Congrats to Rob LaMoy

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Greg Meyer

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Rob finished 4th at Great Sacandaga Lake in the Empire Division of the BFL and qual;ified for the Regionals (and got a check...so the beers are on Rob...LOL). The details aren't up on the FLW website yet so my info is sketchy (don't have weights, etc.).



But, he is doing well and carrying our NTOWS "fame" in the FLW Bass side...:cool:
 
Fishing was super tough as usually is the case on the Great Suckandaga! LOL I only had about 10 keeper bites on Saturday. Broke one off, 2 more shook off. I landed I believe 7 keepers all day and my weight was 10 lbs 15 oz. That was good enough for 3rd and the top 11 (actually 13 due to ties) cut for Sunday. 2nd place was 1 oz ahead at 11 lbs even. First was only 9 oz out at 11 lbs 8 oz.



On Sunday my day started off wrong with my co-angler falling in then having to go back to his motel to change. Anyway. I only had 8 bites all day. I landed 5 for 8 lbs 7 oz, but the 3 I lost cost me the tourney. I would have easily culled out my 2 smallest fish and would have culled up around 2 lbs or so. That would have won it for me or a very close 2nd. All were caught on tubes in creek channels, ULTRA slow and a wacky senko around docks.
 
Now that I have a little more time, let me explain some details.

First off, if you ever get to the point in your fishing that you think you've "arrived" and can learn no more, sell your gear and take up golf or gardening....



I have been at this tourney biz for almost 2 decades, 19 years to be exact and I am still learning every day of every season from nearly every person I put in my boat. This tourney was no exception. I pride myself on being able to find fish anywhere I go and be able to put together a solid pattern that will usually bring a limit to the scales. This year however, I had 3 tourneys where I only weighed 2 fish each time and once was on Champlain. Granted, it was the south end, 80 miles from my "home" water, but still my beloved Champlain. On most of those I really had nothing to learn from my co-anglers as they were pretty much blank canvases on that water.



Whenever I fish and get bit or catch a fish, I try to pay close attention to EXACTLY what was happening. Was it on the fall? Did I backlash or have to move the boat and therefor the bait was dead sticked for a minute or so? Was I reeling the bait back in? All of these things are critical to explaining what the fish want. I also pay close attention to when my co-anglers catch fish. On Sacandaga, much like Bull Shoals during the TBF championship, I was on the fish, but my co-anglers dialed in to the exact bait/size/color that would load the box. On both times my co-anglers were throwing baits that I have TONS of and use a lot. However, they were throwing colors I had never thrown or even owned. On Bull Shoals, it was a WHITE Zoom Fat Albert grub. Now you can ask around here, I've been singing the praises of the Fat Albert for years and in green pumpkin it has made me a LOT of money and some serious tourney finishes. I had never owned a white one though. Turns out it was a perfect imitation for the out of kilter threadfin shad that were flittering all over due to a massive cold front that passed (50 degree drop for 78 to 28f).

On Sacandaga I used some time 2 wks ago to flip rocks and find some craws (they are the primary forage for the primary smallies there) and to mimick their size and color. They were still in their main summer color (grn pumpkin) with the very tips of their claws turning orange. So I dipped my tube tentacles in spike it orange and went to work. However, 2 wks later once the tourney started and the weather and turned quickly, the craws were beginning to molt. When they do, they turn almost a bluish color. My co was throwing smoke/purple and had 7 keepers before I boated 1. Each time I bummed some baits and eventually out fished both co-anglers, but not without first getting info and baits from them. My bigger fish did come from a pattern I had found while doing my homework and works nearly everywhere, a dead sticked senko wacky style on a home made flick shake hook, baby bass near boat docks that were adjacent to the creek arms I had been fishing. Both days, the dock pattern saved me but the creek arms and tubes always got me on the board.
 
Us co-anglers come in handy once in awhile.:p



Heard alot about the Fat Alberts. What do you fish them on? Jig? Size?
 
1/4 oz jig heads.....dragged on the bottom for smallies. The infamous Rob showed me the way with Fat Alberts and jig heads a long time ago. My kids and I have caught tons of smallies on them.



Congrats Rob!
 
Ahhh, I sense the force is strong in you young Jedi Bob.



Teri, it depends on conditions. But primarily when sight fishing or running a drift pattern, I will put them on either a 3/16 or 1/4 oz stand up jig head. When not fishing tourneys, I like to use the el cheapo Renegades from Wal-Mart for a couple of reasons. The first and most obvious is price. Secondly, the hook metal is cheap, so if a smallie inhales the grub as is often the case you simply use your needle nose to pull the grub off the hook and out (leave it in and it can sometimes swell and choke off the smallie from feeding), but leave the hook and within a week or two the inferior metal will rust away and the smallie can either spit out or pass the lead head. I have seen a few fish I have caught weeks later falling for the same old grub with either the old hook still down there a bit or beginning to pass it.



On occassion I will dip the tail in chartreuse dye. They are great for sight fishing. If the wind is howling and I'm drifting, I have been known to use as heavy as 3/8 oz. If it's too windy for that, then it's usually too windy for a grub and I pick up either my famous jerkbait or a spinner bait.



Other times I will use it (as I did on Bull Shoals) on a 1/4 oz shaky head. This is when I'm fishing deep bluff walls. Cast it to the bank and then pull it a few feet out, not reeling but letting the bait pendulum swing down to the next level or step of the bluff. A lot of times, once you're in the strike zone it won't get there, it will just suspend. Remember, lead doesn't suspend, float, or swim away....without being in a fish's mouth ;)



It's also a good trailer on chatterbaits. The twin tails on football heads are great for deep water smallies or vertical "graph" fishing places like Champlain, Winnipisaukee, Lake George and other clear, deep waters where smallies hug bottom.
 
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