Dustin Evans' days on the water during the BWS Championship on Guntersville

Here is the recap of my three practice days and four tournament days that lead to my fifth place finish in the BassMasters weekend Series National Championship. Before practice started I planned to find a shallow grass pattern focusing on the backs of creeks with baitfish or grass with the tell tell sound of bream popping/sucking mainly throwing frogs, swimbaits or wakebaits/shallow running crankbaits. I knew the bite was tough so I decided to shake off as many bites as possible, after catching one fish.

Practice Day 1: I started in the back of Browns Creek before the fog came up fishing in less than three feet of water. There was scattered grass and a lot of small to mid sized shad, Perfect. Ten minutes into chunking and winding a full sized Mann’s minus 1 in TN shad pattern I nailed a solid 2 1/2lber. So I decided it was time to cut the hooks the fish had the bait sideways in it’s mouth so I knew I had the right color. After fishing as far back as I could, without another bite, I started my way out following a small drop from 1 ½ ft to 2 ½-3 ft. Then I had three quick bites around a small rise bordered by 3 ½ ft of water, all of these bites were solid but the clipped hooks did their job. The time was around nine o’clock and I put the trolling motor up to 60% to cover water while I got out of the creek. I spotted a big stump and burned the wakebait past it and a 5-6lber inhaled it I had to let the fish jump four times before it was able to shake the hook less bait. After that I just marked stumps and thicker grass beds until I got out of the back of the creek. I came across a shallow flat that still had short grass and switched to a Strike King Wake Shad in Tn Shad to see if there were any fish active enough to chase and hit a bigger surface bait had four more bass 2-4lb smash it. I quickly moved to the milfoil beds looking for bigger fish and immediately had a 4 1/2 lber hit a 5.5 Strike King Shadalicous in Green gizzard hard enough to hook it’s self. I had two more bass grab the swimbait in another twenty minutes, shook them off. By now it is around eleven o’clock and it is time to vacate the area but not the creek I checked two shallow areas but the water was too clear making the bass too spooky too catch, my line laying on the water would spook’ em. By one o’clock I was in Honeycomb Creek and the fish did not cooperate. There were some good schooling fish but I didn’t want to chase them around, I had done that in the N.alabama BWS divisional and knew it wasn’t a solid pattern for me. At the end of the day I felt I had a one day pattern fishing shallow that could put up a solid 16-19lb limit. But I knew there was a cold front on it’s way and that the wind change and drop in water temperature could ruin that bite.

Practice day 2: I trailered up to Mink Creek Started out with the swimbait and immediately had one inhale it, I knew it was a big fish and shook it off. I spent the next three hours fishing scattered grass with the swimbait and matted grass with a frog, not a BITE. There wasn’t the slightest sound of bream in the thicker grass so I headed up to north Saughty. I started in the back in a huge lily pad field but after forty minutes I saw that the water had been dropped out and the fish with it. On my way out the bream were popping slightly in the grass lining the creek channel and I flipped up a 2lber on a Yum mighty bug. I shook off eight more bites before I got to the middle part of the creek, between the two bridges. I spent two hours fishing the milfoil in the middle of N. saughty to no avail. So I made a move up river to check some of the main lake flats and grass. I started punching thick hydrilla on the main river and came up with 2-3lb bass scattered along the line, I shook off six bites stuck two. I headed back down river to the grass slew across from water front only to find heavy slime on all the grass so a frog was the only logical lure to throw, but there wasn’t a peep out of those bream and no bass. That was the end of day two. At the best I had a 15-16lb limit but plenty of keepers who knows the size of the fish that I shook off. I did notice the I didn’t get many bites after I switched to throwing the swimbait on braid instead of fluorocarbon. This would lead to my undoing, I think, come tournament time.

Practice day 3: I ran over to Seibold Creek and started with the wind blown grass in the back of the creek after twenty minutes things didn’t feel right so I moves out the edge of the grass and started flipping and throwing the swimbait. I then remembered something I was told after North Alabama Bws divisional that a c-rig in Seibold was catching some good schoolies. I then rigged up the ole c-rig with a brushhog and moved out to the middle of the creek and started throwing to the submerged points and quick drops. I immediately caught a 3 ½ lb bass and my partner shook off three fish on a texas rig. I moved to the next point shortened my leader to 16in and started shaking fish off every cast. I checked six spots and shook off many bites. Despite my efforts a few bass still got hooked they ranged from 2-4lbs. By ten o’clock I had caught three bass and shook off more than a dozen bites and every spot I went had fish. I called it an early day and Knew there was a solid pattern.

