"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Angler: Terrance Narveson
TBF State Championship
03/19/10 and 3/20/10
I prefished wednesday and thursday before the tournament just to get familiar with the lake and
hopefully get a few options of where to fish. On Wednesday afternoon I put in at hwy 125 ramp and
ran down the lake to Big Creek. I was looking for the channel breaks and fishing the flats where fish
might pull up to prepare for spawn. I was about 10 minutes into my first stop and I caught a monster
Kentucky approx 4lbs. This was my first big kentucky and I had to take a minute just to admire it.
After that I was getting strikes but the fish were not eating my wiggle wart but just slapping it. So a
quick move to try and duplicate what I was doing and once again I was getting bites but they were
just slapping it. I tried a jig and jerkbaits but nothing else worked. I ran back out into the main lake
and figured I would give a shot at some main lake coves and breaks. My first stop was a pocket just
up from a main river channel break and when I got in there it was like a seagull bombardment. I saw
shad flipping around everywhere and the gull were dive bombing on the buffet. Not really putting
much into it I decided to hit a big point just inside the pocket. Again I was throwing my wiggle wart
just covering some water and boom a good fish hooked up. After a good battle I boated the
monster. It was about 6lbs and stuffed with shad. The daylight ran out and I felt like I had a few
things to work with after all the strikes but there was still a lot of lake left to check out.
Thursday I put in at Diamond City and ran 20 miles up the river to Bee Creek. There was a dense
fog that set in so I just camped out on the island in the mouth of the creek but that didnt take long
to but decide I needed to move after I doubled up on 3lb blacks in about 10 minutes. So I moved
into the creek and tried a few points and breaks here and there around the creek but did not have
any bites. A quick move down to Bear creek looking in the same places trying to duplicate what I
was doing the day before but again nothing. I figured it was time to try some main lake pockets just
off the main river and here we go again the first one I stopped in I hit the mother load doubling up
on 4lb fish. A quick move to another pocket and I caught a 2.5lb smallie and watched two guys
catch a 4 and 5lb fish as well. I spent the rest of the day looking for more pockets like those but
never found any more with fish so I was looking at two places going either
direction for the tournament.
Tournament Day 1
I was fishing with Kevin Gibson from Harrison and we on our way up to Bear Creek but he spun a
hub on the run up. We got his prop changed and made our way back up the river. The sun was out
again today and we were hitting points and a few pockets close to the back of Bear creek when I
caught my first fish on a Jackall Squirrel it was not a keeper so we went back further back the creek
to fish a channel bend with good rock coming into the water. I quickly caught a good keeper and
almost the next cast lost another. There were fish on this bank and managed to catch 2 more
nonkeepers. We stopped at a few more places and I was able to get 1 more small keeper kentucky
but I was just waiting for my turn to hit my mother load. My time to move up front and we moved to
my little cove and Kevin caught a nonkeeper on his first cast. After moving into position I cast down
the bank and bam another keeper black. We went down the bank and I caught a nice keeper
smallmouth. We made another pass down the bank but nothing this time. Kevin said he knew
another place similar on our way to my second spot. We stopped and fished our way into my
second cove and I caught another keeper kentucky. I had my limit and now it was time to stick a pig.
We got in the pocket and fished around and kevin was able to catch 2 smallmouth and 1 was a
keeper. We ran back up to my honey hole and there was a boat in there so we ran across the bank
to another rocky bank to give them time to leave. Once they left we moved back in and I caught
another keeper kentucky. Culled a small one and back to casting. The time got to us as we had to
come back in with only a small limit for day one. Luckly everyone else struggled as well and I was in
11th place after Day 1.
Keeper count:
6 keepers - Wiggle Wart
4 non keepers - Wiggle Wart
1 non keeper - Jackall Squirrel DD79
Day 2
I fished with Calvin Groden and we ran to a bank in West Sugarloaf that always has fish moving up
and down it in the early spring. This was just one of those days where the fish were not agreeing
with us and the bites were very sparse. Calvin was able to boat 2 keepers and 1 was a hog but I
only caught 1 nice keeper but failed to get him in the boat. We covered this 300yd stretch of water
3 times and it was time to move to my honey hole. We ran up the river and as soon as we got in
position I caught my first keeper a nice 2.5lb black. Three casts later I had a nice smallmouth
keeper in the boat. The wind was blowing us down the bank to fast so turned the boat around and
wanted another pass in the good strike zone. Once I got there I got hung up and as soon as I shook
it free a keeper Kenurcky slammed my Wiggle Wart. Almost the next cast I busted a small black that
did not measure and that was the end of the fast action. We tried some jigs and even left
it alone for a little while to let it rest but nothing moved back in. I ran down to my second hole but
nothing bit there either. The front was moving in and we had to come in so I was unable to get my
limit this day but maybe it might be enough.
I ended up finishing 13th and was the first alternate for the state team. That is not bad for my first
time to Bull Shoals and I will be making plans to come back again because there are some
awesome fish to catch up here.
Day 2 Total
3 keepers - Wiggle Wart
1 non keeper - Wiggle Wart
The key to catching my fish were lining up with the bank and throwing way down the bank just off
the shore. My Dobyns 705CB allowed me to make long casts and as I worked it back I had to
carefully work the crank bait over the rocks and brush. My 705CB allowed me to feel the brush
almost before getting hung up in it and if I got stuck it was only hung by the bill and after shaking
the bait loose I was able to bring it back into the strike zone. When a fish was hooked the rod
handled great and allowed me to play out the fish out to get them into the net.