Watts Bar 3-17-07

[Pointer 78]

Fished the Cleveland Bassmaster's first tournament of the year today. Two words....cold & windy. Fished shallow coves all day with lipless crankbaits and Carolina rigs. Caught a slew of buck bass including 3 that were board fish but managed only one keeper today that I weighed in at 3.25 lbs. My partner, who knows the Bar like the back of his hand, had a tougher time than me with no fish that measured. We couldn't find any water with a real good stain to it. It was tough on everybody. Alot of zeros on the board. The winning weight was caught by Robert Kaldenberg who had 3 fish for 9.76 lbs. Ranman fished his first tournament with us and brought fish to the scale. I'll let him write his report. It's great to have a fellow CFF'r in the club.

Water temps....51 in the morning and never found water warmer than 53 degrees.
Water clarity....main lake 5-6 ft. Wind blown slews 2-3 ft.
What caught'em... Caught my only keeper on a 1/2 oz pumpkinseed trap, Carolina rigged Baby Brush Hog, Yo Zuri Ultra Vibe in Hot Tiger color.

 

[ranman]

Same here,I got my only keeper in 2-3 feet of water on a shad colored 1/2oz speed trap crankbait.I got three shorts on a c-rigged pumpkin/gold flake lizard and a 16in smallie on a blade.My partner and I had a very memorable day in that we were involved in a rescue!We looked across to the next cove to see a couple of our club members waving and yelling something when I happen to notice that there boat was sitting REALLY low in the water,I told my partner it looked like they were sinking and that we need to go check it out,well in the two or three min it took to get to them they were already almost shin deep in water and VERY close to going under.We quickly threw them a rope and pulled them to the shore where we could get the boat out before it disapeared down to Davy Jones' locker!We're not sure what caused it (drain plug was in,no hoses loose etc.) but we did manage to help them to a ramp and get it back to the weigh-in(one of the guys had two keepers) and all was well.We lost about two hours of fishing time but that is something you do when another boater is in trouble so we weren't to bummed about it,just glad everyone was O.K.
So My first tournament with the club was 1.COLD 2.FUN(Drew a great parnter who was a joy to fish with) 3.exciting(not everyday you get to see something like that)and I hope I don't see it again! 4. Productive(I got some points to work with at least!)
I'm looking frward to the next one on the G,and would incourage anyone who wants to fish with a fine group of guys and learn some new lakes to give pointer a P.M. and join up!
Also want to stress to everyone after seeing that today,please wear a life vest this time of year!If we had not been there those guys would not have made it,with the water temp in the 50's and as cold as it was and as far from shore as they were they would not have made it.Be carefull out there and be safe!The coast guard rules about safety with the vests and horns and everything make since when you see something like that.It can happen so fast you don't know what hit you!If we'd been a little farther away or not looking we would have never heard them!

 

[fisherpal2k]

  Good job ranman on the rescue!  Sometimes folks get a little carried away and forget that giving assistance is the law. Glad you was there for them and got to get them in before something bad happened!

 

[HarrisBasser]

Iam glad you were there for those guys.Good job dude!!!!!!!!!