DAY 1: After an eight minute run I came down off pad in Seibold creek and got my rods on deck, c-rig in hand. While moving into position I hand to laugh when my co-angler made a comment about how short of a run we made. I laughed again when I boated my first bass a 2 ¾ lber and the rest of the field was still taking off. The next three hours was spent catching and culling keepers, all on the brushhog. I had 16lb and change by ten o’clock and had only fish three points my co-angler had caught two keepers and a few shorts. I checked a couple of other points and caught two keepers but they did me no good so I headed for the grass to see if I could get that kicker. I started on a grass point with a quick drop throwing the 5.5in swimbait not five minutes into it a 6-7lber follows my bait out of the grass and I see it 10ft away from the boat after a couple of twitches the bass inhales and spits the bait twice before I can react. Now the bait is right beside the boat and I just let it drop with the pig following it down, I see my line jump. I set the hook fast and the bass jumps once beside the boat I holler NET!!!! The bass is now just laying on it’s side right beside the boat and as my co-angler jumps form the back deck to the front, net in hand, the bass makes a small jerk and comes loose. I hurts now just recalling it. I shake off the loss and get back to work. The wind changes form ne to nw so I reposition to fish the next point my co-angler has a big explosion on a buzzbait but the bass misses. A few casts later I lose contact with my bait and see a huge boil where it last was. I lead the fish till my line is tight and swing away my rod bows under the weight and then my bait flies through the air . After inspecting my bait I see the hook point never even came through the thin layer of plastic. SHIT. That two donkeys in thirty minutes I’m a little mad but get back to swinging. Three or four casts later a 3 or 4lber crushes my swimbait I swing like a pro baller after a tear on roids and break it off. We watch it go berserk underwater trying to shake out the hook and just laugh I think I was trying to kill it, that fish is going to have a souvenir for a while. Not wanting to beat up my point anymore we fish the grass the rest of the day with no more action. After the short run back and weigh in I happy to see that I’m tied with ninth place with 16.36,I think, but a little p.o.ed that I miss the chance to have 25lb. That night I switched to braid instead of 20lb fluorocarbon.

DAY 2: Before the start of day two I see on radar that there will be a break in the overcast sky this worries me because post frontal conditions usually mean trouble. I started the day on the same grass where I lost the toad the day before and on my 5th or 6th cast a large boil opened up just behind my swimbait but the fish wouldn’t strike, guess the braid kept her away. There was one other boat that showed up around one of the points but thankfully he was targeting the grass not the shell beds, he latter told me he saw what I was fishing and wasn’t going to encroach upon it and it he meant the whole pattern. So I moved to my most productive stretch that has three points and a sharp drop with a couple of scattered stumps and shell beds. The wind is blown 15-20mph out of the NW keeping me in bad position to fish my spots thoroughly I have to keep the nose into the wind with the back of the boat facing the structure. After a quick pass I have two keepers over 2lb and my co-angler has a 4lber and 1 keeper I decide it is time to throw the switch up a 1/2oz Picasso ft.ball shakeyhead with a Zoom mag trickworm in green pumpkin. This produces three quick keepers and fills out my limit by 10 o’clock. I decide it is time to tap a few of the other areas and lay off my primary spots it was a good move I broke out the trusty c-rig and made my way to a submerged point off an island that had the wind blowing across it. After working the whole length of the point I had a bite off the very end but it wouldn’t eat so I cover the brushhog with Fish Formula XXX Garlic scent and swung it out this time the bass tapped it once and then inhaled it. After landing the bass, which upgraded my weight a little more than 1lb, I threw a marker buoy then culled my fish. After re tying and moving back into position I caught another bass that culled again. I felt great making good decisions and having them produce not just fish but culling. I hopped I was on my way to another 15-16lb limit. I continued running my pattern and catching keepers culling my last 15incher off a stump on a grassy point but not hitting any 3+lbers. By late afternoon the bite had subsided and we strained water, my co-angler picked up his third and final keeper. I decided to go looking for another grass bite up in Seibold and came across the only grass that I had found with bream in it popping occasionally but to no avail ending my day with a little over 14lb. I was a little worried until I saw that I had moved up to 7th place and knew it was time to hit more of the untouched spots. I could barely sleep and the tension in my back and shoulders felt like a vise, a six pack didn’t do the job.

