Return to Fishing 2013

It has been a while since I've written, because I suffered a few personal trials of life.  I didn't stop fishing during this time, I just sort of put it on hold.  The reality of it all is that I miss it from beginning to end.  It's something that's hard to describe and hard to understand for anyone outside of the sport.  I signed up for the first event in the Wal-Mart BFL Tournaments in my region and I'm looking forward to seeing how the season  turns out. The first event will be on Lake Sam Rayburn on February 2, 2013. Wish me Luck!

Cheers,
Clint

Texas Classic Bass Club August Tournament on Lake LBJ

I fished the Texas Classic Bass Club August Tournament over the weekend Saturday on LBJ. The weather was typical for August, HOT!!! Water temps at 80 degrees and water clarity was clear to 4 ft. The lake is fishing very well lately. I fished with Bill Gibbson from the club. The tournament hours were 3:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

The Tournament:

Bill and I met at 2:00 AM and we drove out to the lake and idled the boat the first spot I wanted to fish and set to work. It was dark with zero moon light, I started fishing on an underwater light in the marina. We fished around there for another hour and no other takers, so we headed over to the back of the marina and fished the grass. There was quit a bit of top water action, so I tied on a top water frog and started fishing. A few casts later a large explosion resulted in my frogs disappearance, I reeled up to feel for the weight of the fish and when I felt it, I swung hard to set the hook and the link broke. From the weight of what I felt I'm pretty sure it was a big fish and I never even turned it's head. I tied on a new frog and shook it off. A few casts later I put our first keeper in the boat with the frog. 30 minutes later I caught our second keeper on the frog and a little while later I caught a released a 13 inch bass. At that point Bill decided he wanted to borrow a frog from me since he hadn't packed any. We fished them for a while longer and then decided to hit another spot.



I pulled up on a shallow underwater light in front of some boat docks and made a single cast with a crank bait which was slammed as soon as it entered the soft glow of the light under water. After a brief fight, a 3.11 lb large mouth was put into the live well for our third keeper. We made a few more casts, but no takers. We moved on to the next underwater light and on the first cast to it I hooked into another large bass, it jumped and fought to the point that it pulled off at the side of the boat before we could net it. Bill hooked up next with a crank bait and caught our third keeper. A cast later I caught our 4th keeper from the light and on the next cast caught a 13 inch bass from the light. I let the boat float over the light while measuring the short fish and it pretty much killed the bite there, so we moved on down the bank. We fished some grass with no takers on the frogs and then back to an underwater light. I caught our 5th keeper at that point and it was 5:30 AM when we filled our limit. I only say that because several of the teams in the tournament decided to wait and not fish until 6:00 AM because they were convinced the fish were not biting in the early hours of the night.



We left that area and hit a point with some grass on it. On the first pass around the point we had to big blow ups on the frogs, but couldn't get the bass to take the lures. On the second pass Bill had a fish blow his frog about 2 ft into the air when it hit, but again, no luck getting it hooked up. We one or two more missed opportunities and I decided to try another area where I'd caught a 5 lb fish the weekend before.



We arrived and fished all around the area, but I was only able to manage one short fish about 6 inches long. Unfortunately the school of fish that had been there before were long gone. I decided we should move and hit another spot that had produced the weekend before as well. We arrived to fish another point and started throwing Carolina rigs on the point. After a few drifts across the point I hooked up with a short fish. A drift or two later I caught our 6th keeper and culled out a small fish. A few more drifts along and Bill caught our 7th keeper, but no enough to help improve our weight. A little while later I caught another short fish and then we ran out of time.





Tournament in Review:

We think we caught about 10 bass or more over the morning. Most of the fish were caught on crank baits and frogs. Bill and I caught five keepers going 9.5 lbs putting us in 3rd place. A few missed opportunities kept us from second and possibly 1st place, but that's fishing for ya.

We didn't take any pictures from the tournament, below is a picture of the fish I caught the week before.

Special Thanks:

Thanks go out to my family for letting me take a Saturday to do some fishing.

Texas Classic Bass Club July Tournament on Belton

I fished the Texas Classic Bass Club July Tournament Saturday July 11th on Belton. The weather was typical for July, HOT! Water temps in the high 80's and water clarity clear to 4 ft. I fished with Adam DeLeon from the club.

