Clarks Hill Tournament

[Ca_Bass]

Fished a tournament this Saturday and it was tough!

there were 279 bass boats and it was a team tourney so I'm guessing around 550 anglers since some people fish solo.

They paid out to the 27th spot, well I didn't cut a check

I pre fished Tuesday to Friday and had a pretty solid patern going that I was confident could produce at least 12lbs. It was much different on Saturday, the wind died and I had to change my game plan. I was fishing rocky/gravel points and islands near spawning areas that had wind on them. 1st reason was that most bass have finished spawning. Second is some of the shad have started to spawn in those areas.

On Friday I explored a bit since I felt I had a good thing going and wanted to find a back up plan, so I fished some humps that were nearby the same areas and caught some decent quality fish.

One thing I overlooked was how big a factor 279 boats would be. My first spot I fished tourney day I had caught a 4 pounder and got bit 4 other times and didn't set on Thursday. When I got there there was already a boat nearby but not on the sweet spot. Then after 5 minutes of fishing it there were another 3 boats on the spot!! I then went to another area where I had found fish on 3 points earlier in the week but couldn't buy a bite! It was about 0815 when I figured the lack of wind had killed my spots. So I decided to try my back up plan. Hit the best hump I had and made my way around it. I haven't done a whole lot of "off shore" bass fishing but what I'm finding is it just takes a lot of patience and a navionics countor map to find the sweet spots on these humps. Finally my partner catches a 1.5lb bas, we had the first monkey off our back then he catches another shortly after. But he was barely legal. Then I catch a bass that was 2lbs and was starting to feel a little better. Then in the next 15 minutes I caught 2 more 1 pound bass 2 finish off our limit. All of our keepers came dropshotting. Once we had our limit I decided to fish big. I fished the hump for another 30 minutes with a jig and didn't get bit again. I fished a couple nearby humps and they only produced 1 short bass.

In hindsight, I should have just pulled off the first hump for 30 minutes then gone back and hit it againfished nearby and guard my spot. But I decided to just run to humps for the next 4 hours with no success. I then made a 20 minute run up lake to plan C but again no fish and then to plan d which was docks and no fish. Starting to think I had too many patterns going in.

We ended up with a small limit of 6.5lbs. 11lbs was what it took to cash a check so we weren't too far off. Don't know for sure what place we ended up but I'm guessing it was at least top 100. Many teams zeroed and a lot struggled to limit. All in all it was a decent touney. Besides the fact that my allstar ASR rod with a team daiwa zillion reel went in the lake and I also broke my st croix shakey head rod a solid $550 of fishing equipment!

Found out today we finished 99th. Only 112 of the 279 boats weighed fish.

Hoping to fish another tournament this weekend but will have to find a babysitter! By tmw night!

[Basshead]

I thought you did some right things on the water. With a large field of anglers, you know the obvious areas will get pounded. You would think with the shad spawning and the abundants of blue back herring just about everywhere fishing should have been better. The bait fish will key on certain things though. But like you mentioned the conditions changed. I bet the leaders caught there fish where grass were present, cause the shad spawns in the grass and are very active in the mornings or they caught it on reaction baits that mimicks the herring or shad. Probably on secondary points or drops close to major spawning flats. Which would be typical post spawn areas. On there way out to the main lake. It would be my guess. But in fishing, there are so many variables to consider, things can change quickly. But sticking to ones strength will consistently score big. In your case, you are able to power or finesse fish. Versatility will be your key to better results in future tournaments. Good luck.

[Ca_Bass]

My original plan throughout the week was to fish a fluke or a cifine shad. That is what most of my fish and all my best fish came on during practice. But the tourney day i didnt get bit much on it. Even switched to a fkuke jr hoping that might help but it didnt. I'm guessing that the lack of wind was letting them get a pretty good look at it and they weren't commiting. I fished a rattle trap as well hoping that if they bit short they would still get hooked, ended up catching a 5lb channel cat and a 5 inch yellow perch on the trap. Thats when my partner caught a couple drop shotting. So i grabbed my DS rod and we finished our limit. Pretty much from that point on i fished a jig and a 10 inch worm. Probably should have stuck with the cranks longer like you mentioned because of the all the baitfish spawning or swithced to a hard jekbait. I dont know why i went with the jig, i hadn't got bit on it all week. I just kept thinking one or two quality bites on the jig and we'll be in the money....i guess it's live or die by the jig

Hopefully the shad are still spawning by the next tourney I fish. I have a spot that is in a large bay with a big creek channel that feeds it. It has some large island, points, and also an abundance of hydrilla(it should be starting to get thick in that area again). It also a nice area because it is suitable for resident fish that shouldnt need to "migrate" very far to find what they need. I dont know why but I've only hit it a couple of times the past few months. It's the kind of area you have to work your way through because it offers so much different structure, but all of it is relativy close so you dont have to run and gun all day. Im going to keep this in mind for future practices. If i find find were the fish are holding in the area, i should be able to re- apply what i learned there elsewhere on the lake.

As far as the leaders went im not too sure where they were fishing, but i do think grass was a key as well. We actually helped the guy who won big fish of the tourney get his fish to the weigh in. Their boat broke down and I brought them back to weigh their fish. They caught their 7.88lber on the same type as structure we were fishing but in water that was a little less clear. They were using a fluke, and am guessing they werent getting the short strikes i was because the visibility wasnt as good.

Just like any time i fish i learned something (in this case many things) for next time!