bodeanie, Chick, State High School Bass Tournament out of Dayton, 5-30-2014, Son and his partner
Had the opportunity to be a boat captain for a team out of Walker Valley High School Saturday morning for the State Tournament that came out of Dayton. Must say that the event was very well organized, with assistance from volunteers early in the AM to get the 124 boats in the water and everyone parked without a hitch. The blast off and check in was as smooth as any tournament I have ever seen, and everyone was patient and cordial on the water. Anyhow, back to the fishing. The lake was very crowed, with boats stacked up on every honey hole, point and slough as far as you could see for most of the day. We were fortunate to have an early draw number and reached our first spot without anyone camped out on it. The fish were there, and the guys started catching right off the bat. My son's partner was throwing a 3/4 oz. jig with a large craw trailer, and had four keepers in the boat before my son had a bite on the shaky head. They were throwing up into about 4 ft. of water and working off to about 20 ft. The fish were on the drop just at the edge of the grass. We worked back and forth on the same 100 yard stretch most of the morning and had a limit in the boat by 9:30, nothing huge, but solid 3 lb fish. My son finally started picking up some better fish on the shaky, with the best being about 4.5 and 4 lbs each. We moved to a ledge to see if we could pick up a kicker, but struck out. Then ran up the Hiwassee to the "honey hole" where the guys knew the big fish could be caught. Luck would have it that a kayak tournament was being held in the area they wanted to fish and the entire section had been worn out all morning by the paddle guys. We moved to a couple other spots in the river before making the decision to run back down to the lake to try to and upgrade over the last hour and a half. Good move. We ended back at our starting location and immediately culled up. Over the last hour the guys caught a fish about every ten minutes. Two of them were solid 3.5 lbers, and the rest were around three that didn't help. Never did get the kicker, but had a very respectable sack of fish. I was very proud of the boys for fishing hard, concentrating on every cast and working a good area thoroughly to milk every bite they could. They were pumped to cull up, and had somewhere close to 18 lbs in the well. They finished 6th out of 124 boats and qualified for the regional event in September on the Nick. The jig and shaky head were the baits of choice all day, and they could not get a bite on anything else. The only thing they didn't try was a swim bait, and I wish they had. May have been able to get that kicker. Oh well, maybe next time. Here are 4 of their 5 fish. The 5th was an identical twin to the 2 on the left, but they couldn't hold it for the pic.
Had the opportunity to be a boat captain for a team out of Walker Valley High School Saturday morning for the State Tournament that came out of Dayton. Must say that the event was very well organized, with assistance from volunteers early in the AM to get the 124 boats in the water and everyone parked without a hitch. The blast off and check in was as smooth as any tournament I have ever seen, and everyone was patient and cordial on the water. Anyhow, back to the fishing. The lake was very crowed, with boats stacked up on every honey hole, point and slough as far as you could see for most of the day. We were fortunate to have an early draw number and reached our first spot without anyone camped out on it. The fish were there, and the guys started catching right off the bat. My son's partner was throwing a 3/4 oz. jig with a large craw trailer, and had four keepers in the boat before my son had a bite on the shaky head. They were throwing up into about 4 ft. of water and working off to about 20 ft. The fish were on the drop just at the edge of the grass. We worked back and forth on the same 100 yard stretch most of the morning and had a limit in the boat by 9:30, nothing huge, but solid 3 lb fish. My son finally started picking up some better fish on the shaky, with the best being about 4.5 and 4 lbs each. We moved to a ledge to see if we could pick up a kicker, but struck out. Then ran up the Hiwassee to the "honey hole" where the guys knew the big fish could be caught. Luck would have it that a kayak tournament was being held in the area they wanted to fish and the entire section had been worn out all morning by the paddle guys. We moved to a couple other spots in the river before making the decision to run back down to the lake to try to and upgrade over the last hour and a half. Good move. We ended back at our starting location and immediately culled up. Over the last hour the guys caught a fish about every ten minutes. Two of them were solid 3.5 lbers, and the rest were around three that didn't help. Never did get the kicker, but had a very respectable sack of fish. I was very proud of the boys for fishing hard, concentrating on every cast and working a good area thoroughly to milk every bite they could. They were pumped to cull up, and had somewhere close to 18 lbs in the well. They finished 6th out of 124 boats and qualified for the regional event in September on the Nick. The jig and shaky head were the baits of choice all day, and they could not get a bite on anything else. The only thing they didn't try was a swim bait, and I wish they had. May have been able to get that kicker. Oh well, maybe next time. Here are 4 of their 5 fish. The 5th was an identical twin to the 2 on the left, but they couldn't hold it for the pic.
![photo2 [320x200].JPG](https://cdn.imagearchive.com/chattanoogafishingforum/data/attach/44/44049-photo2-320x200-.JPG)
