Dinky

He’s only after the protein. Lol. You have pretty much nailed it on Florida gators: They are nothing if not unpredictable.

Sorry about that. I drove from Orlando to Lexington KY so I could fly to Matzalan with my buddy for our trip. We had our air travel cancelled and were 3 days late getting there. But it was worth it Finally back here in Sunny Florida and ready to go out again. Bassmaster just finished their first Elite tournament of the year at Harris Chain and I’m heading out on the Butler chain next week.

Apologize for the duplicate. I will try Instagram next time. But likely not any better at using the iPad fir that either!

Finally got to go back to El Salto for some early February fishing. All the action was on swim baits this time.

Never really had a problem here in Florida with gators. Agree with advice the posters above gave- be alert and try not to startle them. And don’t swim in the Harris Chain. The spring and early summer are the critical times along the banks and canals where they will have their nests, which they will protect with a vengeance. And they are much more territorial around these areas after hatching. Fishing in Banana Bay on Lake Harris several years ago in April/May I was slowly working a grassy bank and noticed a log several yards ahead… except the log seemed to slowly move. The next thing I noticed was I was surrounded by midsized gators with more slowly swimming out from the grass filled shore line. Finally realized there were likely a bunch of nests in there and these females had come out to protect them. I just sped up with the trolling motor and moved a bit farther off the bank and further down the bank until I was away from that area. Message received.

If you are going in the Tenn. area check the TVA web site to see when they are releasing water through the dam and how many gates are open. When they open up more gates it normally moves the smallmouths to the banks of the river. Yellow Creek is a decent area for both small and largemouths. Across the river from it is also good; many gravel and muscle beds hold smallmouths. The weather this year caused a late spawn for both species.

I've seen two Elite Pros do this exact thing in clear water when fishing top water lures. Can you guess why? I mis read your post. I thought you said braid with a mono leader. My bad. The two pros fished braid with a mono leader, as I said. Not mono with a braid as you posted. Sorry i mis read your post. In any event, can you guess why they would use a mono leader on braid in clear water for top water lures?

I'm not sure why BR turned these pics sideways. But here are two of Chris' five.

As a guide you have the most difficult task of all actually. You don't have the luxury of gathering information and then going out to fish a tournament with only your self to satisfy. You have clients every day who are expecting you to put them on fish, no matter what the situation. That is a combination of multitasking, constant adjustments and pressure all at one time. Hard work for sure.

Chris Lane weighed in 5 fish, including one very nice spotted bass. All using the same lure. Actually I view post spawn as one of the most predictable also. But not necessarily the easiest time to catch a lot if quality fish easily.

I can certainly identify with Dink's complaint because I used to get very frustrated reading all those experts' tips and advice. After a while I was very confused. Then when the Elite's first announced the use of Marshals instead of co-anglers I signed up and have Marshaled at probably 25 Elite Tournaments, including three Classics. I also have fished as a co- angler in Southern, Central and Northern Opens. Since a win in one of those by an Elite gets him an automatic berth into the Classic, many of them sign up for the Opens. As a result I have actually fished with about half a dozen if them. The pont is that I am no longer confused by these so called "contradictions", because they actually aren't contradictions at all. They are more like "adjustments" or tweaks sometimes that may - or may not prove successful at a specific point in time and place. Example. Elite Tournament on Lake Oneida. Marshal for Randy Howell. During practice Randy has discovered smallies staged on the edges of a deep submerged stream/river with a current. Seems no one else had found it during practice because we were alone the entire day. After several hits on a swim bait and a few misses, Randy had two in the live well. The third fish spit up a good sized baitfish on the deck and Randy noted it varied in size and color a little from his lure. He changed lures to match the hatch and culled the rest of the day. Example. I've read and heard 'experts' say that you should chose a particular lure or technique and stick with it all day. Be patient. As long as you have correctly read where the fish are in their cycle you will succeed. But I cannot tell you how many times I've Marshaled for an Elite who had 12 rigs on deck and pulled out four more during the day. Sometimes these guys did poorly. But more often than not they ended up with a good weight, not only for the day, but for the tournament. Ive also actually fished with an Elite, Chris Lane, in a Southern Open, who fished with one single bait the entire day. Don't even ask if he was successful. None of the successful pros can afford to be one dimensional. They all have to be able to do whatever it takes to catch fish. Everthing you read or hear can be helpful at some point. The trick is to know when to use it. That takes practice. And that is work. Hard work. Dinky

