jrotureau

GSU Bass Anglers is hosting its fourth regional event of the season at Lake Chickamauga on April 27th. Payout 1:5 up to 25 boats, 60% payback with 30% going to championship in May on Lake Lanier. Open to all collegiate teams/students. Must present student IDs at registration meeting. Visit our website for more info at www.georgiasouthernbass.com. My contact info is there as well if you have any questions. If we have the turnout I'm thinking we'll have, our championship will payout as much as a College FLW regional! We are always looking for anyone looking to promote their business through our team. College fishing has taken off in the last few years and companies are realizing how much potenial there is in marketing through collegiate teams. If you are interested in doing so, please find my contact info on our website.

Ok. Thanks for the info. We'll see what happens with all the storms coming in right now. I would think it could set them in a feeding frenzy but you never know til you get out there. Thanks again.

Do you know if any topwater action is firing up there yet?

Plenty of trails other than FLW that allow any age range to fish competitively. College BASS, Boat US, Collegiate Bass Championships, etc. I'm at Georgia Southern, senior civil eng. major and have been fishing tournaments all throughout my college career. I've seen military veterans as well as citizens who are 25+ at these tournaments. There are plenty of opportunities. Find a school with a program that fits you and most D-1 and D-1AA schools have teams now. This sport has grown exponentially in the last 5 years. Good luck!

Weightless setups have always been my go-to for spawned out females. Flukes, stick-o worms, etc. generally entice females if you keep the bait on her nose for a few seconds. That's the key, keeping the bait right in front of her as long as possible. You won't draw a reaction bite from 99% of spawned out females. You may not feel the bite but you will feel tension. They are not wanting to move at all due to the demanding time spent on bed. As for the Carhartt College tournament, I can almost guarentee the A-rig will be the predominant bait in hand. I fished the South Super Regional at Guntersville in March and the A-rig made that tournament look like an Elite series event. You had to have that rig in your hand every second of the day to compete with the 25lbs some teams brought in each day.

I have a tournament coming up at Lake Russell April 21st. I've never even seen the lake before. Anyone have a good starting point for me? I would greatly appreciate it.

The bass seem to be in various stages of the spawn right now. Most males are still up shallow either fanning beds or protecting any fry that have already hatched. Use a shaky head finesse worm or lizard to catch them. The females are a little more sporadic right now. I caught a few this weekend already in post-spawn routines (suspended on vertical structure or points). I was throwing a weightless whitle yum dinger for these. Let it sink about 5-10 seconds then jerk it a few times, repeat back to boat. You may not feel the bite, but you will feel tension. Don't hesitate, SET! I would be fishing in 20ft of water and knowing a weightless worm wont go that far down in 5 seconds, its obvious that a bass has grabbed it. Other good baits for suspending fish are jerk baits and spinner baits. Some females are still on bed but down on the south end of the lake, most of the first wave have pushed off. The next full moon should bring more up. Texas and carolina rigs work should work well. My favorite bed baits are any soft plastics that are short and thick. Ex. Zoom Super Hog. Down there in Island creek, I would start looking in backs of creeks and pockets with a hard bottom, looking for any fish on bed. If no luck with that, start moving out to points looking for suspended fish. Also don't be afraid to throw topwater. It's not too early for it with the warm weather we've been having for the last month and a half. Good luck.