"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
41st annual Winter Bass O Thon
November 15th, 2008
Norfork Lake, Henderson
Water 61 Main Lake
Cold, very windy and cloudy all day
Anglers: David and Carl Wooten
Practice: Me and Dad got to practice together 2 days before the tournament and Dad also
practiced 2 more days alone, giving us 4 days to find some fish. We really never put a long day in,
just 6 hours at the most but we decided to concentrate on the shallow fish and use the ledges we
found in the last tournament as a backup. Dads first practice day went really well and he found
some good fish in Bennett's using spinnerbaits and jigs in the brush around the old shore line. We
decided to try the same pattern on the lower end of the lake. As the weekend rolled around we
headed out to fish Big creek and Brushy. We spent about 6 hours that day and came up with a
bunch of short fish but 0 keepers.We then decided to just concentrate on the mid area of the lake
and dad went out to find some more spots on Tuesday. He came back home with poor results, only
catching 3 keepers on jigs in the brush around main lake coves and shallow points. He said he
caught several short fish, but the keepers were few and far between. On Thursday, Dad and I spent
about 4 hours after I got home from work looking for some main lake fish. We found one area that
was loaded with good fish and decided that's were we will start.
Take Off: We were boat 20 out of 70 and with the very strong Northwest wind our deep main lake
ledges were out of the question. We only had 2 good area's and they were spread out a pretty
good distance. We headed to our first spot, and as I figured, someone was already working it over.
We pulled in about 100 feet behind them and started working our jigs. They were throwing
spinnerbaits and moved on out pretty fast. We put 9 non-keepers in the boat and 2 keepers. One
was a 15" smallmouth the other a 15 1/2" Black. It was an ok start but we would need to cull them
both to have a chance at winning. This spot was somewhat windy but blocked off pretty good from
the head-on 30mph wind. We then decided to just go fishing and save the other spot up in the
creek for later. We changed over to spinnerbaits and hit 2 good banks with the wind flat out
pounding them. Not a single bite! We switched over to cranks since it was a cold front. The bass will
normally kill a crankbait on a windy cold front day, but we come up with 0 after several points and
coves. We then went back to our jigs and fished back in a cove that was blocked from the wind.
We managed to catch one non-keeper after another but only 1 small 12" keeper Kentucky.
We continued switching from cranks to jigs, but could not get it going our way. At 12:30 we
decided to run to our creek fish. The wind was cracking on it but I held us steady as we pitched our
jigs in the brush. We pulled out one non-keeper after another and Dad finally boated a nice 15"
Kentucky giving us 4. We fished it hard until 1:30 trying for that 5th keeper, but it was just too
rough. We started back with our junk fishing and threw cranks until we settled into another cove
blocking the wind. Dad catches our 5th keeper, but we had no chance of winning with another small
limit. We weighed in our 5@ 7.69 and watched as it seemed everyone brought in bag after bag of
10lb+. I am starting to think we need to find another hobby!
Final Thoughts: "Fish More" I need to start fishing like I use to, Alot! It seems like I never have
the time these days. We are off fish and the only way to get on track is to get out and find them and
to get my confidence built back up. We believe in finding our own fish and doing things our own
way, so calling up all my buddies to put me on fish has never been an option.
Equipment: 7' G-loomis 15lb seaguar 3/8oz Jewel Eakins Jig and craw. All 5 fish.
November 15th, 2008
Norfork Lake, Henderson
Water 61 Main Lake
Cold, very windy and cloudy all day
Anglers: David and Carl Wooten
Practice: Me and Dad got to practice together 2 days before the tournament and Dad also
practiced 2 more days alone, giving us 4 days to find some fish. We really never put a long day in,
just 6 hours at the most but we decided to concentrate on the shallow fish and use the ledges we
found in the last tournament as a backup. Dads first practice day went really well and he found
some good fish in Bennett's using spinnerbaits and jigs in the brush around the old shore line. We
decided to try the same pattern on the lower end of the lake. As the weekend rolled around we
headed out to fish Big creek and Brushy. We spent about 6 hours that day and came up with a
bunch of short fish but 0 keepers.We then decided to just concentrate on the mid area of the lake
and dad went out to find some more spots on Tuesday. He came back home with poor results, only
catching 3 keepers on jigs in the brush around main lake coves and shallow points. He said he
caught several short fish, but the keepers were few and far between. On Thursday, Dad and I spent
about 4 hours after I got home from work looking for some main lake fish. We found one area that
was loaded with good fish and decided that's were we will start.
Take Off: We were boat 20 out of 70 and with the very strong Northwest wind our deep main lake
ledges were out of the question. We only had 2 good area's and they were spread out a pretty
good distance. We headed to our first spot, and as I figured, someone was already working it over.
We pulled in about 100 feet behind them and started working our jigs. They were throwing
spinnerbaits and moved on out pretty fast. We put 9 non-keepers in the boat and 2 keepers. One
was a 15" smallmouth the other a 15 1/2" Black. It was an ok start but we would need to cull them
both to have a chance at winning. This spot was somewhat windy but blocked off pretty good from
the head-on 30mph wind. We then decided to just go fishing and save the other spot up in the
creek for later. We changed over to spinnerbaits and hit 2 good banks with the wind flat out
pounding them. Not a single bite! We switched over to cranks since it was a cold front. The bass will
normally kill a crankbait on a windy cold front day, but we come up with 0 after several points and
coves. We then went back to our jigs and fished back in a cove that was blocked from the wind.
We managed to catch one non-keeper after another but only 1 small 12" keeper Kentucky.
We continued switching from cranks to jigs, but could not get it going our way. At 12:30 we
decided to run to our creek fish. The wind was cracking on it but I held us steady as we pitched our
jigs in the brush. We pulled out one non-keeper after another and Dad finally boated a nice 15"
Kentucky giving us 4. We fished it hard until 1:30 trying for that 5th keeper, but it was just too
rough. We started back with our junk fishing and threw cranks until we settled into another cove
blocking the wind. Dad catches our 5th keeper, but we had no chance of winning with another small
limit. We weighed in our 5@ 7.69 and watched as it seemed everyone brought in bag after bag of
10lb+. I am starting to think we need to find another hobby!
Final Thoughts: "Fish More" I need to start fishing like I use to, Alot! It seems like I never have
the time these days. We are off fish and the only way to get on track is to get out and find them and
to get my confidence built back up. We believe in finding our own fish and doing things our own
way, so calling up all my buddies to put me on fish has never been an option.
Equipment: 7' G-loomis 15lb seaguar 3/8oz Jewel Eakins Jig and craw. All 5 fish.