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Darin Roddick-Small
Futurebass Pro Staff
Prairie du Chein BFL Tournament Journal
July 12, July 13,
July 14, July 15 (Tournament Day)
Before going to
the river
Prior to even
getting heading to the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chein, I sent
some time looking at some old maps that I had marked up from a
vacation that I had taken there the year before. I also read up on
some journal entries that I had made to see what kind of patterns I
had located on that trip. I had started to develop my game plan. I
also took some time to look through the files I had on that stretch of
river to determine what I thought it would take to cash a check and to
win. I figured it would take about 12 pounds to cash and 15.5 pounds
to win. I also spent some time talking to locals about how the low
water conditions this year not only was affecting the fishing, but if
it had made it dangerous to run any of the common back sloughs. I
finished my researching by deciding if I wanted to fish pool 10, or
11. I opted for 10, because I would not have to fight barge traffic
and I would rather dissect one stretch of water rather than two on my
first tournament on this body of water. The following is an account of
both my pre-fishing for the tournament and the tournament day itself.
July 12th
(Wednesday)
After arriving at
the boat launch at 2:30, I launched my boat to start my afternoon of
fishing. It was about 85 degrees with minimal winds. I found the water
temperatures to be in the upper 70’s to 80 degrees. This was lower
than I thought it would be with all the warm weather that had been in
the area for the past few weeks. Another thing I found was really low
water. From what the locals had been saying, it was the lowest they
could remember it in some time. I found the water very clear for this
stretch of the river as well.
I started off by
fishing a stretch of main river that has a series of lay downs in it.
I pulled out my flipping stick and started pitching creatures into the
logs. On my first cast, I had a bass come from underneath a log and
hammer my offering. It stunned me enough that I missed one the hook
set. I would make sure that I would not get caught sleeping again. I
worked the area a little longer with the plastics and then switched
over to a jig. After a few moments of hauling water, I decided to pick
up the pace a little. I pulled out another rod that had a Brovarney
Blue Devil Jig tied on with a June bug trailer. I went over the entire
area again and ended up hooking up on a fish as I pulled it over a
log. After fighting it for a while I saw that it was a small pike.
Discouraged with the results of the area, I decided to pack up and
move on.
I moved up river
to another area that I had caught some fish on the year before as
well. I dropped my trolling motor and started to fish the weed edges
with current. I was tossing a swim jig again and within five casts, I
had caught two bass. I thought this to be a good sign, although they
were not all that big. I continued to work the area but never caught
anything over 15”. I decided to pull out off of the edge a bit to
see if I could locate some larger fish. I started by throwing a tube
jig. I caught a 15” large mouth after a few minutes working the
drop. I later switched over to a shaky head jig tipped with a worm and
started to catch some much nicer fish. I usually fish a shaky head
with a straight tail worm, but switched up this time and went with an
old-fashioned curly tail worm. Just goes to show that just because
something is old, doesn’t mean it won’t work.
The last place I
fished, was on the upper stretch of the pool in a slough with a lot of
lay downs in deep water. I flipped plastics and a jig-n-pig in this
area as well. Here, I found that there were a ton of small fish
holding in the trees, but the bigger ones were holding in the deeper
water on the outer edges.
A
Day in Perspective
After fishing for
about five hours, I headed into the ramp and stowed my gear. While I
was cleaning up my boat, I was thinking about all that I saw during my
time on the water. Between the water conditions and the number of fish
I caught during the day, I knew that things were going to be tight for
the tournament. The fish were snapping. I figured that the weight will
be all bunched up from about fifteenth place down. I was also
expecting that there would be a lot of limits of bass brought in. I
also decided that I would eliminate one pattern from my list. That
would be main river grass. I decided to do this because of the number
of boats that I saw working that grass. I knew that although there
would be fish in that area, they would not win me any money.
June
13th (Thursday)
Today
I got up and was fishing shortly after six.