Day 3: It got cold, cold enough for me to put on shoes, and get ready for a slow grinding day but at least the skies clouded over, I felt good. I started back in Seibold on a point that I hadn’t made a single cast on and pulled up a 4+lber early in the morning and my co-angler caught two smaller keepers but the area died fast. I did a little searching with the c-rig until I got to my primary spot and the graph lit up with fish but we didn’t get a strike I tried the green pumpkin trickworm and nothing. I decided to change to a black mag trickworm and noticed my co-angler jigging his c-rig right behind the boat while commenting on all the fish on the graph. I got back on deck cast the blk worm out and started to reposition the boat slowly and saw a perfect thick arch on the graph right on the bottom, I said it looked like a 3 1/2lber. I moved forward keeping the big shakeyhead slowly dragging bottom and BAM I caught my second fish a 3 1/2lber!! After weighing and tagging it I fired a cast parallel to the drop and Pow another 3 1/2lber I thought it was on. After several non keepers I finally caught my next keeper just over 2lb. By then it was past noon and I went to try for a swimbait fish, get that kicker but ended up catching two non-keepers. We struggled the rest of the day to get bites my co-angler got his limit but I failed to put that fifth fish in the boat. I ended up having 14.01lb with 4 fish but I stayed in 7th place. Not bad not great.

Day 4: I was so ready for this tournament to end, the pressure was a living thing in my head. The only change I made was to put a redbug mag trickworm on. I started on an obscure point that had a large 13ft. deep flat before dropping into the creek channel and nailed a 3 ¾ lber on the c-rig I dropped a buoy and kept swinging for twenty minutes, nothing. I move to my primary point but started on the front side instead of the back and pulled a 3lber up on the redbug mag trickworm, feelin’ good. Made my way around the point and caught one more 3 1/2lber on the shakeyhead then it was time to strugglefor a hour or so. There was one more spot that I had ignored the whole time in the back of the creek a long grassy point that tapered off into 14ft. of water. I dragged the rig till I found some shell and THUMP a bass nailed the brushhog and was on the move ended up to be another 3 1/2lber. I got it in the live well and prayed for another got into position and got the fish I prayed for. I spent some more time there hopping my co-angler could finish off his limit there also but the bite was done. We moved to the grass one final time looking for that elusive pig that sow that might put me over the top, it didn’t happen. I caught a couple small fish and had one good fish swirl at the big swimbait but no good takers. I ended up weighing my best limit that day just under 16 ½ lb and moving me up to 5th. I did get to knock a good buddy of mine off the hot seat and stay there for two more anglers but was knocked off myself.

All in all it was a great tournament and a great finish sometimes they bite sometimes they don’t and when all else fails just do what you feel is the right thing, go with your gut. Best of luck.

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Josh Giran Well, it’s that time of year, do I take the .22 and go for squirrels or the flippin stick and go for spots. Do I take the bow and go for whitetails or the cranking rod and go for smallies. The shotgun and go for turkey or, you get the idea. Up here, in the northern part of the country, the trees are beginning to shed their colorful leaves. Everything in the woods seems to be alive and constantly feeding up for the winter. So are the fish. There are not enough days in the week for me to get in everything I want to do outdoors. I decided on hitting the water. It wasn’t a very nice day, although there was plenty of sunshine. The high reached the upper 40’s the day I went out and the wind blew ALL day. I decide to go fish one of the pools on the Monongahela river (the mon). It started off really good; my buddy caught a nice chunky smallmouth on the 3rd cast. It hit a Strike King Crankbait, Series 3 in Sexy Shad. We caught about 15 fish a piece over the next 4 hours. We each had a few that were over 3lbs and for the river, that’s a lunker. I was switching between a War Eagle Finesse spinnerbait and a homemade 3/8oz green pumpkin jig with a baby Paca crawl for a trailer. Now my buddy is still throwing the crankbait and occasionally flipping a green pumpkin tube. All of the fish he caught were smallmouth and tried as I might I couldn’t catch one. All of mine were spots. It got to the point were I would let him flip to the dock first. Yet he still would catch the smallmouths and I would only catch spots. Do these fish have that much of a preferred taste that they would only eat a tube instead of a jig or a spinnerbait over a crankbait. I have no idea and couldn’t figure it out. But hey, at least we caught lots of fish and I got to fish with a buddy of mine who hadn’t been out fishing since early July.

