"In the Boat" presented by Jewel Bait Company |
Tournament: Vince Miller's Super Team
February 10th, 2008
Lake Ouachita
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
Place: 27th - 5 bass -11.10 pounds
Practice:
January 20th: We made our first practice trip to Ouachita on Sunday, the 20th. We were
greeted at Mountain Harbor by cold air that would make ol' Frosty feel cold! We decided to try
and concentrate on the South Fork arm and after a short run started chucking jerkbaits
(Megabass 110's and Lucky Craft Pointer 100's) on channel swings. Nothing, nada, not even a
follower. I wish I would have had a little cherry flavoring, because we were making shaved ice in
our reels on every cast! After striking out on our first swing, we headed into a creek pocket and
started chucking Norman DLN's. We landed two keepers off of secondary points, including a
solid 4-pounder. Things were looking up! We decided to try the secondary points in another
pocket but stuck out. Then we found what we thought was the mother load! The second cast in
our third pocket produced a solid keeper. After that we were calling our shots. Literally every
point in the pocket had a fish on it and they were chompin'. We caught 8 keepers and a couple
of shorts in less than an hour! We then proceeded to another pocket and landed 2 more
keepers. We ended the day with 12 keepers and two shorts, all caught on DLN's. Color didn't
matter, as every color (4) we tried caught fish. We really thought this pattern would hold up, but
we would later find out this day would turn out to be a mirage!
February 8th: We split up and fished two different areas on the Friday before the derby. I
(Leone) went up the main river and Risley fished the North Fork/Irons Fork area. When I got to
the ramp at the Highway 27 fishing village, I was greeted by pea soup fog and water that looked
like it belonged in the Arkansas River. I decided to start on the rocks across from the ramp. I
began chucking a Bandit 200 (red) on the rocks. Within a couple minutes, I had already lost a
fish. Then another. I kept going on the rocks and thump - a solid keeper. Had the crank in the
back of his throat. Felt gooood! Then the fog lifted and I decided to go down the river. I started
hitting channel swing banks and the third one I came to had a few fish on it. Caught a couple
keepers on a Megabass 110 jerkbait. Nothing fabulous. I continued down the Lake and ended
up trying to catch Trap fish near Mountain Harbor. It just didn't work for me. I caught one more
keeper on a channel swing on the way back to HWY 27. Four keepers on the day - Ugly.
Risley's day was worse. He only had a half day, but him and a buddy only landed 2 bass. Both
were caught on channel swings on Jewel Eakins' Jigs (5/16 oz. Brown & Missouri Craw).
February 9th: The day before the tournament we decided to stay on the South Fork. It was
like a circus. Boats everywhere. We found out this is not the place to fish if you don't like
watching people around you all day long. We tried throwing DLN's on the secondary points.
Nothing. We tried jigs on the secondary points. Nothing. No wind and a bright blue appeared to
have shut these fish off - or had they left the area? We were unsure. With the perspectives for
power fishing looking poor, we headed out to hit main lake bluff ends and channel swings with
our trusted Jewel jigs. We caught some fish and figured out a little pattern. The chances for a
check looked poor, but when you are throwing a jig you never know when that 5-pounder is
going to bite. We figured we would try the jig pattern and if it completely failed we would go up
to 27 bridge and swing for the fences.
February 10th: Derby Day!!!!!. We headed straight for the cove where we hammered em' just
weeks before. We couldn't resist! We started chunking DLN's and jerkbaits. About the 4th or
5th cast wham! I thought I had the first keeper of the morning, but it turned out to be a ugly
toothy pickerel. We made the rounds in the creek and had nothing to show for it. We headed
out to the bluff ends and Jeremy put our first fish in the boat on the Jewel Jig. Just a 14-inch
spotted bass, but you've got to love that first fish off the morning! Then nothing - for two hours.
Finally, around 10:00 AM we hit the right area and scratched out a limit by 11:00. Not a great
bag. Went around 6-pounds. We had more work to do. A lot more work! We kept picking off fish
on the jig until around 1:00 PM and had upgraded our bag to around 10-pounds. I thought 12
pounds would get us into check range (I underestimated that one - Badly!!!), and we could get
that with one more good fish. After 1:00 PM our jig bite died. The wind started blowing nicely,
and I had a feeling that might put the fish on the bite. I tied on a Jackall Muscle 10+ crankbait
(red crawfish) that I bought at Lefty's Gun and Pawn in Dardanelle and started chunking it
around main lake points. About the second point we came to one hammered it. I thought it was
the fish we needed but it turned out to be a 2-pounder. It upgraded us to a little over eleven
pounds - not enough for a check or a top 25 finish.
Keeper count:
Jewel Eakins' Jig (5/16 oz. - Brown): 7 keepers
Jackall Muscle 10+ Crankbait (Red Crawfish): 1 keeper
Revenge Flip Jig (1/2 oz. - Brown): 1 keeper
Final thoughts: Not a horrible day given the hand we were dealt. We were both inexperienced
at Lake Ouachita and the DLN mirage hurt us. In hindsight, I wish we would have practiced with
big jigs around grass. Seems like the quality fish in Ouachita are always in the grass - Duh!!!
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone
February 10th, 2008
Lake Ouachita
Anglers: Jeremy Risley and Frank Leone
Place: 27th - 5 bass -11.10 pounds
Practice:
January 20th: We made our first practice trip to Ouachita on Sunday, the 20th. We were
greeted at Mountain Harbor by cold air that would make ol' Frosty feel cold! We decided to try
and concentrate on the South Fork arm and after a short run started chucking jerkbaits
(Megabass 110's and Lucky Craft Pointer 100's) on channel swings. Nothing, nada, not even a
follower. I wish I would have had a little cherry flavoring, because we were making shaved ice in
our reels on every cast! After striking out on our first swing, we headed into a creek pocket and
started chucking Norman DLN's. We landed two keepers off of secondary points, including a
solid 4-pounder. Things were looking up! We decided to try the secondary points in another
pocket but stuck out. Then we found what we thought was the mother load! The second cast in
our third pocket produced a solid keeper. After that we were calling our shots. Literally every
point in the pocket had a fish on it and they were chompin'. We caught 8 keepers and a couple
of shorts in less than an hour! We then proceeded to another pocket and landed 2 more
keepers. We ended the day with 12 keepers and two shorts, all caught on DLN's. Color didn't
matter, as every color (4) we tried caught fish. We really thought this pattern would hold up, but
we would later find out this day would turn out to be a mirage!
February 8th: We split up and fished two different areas on the Friday before the derby. I
(Leone) went up the main river and Risley fished the North Fork/Irons Fork area. When I got to
the ramp at the Highway 27 fishing village, I was greeted by pea soup fog and water that looked
like it belonged in the Arkansas River. I decided to start on the rocks across from the ramp. I
began chucking a Bandit 200 (red) on the rocks. Within a couple minutes, I had already lost a
fish. Then another. I kept going on the rocks and thump - a solid keeper. Had the crank in the
back of his throat. Felt gooood! Then the fog lifted and I decided to go down the river. I started
hitting channel swing banks and the third one I came to had a few fish on it. Caught a couple
keepers on a Megabass 110 jerkbait. Nothing fabulous. I continued down the Lake and ended
up trying to catch Trap fish near Mountain Harbor. It just didn't work for me. I caught one more
keeper on a channel swing on the way back to HWY 27. Four keepers on the day - Ugly.
Risley's day was worse. He only had a half day, but him and a buddy only landed 2 bass. Both
were caught on channel swings on Jewel Eakins' Jigs (5/16 oz. Brown & Missouri Craw).
February 9th: The day before the tournament we decided to stay on the South Fork. It was
like a circus. Boats everywhere. We found out this is not the place to fish if you don't like
watching people around you all day long. We tried throwing DLN's on the secondary points.
Nothing. We tried jigs on the secondary points. Nothing. No wind and a bright blue appeared to
have shut these fish off - or had they left the area? We were unsure. With the perspectives for
power fishing looking poor, we headed out to hit main lake bluff ends and channel swings with
our trusted Jewel jigs. We caught some fish and figured out a little pattern. The chances for a
check looked poor, but when you are throwing a jig you never know when that 5-pounder is
going to bite. We figured we would try the jig pattern and if it completely failed we would go up
to 27 bridge and swing for the fences.
February 10th: Derby Day!!!!!. We headed straight for the cove where we hammered em' just
weeks before. We couldn't resist! We started chunking DLN's and jerkbaits. About the 4th or
5th cast wham! I thought I had the first keeper of the morning, but it turned out to be a ugly
toothy pickerel. We made the rounds in the creek and had nothing to show for it. We headed
out to the bluff ends and Jeremy put our first fish in the boat on the Jewel Jig. Just a 14-inch
spotted bass, but you've got to love that first fish off the morning! Then nothing - for two hours.
Finally, around 10:00 AM we hit the right area and scratched out a limit by 11:00. Not a great
bag. Went around 6-pounds. We had more work to do. A lot more work! We kept picking off fish
on the jig until around 1:00 PM and had upgraded our bag to around 10-pounds. I thought 12
pounds would get us into check range (I underestimated that one - Badly!!!), and we could get
that with one more good fish. After 1:00 PM our jig bite died. The wind started blowing nicely,
and I had a feeling that might put the fish on the bite. I tied on a Jackall Muscle 10+ crankbait
(red crawfish) that I bought at Lefty's Gun and Pawn in Dardanelle and started chunking it
around main lake points. About the second point we came to one hammered it. I thought it was
the fish we needed but it turned out to be a 2-pounder. It upgraded us to a little over eleven
pounds - not enough for a check or a top 25 finish.
Keeper count:
Jewel Eakins' Jig (5/16 oz. - Brown): 7 keepers
Jackall Muscle 10+ Crankbait (Red Crawfish): 1 keeper
Revenge Flip Jig (1/2 oz. - Brown): 1 keeper
Final thoughts: Not a horrible day given the hand we were dealt. We were both inexperienced
at Lake Ouachita and the DLN mirage hurt us. In hindsight, I wish we would have practiced with
big jigs around grass. Seems like the quality fish in Ouachita are always in the grass - Duh!!!
See ya' on the flip side,
Frank Leone