"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Vince Miller's Super Team
March 29th, 2009
Greers Ferry Lake
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
1st place - 5 bass - 14.63 pounds - $2,500
Practice:
March 28th: All I can say is that practice was pitiful. If we could have harnessed all that wind and
put it on the grid the world would have power for a hundred years! Brutal to say the least! On top of
that I was cranky and forgot my lunch at the house - not a good combination. We only landed two
short fish but it was a lost fish in the bushes that would lead us to our starting location for the
derby........
Tournament:
March 29th: The day started off cold but at least the wind had died down. We started our day by
pitching Jewel jigs to the bushes. About 45 minutes into the day I got hung up in a bush and Jeremy
pitched right next to me. Before I could start in after my bait, Jeremy sets the hook and boat flips a
3-pounder! That's the way to start the day!!! We started to get pumped, but as we made our way
down the line of bushes we realized that the bites would be few and far between. We went to plan B,
which I had brilliantly devised the night before while carefully studying the lake map (Heck, I didn't
know if it was going to work or not, but it sounded good at the time!). Plan B was cranking main lake
points, so brilliant might be a stretch of my imagination! The first point we got to Jeremy had a slight
backlash and was trying to reel his wiggle wart back to the boat when he hollered for the net. It was
a good spotted bass and it felt good to get that second fish in the well. We continued our cranking
and Jeremy was stroking the short fish, walleye, and white bass. We were fishing out of my boat,
but I yielded the trolling motor to him because I couldn't get bit.... It was a good move!!! Jeremy
quickly added two more keepers and we were on our way to getting 5. Then we kind of got stuck.
Jeremy always says that number 1 and number 5 are the two toughest fish to get in the boat and I
agree. After about another hour, I finally hooked up with my first keeper of the day, a 1.75 pound
smallie. It felt good to get 5, but then the flood gates opened. Jeremy started stroking em' and
added a 3 and a 3.70 in short order. I even got into the act and added a keeper that we weighed on
a Jackall Muscle 10+. We left them biting and thought we had about 12 or 13 pounds - maybe
enough to get into check range....
Keeper Count:
Wiggle Wart: 11 keepers
Jewel Eakins' Jig (5/16 oz.; Missouri Craw tipped with a Netbait Paca Craw): 1 keeper
Jackall Muscle 10+ Crankbait (Red Crawfish): 1 keeper
Jackall MC/60 Crankbait (Red Crawfish): 1 keeper
Final Thoughts: I can't believe we won this event! It seems like the worse the practice, the better
we do in the tournament. We didn't panic or start pouting after our poor practice - We put our
heads down and fished hard. It paid off......
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone
March 29th, 2009
Greers Ferry Lake
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
1st place - 5 bass - 14.63 pounds - $2,500
Practice:
March 28th: All I can say is that practice was pitiful. If we could have harnessed all that wind and
put it on the grid the world would have power for a hundred years! Brutal to say the least! On top of
that I was cranky and forgot my lunch at the house - not a good combination. We only landed two
short fish but it was a lost fish in the bushes that would lead us to our starting location for the
derby........
Tournament:
March 29th: The day started off cold but at least the wind had died down. We started our day by
pitching Jewel jigs to the bushes. About 45 minutes into the day I got hung up in a bush and Jeremy
pitched right next to me. Before I could start in after my bait, Jeremy sets the hook and boat flips a
3-pounder! That's the way to start the day!!! We started to get pumped, but as we made our way
down the line of bushes we realized that the bites would be few and far between. We went to plan B,
which I had brilliantly devised the night before while carefully studying the lake map (Heck, I didn't
know if it was going to work or not, but it sounded good at the time!). Plan B was cranking main lake
points, so brilliant might be a stretch of my imagination! The first point we got to Jeremy had a slight
backlash and was trying to reel his wiggle wart back to the boat when he hollered for the net. It was
a good spotted bass and it felt good to get that second fish in the well. We continued our cranking
and Jeremy was stroking the short fish, walleye, and white bass. We were fishing out of my boat,
but I yielded the trolling motor to him because I couldn't get bit.... It was a good move!!! Jeremy
quickly added two more keepers and we were on our way to getting 5. Then we kind of got stuck.
Jeremy always says that number 1 and number 5 are the two toughest fish to get in the boat and I
agree. After about another hour, I finally hooked up with my first keeper of the day, a 1.75 pound
smallie. It felt good to get 5, but then the flood gates opened. Jeremy started stroking em' and
added a 3 and a 3.70 in short order. I even got into the act and added a keeper that we weighed on
a Jackall Muscle 10+. We left them biting and thought we had about 12 or 13 pounds - maybe
enough to get into check range....
Keeper Count:
Wiggle Wart: 11 keepers
Jewel Eakins' Jig (5/16 oz.; Missouri Craw tipped with a Netbait Paca Craw): 1 keeper
Jackall Muscle 10+ Crankbait (Red Crawfish): 1 keeper
Jackall MC/60 Crankbait (Red Crawfish): 1 keeper
Final Thoughts: I can't believe we won this event! It seems like the worse the practice, the better
we do in the tournament. We didn't panic or start pouting after our poor practice - We put our
heads down and fished hard. It paid off......
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone