Ft. Myers Bass Club Two Day Tournament - Day 2

Day Two of our club tournament was held on Reedy Lake, near Frostproof, Florida. I had been to this lake before so I had an idea of how to fish the lake. We blasted off and headed straight to an area that was full of reeds with pepper grass coming out into the lake in about 5 feet of water. We made a pass through the area without a bite on rattle traps and topwaters. Then I picked up the spinnerbait.

I was throwing a 3/8 oz Chartreuse/Blue Pepper spinnerbait with one silver and one gold willow blade. I caught four small keepers in less than 15 minutes. Then I had to switch rods and reels because of some damage to my rod. After that the bite was over for the morning. We fished the area for about an hour and started running around the lake looking for more pepper grass beds. We found a few good areas, but couldn't catch a fish. I caught my fifth fish around noon on a black and blue Lethal Weapon swim jig, but my limit was only around 5 pounds.

I decided to head back to our first area and grind it out with two other boats for the last two hours. I tried everything, but could not get bit. At two o'clock I picked up the spinnerbait and didn't put it down. I ended up replacing two tiny fish with a 2.5 and a 2.0 pound fish. I improved my weight by close to three pounds in the last thirty minutes!

At the weigh-in, most people said all they could get were small keepers. I felt pretty good about my limit, which weighed close to 8 pounds. One fisherman shocked the crowd with a 7.4lb fish and 14 pound limit to take the win. He beat Tanya's big fish from yesterday and blew right past me to first place. I ended with a two day total of 16 pounds and took 2nd place!

Overall it was a great tournament. I fished a lake I had never been to and did well on the first day and came through in the clutch in the last few minutes on day 2. I really liked being a boater again and making all the decisions. I can't wait to get another boat.

Ft. Myers Bass Club Two Day Tournament - Day 1

This weekend our club, the Fort Myers Bass Club, had their annual two day tournament. Day 1 we fished lake Walk-in-Water and Day 2 we fished Lake Reedy. Both of these lakes hold some huge bass and are located just a few miles apart. Our club was short on non-boaters, so I borrowed a buddy's boat who was out of town. It was my chance to be a "boater" again, something I haven't done since we moved from Washington State last year.

Day 1 started off less than perfect. My non-boater went to pull up the trolling motor and the rope broke. This caused us to be last to go out. Oh well. I started fishing right next to the ramp and caught two fish on a popper. The limit for this lake is 3 fish, so I was almost to my limit. We took off across the lake after thirty minutes. I had never been to this lake, so I just cruised the shore looking for some good looking water. I found some isolated islands of reeds and started throwing the flick shake. I caught a nice 4 pound fish on it. When we went to look for the net I realized it was still at my buddy's house. I wore the fish out with my spinning rod and lipped it after a long fight.

After that I picked up the rattle trap and fished as fast as I could. I ended up catching 15-20 keepers but only culled up twice. I ended the day with 3 fish for 8.4lbs and was sitting in 3rd place. But the real star of the day was my girlfriend Tanya...who was in first.

She didn't say anything to me at the ramp about how great she did. She waited until she pulled the fish out of the bag to let me see them. She pulled out two nice fish and then pulled out the hawg. I was shocked. It weighed 6.82lbs. She had 3 fish for almost 11 pounds....Wow...She caught them all on rattle traps. The night bef0re she went through my box and found one that looked "pretty". Maybe I should start looking for the prettiest baits instead of trying to match the forage.

Playing it Safe

Lake Okeechobee has been dropping steadily due to the lack of rain. This makes navigation on the main lake pretty scary since much of the area is less than two feet deep with the occasional rock reefs. The partner I drew for the BFL on Saturday wanted to play it safe and stay in the Kissimmee river to make sure we caught fish, and more importantly that we made it back safely.

I have never really fished the river, so it was nice to see what it was all about. The day started off great. I had four small keepers by 8:00 on a shaky head, but it went down from there. I was never able to catch another keeper. I caught three short bass, a bluegill, two gar, a warmouth, and a mudfish. It was frustrating not bringing in that fifth one, but at least I got some decent points. I weighed in 5lbs 5oz to finish 44th. Overall for the season I am in 22nd place, exactly where I was before this event.

I had a good time Saturday; my partner was great, the weather was nice, and I caught some fish. Really there is nothing to complain about. I'm in great shape to make the regional this October on Seminole.

Lake Okeechobee BFL

Tommorow is the 4th BFL of the year. I'm currently in 25th in the points, so I need to catch some fish to get points to stay in the top 40. I haven't been this excited for a tournament in a while. The fish are really biting on the lake. The problem is that it has been really windy and rainy and I'm wondering how that's going to affect the water clarity. As a co-angler, I can't choose where I'm going to fish. I just hope I get a draw who is around fish. That's all I can ask for. Hopefully I'll be posting a great report tommorow night!

