The first tournament of the spring... if you want to call it that. Destination, Nanticoke River, Seaford Delaware. I arrived last at the ramp but none-the-less motivated to win for a change. I had fished the Delaware Megabucks tourney 2 weeks prior and finished 3rd to who else? None other than the one and only Brian LaClair and Mike Morris of Three Ponds. Yeah, I was pretty proud that me and my partner Steve Soroko were able to hang with them. During that tournament on the 12th of March, Steve and I were finding larger fish on the main river relating to slow moving eddies where the current was moving pretty far from shore. In this Eastern Shore Bassmasters club tournament, I wasn't sure what these larger fish would be stuck on, but I did know they would still be accumulated on the main stretch. I was thrown during the first hours out on the water. The weather during the prior 2 weeks had been and still is- for lack of a better word- inconsistent. 65 degree days followed by highs of only 40 and butt cold nights. I knew the bass would be shook and would demand only the most precise lure and presentation.
I started up river at the fork where the river branches off into 2 swaths of water. The sun had not yet peaked over the trees and the Lowrance was showing a bold font 37.8 degrees F water temp. I'm no genius but I would not want to do much of anything if I were in that water. I was imagining fish down there frozen to the sides of pilings and docked boat hulls, whimpering with impoverished squeaks. The tide was moving in, all the while and with no action and a un-manned draw bridge, I quickly gathered my wits and everything else and high tailed it the hell out of winter wonderland. I made it under the draw bridge with inches to spare and planned to an area close to Broad Creek. I was looking for some active feeders near and around dock pilings... no takers.
The water temperature some 4 1/2 miles down river was not much better but did hold a bit more heat. Sometimes that is all it takes. It is my understanding that the cold night air will cool the surface water but the deeper areas stay more consistent. So that is where I headed for next. A little spot no more than say 50 yards long but has a sharp drop in depth and is out of both incoming and outgoing currents. I tried everything; drop-shot, crankbait, jig, shakey head worm and finally my Pièce de résistance... the spinnerbait. Since I really had no idea what the fish would be keying on I figured I would stick to whatever I caught my first fish on. Fate would have it on a cast to some rocks with said spinnerbait that I would land my first of the day. By this time it was around 10:30am so time was of the essence at that point. I made another agonizingly slow retrieve from the same structure of stone and hooked an even better bass only to lose it 3 feet from the boat.
I'm not one to get flustered over such occurrences, as I know it can only contribute to failure in the end. I gave it one more pass and left the area 1 for 2. Sometimes you just have to cut your losses.
Now that a highlighted pattern was taking form, I concentrated my efforts to those areas that had 3 things. 1) 3 to 5 feet of water. 2) a hard object and 3) the precipice of a drop into deeper water very close to the hard object(s). Sticking to those core characteristics put 3 more decent fish in the bucket and I ran out of time looking for number 5. If you see him, tell him I was looking for him. I smoked the Ranger back to the boat ramp for weigh-in putting a healthy 7.46 pounds on the scale. Since I was last to show that morning I had to show my cards first. Bags of 2, 3 and 4 fish showed but none topped my total weight leading to a fruitful victory (my first with the club). Congrats to Dave for taking the AOY points lead! Next stop... Garrison Lake, DE 4/23/11
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