On this day, I was fishing with a friend of mine from the area,
Chuck. I had fished with Chuck on a few other occasions and knew he
would be very helpful to have in the boat, not only because of his
knowledge of the area, but because our fishing style are very close. I
feel that that is important, so that if you want to try a variety of
things, you know they will be in your comfort zone. The last thing you
want to try to do is learn a new style right before a tournament,
because it is hard to develop confidence in a new technique,
especially if things go south.
I
started on my deep-water spot just to make sure that those fish were
not just passing through. After we fished that area, we started to
move down river to fish some sloughs that had been producing some good
fish I the past few weeks. We pulled into this little cut only to find
an older couple in there. We waited for a while, to let them come
through, but the were working it very hard and they took a long time.
They had their live well pumping, so we know they were taking some
home for dinner. After working that area for some time and only
catching one short largemouth, we moved on to the next area.
We
pulled into another cut and pitched plastics and jigs into the timber.
We caught a number of short fish, but nothing of real quality. We also
threw spinner baits and swim jigs into the lay downs. The swim jig
caught many more fish than the spinner bait. After continuing to only
catch sort fish, we discussed why the larger fish had moved out and
decided it must be because of the lower water and decreased current.
Upon
deciding that the backwater sloughs were not going to be of much help
to me, we opted to move back out to the main river. From there, I
worked on developing a pattern. Our best fish came on the ends of the
points. We fished these areas with creatures and jig worms. After
going from one point to the next, I started to figure what the sweet
spots were on the points. I was at this point, only fishing one
particular bait, but was trying different colors to see which color
was working the best. We ran from point to point, and I was keeping
note as to which ones were holding the best fish. One of the most
important factors was the depth of the water, but it was not the only
thing holding fish there. Many of these points also had an abundance
of baitfish as well, but the bass were not chasing them.
A
Day in Perspective
After
we came off the water we commented to each other about the quality of
the fish that we caught during the day. This also reaffirmed for me
that it was going to be a tight race for placing in the cash. On our
way back to the motel, Chuck and I stopped at a local tackle shop and
I picked up some more plastics that I was running low on. We then
headed back to the motel, where we got things ready for the next day.
June 14th
(Friday)
After developing what I felt to be a very strong
pattern and milk run for the tournament, Chuck and I decided we would
just go out exploring and have some fun on Friday. I had not been down
by the dam at all during my pre-fishing ventures, so we decided to
head down that way. The first thing we noticed on Friday that was
different from the rest of the days that I had been out was the number
of boats. The two days prior, we saw very few boats out on the water,
they made up for it on Friday. Anyway, we started off by fishing the
same types of features we had located on the upper portion of the pool
in hopes of maybe finding some more pockets of quality fish.
The first point
we pulled up on, we were promptly rewarded with a few fish, however,
they were not as big, and they were small mouths. This was something
that I had not caught many of in the two previous days. We were still
catching our fish on the standard plastics and Brovarney swim jigs. As
we worked down this wooded bank, we were able to locate pockets of
small mouths. None of them were very big, but they were fun to catch.
We quickly left this area before too many people saw us fishing it and
we hooked too many.
We continued on
all morning working our way down river hitting various spots that
looked like they could hold fish. Many of them did. As we fished, I
started to experiment with tubes in place of the other plastics we
were using. I ended up finding success with one particular type and
color of tube. It is always important to develop back up patterns when
tournament fishing just in case your good stuff falls apart. It is
also good to try a number of different colors to see if you can
improve your catch rate and size. I had one day been just dipping the
very tip of the tube into a coloring dye made a huge difference. The
size of the fish increased greatly. Just remember, it never hurts to
try, especially in practice.
We ended up
coming off the river very early on Friday. Not only did I want to
leave my fish alone, but also the temperature was also very
oppressive. There was no need for me to be out there any longer and
sap myself of any further energy for the next day.
A
Day in Perspective
After coming off the water, I felt pretty good
about were I was for this tournament. I had about a dozen really solid
places that I felt that I could go to and get my limit. The only
question would be how big are they going to be? I knew that there were
some really solid fish in these locations, the only thing I had to do,
was fish a good tournament.
