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Date:8/27/2008

Central Pro-Am
Stockton Lake
August 23 & 24, 2008 

Cloudy am, clear pm Day 1
Partly cloudy Day 2
SE wind Day 1, NE wind Day 2 5-10 mph
869.75 falling ~0.20’ per day
Clear main lake, stained in river arms 
78-82 degree water temp

Main lake ledges – 10-20 feet
Creek arm secondary points - 5-10 feet

Hammer Football and Finesse Jig rods
12 lb Bass Pro Shops fluorocarbon line
Smelly Jelly crawfish/anise
Eiron Breaker ½ oz Hid-N-Eye jig – Stockton flash
Eiron Breaker 5/8 oz FB jig – brown/purple flash
Zoom Ultra Vib Speed Craw – green pumpkin/purple flake
Berkley 7” Power Worm – blue fleck
Mustad 3/0 Ultra Lock hook
Tru-Tungsten 5/16 oz bullet weight – june bug 

Day 1

I kept an eye on the lake levels all week and the water was going to be right at 3 feet over power pool at the time of the tournament.  What I didn’t like was the amount of generation over the weekend.  I was counting on an early main lake bite to sack up a small limit and then move up lake to try to up-grade a couple of times.  There was strong generation all week but the weekend forecast was about half that much.  Also, it was rainy/cloudy during the week and clouds were forecasted for Saturday morning.  So many questions to answer but you can worry yourself to death and it really doesn’t change anything.  I’d just have to go fishing and see how they were biting.

I was a late draw, fourth boat from the end.  We ran out to the main lake and as luck would have it, nobody was in the general area that I wanted to fish.  We had it all to ourselves but my first pass on the ledge wasn’t very productive.  Oh no, now what?  Maybe with the cloud cover the fish were up on the flats feeding.  We moved to another transition and then I located some fish.  I quickly put three keepers in the livewell and it was a triple sack; a smallmouth, a spotted bass and a largemouth.  All came on a ½ oz Hid-N-Eye jig, a new jig from Eiron Breaker Lure Co.  I had another largemouth but it jumped at the net and came off.  That didn’t bother me because it was but a 15” fish.  I knew I’d need more than 5 small keepers to contend.

The wind picked up and it almost looked like it was going to rain.  I pulled out a topwater but could only get a couple of shorts to bite.  I went back to the jig and pulled up to a sharp point with big broken rock.  My co-angler had a good fish come off and I pitched my jig up on the point.  It didn’t hit bottom and I set the hook into something heavy.  It didn’t really fight, just pulled hard. I guided it into the net and it was likely the oldest fish in Stockton Lake.  It should have weighed 6-7 lbs but was all head and bones.  Something in the 4 lb range but I’ll take it.  I figured it would die in the livewell but she made it all day long just fine.

It didn’t take long before I had my 5^th keeper in the well, a solid smallmouth about 2 ½ lbs.  By then I had burned through the 5 new jigs I had made.  One was clipped off by a walleye I’m sure (we caught 3 over the weekend on jigs, they went under the knife!), I broke 2 off on the hookset and 2 were donated to the rocks.  Some days you can fish the same jig all day and some you loose 10 jigs in an hour.  I had a pile of 5/8 oz football jigs so that’s what I used for the rest of the day.

Tried and true 5/8 oz brown/purple flash football jig.

We stayed on the main lake until 9:30 am and I’d sifted through about 10 keepers but none really helped my weight much.  The fish were still biting but I didn’t want to burn too many of them up as they were all about the same size.  I hoped to catch a few the next morning.  Time for the second part of the plan.

We ran up each lake arm and fished secondary points which were next to large flats.  I hoped that the falling water was moving the fish away from the flats and to the first drop.  Some of the locations were productive and some were vacant.  I tried to fish the jig on these spots but I wasn’t getting the bites I thought I should and I had a heavy fish pull off after a few cranks.  That was telling me they didn’t want to eat the jig and I’d need to change up baits. 

I hadn’t had much luck in practice on a worm but something was telling me to keep trying it.  I’m glad I did because it was what they wanted.  At 12:30 I hooked a solid largemouth and kicked out a smallmouth.  I was catching a number of short fish so I stuck with the worm.  A couple casts later I felt a good thump and on the hook set I knew this was a solid fish but it came quickly to the boat.  Just as I saw it, the fish saw the boat and had other plans.  A four pound fish raced under the boat and I couldn’t disengage the reel fast enough to keep her from breaking my line.  That hurt, that turned out to be a $4000 fish.

We moved around to a few points without much to show but some shorts.  At 1:30 pm I pitched up on a break and the worm didn’t get to the bottom before my line tightened up.  I set the hook and immediately knew I had a big fish.  Then she decided to tail-walk half way to the boat.  Stay down!  She made a few runs at the boat and this time I was ready.  We finally got her in the net and it was my big fish for the day, 5.22 lbs.  That helped a bunch, I thought I might be reaching 16 lbs.

We fished the remaining two hours until weigh-in without another keeper.  My co-angler weighed his three fish and he had around 7 lbs.  This was enough to put him in the running for a check with a few more fish on Day 2.  I weighed my sack and landed in 2^nd Place with 15.72 lbs.  I was over 2 lbs out but you never know how the next day will go.  It is always tougher.

5.22 lbs on Day 1, my best fish of the weekend.

