Day 1 Practice on Lanier

Today was the first day of practice for the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Lanier. I have been here twice  for practice back before the lake went off limits. Those 8 days I spent down here were pretty slow.  There was only one day that I had a respectable limit.  I did  a lot of looking and learning the lake. Lanier is a big clear lake, dominated by spotted bass. There are large mouth here but most tournaments are won off spotted bass.  This time of year they are mainly deep, like 20 t0 40 feet.  You can catch them on top when they school, but its a early bite usualy.  The large mouth are normaly caught up the rivers or in the back of the creeks. 

My day one practice went pretty well. I had a very good limit by my standards. I would have to say it was around 12 to 13 pounds.  It was by far the best day I have had on Lanier.  Maybe it was a fluke but I caught them all pretty much the same way.  All I can hope for is that I can do that four days in a row.  

Tomorrow is a new day and I am heading to a new part of the lake to see if this patern I found will hold up there too. Check back in tomorrow for day 2 results.

Scratching my head at the Cherokee PAA event

Well I have to say I am clueless at Cherokee.  I have been here before in the fall.  At that time the water is usually 20 to 25 feet low.  So I have been able to make a mental map of the lake.  I have seen the structure in this lake, the rock piles, the brush piles and all the good stuff. Now all that is in the 20 foot range with the lake being full pool.  This time of year with the hot weather and the hot water, you would think the fish should be in 20 foot of water making the things I know good. Well that’s definitely not the case right now.  I had 3 days of practice before our first day of the tournament and I only caught 1 keeper in 3 days.  I will have to say I talked to a lot of guys who never caught a keeper. It’s just crazy tough right now for some reason.  

Today was the first day of the tournament and I managed to boat 2 keepers for whopping 2.33 pounds.  The leaders only have 14+ and 30th place is 7 pounds.  I figure its going to take 13.5 pounds to get a check.  So my goal for tomorrow is to catch a minimum of 13 pounds.  Can I do it? I sure hope so. I have in the past so I’m going to give it my all and see what happens. 

I do know that the people in Eastern TN love them some FrogTape.  I have done 3 Paint Block demos this week at the gas stations. (To see that demo log onto FrogTape.com.) People come up and asked me about FrogTape and some came up and told me their success stories using it.  Once again I have yet to meet a person who hasn’t been satisfied with FrogTape.  I’m telling you, if you are painting and you havent tried FrogTape you need to give it a try. You can get it at Sherwin Williams, Lowes, and Wal-Mart.  If you use it, do me a favor and send in your results and what you think of the product to FrogTape.com

Thanks

Brian

Guntersville Fun Zone

FrogTape booth stealing the show

The FrogTape boat was on display at the Guntersville Fun Zone this week. Again we had a great two days.  It still amazes me at the amount of folks that come by and say they have used FrogTape.  And still I have yet to have one person tell me they didn’t like it.  It seems to be a big hit with the new mom’s in the world.  I have meet so many mom’s that have repainted the nursery in there house or remodled the kids bedroom.   They love it!!  No touch ups  and straight lines is what I hear. Im telling you,  FrogTape is the best painters tape out there, No Questions asked.  It does exactly what it says it does.  It Keeps Paint Out and Keeps Lines Sharp.   You can get FrogTape at Walmart, Lowes and Sherwin Williams.   I think every home in America needs a couple of rolls.

Guntersville Recap.

All I can say if you have never experienced Lake Guntersville you are missing out on the best bass fishing in the country.  Guntersville is an amazing place. There are so many bass in that lake in the 3, 4 and 5 pound range it is truly unreal. 

This week I did stay shallow.  Most all the guys were fishing the ledges and humps and for granted that was the winning pattern.  I tried to fish out deep a few times in practice bust just never got comfortable on any spot.  By heart I am a bank beater and shallow water is where I am comfortable.  So I went with my strengths and stayed shallow.   During practice I had some bream beds that were holding some monster bass. So my  game plan was to run those early and then run shallow docks and grass.  For some reason I could never get a big bite off the bream beds but the docks and grass worked out for me. 

I ended up in 19th place this tournament and I am very proud of that.  The reason being I went out and  fished my strengths and how I like to fish.  In A lot of tourney’s you get caught up in the dock talk and what every one else is doing.  If you listen to all that it will hurt you more than help you. 

The first day I kinda stubbed my toe a little and only had 15.2. I never missed any good ones, just never got a big bite. On Guntersville 15 pounds is nothing.  That put me in 86th after the first day.  I will admit I was a little down on myself.   I knew there were big fish shallow and I was determined to stick to my game plan.  The second day I came in with 22.14 pounds.  I just had an awesome day. I fished shallow throwing a jig and whacked em!!  That moved me up to 26th.  Day three I stuck to my shallow pattern and it was a different day. At 10:30 I only had 3 small fish and I got a little scared the shallow deal wasnt going to pan out. I decided to run hit one deep spot that I found in practice. I ran there and limited out in about 30 minutes and caught one in the 4 pound range.  After that I went back to my shallow stuff.  I ended up catching 2 in the 5 pound range after 1:00, I had to weigh in at 2 so I was cutting it close.  But thats the way they were biting.  It seemed the shallow bite got better for me after lunch time. The reason being is that once the sun got up and the temps hit the 90’s it positioned the fish where I could catch them.  Over all it was a great tournament and I’m happy how things turned  out.

The NC boys represented in this one.  We took 1st,3rd,9th,13th, and 19th place. Not to bad for the  nc gang.

Gettin Froggy at Guntersville.

Today was my second day of practice on Guntersville.  I wish I could say that I’m catching 20 pounds a day.   Hopefully tomorrow I can say that.  Guntersville has to be one of the funnest places to fish I have ever been.   You can catch them just about anyway you want.  The key is figuring out where the big ones are.  I have tried to go shallow and deep.  naturally shallow is where I love to fish.  So for me being able to catch them shallow is always fun.  With Guntersville having an abundance of  grass, there are always fish biting shallow. The past two days I have been able to catch them on  a frog and a swim bait.  I have caught a bunch but by Guntersville standards not any big ones.  Now for me, fishing humps and ledges is a bit hard.  I will admit this is where I kinda feel out of my element.  Growing up in NC and around Lake Norman we just never fished that way.  So when I’m out there fishing off shore I am definitely learning.   I honestly think that this time of year on a lake like Guntersville out deep is where the big ones are.  They will be schooled up on the ledges and off the humps.  Usually we try to catch them on deep diving crankbaits, Carolina rigs, jigs and texas rigs. So for tomorrow I’m heading out deep.  I will hopefully find that some productive areas that will pay off during the tournament. 

If I catch any I will take some better photos than in the past.  I ran across a product today called the Picture Pole. It’s a pole with a universal camera mount that fits in  your pedestal seat hole.  Giving you a camera stand.  It’s a great product, if your interested email Rick at picturepole@att.net tell him  I sent ya.

Ouachita Day 1

Day 1 on Ouachita started off with an hour and half fog delay.  So instead of getting to start at 6:30 we blasted off at 8.  Needless to say my plans got changed quite a bit.   I was able to start the day off with a 3 pounder.  After that my day was pretty slow.  I basically went looking for the big ones.  I did find some, just getting them to bite was the problem.  At 12 I went into a place and found some HAWGS.  I caught one 5 pounder and lost 2.  A school of about 25 came up schooling and I just couldn’t get them to bite.  I definitely had my chances.  I missed three big ones that would have put me in the top 5.  I did manage to weigh in 3 for 9.2 pounds.  With the three I lost I should have had around 17.  There’s always tomorrow.  I just hope I can put them in the boat.  