Logan, I just now read your posts on your experience as a Marshal for KVD last August on the Elite Series on the Potomac. I've been Marshalling for the Elite Series since its *** and was fortunate to draw KVD several years ago on Lake Pickwick on Day 2. ( I had drawn Boyd Duckett on Day 1). Your experience mirrors mine in that KVD is certainly very easy to talk to and willing to impart so much information about exactly what he is thinking and doing and why. One of the most approachable on the tour. All of the elites are very friendly, but KVD is more willing to share interact with his Marshal than most anyone of them. Hackney is another one also. The day I was with him he had not been home for several weeks and had run out of his wife's famous "lucky" chocolate chip cookies that everyone has heard so much about. It was pretty dismal around the launching area when we were putting the Nitro in and I was worried he might forget me when I went to park the truck! But he was waiting quietly for me and we idled to the docks and hung around for about half an hour with Hack and a few others when a FED-X Truck sped up, honked its horn and a guy jumped out, ran down to the boat with a box and asked for a "Mr. Van Dam". Right. It was a box of the cookies. They were delicious. But....KVD MISSED THE CUT. When we left the weigh-in it took us over 45 minutes to walk to the boat tied up in the slip so we could idle back to the ramp. He was mobbed by fans, old, young, kids, families. They wanted autographs, pictures, shake his hand, talk to him. He never hesitated. He never ceased to smile, take time to speak to everyone, pose for pics, sign autographs, laugh, shake hands. It was the most incredible thing I have ever witnessed up close like that. On the way to the ramp I asked him if he ever got tired of that: his response: "That's what it's all about. Especially the kids". I was definitely speechless for a bit. Like you, Logan, there are pages and pages more to my day with KVD. And books of my days with Boyd Duckett, Ish, Hack, Chris Zaldain, Edwin Evers, Steve Kennedy, Takahiro Omori, Dean Rojas, Skeet Reese, Davey Hite, Randy Howell, Tommy Biffle, Tim Horton, Moritzo Shimizu, to name a few. Did you know that Moritzo is actually a rock star in Japan? Or that Davey Hite's son attends one of our US Military Academy's? I used to fish in the Opens as a co angler and I've been paired with Ish Monroe and Marty Robinson and Chris Lane, and others. It was really a lot of fun because since I knew them from seeing and meeting them on the Elite Tour, I was suddenly fishing with them in the Opens. It was like a normal week-end fishing trip rather than a tournament when I drew them. I have done 3 Classics, including the first one they allowed Marshals. That is expensive and a real grind but worth it in my opinion, at least once. I would normally take my boat, Marshal for the entire tournament and then fish the lake Sunday afternoon, evening and Monday. I would keep track of the spots my pros were fishing, and go to some of them if they weren't too fished out. I'd tell them what I was doing and often they would tell me what they thought might work and what other areas might be productive after the tournament. I have done as many as 5 tournaments in one season. My goal would be to do every one of them. I may be too old for that.

I'm going to try to make it.

Sounds like a plan, assuming I am able to attend. I will still be in Florida and it's a long drive.

They both sound great to me, Mike. I will plan on attending both if I can.

Hate to cancel, Long Mike, I was looking forward to fishing Toledo Bend--I never have fished it before. I had major surgery a little over three weeks ago and although it went ok I am not able to make the 900+ mile drive so soon. I will look forward to seeing the photos and hearing the "stories" about the big ones that got away at next year's road trip.

