BFL Neely Henry 6-3-06

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Pointer 78

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 8, 2005
Messages
4,405
Location
Cleveland, Tennessee
The morning started off overcast with light winds. That didn't last long. The front blasted through around 9:00 and once again wind became an issue . We started fishing shallow grass with only short fish to show for it. Ran to some shallow docks and began pitching jigs. Boated my first keeper, a 3 pounder, off a ladder. Looked like a good day was shaping up. Caught a couple more small keepers before the sun got very high. We continued pitching docks but I could only manage 10-15 more short fish. In the meantime, my partner, Gary Twelkimeier, was giving me a clinic in how to skip small plastics under docks with a spinning reel. If there's a glaring weakness in my game, it's skipping lures under docks, something that seems essential on many lakes this time of year. Gary ended up with 10'2" for 25th place and a check. My 3 lber anchored a 5'3" finish. Good for 52nd place. It's on to Guntersville in September for the Super Tournament. If I can do reasonably well there, I'll fish the wild card tournament in October to try to reach the Regionals.
 
Good info pointer. I figured that no matter where any of us were fishing it was going to be a tough day. What do you think that your downfall was other than your lack of skipping ability. If you had it to do over again would you have fished shallower, deeper, or with bigger or smaller baits, or different baits all together? Do you have any idea what the winners did to get so much more weght? Just curious what you are thinking about it all. Isn't Neely Henry one of the Coosa chain of lakes? Did you or anyone else target the Coosa spotted bass or did you all target the Largemouths?
 
On hindsight Polo, I'd have taken time to fish channel ledges with either a c-rig or a DD-22. The dock bite kinda died by noon. Once the front blew through, they headed for deeper water. I don't know what the winners were doing. That kind of info can be hard to come by. Neely Henry is one of the Coosa River impoundments and there's lots of spots, but to win tournaments, you have to target largemouths. I'm sure that tournaments have been won with a full sack of spots but largemouths have to be the anchor of the majority of wins. I'd wanted to fish a Senko also but the wind prohibited that since I prefer to fish them weightless. I never picked up my crankin stick today either.
 
Is Neely Henry pretty stained? I know that Weiss is usually pretty stained. I always figure that if the water is stained the fish ought to be shallow but after the front they may have moved off. If the water was clear then I would for sure be on the drops. Have you fished that lake much? I get stuck second guessing myself on lakes that I haven't fished much because if I haven't had much time to prefish, there just isn't enough time to try it all. The nice thing about fishing a DD-22 or a C-rig is that I can cover more water so that if I'm not sure of the right pattern for the day then at least I'm checking out a bunch of area and I feel better about things 'cause I see what's out there and happening with my electronics. Did you feel confident in the areas that you were fishing 'cause you've caught fish there before or were there lots of bait in the area that you could see with your 'lectonics?
 
Lets all congradulate our very own Gray Bomber on his 3rd place finish and Big Fish for the co-angler side. 11-09 was his total with a big fish of 5lbs even. "A white and chat. chatter bait was the ticket" he said. caught his limit and was culling by 9:30 that morning. Ha also said that they ran to the lake part too.
 
Polo......Anytime I've fished Neely Henry it's been stained. Water clarity was about 1 foot so dark, silent lures worked well. I rarely throw a jig with a rattle. I just tried to force feed the fish with a jig and I knew better than to do that. I have so much confidence in it that it was tough to change. It caught me fish earlier and I was reluctant to give it up. And a big CONGRATS to Grey Bomber. When I saw the name, I thought it was you Brannon.
 
Congrats to the Gray Bomber. Neely Henry can be a hard lake to fish at times. Pointer you had the right idea about the LM being the ticket. Just they are hard to come by in the afternoon times. I have fished there a couple of times and to the folks down there 2 ft is clear water.emoLaugh Anyway, glad you had a good day and all went well. Wish you had blew the lid off it with a 20# bag but thats fishing.
 
Pointer78, you was on the right track. Shane is my brother but i did teach him everything he knows. emoBigsmile I am going to try to join in with the 2007 tour then you can look for Brannon Breeden in the 1st spot emoToast
 
Thanks for the congrats.I wish I could take credit for it,but sometimes your just in the right place at the right time,and I was.I caught all 5 keepers within about 2 hours of getting started.All but one came on a chatter bait.But after those first couple hours things slowed way down.Only managed one more keeper the rest of the day.My boater did get his 2 keepers later in the day around docks.But we just happend to stop at the right place and those fish wanted my chatterbait more than they wanted my boaters.Most of the time it seems luck not on my side,but I think it was saturday.Hopefully I will have a some luck at guntersville and get to fish the regional.Thanks again
Gray Bomber
 
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