18 pounds is leading after day one and from what I am hearing they are coming deep.  I think the guys are deep cranking but thats hearsay.  I do know one guy in the top 5 caught all his fish on a top water early.  I don’t think I will be doing any deep cranking  but I do have a few top waters tied on. 

Sorry if  I sound I a little frustrated, honestly I am.  As an angler it’s very tough when you just miss fish. When you have them hooked and they just come off its hard  to swallow.  It seems this year I have kinda been plagued by that problem.  Thats where the mental game comes into play. You really just have to make yourself move on and not dwell on the past. Sometimes that’s a hard thing to do. Especially when it keeps you from getting a 10,000 dollar check.  But you have to move on and not let it eat at you.   I will be trying to put today behind me and follow my own advice.  I’m still in striking distance and tomorrow will be a  better day.

Check back tomorrow and see how things go.

Ouachita: Shallow or Deep?

It’s the final day of practice and now decision time.   After three days of on the water it’s hard for me to say what the pattern is going to be. The water here is up about 5 feet and its flooded bushes everywhere.   There is also an abundance of deep grass on the lower end of the lake.  I have tried to fish both and the results were not too good. I fished  deep for most of the day today and just never found that magical spot.  The local guys here should do well out deep. The key here is to find that sweet spot on the spot.  Meaning, there are hundreds of humps out there and hundreds of ledges. Each of these will have a little sweet spot.  The  problem for me is only having three days to find them, that’s a tough task. 

 I did go shallow this afternoon and the first day as well.  The bass are keying on bream and getting them to bite is sometimes a timing deal.  I will say this, I found enough  fish today shallow to win this tournament, but realistically I just don’t think they will bite. I did catch a 5+ today and I saw 4 or five over 6 pounds one pushing 8.  I was really amazed they were there and so many.  So needless to say I have to go after them in the tournament. If I can get lucky and figure out how to catch them it could be a great week.   The way I see it, I’m here to win so I might as well go for the big ones.   Check back in on Wednesday and I will post how Day 1 of the Tournament went.

Good First Day On Ouachita

Great way to end the day

My morning  started off  by catching a few good ones right off.  I found this really neat little spot that seems to be holding some fish.  I caught a limit there in just  a few minutes. The best part is I didn’t fish it hard either.  I really think I could have worked that area and caught some more.  After that I just ran looking for more areas like that but never found any. I did manage to find a few more places this afternoon that produced a few good fish.  All in all I had a productive day.  I’m  happy for my first day on Ouachita. 

Tomorrow? Well, I’m just going fishing again. I am heading to a different area of the lake to see what happens.

Sherwin Williams Pro Show

Sherwin Williams pro show in Greensboro

This was a fun week. I was able to attend two Sherwin Williams Pro Shows and help out with the FrogTape® booth.  It’s nice to see the  excitement that FrogTape has brought to the painting world.  We spoke to a ton of painters and everyone that has used FrogTape will tell you it is the best painter’s tape out there.   It does exactly what it says it will do.  “Keeps Paint Out. Keeps Lines Sharp.™”  We did the PaintBlock® demo for the guys and it blows them away. If you’re curious about seeing the demo and want to learn more about Frogtape, just log onto www.FrogTape.com and check it out.   

Winston Salem Sherwin Williams Pro Show

Doing the FrogTape PaintBlock demo

Day two on Loudoun

Man what a day. I bet I caught 30 today. That makes for a fun day, just frustrating when you can’t catch a keeper.  I am sitting in 92 place with 13 pounds.  I need another 14 to 15 pounds tomorrow to get into check range.  So my game plan is to flip and pitch tomorrow. I have 5 rods rigged up. Two with a jig and 3 with a texas rig.  I guess you could say I’m going for broke.  I have nothing to lose so might as well go for a big bag.

Looks like I will be heading home tomorrow after the weigh in. There is a local tournament on Lake Hickory so I’m going to fish it with my girlfriend.  It ought to be fun.