I would suspect the local fishermen take bass for food. They certainly do at other Mexico lakes. This will reduce the population some. I am familiar with the lake you went to also and it certainly is a numbers lake now. But it will soon have plenty of DD's as long as it is managed properly. As with all package deals the quoted cost usually has a lot of add ons. Quality is always a consideration, but that is difficult to determine without actually going there, then it is too late. If a lake has an abundance of 5-7pound fish, but few DD fish, yet a definite chance for a DD, it seems to me it would be a lot more fun, and economical, to fish that lake instead of one that has fewer fish 5-7range, but more DD, but you may spend a lot of time and money there and not only fail to get a DD, but catch few in numbers. Spending hundreds of dollars and hours of deep cranking without catching a lot of fish, and maybe not getting a DD and not being in a tournament that pays pretty good prize money seems a real waste. Spending less money and less time and catching 5 times as many 5,7,9 pounders, with a chance to catch a DD, sounds like a great trip. I have been down both roads. JMO.

Of course pre fishing is done at least 30 days prior to the week before the tournament and usually they are preparing for another tournament. And, since they are not allowed to obtain any info in that period that is not public info, the pre fishing would be wasted, and if they got info that was not available to everyone they would be disqualified. The pre fishing they are allowed to do that is helpful is the 4 days just prior to the tournament. They are only allowed to fish with another competitor- though rarely do any do so. They normally fish from dawn to dusk and though many will cross paths and know where others are marking spots, it is very much frowned on to fish areas in the tournament you have not pre fished and fished in the first few days of it. In other words, no jumping competitors spots. As for your claim re they are trust fund folks or just good at marketing and this is what makes them good fishermen, I beg to differ. If they are good fishermen it is because they are good fishermen. Period. Many, more than one would think, actually have a job or business that they work at in the off season. Pro fishing is a pyramid, with the very successful, financially, at the top in small numbers compared to the total number of competitors. Sponsors? They won't pay you unless you catch fish and win! It is not the other way around. As for locals having success on their lake while tournament pros struggle, I am sure it can happen. Yet the locals are not in the tournament and not subject to the rules, so it really is not a level playing field.

All the above obviously work. I caught a bunch of smallmouth on Champlain a couple weeks ago drop shooting in deep water rock piles using 4 and 5 inch Senkos wacky rigged, with tips tinted in chartreuse. Also caught a few on a 6 inch finesse worm. All in various watermelon or lighter green.

BassAssassin, You drew two good ones your first rodeo. I was fortunate to Marshal for Tim at Falcon last year. He is a real pro and easy to talk to and definitely focused. He also fishes Pickwick a lot out of Muscle Shoals and we visited a lot about that fishery since the Road trip has been there so much. I fished with Ish in the Southern Open a few years ago as a co-angler on the Harris Chain. We didn't talk so much while fishing at first, but later I noticed he was calling around trying to find a place to store his boat and truck for 2 weeks while he flew back to California to tend to some business between tournaments. I told him I had a house on the lake and he could store his rig in my driveway. He and Palunuk(sp) were going to spend the night at the house but Ish found an earlier flight and Brandon came over and picked him up and dropped him off at the Orlando Airport on his way to Guntersville. We had a good visit and he is a class act also. A couple years later I Marshaled for him at Falcon and we had a ball. (We ran into some weirdo that the Border Patrol had to chase off, but that's another story.) You might check ---if your schedule permits --the AOY elite tournament is Sept 18-21 in Escabana Michigan. I signed up a couple weeks ago. I enjoy both Marshaling as well as fishing the Bassmaster Opens. It is especially cool when I draw an Elite pro in the Open that I know from Marshaling. It is like I am not so much fishing with a stranger and they seem to treat me as a friend instead of the rank amateur I am! Plus the stuff I have learned is incredible. I am glad you enjoyed your experience and hope you can do so again.

I just might do that, bent, since I don't haul my Tracker up there anymore (I leave it in Beauchene year round) and a guide would be real helpful too. Webers is really famous. I have met Canadians all over the country who are from ON or QC and they all know it. I will definitely try to make a stop at Simcoe soon! thanks