The Tournament:

Since it's been 100 plus on a daily bases, the club voted to fish at night from 12:00AM to 8:00AM. We had clear sky's and a nearly full moon which made for a great night of fishing. We launched at Cedar Ridge park on Belton lake and start fishing the marina. We killed an hour in there and nearly lost a few lures flipping around the boat stalls, but not a single bite. I decided to run down the lake to a main lake hump or sunken island and see if any fish would bite there. We arrived to find lots of bait and white bass hitting the surface, but after an hour of fishing there, no bass. We moved to a creek and fished all the way to the back and I picked up a 12 inch bass on a black spinnerbait. We fished around there for a while, but no other takers. We moved from there to a main lake point and fished around it, making our way into a creek. I caught another short fish on a Texas rigged black brush hog. A short time later Adam set the hook and the fight was on. After a near disaster when the fish wrapped up on a stick, I was able to net his 5 lb small mouth bass! We fish around the area until daylight when I switched to a spinnerbait. After fishing with it for a while, I felt a tug on the line and saw a large bass following my lure to the boat. Unfortunately it doesn't take the lure and spooked away. I switched lures a short time later and hooked into a keeper size bass using a Scrounger. The fish jumps and goes crazy trying to throw the lure. Adam makes a few attempts to net the fish, but misses on the last try and the fish shakes free. Needless to say that hurt just a little bit since we have only an hour and half left in the tournament. We try another spot and I catch one more 12 inch bass on a watermelon brushhog before time runs out on us.

Tournament in Review:

We did not catch a lot of bass which is typical for a night time tournament, but Adam was able to catch a bass of a lifetime when it comes to Texas small mouth bass. It weighed in at 5.04 lbs and was the second largest bass of the tournament. The lake record smallie is 6.42 lbs, so Adam's was a trophy fish. We got 4th place in the tournament with just the one fish.

Congrats to Adam again on his catch! I'm a little jealous since I've caught several 4+ lb smallies from Belton, but haven't gotten one over 5 lbs.

Texas Classic Bass Club May Tournament on Lake Belton

I fished the Texas Classic Bass Club May Tournament few weeks ago Saturday on Belton. The weather was typical for May, cloud cover and scattered rain showers forecasted. Water temps near 80 degrees and water clarity clear to 4 ft on the lower end. The lake is fishing very well lately. I fished with Bill Gibson from the club.

The Tournament:

I woke up ready to fish as soon as my eyes popped open. I had a feeling it was going to be a great day of fishing since the weather was going to be nice after the storms passed. Bill and I met at 5:30 AM. I started fishing on a point and worked my way into a creek. As we started fishing we notices shad were spawning along the shoreline by the hundreds. I picked up a spinnerbait and started catching white bass to 18 inches on cast after cast. At some point as we worked our way into the creek I suggested Bill put on a popper and see if he could get a bass to hit it since we were seeing the bass bust the schools of shad along the shore. Bill made a few casts with the popper and it disappeared in large explosive splash as a 4 lb bass inhaled the lure. After a short fight I scooped the fish up in the net and we were really excited about our first keeper, so high fives were exchanged then we got back to fishing. I proceeded to catch white bass using a combination of the spinnerbait and a top water popper while Bill alternated between his popper and a grub rigged on a jig head. Bill saw a bass hit a shad out in the middle of the creek and threw the grub at it. Seconds after the lure enter the surface he felt a tug on the line and Bill caught our second keeper. We made our way to the back of the creek and continued catching bass and white bass, but nothing that we could bring to weigh-in. We started making our way out of the creek and Bill caught a nice 3 lb small mouth bass on the popper. A short distance later Bill hooked another large bass with the popper, but it was able to jump and shake the lure free. It looked to be a small mouth bass about 3 lbs. We fished around in the creek for another hour and the bite seemed to slow down. On another trip into the back of the creek Bill threw his popper to the head of the creek where a small mouth bass hit the lure as soon as Bill twitched the line. We fished out of the creek and the shad had all disappeared into the deeper waters of the lake. I decided to try a jig for a while and was able to get a bass to hit the lure. It felt like a large fish, but pulled off after a short fight. I decided at that point that we needed to change locations and hit another creek on the other side of the lake. We fished into the back of the creek and on the way back out Bill caught another small mouth bass to fill our limit. I saw some schooling action off the end of point and threw a weightless senko to the spot. After letting it flutter down a little, the line began to run off to the side, so I set the hook on my first keeper size bass of the day, but it was smaller than the bass we had in the live well. We tried several other places and killed a lot of time. With just an hour and a half left in the tournament we decided to load the boat and trailer to the weigh-in location. We arrived with an hour left in the tournament and decided to launch the boat at Cedar Ridge park. I caught 3 short bass out of the marina on a grub pretty quickly and with just 5 minutes left in the tournament I sent the hook on one last keeper size bass, but it wasn't large enough to help our total weight.


Tournament in Review:

We think we caught about 30 bass or more over the day, didn't keep count of white bass. We caught our fish on a combination of lures, but most of the keepers were caught on the popper Bill used. Bill and I caught five keepers going 12.36 lbs putting us in 3rd place.

Bill and I fishing in the creek. Photo by Kelly Bridges

Special Thanks:

Thanks go out to my family for letting me take a Saturday to do some fishing.

Texas Classic Bass Club April Tournament on Lake LBJ

I fished the Texas Classic Bass Club April Tournament over the weekend Saturday on LBJ. The weather was typical for April, cloud cover and scattered rain showers. Water temps at 70 degrees and water clarity was about 12 inches or less on the upper end and clear to 4 ft on the lower end. The lake is fishing very well lately. I fished with Eric Chandler a new Texas Classic Bass Club member.

The Tournament:

I woke up to the sound of the alarm on Saturday morning, but I was ready to fish as soon as my eyes popped open. I had a feeling it was going to be a great day of fishing since the weather was going to be nice after the storms passed and the weekend before I had caught good fish while fishing with Zachary.



Eric and I met at 5:30 AM and we drove out to the lake and idled the boat the first spot I wanted to fish and set to work. It was dark and rain was pouring down off and on. I started fishing on a point and worked my way into a creek. Lightning flashed in the distance, followed by thunder rolling across the lake. As we made our way in, I missed a few fish flipping to the shore with a baby rattle snake worm. Eric was fishing with a spinner bait. I stopped the boat at a spot where I'd caught a 5 lb fish the weekend before and made about 10 casts when I felt pressure on the lure, I set the hook and boated a nice 2 lb bass which I believe was a male that was guarding a bed. We fished on into the creek and I caught a short bass about 13 inches just a few feet into the creek. Lightning struck and Eric got down in the bottom of the boat, said something a long the lines of, "Man I don't like that!" Eric is over six foot, so he would be the highest point on the boat. :-P Any rate I was catching bass and wanted to cover the creek before considering a break. A short time later I caught another keeper bass flipping the worm to the bank. We made out way to the end of the creek and it stopped raining, so Eric started fishing again. I had a solid fish pull off at the back of the creek, but couldn't get another bite in the area. A few casts later I caught another short bass about 10 inches on the way back out of the creek. Eric put his first fish in in the boat a few casts later flipping a stand up jig to the shore. We fish all the way out and no more bites and it starts raining on us again. We fish into another creek and I set the hook on a big fish, I'm ready to go crazy Mike Ike style when I realize it's not a bass. It turns out to be a 4+ lb drum or gaspergoo. It was fun to catch it but frustrating at the same time. Eric got a good laugh out of it watching me fight the fish. A few more casts into the creek and I catch a white perch on the same lure, actually I caught all of the fish on the exact same worm. :-) Unfortunately the smallest fish usually do the most damage to a plastic worm and it was time to retire this one, but I still had 9 more in the pack where that one came from. Watermelon Grandebass Baby Rattle Snakes, they're great lures. We get into the back of the creek and I catch our 3rd keeper on the worm, just barely 14 inches long. Eric goes on a roll after that flipping a stand up jig and catches 4 or 5 short bass two of them out of the same boat slip on back to back casts while talking on the phone with this uncle. That's multi-tasking bass fishing style. :-)





