I just couldn’t get into the groove at the first three Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments of the year. I was down around 75th place in the Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the Year points and badly needed to turn things around. I dreaded thinking I might not qualify for the Bassmaster Classic.
Lake Hartwell
I stopped digging myself deeper into a hole at Hartwell by finishing 46th. I didn’t bomb, got a check and earned some decent points.
In practice, I dropped 40 to 50 waypoints on spotted bass that were spawning on stumps, stickups and brushpiles in 3 to 8 feet of water. I thought I was going to crack them in the tournament, but that bite quickly fell apart.
I ended up catching most of my bass by backing off the bank and fishing a jig and minnow and a shaky head 10 to 30 feet deep. I scoped every fish I caught that way.
Lake Fork
I caught over 26 pounds on each practice day at Fork. I found three points that held big ones. I also got some good bites up shallow flipping stumps and other wood. The flipping bass snapped up a green pumpkin Outkast Tackle Cage Fighter Tungsten Flipping jig matched with an Xzone Adrenaline Craw.
When the tournament started, the schools disappeared on all three points. One point did produce a key 5 1/2- to 6 1/2-pound bass every day. The rest of my bass came mainly by flipping the jig. I also caught one on a jerkbait, a couple on topwater and a few more on a new minnow-style bait I designed with X Zone Lures called the Rally Shad. It will be announced in late May.
I finished in 30th place, but I was still outside the Classic cut. I figured I had to average a top 40 finish the rest of the season to make it. That’s not easy to do when you’re fishing against the world’s best bass anglers.
Sabine River
Going into the Sabine tournament, I was nervous. It’s super hard to get a bite there, let alone to catch a 7- to 10-pound limit every day. That being said, I’ve always liked tournaments where you have to grind out every bite.
Bassmaster emcee Dave Mercer once asked me why I like grinder tournaments so much. I like putting my head down, staying positive and beating the odds. It’s the best feeling ever when I catch them like that.
On the first practice day, I boated up a creek that looked so muddy I turned around and fished elsewhere. I got so few bites the first two days, I decided to go back to the muddy creek on the third practice day and give it shot.
I caught a 2-pounder right off, which is a big bass on the Sabine. Then I shook off three or four more. The bass were biting the same OutKast Cage Fighter jig and Xzone Adrenaline Craw combo I used at Fork, only in black and blue and blue flake.
Day 1
I went into the first day of the tournament not thinking I had any chance to make the Top 10. I locked the Outkast jig in my hand all day, hoping to get five bites. I flipped cypress trees, cypress knees, laydowns and any piece of wood I could see.
I was flipping fast but moving slow, trying to probe every inch of whatever cover I was fishing. You have to practically hit a bass on the head in water that muddy to get a bite. I ran the trolling motor on speed 1 or 2, stopped every 10 feet and made 15 or so casts. Then I’d move another 10 feet and repeat the process.
I ground out five bites, boated every bass, weighed in 10-2 and landed in seventh place. I could not believe I had done that well.
Day 2
The bites were so hard to come by the first day, part of me questioned going back to the muddy creek. I returned, and I got more bites there than on the first day. I weighed in a 10-3 limit, which included an absolute giant for the Sabine, a 4 1/2-pounder.
That jumped me to second place. I lost two bass that day in the 2- to 3-pound class that let me know more good ones were left in that area.
Days 3 and 4
On the third day, the bigger bass eluded me. I sacked a limit that weighed 7-5. But I only dropped one spot to third place, less than 2 pounds behind the leader.
I had goosebumps the next morning because I had a chance to win the tournament. I had fished well all week and believed there were more quality bass in my area. I boated eight keepers that day and culled a 6-9 limit that gave me a sixth-place finish.
If you had told me at the beginning of the season I’d have a chance to win on the Sabine, I would have said you were crazy. Coming that close to winning makes me hungrier than ever to take one of those coveted blue trophies back home to Canada.
My Top 10 finish was very unexpected, and it’s just what I needed. I’m 28th in the point standings and feeling much better going into the last events of the season.
