"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Get5Bass Winter Series - South Division
Lake Ouachita - December 11th, 2010
Anglers: Cody Kemp and Kevin Brown - 5th place - 13.99 pounds
Practice:
I had to drag myself away from lake Degray last Sunday to try and find a few fish on Ouachita.
When I arrived it was really cold and I learned quickly that I wasn’t wearing enough clothes, so I
stayed “really” close to crystal until the sun got up. I was fishing ditches, and channel swings along
crystal with a ¾ oz Jewel football jig, sometimes throwing shallow in the grass and sometimes deep
in the channel. I caught only one keeper in crystal before deciding to go across the lake into
buckville. I kept the jig in my hand and started putting together a small pattern over in buckville. I
could get bit on just about every small secondary point, if it had steep sides on it. I caught seven or
so keepers doing this and decided to start looking for some bigger fish. I put the trolling motor on
high and started chunkin and windin but couldn’t catch the big fish I was looking for. I caught a few
shorts and one or two keepers but nothing that got me too excited. I ran too south fork and started
“side imaging” some deep brush. After finding a few promising piles I made some casts too them but
could only come up with small spotted bass and they were few and far between. I didn’t fish some of
our best stuff in south fork with anticipation of starting on it Saturday, so off I went into the main
lake. I fished islands for a while, with no luck. I then ran down around Brady to see if it had grass
(negative Buzz). I slowly started making my way back to crystal looking for good grass that would
hold some big fish. “What happened to all the dang grass!?!” I finally got back into crystal and
started running the pattern I had picked up on earlier in buckville it wasn’t as good as buckville but I
caught one fish that weighed around 4 so I felt ok about catching a descent stringer come Saturday
if the weather didn’t change up too much.
Derby:
Kevin and I usually start every Get5 winter tournament on Ouachita on the same spot so we
ran there and started fishing deep rocks and brush with our Jewel Jigs it wasn’t long and I
connected with our first keeper a 14 inch spot. We fished around a while in south fork and couldn’t
catch on to a deep jig bite so off we went to buckville to fish the secondary point pattern I had found
in practice. On the second cast Kevin said “there’s a piece of brush or something right there” then
“SWACK” he set the hook and yelled this is a big fish I seen her flash and I could of swore it was an
8 pounder but he pulled her up next to the boat and she would go a little over 5, a solid second fish
of the day on our first point, so we were pumped. We fished buckville hard for another hour and
couldn’t catch another keeper off the points. We decided to run to Rabbit and try the same pattern.
We fished all the way down a good stretch with no bites so we decided to go back out to the mouth
of the bay where it was a little steeper. I was about 3 casts in out at the mouth and I caught a short
on the jig. Then on the very next cast to a small cut I caught a solid 2.5lber. We moved to the other
side of the bay and Kevin set the hook on a solid 3 pounder. That was 4 and it was only 11:00 so
we knew if we could get just a couple more chunks to cull out the Spot to give us 5 blacks with the
one big fish we would be in check range. We fished hard in rabbit for awhile and couldn’t catch any
more keepers. We decided to make a run back out to buckville. Kevin knew of a little ruff spot in
about 15 foot or so that he wanted to throw his jig on, so I pulled up and made my first cast and
started hoping my jig over the rocks when suddenly I got the best jig bite I have had in maybe two
years. It was like the old jig bites I used to git in the grass on Degray. When the fish hit I said “OH
MY GOD!” With my rod still vibrating I just ripped back and felt a solid fish on the other end. I still
don’t carry a net in the boat but that is soon to change because my streak of not loosing a fish
ended with this fish. I pulled it up next to the boat and we both thought it was hooked well so we
decided to just swing it in the boat. As soon as I went to lift the fish the hook pulled loose. It was a
chunk that would have went 3 pounds, and would have gave us a limit with only the Kentucky to cull.
With only four we put our heads down and started grinding to get our 5th keeper. It was about 2:00
when I picked up a trap and threw it across a big wind blown secondary point and my trap just
stopped it was our 5th keeper; it was only about a 2.5lber but we were both relieved to have five.
We decided to run back into crystal to finish out the day hoping to catch a big fish in the grass but
we were only catching pickerels so at 3:00 we ended our day and set up for weigh in.