We fished around there for another hour and no other takers, so we headed up the lake to a few different places, trying to locate fish. We hit some more creeks that should have fish on beds. A short ways into the third creek I flipped into a clump of grass in a foot of water and hooked into a fish about 13 inches long. Fishing our way back into the creek I catch another short fish out of a boat dock and Eric follows up with another fish out of slip. We get to the back of the creek and Eric flips the jig to the back of the creek and catches a nice 2 lb bass. I flip into the same area and catch a large perch. We fish out of the creek and decide to fish another spot. We stop off at the bridge pilings and I catch three bass one of which was a solid keeper giving us our 5th keeper to fill our limit. We move on and fish more creeks, burning a lot of time, while catching many short bass between Eric and I. With 45 min left in the tournament we head down the lake to a creek near the weigh-in. I take the boat into a creek where I'd catch a 3 lb bass on a bed the weekend before and it's not home, on the way back out I see a new bass bed and a 5 lb bass is sitting on it. Unfortunately Eric and I can't get it to bite before time runs out and we arrive at weigh-in with 15 seconds left on my GPS before the end of the tournament. We were almost DQ'd for being late to weigh-in.

Tournament in Review:

We think we caught about 30 bass or more over the day. Most of the fish were caught on watermelon baby rattle snake and a watermelon stand up jig. Eric and I caught five keepers going 8.12 lbs putting us in 6th place.

We didn't take any pictures from the tournament, below is a picture of a bass Zachary caught.

Special Thanks:

Thanks go out to my family for letting me take a Saturday to do some fishing.

Texas Classic Bass Club March Tournament on Lake Falcon

I fished the Texas Classic Bass Club March Tournament over the weekend on Saturday at Lake Falcon with Steve Bethea. The tournament didn't go as we had hoped, but we had a great time. For the third time this season, there was 30 mph winds the day of the tournament.




Here's how it went down.

I drove down to the dusty, but growing little town of Zapata Texas that sits on the edge of Texas and Mexico. There isn't much there, but oil/gas fields and the lake. In the last two years though, the town has become more of a bass fishing destination as it has opened several new hotels, two new fishing tackle shops, one with a boat dealer. The lake became famous recently for the high numbers of big large mouth bass caught in BASS and FLW tournaments held on the lake. Falcon lake is a little different than most because it's surrounded by retama trees and mesquite that are covered in thorns. Not only are the fish mean, but so are the trees! Let me try and paint a clear picture of how lake looks, the bass are swimming around in 7 to 10 ft of water which was dry land a few months ago. In 10 ft of water the trees are sticking up about two feet out of the water and the shallower you go the higher the trees stick up. It looks more like you are fishing in a jungle than a lake with all the green trees filled with yellow flowers and loud colorful birds fluttering from tree to tree. Other guys in the club, reported seeing snakes, but we never saw any.

Weather was very cloudy, temps in the lower 90's, and wind blowing 30+ mph all night and day, both days. Water temps ranged from 68 to 71 degrees depending on where you were in relation to the wind and the water dept. We arrived at Tiger Island boat ramp at 5:30 AM, but instead of launching right away, we had a little trouble getting the boat off the trailer. One of the boat buckles wouldn't release. We spent an hour trying to get the buckle to release or at least get enough slack to unhook the boat. When faced with not fishing or cutting the strap, I had to cut the strap, but we were finally on the water. The wind was blowing pretty hard, but I really wanted to fish down the lake near the dam, so I headed out to the main lake. We stopped at the island to judge the wind and waves, and also did a little fishing. No, bites and I decided it was going to get rough on the main lake, so we headed back into the Big Tigers creek. I had to drive the boat through a few hundred yards of the stuff you see in the photo above only with lots of wind blowing. Once I got the boat in the very back and into about 6 ft of water I dropped the trolling motor and started blazing a new trail through the stuff. My goal was to find 2 ft of water where bass may be spawning. After a few casts I felt a hit next to the boat and looked down in time to be startled by the sight of a large gar following behind the lure. Two casts later I made a short cast between a few tree tops and as I retrieve the lure a few feet from the boat a 5+ lb bass charges out of the brush and inhales the lure. "Get the net! Get the net!" That is all I could say as the fish made a run back into the brush. I fought it back out and it made a few more runs, but Steve netted the fish as soon as it got close to the boat. Caught it on a white chatterbait, just like the fishing reports said I would. It pays to do your home work before going out to the lake. From there we navigated our way through a maze of thorny brush fishing, but four hours later we had absolutely nothing to show for our efforts. I'd gotten us into unfished areas of the lake, gotten the boat completely stuck and free again. While driving home, Steve admitted that at one point he was concerned we might not get the boat back out of there, especially when we were stuck. I'd found only one small bass on a bed and it wasn't willing to bite. I took a break to chug a Diet Dr Pepper and eat a Snickers.