Lake Okeechobee Club Tournament

I got a call from one of my buddies who lives on the other coast of Florida and said their club was going to Lake O and I could fish as his guest. I took him up on the offer because I wanted to get on the lake before next week's BFL. I'm really glad I fished, it was a fun day.

The lake is really low right now due to the drought we have had so far this year and because they keep pumping water out, so this makes running around quite dangerous. We fished almost all day in water no deeper than two feet, most of the time it was 1.4 or 1.5, but the fish were there.

The morning started great, I caught one on topwater and three nice fish on a Skinny Dipper. Then I started catching short fish. I must have caught 10-15 10 inch bass on flukes and quiver sticks. Around Noon we decided to move to another area about 20 minutes away. When we got there, it was full of boats, basically the whole club was there. We heard how we missed an awesome topwater bite with most boats catching 20+ fish each. Wow.

I noticed the grass was matted in certain areas, so I picked up the Bobby's Perfect Frog in all black, and committed to it for the last two hours. I caught my two biggest fish on it, a 3.09lb fish and another 2.5 lb fish. One thing I did to customize this frog was to pull all the yellow strands out of the skirt tails. It made all all black frog. I don't know how much this affects it, but it looks awesome!
I ended the day with 10.79 pounds. The winning weight was 15lbs, with a few 12 pound limits behind that. I now have a goal for next week: 16 pounds!

After work bassin'

Yesterday after work I met up with a friend who was visiting from out of town. We decided to get some fishing in while we still had some daylight. The canals are so close to work, we fished there for about an hour before it got too dark and the mosquitoes started going crazy. We each caught a fish, so it was a success. The fish I caught ended up being a nice, fat 4 pounder. It bit a Mizmo Diamond Darter Fluke in watermelon and nearly ripped the rod out of my hand when it bit. It was definitely a Florida bass, pulling drag and jumping several times.

We also saw the big gator I posted a pic of a few weeks back. This time he wasn't just sunbathing....he was on the prowl. It was funny how once he swam through, we didn't get another bite.....hmmm. Those bass know who's the boss of the water.

Sunglasses

Sunglasses: one of the most important, yet often overlooked piece of gear we own. My favorite sunglasses are made by Eye Surrender. They are top quality and very reasonably priced. I have used all the best brands out there and I always end up breaking them or losing them somewhere. The solution: buy 3 different lenses for the price of 1 "brand name" pair.

Each pair is made using the nylon I-FLEX TR90 Frames and cost only $39.99 each and come with a case and cleaning cloth. The best part is the Unlimited Lifetime Warranty!

Gray Blue Mirror Amber

Use the gray lenses for all around fishing conditions, the blue mirror for extra sunny and the amber for sight-fishing and low light conditions.

Excuses

This week I have been thinking about my last tournament on Crooked Lake. I remember the morning how everyone was complaining about the wind and small fish they had been catching. It reminded me of the excuses fisherman make. I wrote an article a few months ago and thought how true it sounded that day. Most of the fishermen were out of it mentally before it started. Let me know what you think of the article:


Excuses
By: Tyler Brinks

You hear them during pre-fish, at the tournament meeting, before takeoff, and most of all after the weigh-in. It seems like bass fisherman have an excuse ready for any situation. I have learned that no matter what the situation is, there is an excuse ready to justify your poor performance. Maybe it was the weather, the water level, the moon phase, the season, the water clarity, or the fishing pressure.

Recently I entered a tournament and started hearing the negative talk the minute I arrived at the lake, and it continued until well after the weigh-in was complete. It seems as if this negativity was the reason so many people came in empty handed or with one or two fish. As the saying goes, “Somebody always catches them” and this tournament was no different, there were two bags over twenty pounds. Obviously, the conditions did not affect all of the fish. I bet if you talked to these fishermen before the tournament they weren’t the ones complaining about the post spawn fish forced to live in a dropping lake during a cold front.

Fishing is a mental game, and as we all know, giving up before the tournament ends is not going to help anyone win. I saw this first hand in this event. My partner for the tournament started the excuses early on, and never caught another fish. I continued to push and was rewarded with a three pound fish minutes before we had to leave.

Usually I am as guilty of this as anyone, and sometimes catch myself playing to the negativity. When things start to go bad, I can sense doubt in myself. It’s almost like in the back of my head I am making excuses for my poor catch and trying to justify my low weight. It is a mental battle out there, and you need every bit of concentration to push you over the top.

The realization that any cast can save the day sounds simple, but it is often forgotten when things get tough. Just remember to stay focused and keep casting. Do not let the negativity bring you down; the next cast could be the winning fish.