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Darin Roddick-Small's Tournament Journal |
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Prefishing
A Brovarney Baits swim jig in Blue Devil We
pulled into our first area and worked some new docks that I had never
fished before and within minutes I stuck a solid three pound large
mouth on a dream craw. Nice start I thought to myself, but I was also
a little disappointed that it was that big as I figured I would not
see that fish again on tournament day. Oh well, learn from it, I
thought. We continued to fish a new shoreline with a steep slope
looking for smallies moving to their wintering areas, but found very
few of them. I am guessing it was due to the warm temperatures we had
been experiencing as of late. We did however find large mouths in
these areas. We continued
working this type of structure, and I was now shaking fish off because
I knew they were there and wanted to save these areas for the next
day. After
checking several similar areas, it was time to build another pattern
in case things went south during the event. We road to a sand flat
that I like that still had some green weeds and also a little wood on
the bottom. The water here is about 1 1/2 feet deep and gets little
fishing pressure. I started throwing a swim jig on the flat and hooked
into another solid fish. This one went around 2 1/2 pounds. A good
sign I thought to myself. We worked the area a
little longer as this is a place that will replenish itself
daily and I was not worried about hooking fish. I am glad we stuck
around a little while because it would be the only fish we would catch
there. From
there I headed up the river. I knew the levels were up and it might be
worth trying it out for a little while. Well it fell through, we never
caught a fish up there, but at least we knew that would not be our
strength. II did miss a couple of fish in areas that I normally do
well, so I knew it would be a spot to go if things went bad on the
lake. We finished looking on the river and finally decided we had had
enough and went home around four P.M. This left us plenty of daylight
to get ready for the next day. Tournament
Day We
pulled up on our first spot and started working a shallow bay with
some scattered weeds and a few docks left. I was working a Venom Dream
Craw around a post when I had a solid strike. I set the hook and
reeled in our first fish, a 2 3/4 pound largemouth. I swung him in and
continued working the area. We fished the area a while longer with no
takers. About 20 minutes later, I caught another bass weighing just
over 2 pounds working a similar area. As the water started to become
shallower, I started to switch between the Dream Craw and a Venom
Salty Sling. Working through the docks in this bay, we ended up
boating 3 more legal bass all over 2 pounds. At
this time, it was about 9:30 in the morning and we had 5 of our six
fish limit. We continued fishing the pattern we had for the next few
hours. We ended up jumping from spot to spot for the next few hours
trying to get our last bass of our limit. We ended up catching a
number of short fish while we were going, but nothing that would help
us. At about 12:30, I stuck our sixth legal bass of our day. At the
time, we had six fish for around 14 pounds. Although I was relieved to
have these, I knew that would not be enough for a win. We continued
working our areas hoping to pick up a kicker, or two. We had a bass
that was less than 2 pounds in the well and one right at it that I
knew we would have to get rid of if we were to have a chance at win. We
continued fishing, catching a couple here and there, but nothing that
would help our weight. We were now down to the last hour and I knew we
were running out of time. I was still working my Dream Craw and I
swung it under a dock in about a foot of water. As soon as it, I felt
a good thump. I set the hook and yelled for the net. We pulled it in
and it was a solid 3 1/2 pound bass. I was excited to say the least.
We continued working the area for the next 15 minutes, catching a
couple of small legals that would be of no help. We caught one more
legal, in the last ten minutes of fishing that weigh in at 2 pounds
even. It would be no help. It was now time to head in and let the
chips fall as the may. When
we weighed in, we went into first place, but only about ten boats had
weigh in at that time. We went to load the boat and stow our gear.
When we returned, II checked the leader board to see that we finished
the day in second place, winning the tie breaker with another team
that also had 15.42 pounds. Second place, this was a great way to
finish the year. I
would like to thank my sponsors for all they have done for me this
year, as well as for their fine products. Please check out their sites
to take a look at their products and to order online. If you have any
questions you can also feel free to contact me via email or PM on the
Futurebass.com message board. www.brovarneybaits.com
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