"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Vince Miller's Super Team Championship
October 23rd and 24th, 2010
Lake Ouachita
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
6th place - 10 bass - 29.24 pounds
Practice: Fall was in the air on Friday morning. On my way down to the lake, I saw a couple of real
nice bucks close to the road. Although I wasn't going to be hunting this weekend, the sight of those
deer still got me pumped up. Anyway, I met up with Jeremy at the Shangri-la ramp around 7:00 AM.
We started in the South Fork arm, where we found very little action. Around 9:30 AM we found
some small keepers in the back of a creek that would eat a Jackall TN/70 lipless crankbait. These
fish were nothing to right home about, so we decided to explore. We went all of the way to the back
of the North Fork arm of Iron's Creek, where we found more small trap fish. We started to get
worried. Our next stop was an island near the mouth of Iron's Creek, and it was now around noon. I
started chucking "Tommy Lee" (Reaction Innovations Vixen Topwater) and Jeremy started chucking
a jig. We came to a point on the Island when I said "You would think a fish would smash it right
there". As soon as I got those words out of my mouth, a keeper largemouth "commode flushes" my
lure. One fish could be a fluke, so of course I continued chucking Tommy around. Within a couple
of minutes, a 3-pound Kentucky smashes my bait. It was now starting to get interesting. We started
hitting points and found out that we had found a widespread topwater bite. We caught 10 or so
keepers that would go 13 or 14-pounds in the next couple of hours. We were pumped.......
Tournament:
Day 1: Seven AM could not come fast enough for us. As soon as our number was called, we
headed straight for the Island where it had all started on Friday. Within 5-minutes a good one
commode flushes my bait and I jerk Tommy out of his mouth. Definitely not a good start for me.
Luckily, Jeremy broke the ice fairly quickly with a 13-inch keeper. Not what we wanted but it was
nice to have one in the boat. Things started rolling for us and we were culling by 8:40 AM. Our first
five were all small, so we had a lot of work to do. We kept culling up all morning and hit a lull around
10:30 AM. The lull ended when Jeremy boated a nice one over 3 around 11:00 AM. We continued
to cull but we were really looking for a good kicker. About 1:30 PM, our prayers were answered.
The wind had really picked up and we were fishing a "nothing bank" when one exploded on Tommy.
The fish made a huge jump just before getting to the boat which made for a tense moment, but we
finally got him in the net. It was a 4-pound plus bass and I was pumped. We now knew that we had
well over 14-pounds and figured that we would be in good shape come weigh-in. However, that
presumption was incorrect. Four sacks came in over 18-pounds and we sat in 6th place (one place
out of the money) going into day 2 with 14.58 pounds.
Day 2: Day 2 started off cloudy with a decent breeze that created a good ripple on the surface -
Perfect for topwater fishing. On my first cast I connected with a 15-inch keeper. It seemed like the
bite was going to be on fire, but that was not the case. Nine AM came around and we had only two
keepers in the well. It was starting to look like the topwater bite might be leaving us, when Jeremy
hooks up with a toad. The fish hit on the end of a long cast and came rocketing out of the water.
More tense moments, but we got the fish in the boat. It ended up weighing 4.60 pounds and did a
lot for our confidence. After that we got on a roll. We were culling by 9:40 AM and things were
looking up. We had culled up to the 14-pound range and were in desperate need of another giant.
The giant never bit and we went back to the ramp hoping we could squeeze into that last check
position.........
Keeper Count:
Reaction Innovations Vixen Topwater (Bone): 40 keepers
Final Thoughts: Well, we did all we could and wound up 0.10 pounds out of a check. It was a heart
breaker, but it was really a great weekend of fishing...........
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone
October 23rd and 24th, 2010
Lake Ouachita
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
6th place - 10 bass - 29.24 pounds
Practice: Fall was in the air on Friday morning. On my way down to the lake, I saw a couple of real
nice bucks close to the road. Although I wasn't going to be hunting this weekend, the sight of those
deer still got me pumped up. Anyway, I met up with Jeremy at the Shangri-la ramp around 7:00 AM.
We started in the South Fork arm, where we found very little action. Around 9:30 AM we found
some small keepers in the back of a creek that would eat a Jackall TN/70 lipless crankbait. These
fish were nothing to right home about, so we decided to explore. We went all of the way to the back
of the North Fork arm of Iron's Creek, where we found more small trap fish. We started to get
worried. Our next stop was an island near the mouth of Iron's Creek, and it was now around noon. I
started chucking "Tommy Lee" (Reaction Innovations Vixen Topwater) and Jeremy started chucking
a jig. We came to a point on the Island when I said "You would think a fish would smash it right
there". As soon as I got those words out of my mouth, a keeper largemouth "commode flushes" my
lure. One fish could be a fluke, so of course I continued chucking Tommy around. Within a couple
of minutes, a 3-pound Kentucky smashes my bait. It was now starting to get interesting. We started
hitting points and found out that we had found a widespread topwater bite. We caught 10 or so
keepers that would go 13 or 14-pounds in the next couple of hours. We were pumped.......
Tournament:
Day 1: Seven AM could not come fast enough for us. As soon as our number was called, we
headed straight for the Island where it had all started on Friday. Within 5-minutes a good one
commode flushes my bait and I jerk Tommy out of his mouth. Definitely not a good start for me.
Luckily, Jeremy broke the ice fairly quickly with a 13-inch keeper. Not what we wanted but it was
nice to have one in the boat. Things started rolling for us and we were culling by 8:40 AM. Our first
five were all small, so we had a lot of work to do. We kept culling up all morning and hit a lull around
10:30 AM. The lull ended when Jeremy boated a nice one over 3 around 11:00 AM. We continued
to cull but we were really looking for a good kicker. About 1:30 PM, our prayers were answered.
The wind had really picked up and we were fishing a "nothing bank" when one exploded on Tommy.
The fish made a huge jump just before getting to the boat which made for a tense moment, but we
finally got him in the net. It was a 4-pound plus bass and I was pumped. We now knew that we had
well over 14-pounds and figured that we would be in good shape come weigh-in. However, that
presumption was incorrect. Four sacks came in over 18-pounds and we sat in 6th place (one place
out of the money) going into day 2 with 14.58 pounds.
Day 2: Day 2 started off cloudy with a decent breeze that created a good ripple on the surface -
Perfect for topwater fishing. On my first cast I connected with a 15-inch keeper. It seemed like the
bite was going to be on fire, but that was not the case. Nine AM came around and we had only two
keepers in the well. It was starting to look like the topwater bite might be leaving us, when Jeremy
hooks up with a toad. The fish hit on the end of a long cast and came rocketing out of the water.
More tense moments, but we got the fish in the boat. It ended up weighing 4.60 pounds and did a
lot for our confidence. After that we got on a roll. We were culling by 9:40 AM and things were
looking up. We had culled up to the 14-pound range and were in desperate need of another giant.
The giant never bit and we went back to the ramp hoping we could squeeze into that last check
position.........
Keeper Count:
Reaction Innovations Vixen Topwater (Bone): 40 keepers
Final Thoughts: Well, we did all we could and wound up 0.10 pounds out of a check. It was a heart
breaker, but it was really a great weekend of fishing...........
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone