First club tournament of 2014

The first Tri-County Bass Club event of the year was held on Badger Creek Lake, near Des Moines.  The club had 20 boats signed up for this lake, which is a lot, the lake is not very big at all.  Throw in the rain all day long, and heavy storms moving through the area throughout the day, I wasn't too excited about this event.  Needless to say, I gave it my best effort.  Here is a quick recap of the main events of the day:
~7:00am start time, made about 15 casts
~Went back to the truck and waited out the lightning storm for about 20 minutes
~Went back to fishing until 10:30 without one bite
~10:30, threw a jig to a brushpile, and thump...my only bite of the day, a KEEPER though!
~About noon, I was trolling around some stumps and hit one square on, my trolling motor braket snapped, and my motor fell into the lake.

~My day was done.
I ended up finishing in 8th place, even though i only fished about half of the time.  That just proves how bad the fishing was.  The complete results can be seen at: www.tricountybassclub.net
All I can say after thinking about that day is...I should have just stayed home!

Fishing for fun!

Yesterday was spent on the water with Dave Jordan and David Bowles.  Union Grove Lake and a private lake were the destination.  Fish were caught, stories were told, and many laughs were had.  Something we all needed after a long fishing weekend last week in the rain.  A quick picture of David and I with a "double" we had.  Slow baits were definitely the choice of the bass on this day.

First fishing trip of the year

Rock Creek Lake: 6.35#

Saturday, April 6th, marked the first day of the year for some long casting.  Hot Rod Baits was holding an open bass tournament at Rock Creek Lake, and that is where I wanted to be.  It was the first time out in the boat, and quite honestly I wasn't sure I was ready for the open water season.  The ice season, although very long, seemed it could have just continued and I would have been fine with it.  However, Mother Nature was slowly turning the clock to spring and the open water season had begun.
Rock Creek Lake is known for some huge bass, and that is what many people had high hopes of on this chilly day.  Air temperatures ranged from 28-50 degrees and water temperatures were between 42-47 degrees.  As I told my partner, Zach Maxfield on the trip down to the lake, I was looking for one bite.
That one bite came at about 11am, 2 hours after we started.  It was the usual soft early spring bite, and when I set the hook and the fish pulled back drag on the Quantum Energy PT reel, all I could say is..."it's a good one".  Zach quickly got the net, and scooped the bass in rather quickly.  The battle only lasted a few seconds, which seemed like minutes, but when Zach lifted the bass into the boat, we both just looked at each other.  It was big...at the time we didn't know how big, I just wanted to get a quick picture and get the fish into the livewell as soon as possible.  We didn't touch the fish until weigh-in time, trying to leave it alone so it could relax.  Zach and I talked about how big we thought it might be, and we thought maybe six pounds, but it is so hard to tell without a scale measurement.
The weigh-in came and it was 6.35#.  I caught another one shortly after that big one that was about 3.50# too.  Both bass came on a Hot Rod Baits Big Daddy in the bruizer color rigged Texas style.  When I saw the scale reach six pounds, and then it just went up from there and settled on 6.35, I was ecstatic.  That fish is the biggest bass I have ever caught in my life.  I have caught two other bass over six pounds, but not as big as this one.  A proud day for me, and one I won't forget for a long time.