Day 2

I felt good about my chances of getting another limit but I didn’t know if I could challenge for the win being two pounds out.  If I could catch what I had again, anything could happen.  It is hard to string two good days back to back.

I was boat 5 out of the gate but instead of being alone on the main lake, a boat in front of me decided to fish the same area as me.  I had room to fish but on my first pass, I immediately knew something was different.  The first three bites I had pulled off half way to the boat.  Two of them felt like solid fish.  The wind had changed from the southeast to the northeast but I think the Corps stopped pulling water.  I didn’t hit the panic button immediately but kept grinding.

I worked until 9:30 am again and only had two fish to show for it, a smallmouth and a spotted bass on the Hid-N-Eye jig.  I had enough time to pour more of them up the night before and brought enough with this time.  Neither fish was more than two pounds.  The bite was very difficult, some fish just mouthed the bait and you couldn’t tell they had it.  I tried a finesse worm on a shakey head but could only muster a couple small fish.  I stuck with the jig for the better bite.  Well that would have to be a start and I was off to the river.

I went straight to the area I caught the largemouths from the previous day.  The wind was pushing around the point differently so I had to set up in another direction.  There was a rough spot on the point and as I pulled the worm off a rock, I felt a solid thump.  This was a heavy fish and after a short tussle, my best fish of the day (4.40 lbs) was securely in the well.  I caught several short fish on the point and worked around to a flat clay point.  Something told me to give it a few casts as the wind was blowing over it.  A couple of hops and another solid largemouth was added to the livewell.  This was four fish by 10:30 am and I felt like I was in good shape.  Hopefully I could get one more solid fish by 3 pm. 

Blue Fleck Power Worm, Mustad 3/0 Ultra Lock hook & 5/16 oz Tru-Tungston weight 

We worked the points over that were previously productive but couldn’t find that last fish I needed.  Time to look around at new places.  The hardest part of tournament fishing is taking a chance on something new.  Are you wasting your time or will you find gold?  The better anglers are able to look around and change gears without hesitation.  I decided to stick with the worm but look for some new points.

I’d had some success last fall at Stockton and decided to hit a couple drops that worked last year for me.  The first one had a handful of shorts but the second was money.  I landed a short and then on my next cast, the worm didn’t hit bottom on the initial cast.  My final fish rounded out my limit at 1 pm.  She was sitting at the edge of a shallow rock drop.  I hit another rock point and then a small clay point at the mouth of a cove.  A fish came unbuttoned and on the third hop of the next cast a fish jumped the worm.  This was another nice largemouth.  I played it carefully to the boat but four attempts with the net resulted in four whiffs.  Then the fish turned and pulled off.  Bummer. 

That could be one of those moments where you just have a meltdown but what good would it do?  At least I had a limit in the well because that was my last chance of the day.  My bag weighed 13.79 lbs to push my two day total to 29.51 lbs.  I weighed in the early flight and was eventually bumped down to 4^th Place.  The top three were all within 0.05 lbs of each other and I was exactly 0.75 lbs from winning.

I didn’t fish clean, two fish cost me but everyone lost fish.  That has to be accounted for when the water is hot.  A little bad luck kept those fish from the boat but the more I fish the more I believe sometimes what happens is just the way it goes.  How many times have I free spooled a strong fish next to the boat?  Many times.  I’ve never broken one off like that but it happened.  How many times can a fish go around the net and not get in it?  I thought the 5.22 lb fish on Saturday was a lucky bite though, I just happened to throw right were the fish was sitting at that moment and it bit.  It all evened out.

I really had a chance to put the Hid-N-Eye jig through the paces this weekend.  Jack Watkins is really big on this head design and I can now see why.  I can honestly say this head design comes through rock cover smoother than any jig I've thrown, even the football jig.  It especially shined when throwing it in huge broken rock.  Yes, you will loose some jigs but I've fished these same areas with other jigs and have lost a good number over the years.  I felt confident I could work this jig how I wanted to without worrying about hanging.  The color is a special combination I came up with.  A brown overall color works great this time of year but I also like the purple flash.  This jig is a combination of regular and fine cut skirt material with purple flash, rust and melon mixed in.  The fish reacted extremely well to the color.

New 1/2 oz Stockton Flash Hid-N-Eye jig with Zoom speed craw.

I was pleased with being consistent for two days.  That is what I strive for.  I didn’t have a problem being beat by Mr. Barker, in my opinion he’s the best all around angler in this area.  It seems he can go to any lake and have a legitimate shot at the win.  You always have to look where he is in the standings after Day 1.  If you can aspire to be like a certain angler in this area, it should be Dave.  He’s a true professional angler.

Was there anything I could have done differently?  The only thing I would do differently in the future is not fish as conservatively if I want to try to win.  I made sure to have keepers in the livewell before trying to catch the quality largemouths.  I weighed all three species of bass each day and that usually will not do it.  If I had completely rolled the dice, I would have fished exclusively for largemouths up lake.  I wasn’t fishing for points, only for a check.  Maybe I would have had 5 each day but there was a chance to stumble as well.  I came out on the positive side in the checkbook and if I had a couple of breaks go my way, could have won.  But could haves and would haves are only excuses.  I’m satisfied with my finish and on the water decisions.  Maybe I’ll roll the dice next year.