"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Heartland Anglers
June 14th, 2008
Lake Dardanelle
Anglers: Dylan Hawkins and Frank Leone
1st place - 18.02 pounds - $460.00
Tournament: I had a couple of weeks between tournaments and with my boat in the shop, so I was
dieing to get back out on the water. I called Dylan Hawkins and asked if he would liked to fish the
Heartland Anglers Tournament on Dardanelle. David James and Ray Rowland do a great job
running this circuit, so to me it was a "no brainer". Luckily for me, Dylan did want to fish so we met
up early on Saturday morning at the Piney/64 Ramp. But there was a problem. It appeared that his
trolling motor cable had snapped. Spencer Grace took a look at it and thought the cable may have
just slipped off of the roller. Spencer had us fixed up in no time and we headed down the Lake. On
our first stretch of grass the fish were there and chompin'!!! Dylan was throwing a frog and I was
swimming a jig. We both put two keepers in the boat, including the fish that wound up being the
day's big bass, a 5.13 pound "toad". After our first stretch we wound up going way up the Bayou,
only to find the place full of debris and chocolate milk colored water. We got out of there and
decided to head back to some grass closer to the main channel. I put keeper #5 in the boat on the
swim jig, and we were well on our way to having a great day on the water.. It was 8:30 AM when
Dylan said that he had a few tricks up his sleeve, so off we went to try another pattern. We started
punching mats, and it wasn't long before Dylan hooked up with a solid keeper on his 1 oz. grass Jig.
We continued to punch mats and throw frogs, but we hit a little lull between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.
That's when we headed up to the Piney Bay area, where we once again started fishing another
pattern. As Dylan was stopping his boat, I thought there must have been something wrong with his
motor. Didn't look like a spot that I would consider fishing. He started chucking a Jewel Finesse
Football Jig on a ledge, and within 5 minutes he had hooked up with another solid keeper. That's
when I made our only error of the day. Seems I culled the wrong fish. We had a 2.5 pounder that
was hiding under the "toad" and I culled a 2.75 pounder before finding the smaller fish. I prayed
that the mistake wouldn't hurt us, and for my sanity's sake it didn't. Dylan's trolling motor finally
gave out around 2:00, so when went back to the ramp and chilled in the shade for an hour.
Keeper count: All Terrain Swim Jig (1/2 oz. Swim Jig) - 3 keepers
Spro Bronzeye Frog - 2 keepers
Jewel Finesse Football Jig (1/2 oz. Black/blue flash) - 2 keepers
grass jig (1 oz. - Black/Blue) - 2 keepers
Final Thoughts: Everything we tried worked. We were fortunate to get a couple of big bites, and
that made the difference for us on this day.
June 14th, 2008
Lake Dardanelle
Anglers: Dylan Hawkins and Frank Leone
1st place - 18.02 pounds - $460.00
Tournament: I had a couple of weeks between tournaments and with my boat in the shop, so I was
dieing to get back out on the water. I called Dylan Hawkins and asked if he would liked to fish the
Heartland Anglers Tournament on Dardanelle. David James and Ray Rowland do a great job
running this circuit, so to me it was a "no brainer". Luckily for me, Dylan did want to fish so we met
up early on Saturday morning at the Piney/64 Ramp. But there was a problem. It appeared that his
trolling motor cable had snapped. Spencer Grace took a look at it and thought the cable may have
just slipped off of the roller. Spencer had us fixed up in no time and we headed down the Lake. On
our first stretch of grass the fish were there and chompin'!!! Dylan was throwing a frog and I was
swimming a jig. We both put two keepers in the boat, including the fish that wound up being the
day's big bass, a 5.13 pound "toad". After our first stretch we wound up going way up the Bayou,
only to find the place full of debris and chocolate milk colored water. We got out of there and
decided to head back to some grass closer to the main channel. I put keeper #5 in the boat on the
swim jig, and we were well on our way to having a great day on the water.. It was 8:30 AM when
Dylan said that he had a few tricks up his sleeve, so off we went to try another pattern. We started
punching mats, and it wasn't long before Dylan hooked up with a solid keeper on his 1 oz. grass Jig.
We continued to punch mats and throw frogs, but we hit a little lull between 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM.
That's when we headed up to the Piney Bay area, where we once again started fishing another
pattern. As Dylan was stopping his boat, I thought there must have been something wrong with his
motor. Didn't look like a spot that I would consider fishing. He started chucking a Jewel Finesse
Football Jig on a ledge, and within 5 minutes he had hooked up with another solid keeper. That's
when I made our only error of the day. Seems I culled the wrong fish. We had a 2.5 pounder that
was hiding under the "toad" and I culled a 2.75 pounder before finding the smaller fish. I prayed
that the mistake wouldn't hurt us, and for my sanity's sake it didn't. Dylan's trolling motor finally
gave out around 2:00, so when went back to the ramp and chilled in the shade for an hour.
Keeper count: All Terrain Swim Jig (1/2 oz. Swim Jig) - 3 keepers
Spro Bronzeye Frog - 2 keepers
Jewel Finesse Football Jig (1/2 oz. Black/blue flash) - 2 keepers
grass jig (1 oz. - Black/Blue) - 2 keepers
Final Thoughts: Everything we tried worked. We were fortunate to get a couple of big bites, and
that made the difference for us on this day.