Typical Rabbit 2lber caught Pre-fishing in the Pads |
WT: High 70's
The Day:
We blasted off 4th right behind Chuck Fields and wouldn't you know it he went right to our starting spot as well which was off of the big point on the North of the pit side of the lake. Darren set us down to the West of Fields and we started working towards him. I had a 1.91lb bass jump on my 3/8 black/blue jig pretty much immediately. I got it in the box and it was a repeat performance with a slightly smaller fish. The fished seemed to shut down on the jig after that. I threw out a Neko rigged Yum Dinger and got a 1.30lber on that immediately. I think Darren got his first fish shortly after that and I got a short. We worked back over where I got the fish to start and didn't get anything, Fields worked to the East so we went to where he started and I got 1.70lb fish that hit my jig on the fall. After maybe an hour and a half we went to our second spot which was in the NE section of the pit lake. I made the mistake of checking our fish while we were running and I shut the livewell on one of my rod tips breaking it, doh! I got a 1.19 and my 2/8 lunker to fill out my limit on the jig. I then culled up with 1.71lb fish on the jig. Darrin was getting a little better quality of fish on a blue/black craw tube, so I started throwing that and I got a 1.63lb fish on that; I thought the fish was a weed at first. We were just about to leave to go fish the pads when I got a 2.05lb fish on the jig next to a dock.
The pads didn't even yield a blow-up for me, but Darren got a couple of fish there and missed some solid blow-ups. Next, we went out and worked the roadbed. I think I got a 2.13lb out there along with a couple that didn't help. We went back to our second spot and I got my last fish of the day there on the craw tube (2.20).
Results: My fish weighed 13/02 with 2/8 big fish which beat Hammers 2/06 big thus putting me in 12th Place. Darren's fish weighed 14lbs with 3/04 big which put him in 10th Place. The tournament was won by Jim "Smitty" Smith 17/03. Lunker weighed 3/14 and was caught by Mick Ziebell.
My thoughts: I don't think I lost any fish that hurt me. I just didn't have a shot at a kicker that would have put me in the top half of the field.