"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Michelle Short Scholarship Fund Tournament
Anglers: Terrance Narveson and Billy Albert
I fished with Billy Albert in this tournament. It has been almost a year since the last time we got to
fish together and last year we finished seventh so we were ready to fight for the top spot this year.
Billy had practiced earlier this week with minimal success and only locating a few tournament quality
fish prior to Saturday. Most of his practice consisted of fishing the lower lake in places where the
fish usually transition this time of the year. We felt with the right bites we had a good opportunity to
win.
Tournament day and we were on the water at 5am ready to go double checking all our gear and
running over the game plan. It was Dardanelle Bay first thing where we pulled up on some points
and headed down the bank. Throwing an arsenal of baits we covered every inch of grass, stumps,
logs, and crevice along the bank. It took 20 minutes before our first bite and then we started to dial
in to what the fish were looking for. It was a frog first thing and if they missed it I followed it up
immediately with a jewel jig and usually caught the fish. We had fished for an hour and caught
about 8-10 fish with none being a keeper.
We decided to move to a little deeper water to see if some of the bigger fish were holding on a
drop. Again we were catching fish out here but not the quality of what we needed. 8:35am our first
keeper came off a Strike King Sexy Shad at the end of the drop. I threw out with my RC 1.5 and
caught a keeper as well. It was a school of fish and we hit them just right. Well we thought we hit
them just right because for the next 30 casts were catching a fish about 1 out 5 casts but again
they were small. Time to move on so we moved to the mats. Moving slow down the bank were hitting
the heavy mats punching every crack we could put our Beavers in. It was brutally hard to get the
bait in that thick grass then to not get any bites. We managed to catch about 8 fish in the mats, but
nothing that could go in the boat.
Time to hit the drop where we caught the two keepers. Once again the fish were there but the small
ones ruled the area. We pulled up on a shallower flat and I lost one that I did not see but it felt
good. Billy threw back to the area and caught our third keeper. A good one about 3lbs. The bite
seemed to shut off for us and we struggled to get any more bites. With a lot of time in the day we
decided to start running a few areas that consistently hold fish. We were also trying to duplicate the
small pattern from when we were catching fish.
The afternoon consisted of hitting a couple of drops in the bayou area, Flipping the rocks and mats
around Mill Creek. Moving back to the 64 dike and covering all the grass and rocks there. But
nothing we tried was producing any bites. It was a real struggle for us to try and get the last two fish
before time ran out. Our bites were few and far between each other which made it harder to
determine which course of action to take. We ended the day this year with only three fish but any
time on the water is time well spent. It was great to fish with Billy again and I know we will be gunning
for the top spot next year.
Fish count: 1 - 15 incher Strike King Sexy Shad
1 - 15 incher RC 1.5 Chart/Blk
1 - 3 lb Strike King Sexy Shad
Anglers: Terrance Narveson and Billy Albert
I fished with Billy Albert in this tournament. It has been almost a year since the last time we got to
fish together and last year we finished seventh so we were ready to fight for the top spot this year.
Billy had practiced earlier this week with minimal success and only locating a few tournament quality
fish prior to Saturday. Most of his practice consisted of fishing the lower lake in places where the
fish usually transition this time of the year. We felt with the right bites we had a good opportunity to
win.
Tournament day and we were on the water at 5am ready to go double checking all our gear and
running over the game plan. It was Dardanelle Bay first thing where we pulled up on some points
and headed down the bank. Throwing an arsenal of baits we covered every inch of grass, stumps,
logs, and crevice along the bank. It took 20 minutes before our first bite and then we started to dial
in to what the fish were looking for. It was a frog first thing and if they missed it I followed it up
immediately with a jewel jig and usually caught the fish. We had fished for an hour and caught
about 8-10 fish with none being a keeper.
We decided to move to a little deeper water to see if some of the bigger fish were holding on a
drop. Again we were catching fish out here but not the quality of what we needed. 8:35am our first
keeper came off a Strike King Sexy Shad at the end of the drop. I threw out with my RC 1.5 and
caught a keeper as well. It was a school of fish and we hit them just right. Well we thought we hit
them just right because for the next 30 casts were catching a fish about 1 out 5 casts but again
they were small. Time to move on so we moved to the mats. Moving slow down the bank were hitting
the heavy mats punching every crack we could put our Beavers in. It was brutally hard to get the
bait in that thick grass then to not get any bites. We managed to catch about 8 fish in the mats, but
nothing that could go in the boat.
Time to hit the drop where we caught the two keepers. Once again the fish were there but the small
ones ruled the area. We pulled up on a shallower flat and I lost one that I did not see but it felt
good. Billy threw back to the area and caught our third keeper. A good one about 3lbs. The bite
seemed to shut off for us and we struggled to get any more bites. With a lot of time in the day we
decided to start running a few areas that consistently hold fish. We were also trying to duplicate the
small pattern from when we were catching fish.
The afternoon consisted of hitting a couple of drops in the bayou area, Flipping the rocks and mats
around Mill Creek. Moving back to the 64 dike and covering all the grass and rocks there. But
nothing we tried was producing any bites. It was a real struggle for us to try and get the last two fish
before time ran out. Our bites were few and far between each other which made it harder to
determine which course of action to take. We ended the day this year with only three fish but any
time on the water is time well spent. It was great to fish with Billy again and I know we will be gunning
for the top spot next year.
Fish count: 1 - 15 incher Strike King Sexy Shad
1 - 15 incher RC 1.5 Chart/Blk
1 - 3 lb Strike King Sexy Shad