I crushed the field today with my first tournament win of the new year. Take off was 6:45 am. Weather was forecast with sunny skies, high of 82 and winds out of the southeast at 15-20 mph.

I started out throwing a Pop-R and spinner bait with not even a hit. I moved to the east side of the lake and switched to a black/blue flake Senko rigged with a 3/0 octopus hook. I put 2 in the box for about 1.25 pounds each. I spent the next hour and a half boating several right at a pound, which I didn't keep any of. I finally got my kicker, a fat female that gave me all the confidence I needed to carry on. The wind was HOWLING by noon and my Senko was basically surfing across the surface. That was an easy fix though. I put on a small split shot about 8 inches above the hook. By the end of the day I was culling 2 pound fish.

I weighed in at 2pm with a hefty sack of 19.2 pounds for my best five fish. Not only did I take first place, but I also had big fish. In fact, I caught the two biggest fish at 6.2 and 5.9. I also crushed 2nd place by over 5 pounds.

Also, all fish were caught on my new Lews reel. I'll post a review on that tonight, it's nap time.

Doug.

Good show!  A great way to start the year indeed!

Hmmmm - high of 82 deg.  Subtract 50 degrees and that's what I have for air temp right now and water temp as of a few hours ago was 39... ;D

Good Day!!!

Also, all fish were caught on my new Lews reel. I'll post a review on that later.

Very interested in this.  The whole line up has really caught my eye.

You must have missed the memo on the senko not catching quality fish. How dare you spank the field with a senko! 

Congrats on the win, but 82 degrees c'mon man stop rubbing it in.

You culled up nicely! Congratulations on the win.

Congrat's!

I crushed the field today with my first tournament win of the new year. Take off was 6:45 am. Weather was forecast with sunny skies, high of 82 and winds out of the southeast at 15-20 mph.

I started out throwing a Pop-R and spinner bait with not even a hit. I moved to the east side of the lake and switched to a black/blue flake Senko rigged with a 3/0 octopus hook. I put 2 in the box for about 1.25 pounds each. I spent the next hour and a half boating several right at a pound, which I didn't keep any of. I finally got my kicker, a fat female that gave me all the confidence I needed to carry on. The wind was HOWLING by noon and my Senko was basically surfing across the surface. That was an easy fix though. I put on a small split shot about 8 inches above the hook. By the end of the day I was culling 2 pound fish.

I weighed in at 2pm with a hefty sack of 19.2 pounds for my best five fish. Not only did I take first place, but I also had big fish. In fact, I caught the two biggest fish at 6.2 and 5.9. I also crushed 2nd place by over 5 pounds.

Also, all fish were caught on my new Lews reel. I'll post a review on that tonight, it's nap time.

Doug.

Wait..... I thought senkos didn't catch big fish....

Congrats on your win, way to spank 'em

Awesome tournament!  Nice fix with the split-shot too.

Nice bag...  Gives me hope for tomorrow... Where was the tourney? 

Nice bag... Gives me hope for tomorrow... Where was the tourney?

Out of Lake Osborne.  I spent the day in Lake Clarke though.  I'll tell you the pattern I was on if that's where you're going.

very nice bb.  congrats on the win and a great day of fishing.

Congrats!!!

WOO-HOO!

                                    

WTG. Must have been the bbq chicken thighs that spurred you on!.

WTG Doug. Congrats on the win.

Wheres the celebratory BBQ?

Nice ;D, Lake Clark is the ticket, especially on the North End and off shooting canals, use to catch tons of spawners in high school there! That's 20 years ago of course 

WTG. Must have been the bbq chicken thighs that spurred you on!.

Lol. I tied up to a huge tree, that grew way out over the water, to get out of the sun and wind. I tore into the chicken and it was yummy good. I polished off a soda and half box of Girl Scout peanutbutter cookies too .

I had tied on a crankbait during lunch and was planning on going back to where I was fishing prior to lunch. I knew the fish were there but couldn't get many over 1-2 pounds so I figured the crankbait would produce . The wind was cranking by the time I finished eating. I decided to hit some east/west canals that were somewhat protected from the houses. It was either the BBQ sauce scent from my fingers or the good decision to relocate because I tore'em up.

Very nice!

Couple of questions for ya:

1) Did the wind stay out of the Southeast or did it shift?

2) What had the water temperature been like prior to the wind picking up?

(I'm curious to see how wind/wave action and water temperature affected things, if at all).

Again, nice job!  I'm so envious!

great job!!  what i would do to be able to fish right now!!

Good show! A great way to start the year indeed!

Hmmmm - high of 82 deg. Subtract 50 degrees and that's what I have for air temp right now and water temp as of a few hours ago was 39... ;D

X2!!!!!!!!!!!! 

;D

Seriously though, congratulations on the win and I hope you do can win some more this year.

Very nice!

Couple of questions for ya:

1) Did the wind stay out of the Southeast or did it shift?

2) What had the water temperature been like prior to the wind picking up?

(I'm curious to see how wind/wave action and water temperature affected things, if at all).

Again, nice job! I'm so envious!

To be honest, I didn't even turn on my electronics the whole day so I can't advise on the water temp and I couldn't give you an accurate temp if I guessed .

I started out by fishing the west side of the lake, hoping the sun would help produce some action. The wind was about 5-8mph. I was fishing a huge eel grass and hydrilla bed in about 3-5' of water. I knew some of the bass were bedding in this area while others were probably staging a little further out, getting ready to spawn. I mostly threw a Pop-R and spinnerbait but couldn't produce.  I also tossed the Huddleston money minnow a bit to no avail. 

I moved to the east side of the lake by 8:30 and headed south along the bank, into the wind. The east shore is lined with lilly pads and has quite a few more docks/structure then the west side. Most of my fish came on the outside edge of the pads in about 4-8' of water. The wind had picked up considerably by 10 o'clock and I was forced to put on a splitshot above my Senko. By 11 O'clock I could barely gain any ground by heading into the wind, but I knew the fish were still there. In fact, because of the wind, I doubt I would have caught half the ones I did if it weren't for using the NRX rod.  The fish were barely, and I mean barely, picking up my bait. They wanted the Senko fished super slow or just sitting on the bottom, but that was difficult to do with the wind pushing me backwards.   

The wind was about 20 mph after lunch and I knew there was no way I could productively fish the Senko so I headed to some canals off the main lake that ran east/west and were somewhat protected by the houses.  The fish turned on and seemed to be more aggressive.

I'm not sure if they turned on because it was their time to eat or because I was out of the wind and able to keep the bait in the strike zone longer.