Tough! Tough! and even Tougher! This was one tournament that for whatever reason the bass just did not seem to want to feed that day. Many of the elite CBA teams struggled and the usual top 20 looked a little different. Correll and Kokaszka had never won one until this day, Correll has fished the CBAs for seven years and Kokaszka has fished them for 15 years! emoEek I would say they were due. emoBigsmile
For me it was more of a, "Hit the repeat button." If you looked at my reports from Tues and Thurs this week it was just a continuation of those. Derek and I started in the grass. We were really doing a "blow and go" program. Hitting one grass point spot, 20 to 30 minutes, fly to the next one. emoBigsmile We were buzzing around so much passing folks several times in the first two hours I started laughing thinking what they must be thinking. emoLaugh We felt the grass bite might be good first thing in the morning but it would not last long. So we really were not spending much time in any one spot, we were looking for the bite. The issue was the size. We caught several in the grass and on the edges but most were short. emoScratch From Tuesday to tournament day you could see a drop in the size of fish willing to commit to a bite. I talked to several who said they had what looked like good fish blow up on baits in the grass that morning and the bass would never take it. After about two to three hours I had managed four keepers with only one good one at 4 lbs. The other three were 2s. We decided that was not working. That size was not going to get you a check in a CBA.
Reluctantly we went deeper and slowed down. There had been a good jig bite but to save our lives the jig bite had died. Swims, silver buddies, blades, cranks and shakeys were the only baits we could get them to eat. But let me also say those were few and far between. I managed to get our limit and cull a couple times before Derek the Netman emoPoke showed up with a nice one near four pounds. It was a grind. Multiple casts at one spot, just when you were thinking there was nothing there, bomb!, fish on. We saw lots of fish on Derek's graphs but getting them to eat was about impossible. In between the shorts, yellows and whites I would have one load up that was a decent fish. I finally had one load up on my shakey that was just over five and that made us start thinking we might have a chance for a check. emoSmile
I lost one that we never saw that felt like a good one. Derek lost one just out of reach of me holding the net that would have given us third for sure and the worst one Derek lost what appeared to be a monster of a beauty that came off on him after he had fought it all the way to the boat only to have it comes loose on a bull dog run under the boat. emoMad emoBawl That one there lost big bass and the tournament for us. You just can't win these CBAs and loose fish. Anthony told us they never lost a bass. emoWorthy
Still a really good day considering everything. Looking back we had the right plan and still executed that plan well enough to be in the top five. We needed the points, we have not done well this year in points. Ended up with three solid three pounders, the one four from that morning and the one five. Good enough for 19.49 pounds and 4th place. emoDance emoParty We were happy with that.
The next CBA will be a night tournament from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. on August 27th. Until then, hope to see you out there. emoAngler Jmax
For me it was more of a, "Hit the repeat button." If you looked at my reports from Tues and Thurs this week it was just a continuation of those. Derek and I started in the grass. We were really doing a "blow and go" program. Hitting one grass point spot, 20 to 30 minutes, fly to the next one. emoBigsmile We were buzzing around so much passing folks several times in the first two hours I started laughing thinking what they must be thinking. emoLaugh We felt the grass bite might be good first thing in the morning but it would not last long. So we really were not spending much time in any one spot, we were looking for the bite. The issue was the size. We caught several in the grass and on the edges but most were short. emoScratch From Tuesday to tournament day you could see a drop in the size of fish willing to commit to a bite. I talked to several who said they had what looked like good fish blow up on baits in the grass that morning and the bass would never take it. After about two to three hours I had managed four keepers with only one good one at 4 lbs. The other three were 2s. We decided that was not working. That size was not going to get you a check in a CBA.
Reluctantly we went deeper and slowed down. There had been a good jig bite but to save our lives the jig bite had died. Swims, silver buddies, blades, cranks and shakeys were the only baits we could get them to eat. But let me also say those were few and far between. I managed to get our limit and cull a couple times before Derek the Netman emoPoke showed up with a nice one near four pounds. It was a grind. Multiple casts at one spot, just when you were thinking there was nothing there, bomb!, fish on. We saw lots of fish on Derek's graphs but getting them to eat was about impossible. In between the shorts, yellows and whites I would have one load up that was a decent fish. I finally had one load up on my shakey that was just over five and that made us start thinking we might have a chance for a check. emoSmile
I lost one that we never saw that felt like a good one. Derek lost one just out of reach of me holding the net that would have given us third for sure and the worst one Derek lost what appeared to be a monster of a beauty that came off on him after he had fought it all the way to the boat only to have it comes loose on a bull dog run under the boat. emoMad emoBawl That one there lost big bass and the tournament for us. You just can't win these CBAs and loose fish. Anthony told us they never lost a bass. emoWorthy
Still a really good day considering everything. Looking back we had the right plan and still executed that plan well enough to be in the top five. We needed the points, we have not done well this year in points. Ended up with three solid three pounders, the one four from that morning and the one five. Good enough for 19.49 pounds and 4th place. emoDance emoParty We were happy with that.
The next CBA will be a night tournament from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. on August 27th. Until then, hope to see you out there. emoAngler Jmax
