"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Monticello Bass Club
June 14, 2008
Lake Chicot
Anglers: Jeremy Risley
Place: 10th place – 4 fish – 8.86 pounds
Practice: This tournament was originally scheduled for Lake Ferguson; however, I went over to
Lake Chicot the Sunday before the tournament to see if I could catch anything there. I did this
because I knew there was a chance it would get moved there because of the unsafe river
conditions. I get there and it is a practice that I really hate. I couldn’t do anything wrong. It felt like I
could catch a fish off every dock. I was using a BassHunter BB3. I was catching them off the end of
docks in the shade. I then ran into Terry King and he was whacking them to. So I decided to cut my
practice short so I wouldn’t hook a lot of fish.
June 7: Derby day began with me being a nervous because I knew people like Adam and Philip
Starks, Terry King and Caleb Lane would have good fish and likely one or two would have close to
20 pounds. At take off it was cloudy so I ran over to a group of docks. I started throwing a 3/8
ounce white and chartreuse War Eagle spinnerbait near the bank because usually I can’t catch
dock fish with a crankbait till around 9 o’clock. I fished the spinnerbait for an hour or so and I had
around five strikes but the fish was throwing the spinnerbait eventhough I had a trailer hook on.
Only one looked like a keeper. I then went to the square bill. I throw it for a couple of hours and only
manage one short fish. Around 10:30, I knew I was in trouble so I abandoned all my patterns and
just started fishing. I go up to this nothing bank. I was sitting in 2 foot of water and slow rolling the
spinnerbait in about 6 inches of water. My first keeper hit my bait and I manage to put it in the live
well. A couple casts later, while Caleb Lane comes by and I’m reeling it my spinnerbait in, I have a
swirl. So I knew there was some fish in the area. I run back up the bank and come back down it. I
catch another keeper. So I do that again and catch another keeper. Then I start running around
hitting shallow flat banks. I caught several shorts and even a drum. The fish were off the bank on
the shallow sand flats. They were coming up behind the bait and barely sucking it in and just getting
the trailer hook. I watched every fish hit the spinnerbait. Then about 1:30, the sun finally came out. I
then ran and hit my dock pattern. I caught several short fish on a Bandit Flat Maxx square bill in
blue and chartreuse. Then with about 15 minutes left, I was able to boat my fourth keeper off the
end of a dock.
Keeper count:
3/8 Ounce War Eagle Spinnerbait: 3 keepers
Bandit Flat Maxx crankbait: 1 Keeper
Final thoughts: Well I had to scarp the pattern I’m accustom to doing this time of the year because
the sun never came out till the end of the day. If it would have been sunny all day, it would have
been unreal. However, I was able to get four keepers in the boat, fishing the conditions given to me.
I would like to give BIG Thanks to Kevin Short, for telling me about the square bill pattern when I
first moved down here, Greg Gulledge for introducing me to BassHunter Crankbaits, and Terry King
for giving me some info about fishing Lake Chicot.
See ya’ at the next tournament,
Jeremy Risley
June 14, 2008
Lake Chicot
Anglers: Jeremy Risley
Place: 10th place – 4 fish – 8.86 pounds
Practice: This tournament was originally scheduled for Lake Ferguson; however, I went over to
Lake Chicot the Sunday before the tournament to see if I could catch anything there. I did this
because I knew there was a chance it would get moved there because of the unsafe river
conditions. I get there and it is a practice that I really hate. I couldn’t do anything wrong. It felt like I
could catch a fish off every dock. I was using a BassHunter BB3. I was catching them off the end of
docks in the shade. I then ran into Terry King and he was whacking them to. So I decided to cut my
practice short so I wouldn’t hook a lot of fish.
June 7: Derby day began with me being a nervous because I knew people like Adam and Philip
Starks, Terry King and Caleb Lane would have good fish and likely one or two would have close to
20 pounds. At take off it was cloudy so I ran over to a group of docks. I started throwing a 3/8
ounce white and chartreuse War Eagle spinnerbait near the bank because usually I can’t catch
dock fish with a crankbait till around 9 o’clock. I fished the spinnerbait for an hour or so and I had
around five strikes but the fish was throwing the spinnerbait eventhough I had a trailer hook on.
Only one looked like a keeper. I then went to the square bill. I throw it for a couple of hours and only
manage one short fish. Around 10:30, I knew I was in trouble so I abandoned all my patterns and
just started fishing. I go up to this nothing bank. I was sitting in 2 foot of water and slow rolling the
spinnerbait in about 6 inches of water. My first keeper hit my bait and I manage to put it in the live
well. A couple casts later, while Caleb Lane comes by and I’m reeling it my spinnerbait in, I have a
swirl. So I knew there was some fish in the area. I run back up the bank and come back down it. I
catch another keeper. So I do that again and catch another keeper. Then I start running around
hitting shallow flat banks. I caught several shorts and even a drum. The fish were off the bank on
the shallow sand flats. They were coming up behind the bait and barely sucking it in and just getting
the trailer hook. I watched every fish hit the spinnerbait. Then about 1:30, the sun finally came out. I
then ran and hit my dock pattern. I caught several short fish on a Bandit Flat Maxx square bill in
blue and chartreuse. Then with about 15 minutes left, I was able to boat my fourth keeper off the
end of a dock.
Keeper count:
3/8 Ounce War Eagle Spinnerbait: 3 keepers
Bandit Flat Maxx crankbait: 1 Keeper
Final thoughts: Well I had to scarp the pattern I’m accustom to doing this time of the year because
the sun never came out till the end of the day. If it would have been sunny all day, it would have
been unreal. However, I was able to get four keepers in the boat, fishing the conditions given to me.
I would like to give BIG Thanks to Kevin Short, for telling me about the square bill pattern when I
first moved down here, Greg Gulledge for introducing me to BassHunter Crankbaits, and Terry King
for giving me some info about fishing Lake Chicot.
See ya’ at the next tournament,
Jeremy Risley