"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Mid-Central Buddy Winter Bass Tournament
November 29, 2008
Bull Shoals Lake
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Jim Risley
Place: 36th place – 5 fish – 10.98 pounds
Practice: I decided the day after Thanksgiving to go to Bull Shoals Lake since I hadn’t been there
In a year. I was able to put a little pattern together in Big Cedar Creek using a Jewel Eakins' Jig.
Then I ran to Dry Music to try that area. About half way down the bank, I hook a 3+ pound mean-
mouth (cross between spotted and smallmouth bass). About 10 casts later, I caught a 3+ pound
spotted bass. Then the next bank I go to, I caught a 3 pound smallmouth. As I was heading home,
Frank called and said he would cover our entry fee if my dad and I wanted to fish. I said sure
because I don’t want to pass up chances to fish with my dad in a tournament since we don’t get to
fish many anymore together.
November 29: Derby day began with me quickly finding out we didn’t do our homework. We were
number 16. When they called our number, all but two boat before us went up river and we went the
other way. We get to Big Cedar Creek and I start throwing a wiggle wart and dad throws an Eakins'
jig. I caught two keepers and lose another one in the first 20 minutes. We fish along and I was able
to get another keeper in the boat. Dad was getting a lot of small fish hits. We pulled up on this point
and my depthfinder lights up with active fish. I immediately caught a keeper spotted bass and a
short smallmouth. I then caught a barely keeper meanmouth which I let go because I didn’t want to
go through all the trouble of ID the fish at the weigh-in. We finally decide to run to Dry Music Creek.
We get there and the bank with the good fish was not really on but I was able to get a small keeper.
We decided to keep fishing down the bank and I lost what felt like a decent fish. We decided we
would fish a little point in front of us before leaving. On that point, I caught a keeper smallmouth
bass and began the culling process. Dad got a kick out of me saying “Wow, I can see all the fish in
the livewell.” Fishing the Arkansas River all year long, I wasn’t accustomed to being able to see the
fish in the livewell. Then two casts later on a bare nothing bank, I caught a 4 pounder. So we are
pretty happy at that point. We continued down the bank. I was catching short fish left and right. At
that point, Dad switches jig colors and started catching keepers. We were in the very back of the
cove by that time and still catching fish. I switched to a BDS-3 and lost a fish. We fished our way out
and caught some more shorts. After that, the bite started to go down hill quickly. We continued to
catch shorts but had a hard time catching keepers. We moved around to Music Creek and then
back to Big Creek. In Big Creek, we continued to catch shorts. The last cove we fished was Little
Cedar Creek and dad lost a keeper on a jig and I missed a good fish on a crankbait.
Keeper count:
Storm Wiggle Wart – V37 - Brown Craw: 8 keepers
5/16 Ounce Orange Craw Jewel Eakins' Jog : 2 Keepers
Final thoughts: Well, I was happy to get to fish another tournament with my dad. We spent the day
talking about the good fish we caught on a lot of the banks we fished. We weren’t prepared for this
tournament and it showed. We caught a lot of fish and had a ton of bites; however, the better bite
was up the lake and it was early. Anyways, I was just glad to fish ol’ Bull Shoals.
See ya’ at the next tournament,
Jeremy Risley
November 29, 2008
Bull Shoals Lake
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Jim Risley
Place: 36th place – 5 fish – 10.98 pounds
Practice: I decided the day after Thanksgiving to go to Bull Shoals Lake since I hadn’t been there
In a year. I was able to put a little pattern together in Big Cedar Creek using a Jewel Eakins' Jig.
Then I ran to Dry Music to try that area. About half way down the bank, I hook a 3+ pound mean-
mouth (cross between spotted and smallmouth bass). About 10 casts later, I caught a 3+ pound
spotted bass. Then the next bank I go to, I caught a 3 pound smallmouth. As I was heading home,
Frank called and said he would cover our entry fee if my dad and I wanted to fish. I said sure
because I don’t want to pass up chances to fish with my dad in a tournament since we don’t get to
fish many anymore together.
November 29: Derby day began with me quickly finding out we didn’t do our homework. We were
number 16. When they called our number, all but two boat before us went up river and we went the
other way. We get to Big Cedar Creek and I start throwing a wiggle wart and dad throws an Eakins'
jig. I caught two keepers and lose another one in the first 20 minutes. We fish along and I was able
to get another keeper in the boat. Dad was getting a lot of small fish hits. We pulled up on this point
and my depthfinder lights up with active fish. I immediately caught a keeper spotted bass and a
short smallmouth. I then caught a barely keeper meanmouth which I let go because I didn’t want to
go through all the trouble of ID the fish at the weigh-in. We finally decide to run to Dry Music Creek.
We get there and the bank with the good fish was not really on but I was able to get a small keeper.
We decided to keep fishing down the bank and I lost what felt like a decent fish. We decided we
would fish a little point in front of us before leaving. On that point, I caught a keeper smallmouth
bass and began the culling process. Dad got a kick out of me saying “Wow, I can see all the fish in
the livewell.” Fishing the Arkansas River all year long, I wasn’t accustomed to being able to see the
fish in the livewell. Then two casts later on a bare nothing bank, I caught a 4 pounder. So we are
pretty happy at that point. We continued down the bank. I was catching short fish left and right. At
that point, Dad switches jig colors and started catching keepers. We were in the very back of the
cove by that time and still catching fish. I switched to a BDS-3 and lost a fish. We fished our way out
and caught some more shorts. After that, the bite started to go down hill quickly. We continued to
catch shorts but had a hard time catching keepers. We moved around to Music Creek and then
back to Big Creek. In Big Creek, we continued to catch shorts. The last cove we fished was Little
Cedar Creek and dad lost a keeper on a jig and I missed a good fish on a crankbait.
Keeper count:
Storm Wiggle Wart – V37 - Brown Craw: 8 keepers
5/16 Ounce Orange Craw Jewel Eakins' Jog : 2 Keepers
Final thoughts: Well, I was happy to get to fish another tournament with my dad. We spent the day
talking about the good fish we caught on a lot of the banks we fished. We weren’t prepared for this
tournament and it showed. We caught a lot of fish and had a ton of bites; however, the better bite
was up the lake and it was early. Anyways, I was just glad to fish ol’ Bull Shoals.
See ya’ at the next tournament,
Jeremy Risley