The break gave me a chance to think about that first fish and what we were doing wrong. Time to move back out to deeper water. I made run out of the brush and up the lake to a small creek that feeds into Big Tigers. Once we got in the creek, we found the brush to not be quit as thick but standing in deeper water 12 ft and shallower. About 30 yards into the brush, we found a pipeline or old road bed running across the creek. I decided we'd fish it to the shore and try to locate bedding fish again since we were closer to the main lake. We fished all the way in an nada, only a large carp in the shallow water. On the way back out I started throwing the chatterbait again and set the hook. "Fish! It's a good one, going 3 or 4 lbs probably. Get the net!" After one good run, the bass rolled over and slid into the net. Steve said, "Man, that fish is 6 lbs easy. You caught it in 10 ft of water." At this point we've got about 2 hours left to fish and only two keepers going about 11 lbs. A little while later I set the hook and land a 3 lb fish on the chatterbait. I stop fishing and dig out another chatterbait and give it to Steve to fish with. A few minutes later and I hear all heck break loose on the back deck and Steve has a nice 3 lb fish on the line. With 3o minutes left in the tournament I see a bass chasing shad within casting distance and throw the chatterbait to it. It bites and I land our fifth and final catch of the day.

This is the picture of the 6.59 lb bass from day one.

Day 1 results, we're in 1st for the classic tournament with just over 19 lbs and 2nd place over all. One of the non-qualifier teams brought in 21+ lbs. The 6.59 bass I caught turned out to be the biggest bass of the tournament.

Day 2:

We launch the boat on Sunday morning and head out to a dear stand I'd hear some of the guys talking about that sounded like the spot I'd caught fish before. Well we found the blind, but I'm fairly certain it wasn't the same one. We didn't catch anything in the area so we headed back to the creek we had finished the tournament in the day before. Not long after we begin fishing Steve sets the hook and lands a nice 3 lb bass on the white chatterbait. That fish cost us a little because clouds rolled in and the wind let up which seemed to change the mood of the fish. We spent the next 4 hours fishing chatterbaits with no bites and found ourselves in the same spot all over again. Very little time left and we needed to figure out the fish in order to stay in the game. We decided to move out to the outside edge of the brush in deeper water. Not long after we started fishing here, Steve sets the hook on a 5 lb bass flipping a 6 inch watermelon lizard. After putting that fish in the livewell, new hope is born, the goal to catch 3 more bass sets in. We fish the edge for a while longer with no success and I decide to make a move to the wind blown side of the lake since the winds have let up. I take the boat into a new creek and find another road bed to fish. Steve and I had decided the sun and wind were necessary to get the fish interested in biting a chatterbait, so he flipped a lizard and I put on a 10 inch zoom worm, pumpkin/ with purple and gold flakes. We fish down the road bed with two hours left in the tournament. A little way down the road and I set the hook on a nice 3 lb bass. Now there's only an hour and half left and we still need two fish to have any shot at winning this tournament. Ten minutes later I drag the worm from the brush into the road and bam, fish on! Turns out to be a little swimmer just over 14 inches, but he ate it and fought hard. We continue fishing the road till it comes to an inter section with another road. We only have an hour left so we decide to fish our way back toward the main lake, so we're not late getting back. At this point the clouds have broken up a little and the wind is blowing again, so I tell Steve I'm going out chatterbait style. 5 minutes later, Steve is standing on the back deck of the boat and begins to prey out loud. "Lord please, give us just one more 5 lb bass!" I finish my lure retreave and on the next cast with the chatterbait our prayers are answered and a 5 lb bass crushes the lure. It goes crazy fighting and jumps next to the boat, but stays on. We get the fish in the live well and still have 10 minutes to fish. We do our best to try for one more, but come up empty, time to head in for weigh-in, but we have a limit so we're excited. After the fish are weighed, we find out we have over 15 lbs of fish and take first place! We are the Texas Classic Bass Club 2009 Classic Champions!

Tournament in Review:

We caught 7 bass on white chatterbaits in 6 to 10 ft of water in small creeks or drains. The other fish were caught on the edge of brush on soft plastics. We weighed 10 fish for 34+ lbs.

I have to explain this photo. In our club the pose I'm doing is called, "The Larry." Push your fish way out, smile big, and tilt your head - that's "The Larry."

If you want to see more big fish pics and various club members performing "The Larry" - click here - http://www.tcbc.net/page24.html *scroll down. :-)

Texas Classic Bass Club February Tournament

I fished the Texas Classic Bass Club February Tournament over the weekend on Saturday at Lake LBJ. The tournament didn't go as we had hoped, but we had a great time. I watched the wind reports all week and was ready for the worst.

Here's how it went down.

At 5:45 AM I met up with my partner for the tournament Jason St. Peter on the way to the lake. Weather was very cloudy, temps in the upper 40's, and wind blowing 30+ mph over the day. We launched and headed out to Thunder Birds or Morgans creek to start our trip. We started fishing and within about five casts I hooked into what would have been our first keeper, after a short fight the fish jumped completely out of the water and shook free of my spinner bait. We moved back into the creek where I flipped a jig to a lay down and was trying to pop the lure free of a limb when a nice bass exploded on the lure ripping the jig trailer off, but missing the hook. We spent a while there trying different lures on the tree hoping the fish would return and bite again, no such luck. I saw a splash in the middle of the creek and threw a senko to the area, let it flutter down a bit and the line stopped moving, so I set the hook on a 10 inch bass. We started fishing our way out and Jason set the hook on our first keeper of the day, a nice 15 inch bass. About this time the front hit and the wind jumped from a slight breeze to 30 mph with dust and drizzle mixed in. It was nasty!!!



We went back out and tried fishing a big point that someone had marked. That didn't work out so we move back out where I lost the fish early and tucked the boat behind a fish house out of the wind to rest a bit. While tucked up behind the fish house Jason caught our second keeper of the morning on a crank bait, a good 16 to 17 inch bass. We moved out onto a point and fish along the protected shore for a few hours with Jason catching a short fish and nothing else biting. We went back to the point with the marker and Jason caught our third keeper, a Guadalupe bass on the same crank bait he'd caught the other fish on. We then proceeded to kill a lot of time fishing windy banks, protected banks, bluffs, flats, and nothing seemed to work. We even tried jigging in deep water over schools of bait. I decided at that point it was time to fish in Silver creek, even though I knew the boat ride was not going to be fun.



We hit the main lake going about 45 mph, bashing two and three ft rollers white capping, and I had the boat running dead into the north wind. Instead of getting beat to death, I decide the waves were close enough together that we could just skip over them going faster, which worked really well at 60 mph. The down side to that was, it pretty much scared the life out of Jason who didn't appreciate my tactic for handling the rough water. I fished a lot of tournaments and ran in much worse conditions, but forgot to take into account Jason's perspective when I made the run. Looking back I know exactly how Jason felt, because I've been there many times fishing tournaments as the co-angler in BFL, TTT, and FLW tournaments. From his perspective and my previous experiences, we were flying across the lake with very little of the boat actually touching the water, which seems to be on the very edge of out of control and all you can do that point is hang on for fear of fly out out. Most men in these conditions find religion if they didn't already have it. "Lord, please get us there safely..." or something along those lines ends up running through our minds. At any rate, Jason let me know he would like to take the ride back and brave the pounding vs skipping the waves. :-P Lucky for us, the winds died down to about 15 mph and the waves were not as bad on the way back.



Back to the fishing, once inside Silver creek we set to work fishing down the bank. I decided to switch up and tie on the kicker fish bait, a 3/4 oz red craw rat-l-trap. We fished the marina, rocky banks, log jams, and some points with no luck. In the last hour of the tournament, we fished along a stump covered point, where I hooked our fourth keeper, on the trap a nice 17 to 18 inch bass. We decided to work the point a few more times and Jason put our final keeper in the boat a 14 inch bass that filled our limit. He caught another little 10 inch bass and in the final minutes, I lost a good fish. That's part of rat-l-trap fishing, you can't get every fish you hook with those things in the boat.

Tournament in Review:

Frontal conditions with high winds all day made for a long fishing trip, but we managed to put good sack of keepers in the boat. We took 4th place with 9+ lbs. First place had a successful trip in all the wind and were able to catch 14 lb of bass, with a 5lb kicker.