Decisions, decisions, decisions! While some of us are getting ready for end of the year championships, I’m trying to decide what circuit I am going to fish next year. I’m trying to weigh the pro’s and con’s of each. Right now, I’m leaning towards FLW’s, American Fishing League Northern series. The locations of these venues favor my fishing strengths. I wish I had the financial means and work flexibility to fish the Opens, FLW, and the Weekend Series. But I have to resort to picking one or the other. I need to make a decision soon. I once read a fishing article about decision making on the water, I think it was by KVD. The short of what I remember is that as soon as you start to think I should move to another spot, you should have already been there. Life is full of decisions; I just hope that I make the right ones. Until next time, I hope that you make the right decisions, in life and on the water.

Hunter Baughman: Greers Ferry

The Bassmaster Weekend Series at Greers Ferry will be a tourny I will never forget. Well...I would like to forget the actual fishing part of it, but the storms that pushed through Arkansas the night before will make it rather hard to forget.
From a fishing aspect, I had been to the lake probably 8 times in 3 weeks. I never got on the winning bite, but was very consistent in catching 9-11lbs, which on this lake will usually draw a decent check. I felt confident enough that I fished a buddy tournament on the lake last weekend and finished 3rd, not bad for running new water all day. I could tell throughout last week that my bite was slowly dying even though I was still catching my 10lbs. By Friday, the day before the derby, my bite had completely died and I did not catch a keeper. I knew going into Saturday that it would be tough especially with the storms moving through Friday night. Saturday rolled around and I struggled and ended the day with 2 fish for 40th place. What is up with me this year?? Always have good practices, but on derby day I can't make it happen...
Back to the storms. By meeting time Friday night there were tornadoes beginning to touch down in Arkansas. When the tournament director read the rules and partner pairings it sounded more like an auctioneer. After it was over we went back to the hotel as the storms were beginning to hit our area. We watched one tornado move through on the other side of the lake and hit Clinton. Shortly after that there was one headed for us and several of us huddled in one of the rooms at the hotel. We heard a knock on the door and they told us to take cover in a local church. So with tornado sirens going off all around about 10 of us got in vehicles and set off to find the church. When we arrived they took us to the lowest floor where there were already several people riding out the storms. We stayed there for probably 2 hours and finally got the all clear and went back to out rooms for a short night of sleep before derby day.
Overall I had fun but am very disappointed in my finish. There were 6 tornadoes that touched down in Arkansas Friday night and 3 fatalities. We should all be very thankful to be unharmed and my thoughts go out to the families of those fatalities. I would also like to thank West Side Baptist Church of Greers Ferry for letting us take shelter with you.
I will check in again in a couple of weeks with the results from the BFL on Greers Ferry.

