Home lake advantage, or is it…

[pooch]

Home lake advantage, or is it…

 

On Sunday I competed in the Competitive Sport Fishing League’s Tri-Lakes Wildcard event, held out of Bridgenorth. To qualify for the year-end CSFL BassMania classic, I need four good results using only one wildcard as a replacement. Since event one and two were almost a complete bust, I need some good results going forward. Our cottage is on the Tri-Lakes so my expectations and confidence going into the day were high.

 

Practice for me had gone fairly well, and I had found several deep weed lines that held good numbers of quality largemouth. I also had a good read on some giant smallmouth that would be a nice bonus if they cooperated. Our plan was to hit our smallie spots in the morning, and if that doesn’t work out go for largies in the afternoon. Well, long story short our smallie and largie spots produced no keepers for us this day.

 

At 10:30 am and no fish in the wells, we decided to switch it up. If they are not deep, then they must be shallow? So we went shallow alright, and our biggest fish of the day came punching a slop mat in less than a foot of water. We had four quality bites fishing shallow, but only landed two of them. Our final day tally was one four pounder, one three pounder and three barely legal for 10.35 lbs.

 

 

The Good

Happy that my partner and I scrambled to at least get a limit in the boat. We had a chance at a cheque and some decent points, had we not lost any fish.

 

The Bad

Losing two quality fish really stings. On those tough bite days, you just can’t afford any mistakes.

 

The Ugly

Our chances at qualifying for the year-end classic are dwindling fast.

 

I am looking forward to the next stop; three days at the Bay of Quinte on the August long weekend. The Bay of Quinte is one of my favourite fisheries; I can’t wait to get out there. Lots of fish and some big ones too.

 

What worked?

Lure – 3/8 oz Black / Blue Strike King Pro Model flipping jig, and Zoom trailer

Depths – one to four feet. Slop, docks and pads produced our biggest bites

Rods – Shimano Crucial Medium Heavy / Extra Fast

Reels – Shimano Curado 201E7

Line – 65 lb High-Vis Power Pro braided fishing line

Weather Conditions:

Sunny in the morning, cloudy in the afternoon.

Winds – west 10-15 km/h

Surface water temperatures 76-78 Fahrenheit (dropped 3 degrees overnight!)

Air temperatures reached a high of 25 Celsius

 

@http://twitter.com/RedsFishin

Edited July 19, 2010 by redsfishin

[Terry]

real good report

good luck on the next one

[Dutch]

Hey Red, tough day for me and my partner too.

 

We thought they would be slow in the a.m., and they were. We didn't have a fish in the well until around 11:00.

 

The spots we were on picked up around 1:00, just like they had in practice, but it was too little too late.

 

Long bodied plastics worked best for us - light colours. We wold havw liked to go weightless, but couldn't due to the winds. All fish caught 1-3 fow.

 

Ended up with 10.5 pounds, 5 clones. We would have loved to find your 4 and 3, but that's what everyone would say. Biggest fish we had was a 2.5 SM.

 

This will probably be the only event I fish this year, so I will be practicing until summer 2011....

 

Good luck on your quest for the classic.

[Guest Johnny Bass]

Great report. It always hurts when you lose a big fish. I look forward to one day entering a tournament. I dont expect to win because I have only had a boat for 3 years and did a different lake almost every time, So didn't really learn any lakes well enough. But just the adrenalin rush and excitement would be satisfying enough!

[Garnet]

Ahh JB that's what gets you started then it's how bad you want it!

[mbac31]

Been a tough bite all year. We did a tourney in Bancroft area on Saturday. Came in 11th with a 1 lb penalty. Weighed in 13.75 minus the 1 pound. Ended up with 12.75. I know that water rally well to. I'm doing Rice this weekend, Back to Back's. Hope it runs better. Quinte is a great fishery and the fish are cooperating there for me so far. Good luck

[OhioFisherman]

Nice report, home lakes? nice to have a clue on spots that held fish, even nicer if they decide to stay home?

 

Almost an adversion to practice days on lakes I fished before, it can mess up finding fish by thinking they should be here or here.

 

Losing a fish in a tournament is never fun, a few ounces can change the whole experience.

[pooch]

Thanks for the positive comments.

 

I should add that 10.35 lbs got us a middle of the pack finish (32 of 64 boats) as expected. If one of those lost fish was over 3 lbs we would have easily made a pay spot. Had we boated all 4 of the big bites a top 5 position was possible, as it was a tough bite for most guys out there. Weights were down almost 2 lbs from the day before. But hey that's fishing.

 

It's not over til it's over!

[alphaalpha]

Great report! thanks for posting. I'm looking to get into my first tourney with a buddy of mine this year. hope we can work it out, sounds like tons of fun.

 

Good luck with your upcoming ones, sounds like you are putting in some good time so hopefully that pays off for you!