Wal-Mart BFL Tournament on Sam Rayburn March 4th 2006.

I fished the Wal-Mart BFL over the weekend on Saturday March 4, 2006. This is the second of five qualification rounds for the 2006 season. I was very fortunate to have been paired up with Jeff Wooldridge for this event. Jeff if you see this report, "I had a great time fishing with you and thanks for putting us on the fish!" I really appreciate the effort Jeff went through to make sure I was able to catch fish. There were 121 boaters and non-boaters entered in the event and the top 23 places were paid out. Jeff placed 47th with 4 fish for 11 lbs 15 oz. I placed 20th with a 5 fish limit for 10 lbs 1 oz getting a small check for my catch. It was a great day to be out fishing, you couldn't have asked for better weather conditions or lake conditions for that matter. Weather was partly cloudy with light winds early, 55 to 80 degrees. Rayburn is 2 1/2 feet low with stained water, visibility to 3 feet on the lower end of the lake. Water temps were 58 to 70 degrees, main lake vs back of the creeks. The bass are in prespawn staging with some males already on beds in the shallows.

The Tournament:

Kelly, the kiddos, and I arrived on Friday afternoon in Jasper Texas in time to setup camp and eat dinner before the pretournament meeting. My mom joined us at dinner and came along for the trip. I went to the meeting and met up with Jeff after the pairing was announced. Jeff hadn't prefished, but said he had some spots that would hold fish and we'd do a little bit of everything to catch them.

Saturday morning we met up at 5:45 AM and I walked down to the water and loaded my stuff in the boat because Jeff had already launched and gone through boat check before meeting up with me. We sat in the boat and talked about fishing and stuff waiting for the take off to begin.

Boat 15 was called and we headed out to Veach Basin to begin the morning on a grass bed in 3 to 8 feet of water. Jeff caught a 3 lb fish after about five casts on a chrome blue rattle trap. I caught a short fish ten or fifteen minutes later on a white spinner bait. Another ten minutes later and I caught my first keeper on the spinner bait off the grass bed. Two other boats moved in on the grass bed, so Jeff went in to the shallow water to see if there were any spawning bass.

Now we're fishing in two feet or less of water with a sandy bottom and scattered brush. Jeff begins flipping the bush in hopes of getting a bedding fish. The low light and windy conditions make it nearly impossible to sight fish at this point in the tournament. I stick to my spinner bait and place it between some brush and catch a keeper in front of another boat moving around in the shallows. The coangler on the boat askes me if I want to get rid of my spinner bait after I drop the fish in the live well. I said, "Sure if you got $50." A few minutes later he flips into the brush and pulls out a keeper as well, so I guess he didn't need the spinner bait after all. We work our way back out of the shallows and out on the grass flat again. I catch my 3rd keeper on the spinner bait right before we leave to try some new water since this area was covered up with boats fishing all around us. I offered my spinner bait to Jeff at this point since I had a few extras, but he declined while tying on a similar bait.

We leave Veach and head out to another area only to kill a lot of time. We trap some grass beads and hit some other pockets with nada until we get to a little point with some deep water and stumps on it with a little scattered grass. While Jeff is setting up a Carolina rig I set the hook on a keeper only to have it jump and throw my spinner bait after battling it half way to the boat. On the next cast I catch a short fish in disappointment. I pound the point with the spinner bait while Jeff drags the c-rig and catches a short fish. Jeff gives up on this spot and heads back to Veach.

Jeff stops the boat on a new grass bed in the Veach area and after several casts sets the hook on another 3 lb bass with the chrome blue rattle trap. I stick to the spinner bait for a while and finally give into the idea that I need to get a bigger bass like the ones Jeff is catching and switch to a 3/4 oz rattle trap. Jeff is throwing a 1/2 oz model made by Pointer lures. After a few casts I set the hook on a large fish that takes a nose dive into the grass and pulls off leaving me with a big glob of grass on the bait. Five minutes later I get my 4th keeper on the rattle trap and at this point I'm getting a little excited because I know I've got about 7 1/2 lbs and one more good fish will put me in the money. Jeff comments that we need to get my 5th keeper in the boat and decides we should go back to where we started.

We fish the flat with nothing to show for our efforts and move up into the shallows again to see if we can spot some bedding fish since the wind has died down and the sun is out. We cruise around and spot a few fish. Jeff finds one locked on a bed in some brush and sets up to catch the bass. After a few minutes I spot a bass cruising in a zone, but not locked on to a bed. I switch from the spinner bait to a Texas rigged watermelon senko and go to work. Ten minutes later I set the hook and land my 5th keeper!

With two and half hours of fishing left Jeff decides to give up on the fish in the brush and go in search of the big ones. He takes us to Farmers and to our surprise we're the only guys in there. We head to the very back where we get stuck, way, way back in there. After some push poling and brush pulling we get the boat out. On the way out we spot some 3 lb fish on beds and go to work. I swing and miss on my fish after a few well placed casts with the senko and that's the last we see of that one. A few minutes later Jeff sets the hook in his 3rd keeper and lands the bass. We ease around the shallows spotting little males bedding all over the place. Jeff spooks a big bass probably about 6 lbs, the bass heads into some brush. We swing the boat around, Jeff makes the first cast and the bass heads for deep water never to be seen again. The search continues and we find another set of 3 lb fish on beds. Jeff does a great job positioning the boat so that we both have perfect angles on the fish. After about 5 minutes I set the hook on mine. The bass was position right in the middle of a bush, so I have to pull it up through the bush to get it out. I got it out alright, it shot up like a rocket and goes airborne only to shake my hook free mid flight. How it shook that weightless rig free still baffles me. Anyway several casts later Jeff gets his 4th keeper in the boat and we got about 30 minutes left to fish. We fish a few more bass on beds and can't get them to bite before the clock ticks down to zero.


Tournament in Review:

We caught fish on grass beds in 3 to 8 feet of water on spinner baits and chrome rattle traps. I caught my bedding fish on a watermelon senko and Jeff caught his on a bubble gum twin tail grub rigged on a 1/4 jig head. I caught a total of 7 bass all day, 5 keepers that weighed 10 lbs 1 oz for a 20th place finish. I was the highest Ranger Cup participant in the tournament and won the Ranger Cup award. Unfortunately I lost three good fish that would have put me much higher in the standings if I could have gotten the fish in the boat.

Special Thanks -

Thanks to Kelly, my kids, and my mom for coming along to support me in this event. Thanks again to Jeff Wooldridge for putting us on the fish and making sure I was able to stay at the top of the standings. :-) Extra Special thanks to Dr. Roup for fixing my grill before the tournament. I had a tooth become super sensitive to hot/cold for no reason at all three days before the tournament. Dr. Roup got me in quickly and fixed it up fast. If you're looking for a great dentist in Round Rock then visit Roup Dental. You won't be disappointed.