Hunter Baughman: Ouachita

Where do I begin? When I entered all the Central Stren tournys back in January I had mixed emotions. These would be the highest level derbies I had fished, and out of the 3 lakes on the schedule I had never seen Lake of the Ozarks or Kentucky Lake. The ray of hope was the derby on Ouachita. The lake is about 90 miles from my home here in Arkansas. I have a mixed history there, but seem to usually do fair on that pond. When I left Missouri last month, with a finish way down in the 90's, my next goal was Ouachita. I arrived in town on Sat. evening and began practice on Sun. My first day of practice I had Around 13.5lbs and followed it up on the second day with near 16lbs. My pattern was a weightless zoom trick worm rigged wacky style until the sun got high. Hopefully by then I would have a strong limit and could go look for 1 or 2 big bed fish. Tues. I went back into town for my college classes, so that only left me with one more practice day. On Wed. I cut my hook tip off and went to my primary area and shook 11 bites in about an hour. From what I could tell, the fish I shook would have weighed 13-16 lbs. I honestly felt like I was in very good shape to make the top 10. Derby day 1 began in my primary area and I struggled to have 4 swimmers by the time the bite died. Went looking and found a 3lb bedder to finish my limit. Ended the day with 8.5lbs...not exactly what I was expecting. Day 2 I swung for the fences and stayed on the main lake in areas that have produced well in the past a search of a 20 lb bag to make up ground. Luck didn't swing my way and I lost 5 solid keepers and 1 big head on a jerkbait and floating worm. Weighed in 2 swimmers for 4.5lbs and ended the derby in 89th. Honestly not sure of what I should have done differently, not a happy camper with the outcome. On a side note I did have fun hangin out with Mike Haggerty and Eric Pinter. My next big derby is the weekend series on Greers Ferry in a couple of weeks and I will try to keep everyone updated.

Amistad last week moving on to Ouachita (for some of us)

So two of our guys are getting ready for the central open on Amistad starting tomorrow. I was with them up to two days ago but had to take off for Ouachita practice for the Stren and I kinda wish I was still there, about one DONKEY a day was being caught on average by our crew and well it is not every day you get to go after the fish of a life time. I learned a hell of a lot while I was there as did all our guys I am sure but it is different knowing you were not in the derby, less pressure, more willing to throw the trophy hunter baits etc etc. Amistad is known as a grass lake but we caught it at a time when the emergent grass was really tall and spindly with almost no mass and the fish just were not in it rather they were generally moving to and from spawning flats, 15 to 25 feet with trees on the flats. I believe we caught the fish on the tail end of the spawn, I just saw too many abandoned beds but how can you really know since they spawn so deep on this lake, either way the daily movements could be predicted fairly well and that is cool as hell when you can dial fish in like that, personally I know it is one of the first times in my short career I could do so with a high degree of success. I was always in search of that tiny drain, cut or irregularity which led to feeding/spawning flats which was utilized as the travel route by the fish when they became active and in the mood to eat. Electronics play a critical role in that search and for the guy who does not have that technology bolted to his boat well, he is not on a level playing field with everyone who does and I think that will point will play a role here on Ouachita as it is a deep clear lake as well. I feel like I may be reaching a threshold in my career where a little light just kicks in (hey, fish use this two lane highway, graph it and see), at least I hope so. I have high expectations for myself (as usual) for the Stren and I hope in some small way I was able to help out my friends fishing the open as well.

Cory Gordon:BFL #2 on Sam Rayburn

Well fans, computer is cooperating for the moment so i'll try to squeeze the Rayburn story in real quick! So Mike Pharr and I roomed together and practiced together over on Sam Rayburn. We fished north of the bridge in a few spots and found some quality fish up close to the bushes but not in them yet. So we ran around to some places close by and duplicated the pattern for two days. Shaking off or catching some 25 to 30 fish a day. On Friday he and I joked about the odds of us drawing each other out for the tournament and I told him that I had only seen that happen twice since 2003. Got to the meeting and low and behold we drew each other! LOL Well we went back to the lodge and put a game plan together. Our plan was to go north of bridge to our big fish spot and we thought it would be a good chance that some bigger fish might move up! Got there and did what we had been doing for two days prior and only had a fish a piece by 11:30. So we decided to go to our 2nd hole which had a lot of fish, but wasn't sure on the size there. Went there and did the same thing with the same result. So we then started fishing in the thick stuff of the bushes with not much better results. At 1pm I had two fish and Mike had 3. While there we saw a fish chase shad out in the middle of this pocket that had a ditch going thru it. Mike put on a swim bait and thru it out there. Second cast hung a two lber. Then had three bites right after that, but didn't boat em! I thought to myself, if they will hit that out there they should eat my crankbait that I had caught a few on the first day of practice! Picked it up and started burning it thru grass and within 30 minutes I feeled my limit with 2lbers. Mike filled his shortly after that on his swim bait, but with a lil better fish. Then the volt meter started beeping for the cranking battery getting low. We decided to check it with our lifejackets on and nothing. Then we started trying to find someone to hopefully give us a jump. Lesson learned: Always have jumper cables in your boat. With 45 minutes til check in time and a 20 min run. We found a crappie boat and tried to jump from it after failing to jump from trolling motor batteries. Crappie boat wouldn't do the trick, so we found a big Skeeter boat. After 15 minutes of trying there nothing. So I said well, I'll at least try to call the director and let him know our status and see what happens. Tried his phone and mine, no signal. Then I remembered I brought my work phone with verizon service. Tried it and had a signal. As I'm talking to the director, the grace of God we had a miracle and the motor finally cranked. Hung up and ran 70mph all the way back and checked in with one minute to spare. All this happened just when we finally figured em out and were beginning to catch better fish! We lost a good 30 minutes of fishing time, but still managed to get in and weigh out limits of fish. I scratched out a 13th place finish and a small check with 9lbs. even and Mike weighed in 9.12lbs for a respectable finish and keeping him in the hunt for the points and regional cut at the end of the year. Prior to the start of the day, we thought the lake was still rising and would play into our hand, but found out that in fact it was dropping fast and that was the reason I'm sure the fish pulled out! Ultimately it was like night and day fishing from two days of practice to tournament day, just like most times is the case. With that said we kept our heads down and grinded it out and listened to the fish and finally figured it out, even though a lil late; but just in time to fill a limit and make a good finish! Lots of fun and learned lots. Mike Pharr is a great fisherman and I look forward to fishing with him many more times in the future! Keep your head down and listen to the fish! Good Luck out there! Business is about to pick up in the days to come!

