"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
David and Carl Wooten
Winter Bass-o-thon
01/17/09 Norfork Lake
2nd place - 5 bass - 14.97 pounds
Me and Dad had been on Norfork several days prior to the tournament and had good fish found
both shallow and deep. Our best fish came from the deep ledges from mid-lake down toward the
dam. We could catch them on top of the ledges pretty good on the 5/8 oz Jewel football jigs but we
also knew if the wind were to blow which is a given in the bass-o-thon we would be in trouble. So
instead of praying for a nice sunny, No wind day We decided to find some fish shallow on as many
places as possible. As the weeks past by it seemed the good largemouth were starting to really
slow down on the crankbait and dad was cleaning them up behind me on the jig. The weekend
before the tournament we had put a solid jig bite together both shallow and deep and we were
starting to catch some good fish on the jerkbait, given a cloudy day. I was pretty confident we could
put together a nice bag but after our crappy year in 08' I still was not as confident as I would
normally be after that much good pre-fishing.
Tournament day: As we unloaded the boat the water temp gauge settled in at 43.5 and it was 17
degree with a light breeze. We were boat 15 out of 54 . The forecast was wind 15-20 from the SW
and high temps in the 50's. The weather man was dead on. We thought about starting on the
ledges before the wind kicked up but we had a really good area close we had been catching some
good fish on consistently so we decided to start there first and hopefully pick up a few then move
on to our ledges. I started out with a Megabass revenge (jerkbait) and dad fished the 3/8 Jewel
Eakins jig behind me. The line was freezing up making it hard to cast long range but we managed. I
hooked up with our first keeper on the 3rd cast and it was our biggest fish a 3.45 lb. black. After
that I never had another hit on the jerkbait. Dad hooks up with number 2 about 5 minutes later and
again it was another good 3 pound black. He loses a fish then misses another. He's getting pretty
upset at this point and tells me to pick up the jig and catch us some fish. I'm thinking "like I can do
any better" but it would be my day to shine finally! I started catching fish on every pass and had our
5th keeper which was another 3 pound black in the box by 8:00. We continued fishing the area until
9:30 because we were getting bit on every pass. We ended up with 11 keepers and 1 non-keeper
before moving on. We came out of the cove and the wind had already picked up strong and
eliminating our chances of fishing deep on the ledges. I ran us down to another shallow cove and
caught 2 more keepers on the way in using a wiggle wart. Both were 16" blacks but not enough to
cull our smallest fish which was an 18" black. There was a boat sitting on the brush pile we wanted
to fish but just as we were fixing to leave they pulled up the troller and left. It looked like they were
throwing jerkbaits so we decided to go ahead and fish it with the jig. We ended up with 3 good
blacks there before moving but again none would cull. After that the bite got tough for us and we
managed 2 more the rest of the day. We concentrated on bluff ends and such to try for a kicker
bite but no luck.We weighed our first and best 5 @ 14.97 and was good enough for 2nd place.
Final thoughts: I think if we were given a sunny, No wind day that we may have been able to pour it
on a little. The fish we were getting on the ledges were better quality but we could not fish the 3
best area's we had found for the strong wind. I was happy to say at least that 09' has been a good
start and I hope we can keep it going this year.
Equipment: G' Loomis rods, Seagaur line
Megabass revenge=1 fish (weighed)
Wiggle wart=2 keepers (culls)
3/8 Jewel Eakins' jig and craw=15 keepers(4 weighed)/ 1 non-keeper
Winter Bass-o-thon
01/17/09 Norfork Lake
2nd place - 5 bass - 14.97 pounds
Me and Dad had been on Norfork several days prior to the tournament and had good fish found
both shallow and deep. Our best fish came from the deep ledges from mid-lake down toward the
dam. We could catch them on top of the ledges pretty good on the 5/8 oz Jewel football jigs but we
also knew if the wind were to blow which is a given in the bass-o-thon we would be in trouble. So
instead of praying for a nice sunny, No wind day We decided to find some fish shallow on as many
places as possible. As the weeks past by it seemed the good largemouth were starting to really
slow down on the crankbait and dad was cleaning them up behind me on the jig. The weekend
before the tournament we had put a solid jig bite together both shallow and deep and we were
starting to catch some good fish on the jerkbait, given a cloudy day. I was pretty confident we could
put together a nice bag but after our crappy year in 08' I still was not as confident as I would
normally be after that much good pre-fishing.
Tournament day: As we unloaded the boat the water temp gauge settled in at 43.5 and it was 17
degree with a light breeze. We were boat 15 out of 54 . The forecast was wind 15-20 from the SW
and high temps in the 50's. The weather man was dead on. We thought about starting on the
ledges before the wind kicked up but we had a really good area close we had been catching some
good fish on consistently so we decided to start there first and hopefully pick up a few then move
on to our ledges. I started out with a Megabass revenge (jerkbait) and dad fished the 3/8 Jewel
Eakins jig behind me. The line was freezing up making it hard to cast long range but we managed. I
hooked up with our first keeper on the 3rd cast and it was our biggest fish a 3.45 lb. black. After
that I never had another hit on the jerkbait. Dad hooks up with number 2 about 5 minutes later and
again it was another good 3 pound black. He loses a fish then misses another. He's getting pretty
upset at this point and tells me to pick up the jig and catch us some fish. I'm thinking "like I can do
any better" but it would be my day to shine finally! I started catching fish on every pass and had our
5th keeper which was another 3 pound black in the box by 8:00. We continued fishing the area until
9:30 because we were getting bit on every pass. We ended up with 11 keepers and 1 non-keeper
before moving on. We came out of the cove and the wind had already picked up strong and
eliminating our chances of fishing deep on the ledges. I ran us down to another shallow cove and
caught 2 more keepers on the way in using a wiggle wart. Both were 16" blacks but not enough to
cull our smallest fish which was an 18" black. There was a boat sitting on the brush pile we wanted
to fish but just as we were fixing to leave they pulled up the troller and left. It looked like they were
throwing jerkbaits so we decided to go ahead and fish it with the jig. We ended up with 3 good
blacks there before moving but again none would cull. After that the bite got tough for us and we
managed 2 more the rest of the day. We concentrated on bluff ends and such to try for a kicker
bite but no luck.We weighed our first and best 5 @ 14.97 and was good enough for 2nd place.
Final thoughts: I think if we were given a sunny, No wind day that we may have been able to pour it
on a little. The fish we were getting on the ledges were better quality but we could not fish the 3
best area's we had found for the strong wind. I was happy to say at least that 09' has been a good
start and I hope we can keep it going this year.
Equipment: G' Loomis rods, Seagaur line
Megabass revenge=1 fish (weighed)
Wiggle wart=2 keepers (culls)
3/8 Jewel Eakins' jig and craw=15 keepers(4 weighed)/ 1 non-keeper