I Made It To the Classic

I wish I did as an angler. Last week I attended the 2009 Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport/Bossier City, LA with an invite as the DE B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Conservation Director. What a blast! I flew down the Thursday prior and got settled in my room. Later that evening, the coordinator put on a Texas Hold'em poker tournament. Had a great time with that. During the mornings we would have our conservation workshops, designed to help us along with the projects we encounter in our individual states. B.A.S.S. provided lunch each day and bused us all over to the huge fishing expo at the convention center. Then the bus would come grab us from the expo and run us over to the Century Tel to witness the weigh-in. After the weigh-in we would return to the hotel where any number of activities would be taking place. Dinner, drinks, pros, fishing talk or just chilling out in your room watching TV if it was a big day. Everyday was a big day. Day 2 weigh-in I was back stage, handling the fish as they got weighed in and sent to the tank truck to be released. Pretty sweet. Then back at the hotel, who shows up? Jason Quinn, my favorite angler on the Elite series tour! We just chilled out up in the hospitality room sipp'n on some Evan Williams Single Barrel. The whole trip was almost surreal. i could hardly believe I was seeing all the huge names in fishing right in front of my face, shaking their hands and even hanging out with them.

One of the things that gets me, is how much of a big commercial the whole thing is. Everywhere you see the logos of any one of numerous vendors trying to pound the image of their logo into your head like a subliminal message. I can't really say anything because I have my favorites. Ironically none of them have anything to so with my favorite angler. As you can see in the rest of my blog, I pick what catches fish. But one company that has be steadily consistent in producing for me is YUM. Just a me thing.

Some things I was able to learn from attending this event; a lot. I noticed these guys are constantly moving. Always swinging to promote their sponsors. It would seem like a life of sales... a traveling salesman that goes fishing to show you the product and wins money doing it. These guys are becoming more and more famous all the time. The sport of bass fishing gets more and more popular every year, and when I get there, I'm gonna be a star.

Coffee in the Morning, Tea at Night

Other than the prospect that I am headed to the Bassmaster Classic on Thursday, I am bursting at the seems to get out of cabin. The weather here can't seem to figure out what it wants to do. Last week we saw temps into the 60's on Saturday, and by Thursday the wind was blowing at 60 mph and it was like 39 degrees. I know with rising temps and sunny skies, the water warms up here around 5 to 8 degrees per day. So what are the fish doing? My guess is the temp rise has sent them into their pre-spawn locations and very soon, the males will move up onto the beds. When? I have not a clue. With the movement though, I can bet they are feeding on the nice days. I have the sneaking suspicion that there are guys out there right now catching fish even though the weather has thrown us a cold front. The temps are not in freezing range, so the water temps are probably not changing drastically. Like I mentioned before, I think they are reacting, but not like they do when water begins to freeze (moving deep). So come March in my next tournament, everything will have changed. I have a general idea of what I [should] look for. Having never fished a tournament during pre-spawn seasons puts me at a disadvantage to the other guys I am fishing against. Expanding on what I was speculating about earlier, I will have my best chances by knowing what is normal for the season and then making small adjustments during the tournament and sticking to it. There are too many changing variables to be able to keep track of. I will just have to get to the spot I have already chosen [in my mind where fish will be concentrated] and stick with it during the whole day. That way, I eliminate variables that will affect the rest of the Lake. I am thinking five bites will win this tournament.

I won't go into too much detail about what changes I am bringing to the water after the break this year. What I will say is that I have learned what my strong points are on different venues and what will catch fish at these places. I have taken that knowledge and modified to what others [I know] are not doing. I have always thought that spots should not be held as much of a secret as the lures they are throwing. If you are on pressured fish or as some will say "burned fish" you will want to be throwing something they have never seen before or have not seen in a long time. Because of that fact, I keep what I am throwing that day split up into 2 groups. The first group is my general population or "given baits". These are the lures that are usually among general knowledge to anglers, that they will catch fish. I will keep these presented on the deck of my boat in plain view. The other category are the "unpopular hots''. These are the lures that I have taken a chance with, and come up with excellent results. They are mainly unpopular or not a "fad lure" as I like to call your sexy shad lipless and similar lures currently taking the top of the charts in popularity. No. These are the lures that are selling like the movement of pond water ultimately translating into the fact that they are not being presented to fish. So in other words, there are a whole lot of fish out there that have not seen these lures. These are the ones that I tie on after I get out there and they get clipped off before I return for weigh-in. New for '09 bitches!!!

Changing Seasons

Okay I might be a little preemptive here, but the temps here have been... well... not freezing. So is spring (or at least the early stages) here? I know the bass have got to be active right now, trying to feed up for spawning. I was contemplating getting the boat out yesterday but this damn cold I caught is just kick'n my ass. I managed to spool up some line on a few of my rods. I spun on some of the new Stren Sonic Braid on my flipp'n rod so I am looking foward to see how improved Stren's new braided line is. Right now, the fish should be holding tight to deep structure at night and early day, then moving shallower when the sun hits and warms the water for a few hours. I would definatley have to say they are activly feeding the lakes where there are fish ladders, where anadromous bait fishes like alewife are migrating into freshwater systems to spawn. I'm not positive, but I would have to go down and look. In the river it's hard to say what these fish might be doing right now. I don't think it's really warm enough yet in the Nanticoke, but you never know. That place is as random as they come.

Day to Day

Well if you have read my other posts, you are up-to-date. So now I can pretty much just go day to day. I have been fighting a cold/caught that has been going around. You can never tell who you caught it from, since my wife had it, my son, people at work. I hoped I could perhaps escape it. NOT! Which sucks because I could be out there fishing right now. After that last cold snap, here we have a 62 degree day and I can't do anything. A wasted opportunity. I had a flat on the trailer so I took it off and dropped it of up at the tire shop. They fixed it, but I have not had a chance to go pick it up. Work is busy right now, I had Andrew by myself for most of this week as Amanda was in Florida. Then I started getting sick. I think it was right around Thursday and it just seems to linger. Oh well; I guess I can still get some stuff ready for spring, like my rods and bait boxes.