CFF tournament number 2 results and where we went right and wrong

[polo-dog]

The results are in: Jmax and DHaun skunked the competition today at the 2nd CFF tournament. I can speak for myself that I had a great time fishing with drc and meeting a bunch of you guys. Now for the really good stuff. Jmax and DHaun: What worked? What pattern didn't work for you? Everyone else: What didn't work? I will elaborate on what drc and I tried and failed with a little later. I would love to know what everyone thinks would have worked that they didn't try. Again, thanks everyone for the fun day of fishing!

 

[2jigs]

First of all thanks to everyone,.WE had a great day of fishing.The weather couldn't have been any better.The company couldn't have been any better. And the fishin wasn't bad if you count bluegill & white stripe. If it was all to do over again I think we'd go up to Soddy Creek or even lock through the locks and fish for smallmouth. Chick. just has too much fishing pressure for me! Look out nickajack here I come.

 

[DHaun]

My personal pattern is a bit complicated but here it is...

1) Throw where Jmax says to
2) Reel in Fish

It was really surprising to win with just one keeper that's for sure...Thanks Jmax for inviting me and putting us on some fish first thing this morning!

The winning fish was caught on a Bomber crawdad brown/chart/yellow eyes crank-bait in approx 6ft reeling out to an underwater point dropping from 6-10' with a bit of moss on it. We estimate 16-1/2" about 2-1/2 lbs. Jmax added the numbers up & we caught 5 LMB, 1 Smallie, 6 whites, 1 bream and a shad. It was a tough day for me after that first keeper. Jmax caught all the rest of the fish and I caught one of the whites.

We used chart crank baits, finesse worm, silver buddy and cordell spoon jig. One short LMB and the smallie (about 2 lbs) were caught on a finesse worm. The short was the first fish caught this morning at the same place as the keeper and the smallie was caught on a rocky bank with some current on it in dropping into 12ft. Jmax hung something big on a crankbait near a sun-warmed rock bank near 12-15ft water but it pulled off. Jmax also jigged up a 14-3/4" football sized LMB jigging in 19ft of water that sloped off into a 24ft creek channel. All other fish were caught jigging spoons. As a bonus rod bender, Jmax jigged up someones highly-soiled fruit of the looms in 19ft of water emoCool. All fish and the droors were safely released for someone else to catch another day...My share is going on my son's b-day present.

Thanks again to RangerRob for coordinating this event!

It was very nice to finally get to meet you all!

Pics are Here in this link and also posted below:
http://www.maxxcode.com/picview/Default.aspx?PicDir=album\CFF+Tournament+1-28-2006


JMax

2Jigs-JMax-HogDaddy

2Jigs

BassBullet

BioFisher-PoloDog-RaceFish

Drc

RangerRob-Tater

Flip1up-Catch1maybe

HogDaddy

RaceFish

SandSkeeter-Pointer78

TBP

Winning Fish

CFF Anglers

More CFF Anglers

 

[rsimms]

Sorry I couldn't play today. But thanks for the pics... it's nice to put faces with "screen names." DHaun, why didn't you post a picture of the "soiled underwear?" emoLaugh

 

[jason]

Judging by the reports from DHaun and fishin3 ( http://www.chattanoogafishingforum.com/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=788&posts=2 ), it looks as if the crawdad bite is heating up. Congrats to Jmax and DHaun on the winemoThumbsup.

 

[Pointer 78]

Well...at least I had a great partner. I did everything to put us on fish and I did for the most part but they just didn't measure. I guess Michael and I caught 10-11 fish between us so it wasn't a total loss. Except for the wind, it was a fabulous day on the water. I for one didn't expect them to be shallow. All of our fish were caught in at least 10 ft of water. Went back out after the tournament and I'd like to report a good string. But alas, that wasn't the case. Not a bite. Finished the day with my wife and kids meeting me at the resturaunt and having dinner. Let's not wait 3 months for the next one. And Kim, I expect you there next time.

