More tournament fun - January 7, 2007

I decided to join a local Bass club here in Winter Haven. There's not a better way to learn about different tricks, new tactics and fish locations from the locals.

The club had their first tournament last Sunday (1/7) on the Winter Haven Chain of lakes(16 lakes in total). Pre-fishing proved to be slow with a few small fish coming on stick baits and worms. My draw partner decided to go back to the small lake we caught the few keepers. Well, the day was hot and the fishing was cold. We fished 4 hours without a bite throwing mostly worms, stick baits, blades and cranks. The bass are supposed to be bedding this time of year but the water was dirty and the beds were had to find. We found mostly grass carp beds...whats a grass carp you say??? it beats me, but they put them into these lakes to control the hydrilla. I think it's a Tilipia or something simlar.

Towards the end of the day we decided to hit some reeds that produced years ago....my partner boated a small fish. We then went into a Senior Mobile Home Park canal system and finished the day with me boating a 3lber on a dip stick.

To show you how slow the fishing was, the highlight of the day was seeing grandma sunbathing topless(yuk). All in all I enjoyed the day and learned much about how to fish this body of water and gain some spots for next time. Our next tourney is a two day on the Big O.....should be fun.

Mo later....

Included is a pic of me after a hard days work

First Bass Tournament in Florida

I just competed in my first bass tournament down here in Florida. I didn't bring a boat down this year as I am planning to go as a co-angler to learn how they fish down here and to get to know the water,spots and landings.

Yesterday I entered an ABA event on lake Toho. I was excited to get back on the water and on this well know fishery. The weather was great...we had high 70's, sunny and low winds. I drew a local guy that knew the lake and navigated in the morning fog (without gps) like he could see through it. We work a hydrilla weedline right away and he caught 1 fish. This hydilla stuff is ugly....it's so think I saw a Blue Heron walking on it but the Bass love it. We then went to some stuff they call Kissimmee grass which looked to me as late season Wild Rice on Leech....I was home! The stuff fished like rice too...nice open pockets with good edges to flip. No fish. We hit other grass spots throughout the day without success...if was a very tough bite. Around 1:00 we stumbled into a hydrilla flat that looked really good to me but what does this ol yankee boy know?? It had nice pockets and open patches....reminded me of fishing isolated coontail clumps back home. My partner caught 3 more ok fish to my zero....I was throwing the same thing(Purple Worm Texas Rigged which be borrowed because I don't own a worm) but decided my 50lb braid must look like cable down there on so I switch to a rod that had some Vanish line and started catching small fish.

As time ran out I could only get small fish...the min. size in Florida is 14" and 5 fish to keep. My partner weighed in around 8 pounds and got into the money(4th place) just to show how tough a day it was for everyone.

I really enjoyed getting back out there....my goal was to learn the water, get some spots and learn some new techniques. You'll be surprised to learn..no fishes tubes and few fish a jig down here...go figure.

I joined a local bass club and will fish a tournament on the Winter Haven Chain(17 lakes) after the holidays.

More from sunny Florida later...

Joel

My 2007 fishing blog

Well, I never kept a diary or any type of document detailing things in my life so this should be a learning experience. I hope I don't bore any of you as I'm sure my life is not one of big excitement.

This blog will detail my activities as it relates to Tournament Bass Fishing and Tournament Promoting this year (2007). I hope you enjoy and feel free to provide feedback!