Keeper count:
Jewel ¾ oz football jig (green gourd) 4 keepers
1oz SPRO Aruka Shad (red) 1 keeper
Final thoughts:
Wonder how much we would have culled up too with that fish I tried to swing? Time to put a net
in the boat, it was a good run…
Lake Ouachita - December 11th, 2010
Anglers: Cody Kemp and Kevin Brown - 5th place - 13.99 pounds
Practice:
I had to drag myself away from lake Degray last Sunday to try and find a few fish on Ouachita.
When I arrived it was really cold and I learned quickly that I wasn’t wearing enough clothes, so I
stayed “really” close to crystal until the sun got up. I was fishing ditches, and channel swings along
crystal with a ¾ oz Jewel football jig, sometimes throwing shallow in the grass and sometimes deep
in the channel. I caught only one keeper in crystal before deciding to go across the lake into
buckville. I kept the jig in my hand and started putting together a small pattern over in buckville. I
could get bit on just about every small secondary point, if it had steep sides on it. I caught seven or
so keepers doing this and decided to start looking for some bigger fish. I put the trolling motor on
high and started chunkin and windin but couldn’t catch the big fish I was looking for. I caught a few
shorts and one or two keepers but nothing that got me too excited. I ran too south fork and started
“side imaging” some deep brush. After finding a few promising piles I made some casts too them but
could only come up with small spotted bass and they were few and far between. I didn’t fish some of
our best stuff in south fork with anticipation of starting on it Saturday, so off I went into the main
lake. I fished islands for a while, with no luck. I then ran down around Brady to see if it had grass
(negative Buzz). I slowly started making my way back to crystal looking for good grass that would
hold some big fish. “What happened to all the dang grass!?!” I finally got back into crystal and
started running the pattern I had picked up on earlier in buckville it wasn’t as good as buckville but I
caught one fish that weighed around 4 so I felt ok about catching a descent stringer come Saturday
if the weather didn’t change up too much.
Derby:
Kevin and I usually start every Get5 winter tournament on Ouachita on the same spot so we
ran there and started fishing deep rocks and brush with our Jewel Jigs it wasn’t long and I
connected with our first keeper a 14 inch spot. We fished around a while in south fork and couldn’t
catch on to a deep jig bite so off we went to buckville to fish the secondary point pattern I had found
in practice. On the second cast Kevin said “there’s a piece of brush or something right there” then
“SWACK” he set the hook and yelled this is a big fish I seen her flash and I could of swore it was an
8 pounder but he pulled her up next to the boat and she would go a little over 5, a solid second fish
of the day on our first point, so we were pumped. We fished buckville hard for another hour and
couldn’t catch another keeper off the points. We decided to run to Rabbit and try the same pattern.
We fished all the way down a good stretch with no bites so we decided to go back out to the mouth
of the bay where it was a little steeper. I was about 3 casts in out at the mouth and I caught a short
on the jig. Then on the very next cast to a small cut I caught a solid 2.5lber. We moved to the other
side of the bay and Kevin set the hook on a solid 3 pounder. That was 4 and it was only 11:00 so
we knew if we could get just a couple more chunks to cull out the Spot to give us 5 blacks with the
one big fish we would be in check range. We fished hard in rabbit for awhile and couldn’t catch any
more keepers. We decided to make a run back out to buckville. Kevin knew of a little ruff spot in
about 15 foot or so that he wanted to throw his jig on, so I pulled up and made my first cast and
started hoping my jig over the rocks when suddenly I got the best jig bite I have had in maybe two
years. It was like the old jig bites I used to git in the grass on Degray. When the fish hit I said “OH
MY GOD!” With my rod still vibrating I just ripped back and felt a solid fish on the other end. I still
don’t carry a net in the boat but that is soon to change because my streak of not loosing a fish
ended with this fish. I pulled it up next to the boat and we both thought it was hooked well so we
decided to just swing it in the boat. As soon as I went to lift the fish the hook pulled loose. It was a
chunk that would have went 3 pounds, and would have gave us a limit with only the Kentucky to cull.
With only four we put our heads down and started grinding to get our 5th keeper. It was about 2:00
when I picked up a trap and threw it across a big wind blown secondary point and my trap just
stopped it was our 5th keeper; it was only about a 2.5lber but we were both relieved to have five.
We decided to run back into crystal to finish out the day hoping to catch a big fish in the grass but
we were only catching pickerels so at 3:00 we ended our day and set up for weigh in.
Keeper count:
Jewel ¾ oz football jig (green gourd) 4 keepers
1oz SPRO Aruka Shad (red) 1 keeper
Final thoughts:
Wonder how much we would have culled up too with that fish I tried to swing? Time to put a net
in the boat, it was a good run…