 

[drc]

Man it was tough today, but I had a great time on the lake even though we didn't catch any. Polo-dog did his part by getting us on the fish, but they just didn't want anything to do with us.lol. If I were to do it over again I would fish the same places but use different lures. I worked three lures pretty hard today, lipless crankbait, jerkbait, and a t-rigged yamamotto grub. The hard baits I was using were very flashy/ reflective lures. I was having to fish these baits pretty fast to keep from fouling or loseing them, with the fairly clear skies and sunshine I was hopeing to get a reaction bite but it didn't happen (exept for once,lol).
If I could get a "do over' I would try shallow running crankbaits in chartruse and red crawdad patterns worked a little slower in the shallows. I would probably try jigging spoons in the deep water over those rough rocky bottoms ( I would have needed at least 100). Well at the very least I had a great fishing partner, learned a lot, and got out of the house for a day!

Not that it matters,but here are some of the other lures I tried: junebug finesse worm on a 1/8oz jighead, 4in t-rigged greenpumpkin senko, black&blue jig&pig, and a pearl sassyshad/ fluke.

 

[fisherpal2k]

Congrats on the win!! Wish I could have been there and suffered with the rest of ya but some of us has to work.emoBang Waited untill I had to go home from work to get the results but none posted at that time . Glad everyone had a good time and hopefully I can try to be there for one of the next get togethers. Thanks for the pics and the results.

 

[Jmax]

In hind site I think I would spend more time early on the crank bait bite on rocky banks and points. Two of the large mouth came off points with a rock type point bottom (the keeper as well), the small mouth, and the one big one that got off. I used a finese worm slowly that morning and looking back on it I felt we might should have sped up and cranked more with crawfish cranks to cover more area. I also feel we should have gone deep around noon and stayed on the jigging spoon pattern from there on. Who know if this would have made a difference but I think we may have done a little better with more fish.emoCool Jmax

 

[CouchTater]

I had a great time fishing with y'all. Thanks to RangerRob for fishign with him out of his boat.emoThumbsup

It was fun, but tough...next time I will be better prepared for the Chick. emoToast

Congrats to JMax and DHaun on the win. emoToast Any idea on where the next one will be held? Nickajack maybe? Hindsight being 20/20, I wish I would have brought my deep running cranks with me. But hey, It was still fun and I got to see the lay of the lake and some of the hidden dangers of the area.

It was great to meet folks and put faces with screen names!!!

Tater

 

[polo-dog]

I have thought about what happened to my fish from earlier in the week and am still not sure how to remedy the matter in the future. If you remember, I caught a 4+ and a couple of other fish earlier in the week in shallow water near deep water. The area has a red clay bank that runs from 0- 5 or 6 feet over about a 50 yard stretch then drops fairly quickly to 22 feet or so. The one thing that sounds similar to what Jmax said is that it had a touch of grass on it that you would get on your lure if you bumped bottom. The surrounding areas were quite a bit deeper and/ or didn't have the shallow shelf. There wasn't anything that I could see with my electronics that would hold the fish on the drop. We fished on top of the shelf and over the drop from top to bottom and never caught a one. We did start to get some short strikes the last time we went to the spot but they may have been stripe. The water was about 4 degrees cooler when we got to the spot and that might have shut them off but I could mark lots of fish suspended off the drop and wondered if those were my fish just "turned off". We fished main lake humps, springs, main lake eddies points and rock shelves and marked lots of fish but none that would hit anything. The bait and lots of fish suspended in the water column during the week started out only out over deep water in Harrison bay but slowly moved farther and farther into Wolftever creek and I marked huge numbers of fish in the water column on the first point(at the first bend in the creek) and on the flat that is on the left side of the creek(just before the second bend) but couldn't get a bite at either place all week. Makes me wonder whether they are stripe or crappies rather than bass. I had a great week and did a lot of electronic scouting which is always time well spent but just couldn't put any in the boat. I want to kick myself as we spent about an hour waiting to go to the spot where I had been successful earlier in the week because I was worried that someone would see me on it right off and come by later and catch more off of the spot but in hindsight we may have waited too long and not gotten to the spot in time for the bite. I figured that a shallow bite in winter wouldn't hold up very well and I was right on that account.

