In the Boat With...

Tournament: Get5Bass Solo Series

May 23rd, 2021

Lake Dardanelle

 

Angler: Frank Leone - 4th place - 5 bass - 12.47 pounds - $200.00

 

Practice: I took a day of annual leave and hit the water on Friday. I did not like what I saw. I mean the fish were borderline uncatchable. Got 4 keeper bites and figured I  would be keying in on the cranking bite for the derby...

 

Tournament: When I got everyone taken off, I headed to my starting location and was excited to see quite a bit of shad activity. Unfortunately, that did not lead to bites or fish in the boat... The day had a crap feel to it ... like one of those days when the fish just don't bite. Anyway, I struggled mightily the first two hours. I finally hit a stretch where I caught a small keeper during practice and connected with a good 2.75 pounder. It was good to start the livewells up and add a decent fish. I went to struggling again and decided to make a move upriver. Have you ever had a dream where your just not catching them and you get stuck in that dream? That's what this day was feeling like. More like a nightmare really. Anyway, finally at about 10:00 AM I added my second keeper. A little momentum but it spurted out quickly. I was getting ready to make a move further upriver when I seen a bank where I'd caught them in the past that had a nice breeze on it. I started tossing the old square bill around and hit a hot streak! Between 10:45 and 11:15 I added 5 more keepers and was culling. Man how a day can change... Anyway, I was able to make a couple more culls before 12:30, but after that hit a dry spell the rest of the derb'.

 

Keeper count:

 

8 keepers: Spro Fat John 60 SB - Denali Lithium 7' MH CB; 16 pound Sunline Crank FC

 

1 keeper: Spro Fat Papa 55 SB: 1 keeper - Denali Lithium 7' M CB; 14 pound Sunline Crank FC

 

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Final Thoughts: Although it started out rough, it ended up being a great day on the water!!!

 

 

See ya' on the flip side... 

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Frank