 4.13 pounds and put me in 5th place. Not too bad for
feeling so bad, that was my second 5th place in a row and put me in 3rd
for the year in that club.

It took 11 pounds to win and the winner had a 4.06 pound bass. Second
place was 6.41 pounds and his 4.09 pound bass was good for big fish. Third
was 5.01 and fourth was 4.45. Most bass were caught on crankbaits around
docks and grass, but several were landed on Carolina rigs. 18 fishermen
had 20 keepers weighing a total of 44.02 pounds. 8 of the 18 fishermen
zeroed.

Its the following Friday and I still feel awful, but I have a tournament a
week from Sunday and plan on fishing at least twice next week getting
ready for it. Maybe I do better while sick!!