I know, I know. It's been many moon since you have seen an updated article and you have been tired of logging in only to find the last age old writ popping up on the page. Truth is, I have had way too much going on at work and fishing every chance I get so far this season to be worrying about blinging up this blog. But some interesting things transpired over the weekend that I want to share. But first I'll fill in the huge gap spanning since my last post.
First I'll admit that I DID in fact fish the DBFN Open at the Wicomico river. Little results were brought to the scales and only one limit showed its self. Everyone else either zeroed or had one fish in supply.
The day started out with my good friend and Bass Fury pro staff member Josh Wich picking me up at my flat at about 5am. We headed south to Salisbury, MD with good hopes rolling off our tongues left and right while his truck dragged the boat steadily down U.S. 13. Josh explained his plan in sound execution as I ate up every word. After all, just last year I saw him clean up there in a club tourney with 5 for 11.36 pounds. My thoughts were, since he knew where some good fish were, the both of us working toward the same goal could really do some serious dammage to the scales. Turned out that this was not the case. We both threw everything we had in the area he had pulled a great bag from before, only to come up with a would be limit of short fish. Then we made a run to some muddy water that did'nt make any sense to fish so we turned around and headed back. By then, the tide had gone out far enough to fit under the draw bridge in town that we could then pass under, to fish the upper stretch of the river. The entire length of the area is walled on both sides with a wooden retaining barrier with pilings placed out away from the walls every 30 feet or so. At the end of the bridge piling retainers was another piling wall with some water tucked in behind it. I just dropped my Stike King Red Eye Shad vertically down beside the piling, and out from the depths came Mr. Largemouth. That was number one. Try as we did, niether of us could hook up on another single fish. At the end of the day only one team had a limit and most everyone else had 1 or none.
The good Ol' Potomac. I jsut love this place. Miles and miles of productive water born from sound management. Our 2 day club tournament here was very important for me to do well in. This time fishing against Josh lent me the opportunity to build up some major points in the angler of the year rankings. The weight is out there, you just have to catch it.
I played my cards very carefully in preparing for this tournament. Thinking that good fish would be south I braved very high winds to fish Nanjemoy Creek a week prior and only came to the conclution that I should eliminate that location as a rpime suspect. I practiced agian the day before game time around Mallows Bay. Great place for fish to congregate due to the large wrecks lined up like a parking lot in there. Being careful of your fiberglass is rule 1 naving this area because IT IS NASTY with a capitol N. I turned up some decent action there so I figured it would be a good start. From launch, I made a B line for that bone yard and immediately began tossing the buzzbait targeting little sparse pockets of grass among thick pockets. It wasn't working. I switched to my wooly bug rigged for flipp'n and started punching the thicker areas of grass and nailed a undersize fish while reeling back in. This is where I caught on to the pattern I would use for the rest of the tournament. I put down the flipp'n rod and started trying my YUM Money Minnow swim bait in the less dense grass. I would roll it over the tops and let it drop down into the bare spots. Boom! Got one! Shorty again. This was recognizable of the day prior. It was few and far between for keepers so I decided to move on. I swung back in to Mattawoman to an old friend of mine; Grinder's Wharf. I began with the same pattern as I was using at Mallows and before long I had a good keeper. After that, it seemed to shut off. I moved out and decided to make a run up river to clearer water to one of my 'secret' spots. The tide was moving out which makes this are on fire. Any other time it's not that great. I just could not get bit here on the swim bait though. I opted for somthing a little more stationary so I pulled out the shakey head. I figured, if I'm going to pull a 4.5 or 5 pounder out today, this is where it will be. Everyone knows I like giant sized worms so I put on the 9 inch YUM Paddle Worm in black and blue; swung it under a dock. Instantly got bit... short fish. Tried again... nicer fish this time but still short. The next one might have been a keeper, but got off before I could bring him aboard. Well, I said to myself I think I should move on. I wasn't getting bit anymore and the sun started getting high in the sky. It seemed like I was getting some more agressive action in the clearer water so I decided to move up to Pomonkey Creek. I switched back to the swim bait and just started plastering the place. Before I knew it I had 2 more keepers in the boat and that's how day one ended for me. 3 fish for a little under 6 pounds. I really thought I was such an under cut at this point that I prepared myself to be in 5th or 6th to avoid disappointment. At the scales though, things turned out differently. I was leading after day one!
Okay so this could still be in my hands. I just have to come in with a limit on day 2 for sure. I knew there was no way that Josh of all the characters in my club, were going to come up shy on the second day of our tournament. I cycled over all the information I had gotten from day 1 and came to the conclution that Piscataway Creek was the place to go. Long run but I'll hack it. I spent most of the first half of the day in Piscatataway with no fish that would measure to show for it. I had this voice in my head saying 'Your'e in real trouble now Bob'. I needed to make a move. I knew of a GIGANTIC grass bed in the mouth of Little Hunting Creek that was really popular. I figured it's the only chance I've got. I stayed right on the edge where the grass stops growing and worked the swim bait. I keep getting hit but they keep coming off. Good fish too! I'm sooo frustrated at this point with the fish, not to mention the wind keeps blowing me off target. Short strikes is all kept getting. I happend to look back behind me and what do I see? There's Josh fishing the next bed out from my location. I though, no matter. At the end of the day, that would not be the case. He ended up with 5 fish weighing in around 14 pounds. All from the spot right behind me. Some guys just get lucky I guess.