June
15th (Saturday) The Tournament
I woke up
Saturday morning at 4:00 AM to start getting ready for my day. I was
feeling good, I got a great night of sleep and I felt completely
refreshed. I went out to my boat and started to take off my tarp.
After folding it up, I took it to my truck to set it in. As I was
placing it on the front seat, disaster struck. I felt my back go out.
I had been battling back spasms for the past week, but thought I had
gotten past them, I was wrong. After trying to relax my back, I
decided there was no time like then to take some Advil. What a great
way to start my day I thought. I left the parking lot trying to keep a
positive attitude and went with the thought that there was nothing I
could do about it now, because I had to fish.
After
take off, my non-boater and I started off to my first spot. We worked
it for a few minutes, and then he caught the first fish of the day. I
thought this was a good sign, except it wasn’t me catching the fish.
After a few minutes, I boated my first keeper on a Blue Devil
Brovarney Swim Jig. It was a solid 16” largemouth, not a bad start.
We continued to work the area and my no-boater caught his first fish.
After working up the shore, I landed my second keeper of the day after
about one half hour fishing. I felt good about it, even though my back
was bothering me. It could have been much worse. We worked the area
for another fifteen minutes without another keeper, time to move on.
We
run down the river about a mile and pulled into our second spot. And
fished some rocks, weeds and wood that was next to some current. I
flipped my creature into the wood and hammered back on a solid fish.
It was a three pounder that I flipped into the boat. I was really
feeling good about my day now. After putting him in the live well, I
went back to work. I flipped back in and felt another pick up. Again,
I slammed back and landed another good largemouth. This one went about
two and a half pounds. After about an hour of fishing, I was sitting
with 4 fish in my well and a positive attitude. We worked the area for
a while longer and then moved on.
We
then moved on down to my next spot, which was a point a few miles more
down the river. We pulled up to it and started working the wood. Soon
after I had another pickup on my plastic. I set the hook and saw the
fish coming up out of the trees. It is a good fish I was thinking to
myself, an easy three pounder. At that moment, it came unbuttoned.
There is nothing more aggravating than losing a good fish. Oh well, I
thought to myself, there is a lot of day left. So I went on. With in
the next hour, I landed my fifth keeper of the day, a 14” small
mouth. I knew he wouldn’t be much help to me. So we kept going. By
now, the heat was starting to become a real factor. It was getting
really hot. I am guessing in the low 90’s by 11:00 AM.
We
again moved down river to a few spots that we had not worked yet. We
fished in a back slough for a while and my non-boater landed his
second keeper, a solid two and a half pounder. I thought that would
have helped me. Nothing to do now, but keep going, I said to myself.
About a half hour later, I hooked my fifth keeper, a two-pound small
mouth. We continued on. The sun was really beating down now and we
could not put water in us fast enough, I quit sweating by now, because
I was so dehydrated.
We
started working our way back up river now and hit a variety of
different spots. On one my non-boater caught his third and final
keeper. We continued fishing for a couple of more hours trying to
locate some more quality fish. Unfortunately, we did not catch
anything better the rest of the day. Off to weigh in we go.
The
Tournament in Perspective
Looking back on the tournament, I have bittersweet
feelings. I am happy that I caught a respectable limit, despite my
back pain. On the other hand I lost two really nice fish that would
have given me at least another two pounds to my total weight of 10
pounds 12 ounces. Aside from that, I wish I would have worked some of
the other areas down river more instead of working my way all the way
back up river. Hindsight is always 20/20 though. The day move me up
over fifteen places in the yearlong standings as well. If I fish well
on the next two tournaments, I should make the regional tournament
easily. I just have to remember to keep learning and remember that
this is my first year on the circuit and I have not fished a lot of
this water before.
Take
care and God Bless,
Darin Roddick-Small
Futurebass-
Pro Staff
Brovarney Baits- Pro Staff
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