First River Tournament of the Year
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| 3.00# Smallmouth on Pool 9 |
The Cedar Valley Bass Club held their first event of the year this past Sunday, and I was so glad to be back on the Mississippi River and away from the lakes of Iowa. I just can't fish the big river enough, and it was too long of a wait. The river has been high for quite some time, and reports were saying the bite was tough. We knew that coming in, the big ones just haven't shown up yet with any consistency. We figured 10-11# would put us in the top 5. My partner (who had enough of Pool 10 this year)practiced on Friday and found a few fish in one area above the marina in Lansing. My plan on Saturday was to find some other areas in the bottom 1/3 of Lansing. Brian Bowles was in the area for the weekend and joined me, we covered a lot of water in 10 hours.
We found a few fish here an there, and had one area full of bass, and then several different little spots patterned out in Harpers Slough. I was feeling good, knowing we could get 11# or so in the areas I fished.
Tournament day:
We locked up to my partner's spot above the marina. no keepers in the first hour, then it starts to rain. I grab a buzzbait from him, and get a keeper smallie in the boat. no more keepers for the next 1.5hours...yep, 2.5 hours and 1 little keeper to show. I was chomping to get out of there after about 30 minutes, but he was confident we could get them up there. After he finally gave up, we headed off to hit some areas I fished the day before. Went to the rock box and immediately caught a 3.00 smallie on a Hot Rod Baits Big Craw! A lot of current there, but no other fish. We left in 15minutes or so.
Off to the "village", that is what I call it anyway. Totally different area, 3 foot of no current and some weeds starting to grow. We caught about 40 fish in here the next few hours. Swim jigs, and chatterbaits were the winning ticket. Filled out a limit of 5 with 2#-2.25# ers and culled a few too. We were having a blast!
In the meantime the river was getting pretty rough. We rolled towards the lock at about 12:30. (2:30 weigh-in) Big rollers greeted us, and the ride was nothing but rough. My partner wanted to try one more area. The river was dropping fast and we discussed how a main channel spot which I checked out the previous day might be just "perfect" today. Well, it was far from perfect, but one bite and one fish later, my partner put a 2.75# in the boat, a nice 1/2 pound upgrade before locking through. We couldn't run to my areas down in Harpers Slough, we just ran out of time. We didn't throw too many baits at the fish today, but each time on the water during tournament action, I am sure glad I have my Quantum Rods and Reels working for me. They are smoothest, lightest and most dependable fishing gear out there.
We made it through the lock, stopped at a few other Pool 10 areas with no bites and back to the weigh-in.
We ended up with 12.00# to win, second was about 11.6#, third was 11.4# and then went down pretty fast. Most teams did not get a limit. This was the Cedar Valley Bass Club out of Waterloo/Cedar Falls.
A great weekend, which reminded me that choices and decisions on the tournament day often count for your successes and failures.
We found a few fish here an there, and had one area full of bass, and then several different little spots patterned out in Harpers Slough. I was feeling good, knowing we could get 11# or so in the areas I fished.
Tournament day:
We locked up to my partner's spot above the marina. no keepers in the first hour, then it starts to rain. I grab a buzzbait from him, and get a keeper smallie in the boat. no more keepers for the next 1.5hours...yep, 2.5 hours and 1 little keeper to show. I was chomping to get out of there after about 30 minutes, but he was confident we could get them up there. After he finally gave up, we headed off to hit some areas I fished the day before. Went to the rock box and immediately caught a 3.00 smallie on a Hot Rod Baits Big Craw! A lot of current there, but no other fish. We left in 15minutes or so.
Off to the "village", that is what I call it anyway. Totally different area, 3 foot of no current and some weeds starting to grow. We caught about 40 fish in here the next few hours. Swim jigs, and chatterbaits were the winning ticket. Filled out a limit of 5 with 2#-2.25# ers and culled a few too. We were having a blast!
In the meantime the river was getting pretty rough. We rolled towards the lock at about 12:30. (2:30 weigh-in) Big rollers greeted us, and the ride was nothing but rough. My partner wanted to try one more area. The river was dropping fast and we discussed how a main channel spot which I checked out the previous day might be just "perfect" today. Well, it was far from perfect, but one bite and one fish later, my partner put a 2.75# in the boat, a nice 1/2 pound upgrade before locking through. We couldn't run to my areas down in Harpers Slough, we just ran out of time. We didn't throw too many baits at the fish today, but each time on the water during tournament action, I am sure glad I have my Quantum Rods and Reels working for me. They are smoothest, lightest and most dependable fishing gear out there.
We made it through the lock, stopped at a few other Pool 10 areas with no bites and back to the weigh-in.
We ended up with 12.00# to win, second was about 11.6#, third was 11.4# and then went down pretty fast. Most teams did not get a limit. This was the Cedar Valley Bass Club out of Waterloo/Cedar Falls.
A great weekend, which reminded me that choices and decisions on the tournament day often count for your successes and failures.
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| Myself and Trent Beier with two of our biggest for the day. |
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