RHuff

I’ve learned that more times than not the fish are never doing what I think they should be doing.. sometimes the polar opposite

Thank you for the encouragement. I will say my first season of tournaments I blanked a lot.. This is my 3rd or 4th year but I don’t think i’ve zeroed in over a year. I am turning in fish every tournament I fish just not 5 yet… I suppose it’s getting better

Feels like an eternity.. I enjoy the thrill and grind of tournament fishing just tied of not seeing the results yet..

I don’t get it.. I do my homework.. find fish practicing.. catch fish on non-derby days.. then when tournament time shows up it’s like the fish vanish and i’m grinding for 2 or 3 bites while everyone else fishing similar techniques in similar areas of the lake are turning in limits.. frustrated right now..

I target shallow cover and bluff walls with it depending on the time of year. I like to wacky if can get away with it but if I have trouble hanging up i’ll t-rig it too to keep it weedless. Make short pitches to the cover and let it fall to bottom. Raise it up and let it fall again. Reel in and repeat. 95% of bites come on initial fall. This technique catches both active and inactive fish. I don’t know that there is a deadlier technique that exists. Once I learned to fish it and confidence grew. The amount of bites I got and the size of my fish both improved.

Berkley Maxscent year round.....

Berkley Fusion 19 Finesse wide gap #2

Small bass and big bass live in both shallow water, medium depth water, and deep water as deep as they can go above the thermocline.....

It depends on where you live.... in lakes near where I live where we are used to getting cold fronts and changing weather constantly it doesn't really impact the fish as much..... In areas like FL when a major front moves in it can have a bigger impact on the fish... I don't really pay that much attention to it... Buck Perry used frontal conditions.....The front and post front drives fish inactive into sanctuary water. Around 3-4 days after the front moves out the fish will turn on and move shallow. The day before/right before another front hits is when he says fish are the most active while shallow..

Great advice - I appreciate it!

Most of the fish will be suspended wintering over channels or belly down on the bottom of the deepest water available if its hard bottom. You may have a few fish seek the shallowest, warmest water available and if that's the case that is where the "most active" fish will be.. I'd say your best chance to catch anything will be find the shallowest water available where the sun can penetrate to the bottom.... Look for the back ends of drains or shallow flat banks. Fish finesse crankbaits like a shad rap or frittside 5 or slow roll a spinnerbait. The bites will be so soft that you may not be able to feel them it will just feel heavy.

That's what I'm going to start doing......and can make tiny adjustments to those when needed or when things call for it

By no means do I think I’ve mastered anything I just feel like I’m starting to make the right decisions and am learning not to force things when they are not there..

”Fish the parts of the lake that fits your style rather than fishing your style in a particular part of the lake”

That's funny cause the exact opposite was happening for me. I tried the Neko and had too many fish bleeding out. The small circle hook looks right into the top of their mouth for me.

Annnnnnnd where are those areas, Tom? Would you agree that most of the prespawn action begins up river and works it's way back towards the Dam?

The #1 and #2 Berkley Fusion 19 and VMC wacky hooks are excellent. Hooks stick in the roof of the mouth 90% of the time.....

I prefished the day before..... on sonar I found fish halfway back in the creeks suspended in 30ft over the creek channels.. My thoughts going in were that they were on the steep rocky banks and had pulled back due to the front.... It never dawned on me to check the shallow flat banks

The Frittside 5 on a medium spinning rod is deadly..... John Cox has an entire Bass U seminar just on Frittsides. I don't think he fishes anything other than the 5, 5jr and 5 Biggun.. I know he carries 4 colors.... Red Craw for Late Winter/Spring Ghost Morning Dawn for Clear Water (he threw that this weekend at the Classic) Black/Chartreuse for Muddy Water Kentucky Blue for Shad Kill/Fall

Do you guys think I was way off heading into the tournament with my plan? Did I miss something that would have indicated they were shallow on flatter mud banks?

Thanks buddy!

I find that the transition ends of the bluffs and the points (where a corner or part sticks out slightly into the water) are the spots I target the most.. if you are going down a rock bluff and come across a patch of chunk rock that slopes out into the water in the middle of the bluff that, my friend, is a smallmouth killer…

I did fish some of the 45 degree banks and break lines at 25-30 ft with a dropshot and carolina rig but no takers so I didn’t stick with it very long..

So I fished my first tournament of the year on Saturday.... It's a highland Reservoir at winter pool (down 30 ft) with steep banks of bluffs, chunk rock, and slate rock. The lake is narrow and very long and winds through the gorges. Temperature 50s and it was rainy with periods of heavy wind and overcast. Water temp was 47-48 degrees on the main lake with clear greenish water and up river the water was stained up from rain and winds with 2-4 ft of visibility and was roughly 51-52 degrees. I practiced all day on Friday the day before and could see fish schooled up halfway back in the creeks over the river channels in 25-30 of water. There was also fish schooled up somewhat up river over the main channel at the same depths.... So I began halfway up a creek fishing 45 degree banks and bluff walls with crank baits, lipless cranks, wacky rigs, jigs, and jerk baits.... no bites... In the late morning I moved up river a little and targeted pockets where water was running off... Water was 48-49 degrees. Fished the same baits in 3 or 4 of those areas with no bites either..... In the afternoon I hit desperation mode and at around 11am I decided to run way up river about as far as I could go and ran into heavily stained water that was 52-53 degrees where it shallowed up to about 8-10ft. I fished an area where chunk rock jetted out as a pinch point with a Frittside 5. Right past the chunk rock was a flat mud bank. BOOM caught a nice spotted bass up against the bank in 2-4ft of water. Fished the next stretch of chunk rock with no bites... Then the light went on The entire opposite bank was all mud. I fished about 50 yards farther to another flat spot and BOOM a nice keeper largemouth...... I ran on up river a little bit farther and found a stretch of mud bank where a river runs into the main river channel and on the flat where they intersect in 1-2 ft of water I caught two more keepers before running out of time. I finished the day with 4 good bites. I don't understand why those fish were there. I really wish I would have stumbled upon that before tournament day where I wouldn't have wasted so much time targeting rock. All you hear about in early prespawn in cold stained water is vertical structure and rock. In reality good fish were on flat banks with mud.... Would anybody be willing to decipher what I did wrong or if I missed anything and why those fish were there when all of my indications said they should have been on vertical rock?? I'm glad I stumbled upon the pattern even though it was too little too late but better then a day of misery zeroing...

What areas of the lake?? Give me some specifics on creature and weights??