Chick Report, 9/22 & 9/23 Federation Tournament Report

[TritonCarl]

Well I made it back home and am in the process of getting all of my belongings dried out after 2 long days of fishing in a constant DOWNPOUR. I'll be happy if I never have to fish another day in the rain!!!

Day 1 drew out with a guy from SW VA said he'd been catching some good fish deep. We never did catch any keepers out deep. I caught a keeper spot around 8 am on a SAMMY and that was the only keeper we saw ALL day long. It was a tough day overall for us, but it wasn't for lack of trying. We fished all day within sight of the Hwy 60 bridge, this was all new territory as I had never been above Sale Creek. My keeper weighed a whopping 0.82 lbs....tied for smallest fish on day 1!!!

Day 2 drew out with a guy from Johnson City, TN and he had caught 5 lbs, so he decided to go for broke up the river, flipping for some bigger fish he had found earlier in the week. Once again, it was another long soggy day of fishing and I ended up with 1 keeper spot on a fluke. We flipped most of the day with little to show for it and even when the current started flowing we still didn't get any keeper fish. My keeper weighed 1.45 lbs, not big but I accomplished my goal of catching a keeper on both days.

This was my first state tournament to fish and I throughly enjoyed it, nothing like the smell of 2 stroke from 100+ boats in the morning. I wish I would have got to prefish for this tournament, but work sent me to Japan for 2 weeks prior to the tournament(I'll post a picture or all my fishing goodies I bought later!!!), so I would have had more of an idea on what the fish were doing, I was just thankful I drew out with 2 really nice guys. I also meet 2jigs at the registration and got to talk to him after the weigh-in of day 2.

2jigs..I wasn't trying to blow ya off after the weigh-in yesterday, I got that feeling from my partner that he was ready to go, so I was trying to move along quickly!!!!

How'd the rest of you guys do during the tournament?? carl

 

[fisherpal2k]

TritonCarl, I have to agree with you. It was two days of the nastiest weather I have ever fished in. I drew out the first day with a guy from Sequatchie valley and he had prefished some but not much. We went into Hiwassee first thing and we caught a lot of fish, but only 3 keepers. He had the keepers and I had a big 0 for day one.
Day one we fished spinner baits and cranks and found a school of fish then slowed down and got a few bites on worms. He caught two keepers in there while I fought the wind and rain on the troller. We then moved to the bluff and he caught another keeper on it on a pig and jig. We then fished around the point onto the flat and fished the brush. I flipped a worm into a tree top and set the hook on a big one. It rolled and shook the whole tree lap. It lunged and broke me off in the tree. We then went to his places and didn't get anything there. Total fish for day one was around 45 to 50 fish but only three keepers.
Day two. I drew a guy from Morristown and he wanted to go to Watts bar dam for his part of the day. We ran up early and fished the rip rap and used crank baits and spinnerbaits there. Caught several fish but no keepers. We stayed there till around 12 then started back down the lake. The rain was intense to say the least. I saw that I wasn't gonna have time to go to the places I wanted so I started fishing just above hwy 30 bridge. I hooked a good one and had it to the boat but it came off right at the boat. It started raining really hard and then we had some current. I started fishing a finnesse worm and caught several fish and finally one keeper. It was only 1.88 lbs. but man it was a relief to finally have one in the boat! Every time it slacked off we tried to start back down the lake and it would blow in the rain again. We finally made it back down to cottonport and fished around some there. Total for day two was 24 fish and only one keeper. My partner blanked both days. I started up and got to the check in with only 2 minutes to go. Whew! I had a ton of money tied up in that fish and I wanted to weigh it!.emoLaugh

As for the tourny, I forgot my camera in the truck the first day. I drew out 57th the first day and when we was going down the creek it was a sight to see. A string of boats being lead by the police boat with the blue lights flashing and then all you could see from the front was a string of white lights forever. Looking back all you could see was the front lights and the white lights from all the boats. That was something to see! Anyway, its good that I forgot the camera because I don't think there was a dry place in or on my boat anywhere!emoHoppingmad

We got to the river at 7:50 am the first day. The secong day we got there just as the down pour started. It was a long ride to the dam in all that! All in all it was a good time and I really enjoyed the guys I fished with. I got to see some folks I knew and got to meet a lot of folks I had talked to on here but never met.
It was fun but man it was W E T !!!!!!

 

[jason]

It sounds like everyone had a tough time. However, obviously somebody did well if the winning weight was 28lbs. Any idea where he fished or what type of presentation was working for him? It looked like a good day for the trusty shaky-head.

 

[sandskeeter]

This was my first state tounement I have ever fished and even though it was tough fishing and the weather was crappy as all get out, I have to say I was pretty impressed...Those state guys run a first rate operation and except for getting out of richland creek a little bit late on friday morning it all was really smooth... Like fisherpal said it was quite a sight to see all those boats in line going out of the creek.. I drew a fellow from the Blue Ridge Bassmasters for day one. Even though I was the boater I agreed to ride in his boat because I was not on any fish up there and he had prefished all week and said he was on them... Since we were going to both have to work out of the bow we agreed to take his 20' Norris Craft over my shorter Triton.. His pattern was running buzzbaits and crankbaits paralell down the bluffs. Unfortunetly since it was cloudy the fish didnt hold on tight to the bluffs like they did in practice... needless to say we worked several bluffs all day and all we ended up with at the end of the day with a keeper spot that went under a pound and it belonged to him... caught a lot of small ones but none that would be legal and by the way our butts got wet... Day two I had a guy from the Clairbone County Bassmasters who was probably one of the nicest guys I have ever fished with besides Pointer. His previous day partner and him had caught some keepers out of grass on buzzbaits and worms... I knew of some places down near sale creek that had held some grass about a couple of weeks ago so we decided to hit them... We got about as far as the 60 bridge and then we hit the first of many squall that would come through that day..I had my head down below the windsheild and using my left hand as a wiper tried my best to stay in the channel...I got peppered with shot one time when i was dove hunting and this felt about a hundred times worse and lasted a heck of a lot longer... Yall know what Im talking about... Anyway we start fishing our first spot and I have one blow up on a buzz but couldnt stick him... It was raining so hard I thought that maybe the fish couldn pick up on a buzzbait so i switched to a Horny Toad and started fishing it like a buzzbait...Within the next two hours i had hooked at least three and lost them all before I could get them to the net....I was using the special toad hooks but I just couldnt get the hook in there good enough....We fished different patches of grass with no success till noon when we finally slipped into someones covered dock and sat there for twenty minutes eating crackers and peanuts while the floods came down.
Finally we ran out of grass patches so we went to the other side of the lake and fished a clay and rock bank with some finess worms looking for some spot... Caught three smallmouth under 15' which just broke my heart.. my partner almost caught one that measured.. Ended up breaking my best spinning rod tip on the trolling motor which
ticked me off really bad. My partner Eddie Parker caught a small keeper spot that went with the two he weighed in Friday..... Sometime around 2 my bilge pump stopped working, God so we bailed with coke cans with the tops cut out..I aint kidding ya the rain was that bad. Probably wore the thing out.. Got back and let Eddie weigh in his fish and hung around to see some decent fish brought in... dont know who or what one but some guys I head had put some good stringers together .....all in all had a great time and i learned a lot from my two more experienced partners who were more than willing to answer questions about all things fishing.... Looking forward to the Guntersville rallly next week, hopefully i will get to draw my good freind pointer

 

[jason]

Results: http://www.tnbass.com/trail/tourney.php?tid=804&type=A