First hello, to all the folks that remember me lurking around here.

Club Tourney on the LCR above Yuma, AZ. We are a "Golden Rule" Paper wiegh-in club.

Day 1: Prefish- In the water at 0700 after 3 hour drive from San Diego. I started with flukes and senkos t-rigged wieghtless, a few hits by small fish but no hooksets in the morning. We moved spots so I changed to a Blugill DT-4, we were in 6 feet of water witha few tree stump about 3ft down. I had 4 fish in about 45 minutes, biggest about 14". We move on, and that was the only chain of fish for the rest of the day. My boater had 4 keepers that day, I had 7. We moved around a lot, and just couldn't find any type of steady hook ups.

Day 2: Tourney- We started at new place, i had teh senko still tied on, i thru it for 5 casts and just didn't feel like tossing it. I tied on a gunfish 65 for fun, i caught 2 one was 2mm longer than the gunfishc tail. So i tied on small 1/4oz blue/white stanley spinnerbait, over the nevt 20 mins i put 4 keepers in the boat and released over 12 smalls, my boater was still fishless. He finally gave up on that spot and we moved around some more. I caught my biggest of the day at 16.25" just before the split wiegh-in lunch breah at 1200. My bigfish was spanked by a 20" caught out in the main river channel edge. We went back out and my boater manages 2 fish in the afternoon whille i cull out my 2 smallest. I make a major mistake on a big fish right before evening weigh-in, more on this later. I must have release over 25 this day, thats more freshwater fish in one day than i have caught in the year i have been in California.

Day 3: Tourney- My boater and I decided to go someplace we haven't see before. We head south from the launch and find this nice back water lake with more depth than anything we have fish yet. I am throwing a Sammy 100. Hook in to a hugh fish, same mistakefrom above different situation, more later. I end up catching 4 fish on dropshot for the rest of the morning. So my weigh for the weekend is 9 fish. I wish i had pictures, non- of our keepers were really picture worthy.

MISTAKE INFO, OTHER ROOKIES NEED TO LEARN FROM THIS!!!!!!!!!

1: When fishing a dropshot on 6lb test, KEEP YOU DRAG LOOSE. You should be ale to pull line out by hand with ease, not spinning the spool fast but at least pulling line. I had a big fish nail my 4"robo and i had a good hookset, but 2 seconds later the line snapped because the fish was stronger than my line. I know it was not a week point because i check my line everytime it touches something other than water.

2: when fishing anthing at all and a BIG fish hits, NEVER TIGHTEN YOUR DRAG, use your thumb if you need a little more drag. BIG FISH CAN AND WILL RIP THE LURE FROM THER OWN SKIN/JAW. I had a huge fish hit my sammy, it fought like hell and kept pulling drag, so being the rookie i am, tighten my drag trying to force the fish to the boat, one seconds steady pull from the fish, the next my sammy floats to the surface with a few scales and a peice of the jaw stuck on the hooks.

I took 4th on the tourney, which isn't all that great, but it sure felt good catching fish again.

Dave

Nice report, and thanks for posting the #2 rookie lesson. I always tighten the drag on bigger fish, but never thought they'd rip it off.

Set your drag using a scale. Assuming your line's breaking strength is within the parameters of the rod's rating, set your drag at 25% - 30% of breaking strength. Lift your rod SLOWLY to be sure you are comfortable with that much weight on your rod. 12 lb test line = a drag setting of 3-4 lbs.

Onced you have "measured" your drag, you will get a feel as to how it is set when pulling out line by hand, but initially I ALWAYS use a scale the first time I spool up a new rig.

If set properly,  you should NEVER adjust your drag. You may want to check it occasionally while fishing, but NEVER while fighting a fish...

Did I mention, N-E-V-E-R!

Good advice on the drag.

TENKA, It's good to hear from you again. That's a good story. Sorry to hear about your tough learning experiance.

Roadwarrior: Thanks i will probably take my gear to work,i am a calibration tech now, and do just what you said to do befoe my next club tourney.

I got back from the trip and i just had to come here to post,  this trip saved me from a complete drop of freshwater bass fishing. 4 times fo the summer, while i fish saltwater every frida for 3 months, it was actually cheaper.  

A few of the locals, maybe just trying to make me feel good, are saying that fish was probably pushing 10lbs based on scale size and how i described the fight.  Trust me it doesn't help e feel any better.

Oh yeah time for my next report, new post coming.

Dave