 

[hog daddy]

hey i had a blast and thanks to 2 jigs for lettig me ride we had a good day going but i broke 4 fish off while setting hook not real use to fishing with that wimpy line 6&8lb test after i laid the small stuf down i broke out the hog daddy line and i didnt lose a nother fish or jig rest of the day hey we'll do better next ccf trip hope it's not to far away and i enjoyed meeting all of ya'll




hold his head up!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[sandskeeter]

I really had a great time yesterday...Man there aint nothing better when a group of people can do something like this. Really would like to thank Pointer for a great day of fishing.. Learned a lot about this lake and learned a few things too...I think Pointer had us on a great pattern, we just couldnt connect with the toads... I cant wait till the next one....

 

[Gator]

Congrats to Jmax & Dehaun on winning the tournament!! Wish I could have made it myself. I did however get to fish later in the day out of Wolftever and while searching for crappie picked up 2 really nice bass. 1 lm about 3.5 lbs and 1 sm about 4 lbs. They were near rocky points in about 4-6 ft. of water. I threw a roadrunner the whole time searching for the crappie. The weather was great. Don't get that many great days in January.
Gator

 

[BassBullet]

Pointer 78 - 1/28/2006 8:10 PM

Well...at least I had a great partner. I did everything to put us on fish and I did for the most part but they just didn't measure. I guess Michael and I caught 10-11 fish between us so it wasn't a total loss. Except for the wind, it was a fabulous day on the water. I for one didn't expect them to be shallow. All of our fish were caught in at least 10 ft of water. Went back out after the tournament and I'd like to report a good string. But alas, that wasn't the case. Not a bite. Finished the day with my wife and kids meeting me at the resturaunt and having dinner. Let's not wait 3 months for the next one. And Kim, I expect you there next time.

I hope to be there next time. I enjoyed meeting all of you guys and look forward to the next CCF tourney.

 

[jon the fisherman]

Congrats to Jmax nad Dhaun and glad to see everyone had a good time. I wish I could have made it, but I had to work. emoAngry Hope I can make the next one, and meet you guys and gals in person.emoSmile

 

[RangerRob]

I'm a little late on this, but I stayed off the computer all weekend, and things are busy here at work today ...

First off, let me say 'thanks' to everyone for an enjoyable day. I was very glad to see some of you again and meet others for the first time. I'd hoped we were going to make it to 10+ boats, but I'm certain we will next time.

Tater and I didn't really do much fishing. Since it was his first time on the Chick, we mostly just drove around and I showed him which docks usually had the best looking chicas hanging out around them during the summer! emoCool

Nah ... you know better than that (I did show him one thoughemoEvil ). We really enjoyed ourselves and wish we could have brought a little sump'n - sump'n to the weigh in, but we really didn't want to steal the thunder from Jmax & DHaun. Congrats fellas.

I'm looking forward to the next one. Who'll step up next time to coordinate? Don't wait too long or I'll have to do it again emoThumbsup

RR

 

[Bprice]

As long as i don't have my club tourneys or something drastic (like i might be moving to Colorado for a few months) i'll be there!

 

[hog daddy]

hey RR YOU DONE A GREAT JOB YOU JUST GO AHEAD AND START SETTING UP THE NEXT ONE AND THIS TIME YO'LL HAVE TO BREAK OUT THEM BIG WEIGH IN SCALESemoCool

 

[flip1up]

Congrats to Jmax and DHaun. Man it was tough out there, 2 fish, 1 14" and the other just shy of the mark. Great meeting everyone and seeing the ones I already had met again. We talked to a couple of guys that were throwing cranks in REAL shallow water, 2-3 foot and said they had 2 good fish. We tried it a little while but couldnt find the fish. I even had the heads up that this pattern was catching fish, I think I told someone that on a pm, but still failed to give it a good try. It was fun and looking forward to doing it again next time. This lake is starting to give me the thumps ( whatever that is). Hope some of you all decide to fish with us in the USA Bassin trail, I think it will be a good time.