"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Mr. Bass of Arkansas
June 29th, 2008
Millwood Lake
Angler: Frank Leone (Amateur Division)
5th place - 2 bass - 6.45 pounds - $244
Pairing Meeting: I was paired with Tony Nesterenko. Tony was hot off of his Bassmaster Weekend
Series victory on Millwood, so I knew he would be on some fish. I was pumped!!!!
Tournament: We were greeted with clouds and rain - perfect conditions to produce a great early
summer bite. When our number was called we headed out in Tony's 2008 Triton (it was a sweet
ride!!). We got to our first location and we both made a cast with a buzzbait. Tony had one short
strike his, but I had one slurp mine right off of the surface. I thought it was a little one at first, but it
turned out to be a 2.75 pounder!!!! Nothing like getting a keeper on the first cast of the day!!! I
continued to throw the buzzbait, and caught a short fish pretty quickly. When the rain stopped, they
seemed to stop biting the topwater baits. I threw a frog a while, but didn't have any action. I made
an adjustment and tied on a white swim jig. Quickly thereafter, I caught a short fish. The conditions
just seemed right, and the predominant vegetation was sparse alligator weed. I figured, I could slide
that swim jig right through the holes and trigger some reaction strikes. And it worked. A couple of
minutes later and I had a ferocious strike. "I've got a giant" I yelled to Tony. It was a relatively long
cast, but I got the fish coming to the boat fairly quickly. Unfortunately, It was one of those that had
it's head out of the water and I knew it was going to due a head shake at any second. Then it
happened. The mule was two feet from net, shook it's head, and out came my jig. Devastating. The
fish was at least 5, maybe even in the 6-pound range. I was a sick man at that point. Anyway, I
continued to throw the swim jig and missed the next blow-up. I was fishing it near the surface, so the
strikes were kind of like topwater hits. We had almost worked our way out of the cove when I had
another one explode on it. It was a solid 3.75 pounder and I got it in the boat. I was relieved and it
was still real early, so I had a lot of fishing to look forward too. Anyway, the rest of the day I got to
watch Tony put on a clinic punching mats. He probably caught between 10 - 20 fish, but size was an
issue. He was able to put three keepers in the boat that weighed about 8-pounds, which to Tony
was probably a disappointing day. As for me, I caught a few more shorts, but was unable to put that
3rd keeper in the boat.....
Keeper Count: All-Terrain Swim Jig (1/2 oz; White): 1 Keeper
Cavitron Buzz Bait (3/8 oz.; Black): 1 Keeper
Final Thoughts: A good but disappointing day. If I had caught that giant that I lost, I probably
would have walked away with my first MBOA victory. I'm sure there were several other anglers out
there with a similar story, so I will stop my whining now. I'm very fortunate to have cashed a check -
It's not easy to do fishing MBOA events.......
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone
June 29th, 2008
Millwood Lake
Angler: Frank Leone (Amateur Division)
5th place - 2 bass - 6.45 pounds - $244
Pairing Meeting: I was paired with Tony Nesterenko. Tony was hot off of his Bassmaster Weekend
Series victory on Millwood, so I knew he would be on some fish. I was pumped!!!!
Tournament: We were greeted with clouds and rain - perfect conditions to produce a great early
summer bite. When our number was called we headed out in Tony's 2008 Triton (it was a sweet
ride!!). We got to our first location and we both made a cast with a buzzbait. Tony had one short
strike his, but I had one slurp mine right off of the surface. I thought it was a little one at first, but it
turned out to be a 2.75 pounder!!!! Nothing like getting a keeper on the first cast of the day!!! I
continued to throw the buzzbait, and caught a short fish pretty quickly. When the rain stopped, they
seemed to stop biting the topwater baits. I threw a frog a while, but didn't have any action. I made
an adjustment and tied on a white swim jig. Quickly thereafter, I caught a short fish. The conditions
just seemed right, and the predominant vegetation was sparse alligator weed. I figured, I could slide
that swim jig right through the holes and trigger some reaction strikes. And it worked. A couple of
minutes later and I had a ferocious strike. "I've got a giant" I yelled to Tony. It was a relatively long
cast, but I got the fish coming to the boat fairly quickly. Unfortunately, It was one of those that had
it's head out of the water and I knew it was going to due a head shake at any second. Then it
happened. The mule was two feet from net, shook it's head, and out came my jig. Devastating. The
fish was at least 5, maybe even in the 6-pound range. I was a sick man at that point. Anyway, I
continued to throw the swim jig and missed the next blow-up. I was fishing it near the surface, so the
strikes were kind of like topwater hits. We had almost worked our way out of the cove when I had
another one explode on it. It was a solid 3.75 pounder and I got it in the boat. I was relieved and it
was still real early, so I had a lot of fishing to look forward too. Anyway, the rest of the day I got to
watch Tony put on a clinic punching mats. He probably caught between 10 - 20 fish, but size was an
issue. He was able to put three keepers in the boat that weighed about 8-pounds, which to Tony
was probably a disappointing day. As for me, I caught a few more shorts, but was unable to put that
3rd keeper in the boat.....
Keeper Count: All-Terrain Swim Jig (1/2 oz; White): 1 Keeper
Cavitron Buzz Bait (3/8 oz.; Black): 1 Keeper
Final Thoughts: A good but disappointing day. If I had caught that giant that I lost, I probably
would have walked away with my first MBOA victory. I'm sure there were several other anglers out
there with a similar story, so I will stop my whining now. I'm very fortunate to have cashed a check -
It's not easy to do fishing MBOA events.......
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone