I’ve still been fishing. I fished a couple BFLs on back2back days on Old Hickory a month or so ago. The rest of my time has been mostly at Dale Hollow. The shad spawn bite was really good at DH this year and the night bite has been good this year to.
I’ll give you guys a rundown of how my BFLs went. I’ve been toying with the idea of fishing them for a year or so but wasn’t convinced I could compete but you don’t know unless you try. I only started bass fishing around the time that I joined here. So about 5-6 years seriously, and I know these guys that fish the BFLs have been bass fishing their entire lives. That’s why I’ve questioned whether or not I could compete. So I spent the better part of a week practicing leading up to these two tournaments. Practice was brutal for me. I had some boat issues and I couldn’t really put much together. I did have one day in Cedar Creek where I caught a couple nice fish and shook quite a few off. I had another day way up river in little Cedar Creek(above 231) where I had a few keepers and shook a few off. The rest of practice sucked! Also to add insult to injury, I caught a 3lber and a couple 2.5lbers and shook off a few inside the marina at Cedar Creek yacht club. Well I found out in the meeting that because the marina has signs at the entrance that say “member’s only” means that is off limits water according to FLW rules. Bunch of bs if you ask me. Those signs absolutely are not lawful and anyone has the right to enter that water.
Tournament #1. I decided to start my day in Cedar Creek on a point where I caught my biggest fish in practice(4 3/4lber). I spent a couple hours on my first spot and caught a couple keepers and a few short fish and lost a keeper. Then I moved around for a couple more hours inside Cedar Creek and caught a few but no keepers so I decided to make the long run all the way up to little Cedar Creek for the rest of the day. I stopped to fish tree just above Spring Creek that is very reliable for a good fish any time of year. First flip and I caught a 3 3/4lber to give me my 3rd keeper. I worked my way up to little cedar and made a couple quick stops with no luck. I finally got up to little cedar and had about 30 minutes to fish before I had to head back. I caught a keeper pretty quick and lost a 2.5 to 2.75 on a swim jig right before I had to leave. I ended up with 4 fish for 9lbs and it took just under 10lbs to get a check. That last fish I lost on a swim jig cost me a top 10.
Tournament #2. The second tournament was a freaking sh*t show. There was a big storm moving through at takeoff and we were delayed just a little but was raining sideways when we took off. I was excited because I knew the fish were gonna bite. I decided to start on the same spot as the day before. I got there and caught a keeper pretty quick but it was dead after. I started moving around pretty quick because I knew the fish should be biting. I started “just fishing”. I went down a steeper gravel bank with a biffle head and caught another small keeper pretty quick, broke one off, and caught several short fish. I moved to another similar bank and caught another small keeper pretty quick on a biffle head. Now let me say this before I tell you the rest. I love throwing a 3/4 ounce biffle head with a craw on it. I love throwing it on relatively flat gravel and rock bottom. I just reel it as fast as I can while keeping bottom contact. I don’t really hop it much I just put the rod tip down and reel. It’s one of my moat confident baits to get bit on but I tend to lose a lot of fish on it. Say around 25%. I will never have them hooked and when they open their mouth they are gone. Well after catching my 3rd keeper, I proceed to lose 6 fish in a row. I saw 4 of them. The 4 I saw cane off the first time they jumped. The four fish I saw were a 4-5lber, 2 fish around 3lbs, and the other was a 1.5-2lber. I finally just started throwing a worm and crank bait down this bank and never had another bite the next couple passes down the bank. I was pretty spun out and a little mad. I couldn’t get anything else going in Cedar Creek and I remembered that I caught some nice fish swimming a jig around the marina in cedar creek during practice so I decided to run down to Drakes Creek and swim a jig in Creekwood around the docks. I made it down there and had about an hour before I had to run back. I caught probably 10-12 fish swimming a jig and finished out my limit before I had to leave. I had a limit but it didn’t weigh but maybe 7lbs. I got back to weigh in and saw that everyone had caught them pretty good so I released my fish and took my a** home.
I was pretty bummed out for a day or so because if I had fished clean then I had the bites for a check both days and a top 10 the first day and a top 5 the second day. But honestly after a couple days I was pretty pumped because even though I didn’t win any money I proved to myself that I absolutely belong in that level of competition. Now I can’t wait to fish more of them. I’m bummed that I can’t fish the one on Dale Hollow next weekend. This whole Corona bs messed the schedule up and I have a commitment.
Well I’ve written a dang novel and that should make up for being mia the last few months. I hope you are all doing well, staying away from Corona, and fishing all you want
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. Just kidding. I just found out there was a search party out for me. I’ve gotten several calls and texts over the last couple days to check on me. Thanks for the concern everyone. The truth is I got logged out somehow and forgot my login details. I knew I had them written down somewhere and just happened upon them a day before I started getting messages and calls. I went a few weeks without being logged in and tried again one day and somehow I was automatically logged in then not the next time until I happened to run across the piece of paper while I was looking for something else.
