My dad and I drove up to Grand Lake Thursday evening to prefish Grand on Friday and prepare for the tournament on Saturday.
Prefishing March 4
Woke up at about 6:30 am and was at the boat ramp at 7:00. We put in and i ran over to a rock point. I started throwing a Lucky Craft Pointer. Within the first few minutes I hooked a good fish, bent my rod over. It started rolling then i knew i had hoooked a drum. Water temp was 48. 5 minutes later when i got to the end of the poing I hooked a 13 incher. After fishing the rock point for a lil while longer we packed up and drove across lake to another rocky bank. It was shallower than the first. There were about 4 or 5 points with small coves in about a 3/4 mile stretch. I started on the first with my pointer. Made it around the first point and switched to a shallow diving crankbait. The water depth was about 3 feet and i was throwing in less than 1 foot of water. I pulled it past a bush in about 1 and half feet of water and a 4-5 pound fish attacked the crankbait. He came to the top and I got a good look at him. He shook off, that was fine, hopefully i could catch her in the tournament. On the very next cast I had another fish boil up on my crankbait. After that I left the area so i could save it for the tournament. I ran about 5 mile up the river on Grand to fish a little dirtier water. I pulled into the first creek and started pitching to laydowns and bushes. I pitched and fished crankbaits the rest of the day without any bites.
Even though I didnt have a great prefishing day I was confident in my area i found in the morning. It was about a mile from a marina where tournaments go out of and had a lot of release fish.
We went to the meeting. My dad was paired with a guide on the lake and my co-angler lived on the lake.
March 5 Tournament day
I was boat 20 so i knew i could get to my areas first. I did the same thing as i did in practice. I started on the rock points with crankbaits. I made it around to the area where i had the big fish. Pulled in real quietly and began fishing..nothing. I even slowed down and fished some docks and other brush piles very methotically and again nothing. At around 9 the sun was up good and I decided to run up the river to flip again. Pulled into my creek and made the first pass..nothing. turned around to fish the way out, threw my crankbait along a laydown and BAM a fish bursts out from underneath and attacks my crankbait. It immediatly makes a dart for the deep water. The laydown started shallow and by the end it was over 10 feet of water. All of the sudden my line went slack and my heart sank. I had lost my fish....but that was ok. I just told myself that it meant the fish were becoming more active. We fished a ways down without any bites. I turned around and fished the laydown again, the fish didnt bite again.
At around 11:00 we moved farther up river to some more areas i know about that have warmer water and lots of laydowns. This proved worthless, no bites. Around 1:20 I decided to head back down to my rock banks in hope the water temp had come up and the fish moved in. Sure enough the water temp had gone from 48 to 53-54. I knew they were going to be in there. Fished down my bank with my crankbait and nothing. Turned around with spinnerbait and again nothing. Went back down flipping a small jig and nothing...At 2:15 I made a run to a log jam across the lake. Fished it without any bites. For the last 30 minutes of fishing i fished a rock bank with a crankbait and spinnerbait. No bites. My co-angler did catch about a 2 pound white bass though.
Went back to check-in. It was a five minute boat ride to weigh-in. That was the longest boat ride I have ever taken. I knew I wasnt going to have a fish to weigh-in.
One thing about the day, I was confident the whole day. Even up to the last minute I was confident that I was going to ho
Prefishing March 4
Woke up at about 6:30 am and was at the boat ramp at 7:00. We put in and i ran over to a rock point. I started throwing a Lucky Craft Pointer. Within the first few minutes I hooked a good fish, bent my rod over. It started rolling then i knew i had hoooked a drum. Water temp was 48. 5 minutes later when i got to the end of the poing I hooked a 13 incher. After fishing the rock point for a lil while longer we packed up and drove across lake to another rocky bank. It was shallower than the first. There were about 4 or 5 points with small coves in about a 3/4 mile stretch. I started on the first with my pointer. Made it around the first point and switched to a shallow diving crankbait. The water depth was about 3 feet and i was throwing in less than 1 foot of water. I pulled it past a bush in about 1 and half feet of water and a 4-5 pound fish attacked the crankbait. He came to the top and I got a good look at him. He shook off, that was fine, hopefully i could catch her in the tournament. On the very next cast I had another fish boil up on my crankbait. After that I left the area so i could save it for the tournament. I ran about 5 mile up the river on Grand to fish a little dirtier water. I pulled into the first creek and started pitching to laydowns and bushes. I pitched and fished crankbaits the rest of the day without any bites.
Even though I didnt have a great prefishing day I was confident in my area i found in the morning. It was about a mile from a marina where tournaments go out of and had a lot of release fish.
We went to the meeting. My dad was paired with a guide on the lake and my co-angler lived on the lake.
March 5 Tournament day
I was boat 20 so i knew i could get to my areas first. I did the same thing as i did in practice. I started on the rock points with crankbaits. I made it around to the area where i had the big fish. Pulled in real quietly and began fishing..nothing. I even slowed down and fished some docks and other brush piles very methotically and again nothing. At around 9 the sun was up good and I decided to run up the river to flip again. Pulled into my creek and made the first pass..nothing. turned around to fish the way out, threw my crankbait along a laydown and BAM a fish bursts out from underneath and attacks my crankbait. It immediatly makes a dart for the deep water. The laydown started shallow and by the end it was over 10 feet of water. All of the sudden my line went slack and my heart sank. I had lost my fish....but that was ok. I just told myself that it meant the fish were becoming more active. We fished a ways down without any bites. I turned around and fished the laydown again, the fish didnt bite again.
At around 11:00 we moved farther up river to some more areas i know about that have warmer water and lots of laydowns. This proved worthless, no bites. Around 1:20 I decided to head back down to my rock banks in hope the water temp had come up and the fish moved in. Sure enough the water temp had gone from 48 to 53-54. I knew they were going to be in there. Fished down my bank with my crankbait and nothing. Turned around with spinnerbait and again nothing. Went back down flipping a small jig and nothing...At 2:15 I made a run to a log jam across the lake. Fished it without any bites. For the last 30 minutes of fishing i fished a rock bank with a crankbait and spinnerbait. No bites. My co-angler did catch about a 2 pound white bass though.
Went back to check-in. It was a five minute boat ride to weigh-in. That was the longest boat ride I have ever taken. I knew I wasnt going to have a fish to weigh-in.
One thing about the day, I was confident the whole day. Even up to the last minute I was confident that I was going to ho