On(the)Line? (Brett Darmody)

A calm east wind stales our drift as we lazily maneuver the deck of the white Triton mothership along a stretch of some 250 linear miles of lily pad laced Army Corp of Engineered canal that is Everglades Holiday Park. Pitching jigs and creatures and chucking frogs at pad points, Maiden Cane stalks and the infrequent overhangs and lay downs are how this dark morning unfolds with a dreadful addition.
An irresponsible individual angler;

A common practice while fishing these locales are to directly pitch to single pad,cane or sawgrass stalks which appear to move contrarily to their surroundings. Always on the lookout we spot a great deal of movement ahead, certainly a large fish. As we near, the movement increases in frequency and becomes erratic. Surely upon reaching we are astonished to find what is no fish at all but the most majestic and envisioned birds of the Florida Everglades, The mighty Great Blue Heron. Its right wing(what was left of the outer portion of it) completely entangled many times over in 50 or 65lb test braided fishing line stretching many yards in either direction to a near-by tree and a maze of sawgrass.
I have no high horse or velvet robes but I do have a soap box and I'm going to use it as the vehicle for my feelings. Try as we do, WE are all guilty from time to time of an inch here or two inches there that don't quite make the waste bin. This however was a minimum of a half of a spool of this flexible flesh and feather saw.

-We Get Involved.-

Ordinarily I understand that there are circumstances where an anglers age or lack of experience could lead to an accidental irretrievable cast or the creatures' flight path found itself in harms way BUT the severity of the lines 65lb characteristics and our location (25 miles from civilization) suggest an adult and a knowledgeable angler(OR NOT). What circumstances lead to the disposal of an entire spool of this weapon in this manner?
"Ohhh duh, huh huh" Bloop, into the water the line goes.

A controlled drift finds us a couple of feet away from this horrified bird.
(and that's just the sight of me) Expecting an all out battle with this brave hunter we adorn the deck with a net pole, 2 pairs of pliers, a pair of scissors and a game plan. The bird seems more relieved and exhausted than upset as we free him from the cabled torture device by holding his face away from the work with the net pole and clipping the line at various points to unravel it. We share a moment with the bird, he looks at the two of us as it seems to understand now that we are not going to further accost him. He hobbles to a solid footing and tends to his wounds and sorts his feathers. Surely a fortunate turn of events which inexplicably found us able to be this Master of Flights saving grace.
"Tread Lightly"
"Leave it like you found it"
"Give a Hoot, Don't Pollute"
Choose your cliche' it doesn't matter. Pick up after yourselves and keep our resources clean and clear, our animals safe. Recycle where applicable and lessen your impact.

I step down from my soap box:
Brett Darmody
Bass 2.0
President of the Everglades Bass Masters of South Florida