WRL TOC Report

The week leading up to the tournament was filled with reports of huge limits of hungry fish all over the lake. The anticipation was great and reports from reliable sources. The only factor was figuring out where to go and if areas would be open with 170 boats on the water!

Gee and I drove up Thursday night and crashed at the hotel next to the Redbud launch ramp. Our plan was to hit up to 60 areas for Friday’s prefish and determine where the better fish would be holding.

Friday morning came quickly and by 6:30 the boat had been inspected and we were on the water! Within the first hour we had only hit 5 spots and only had a couple bites to show for it. Hmm. The next hour was much the same with zero results and time was feeling like it was wasted. We finally hit a couple quick 2 lbers dropshotting one of my favorite areas on the lake and thought this would be a great backup spot to what was an anticipated hot spot.

The hot spot was an area in Lakeport which reportedly had some very solid tournament winning fish with little pressure. When we finally got there explosions rocked the water and big fish were chomping! A few fish came out far enough to get a look and they looked to be in the 6-8 lbs class! Wow! Unfortunately we were unable to even get a bite from any of the fish but figured this could be a morning bite as long as no others took the spot.

The rest of the day we hit a number of areas but like the first part of the day, could not put anything together that seemed worth our time for the tournament.

Day 1

The weather called for a 10% chance of rain with temps in the mid-70s. The morning was warm and we got our boat inspected and in the water well before the rest of the crowd. We were boat #44.

Within 10 minutes of launch at 6:45 AM due to cloud cover, we were out of the gate and headed up to Lakeport from Redbud (almost 20 miles). Gee’s boat was maxing out around 55 mph and thus got passed by a few guys on our trip up. We were feeling pretty good until getting close to our first spot only to see a boat sitting in perfect position on the Lakeport spot!!! Grrr.

There was a few other docks which we were told had a good morning bite but they failed to materialize. We gradually moved towards the area but it was only the original boat (another one had come in on the outside as we were fishing the other docks) who was catching a couple fish. After spending some additional time trying to fish around them we gave up and decided to make a short run to Aurora.

After the quick run we noticed the weather seemed to be getting a little wet. The 10% chance turned into a 20 minute light sprinkle. The dropshot fish we caught Friday turned into little dinks. After about an hour with a ½ dozen undersized fish we decided we needed to get out of there.

Rodman was our next stop but again, a fruitless stop.

We ran around to a variety of spots but it wasn’t until the very last 20 minutes of the tournament day we finally managed a 2.78 lb Trashfish Swimbait fish. Ugh.

15-20 lb limits were the rule for the day and we knew the only chance we had for cashing a check was to get a big fish on day 2.

The highlight of the day came from talking to our friends D&T that they caught there limit of over 18 lbs! It put them in about 49^th place but within a couple pounds of cashing a check.

Day 2

After much debating on whether to stay South or go North, I decided to head to a spot known to hold good tournament limits. It ended up being a fruitless decision.

We spent a couple hours fishing the North but it was then back down South again. This time, after hitting several areas, we came to the Konocti Harbor area and started making our way down. When we went past the private cove just North of the Konocti point we found some active fish!

After pointing out to Gee that fish were busting in the area, I finally got a solid hit! Another hit, another hit and finally, fish on! I quickly swung the Trashfish Swimbait fish into the boat and a sense of relief came over along with excitement that this spot could produce some much needed action for the two of us. Not more than 10 minutes later and many more hits, #2 was in the boat on the Trashfish once again. More hits and then the unexpected, I broke off on what felt like a good fish. Darn!!!! Less than a minute later I watch Gee’s rod load up and SNAP! He breaks off!!! What the heck!?!

After a couple more bumps we decide to give it a little rest and come back after making sure another boat does not jump on the area. It produced a couple more bites for me but nothing landed and we decide to move again.

A couple areas later we start working a large cove near Monitor Island. The water drops into 20 feet fairly close to the docks and on a single small weed patch, I get a hit! Another hit on the next cast and then…a fish bites off the tail of my swimbait. Grrr. Nothing on the weed patch after that.

We continue working down and we start noticing we’re getting bumped on a fairly regular basis. The bites are coming primarily working the shade line produced by the docks and ramps. I get what I feel is a bluegill bite (a quick series of taps) then notice my line moving off and do a half-hearted sweep set. Low and behold a nice 3-4lber is on my line…and then shakes the lure free. Doh!

It now has officially become “that” kind of day and weekend. Bad decisions on where to go, missed fish, lost fish and a lack of luck. As a topper as Gee starts motoring out of an area that we thought was at least 5 feet deep, we end up slamming into a couple rocks and his skeg on his motor along with his prop are chewed up. The term “BOAT” or Bring On Another Thousand ($) applies it’s ugly head and he is sunk for the last 2 hours.

I managed two more bites on the dock across from the launch ramp but no hookups and call it a day/weekend. 5.04 lbs for 2 fish and less than 8 lbs for our entire weekend.

The good news comes from my friends when they let me know they got over 21 lbs and ended up in 16^th out of over 170 boats. Awesome!

All in all it was nice to be fishing Clear Lake but a weekend of mostly fruitless fishing for us. One of the worst fishing results I have EVER had at Clear Lake but just means I’ll have to get up there again for some REDEMTION!

Bass N' Tubes Sunrise Tournament - Aug 13, 2011

This was a great way to have a good time with a great bunch of guys, catch a few fish, win some money and still have the day for my family. The “sunrise” tournament BnT has held for the last couple years starts the day in darkness and ends when the sun just starts to get warm. 3AM-9AM was the hours and although I wouldn’t have minded a couple more hours on the water, it proved to be just enough for a great day.

There was 17 kickboats taking the water in the early morning at Middle River in the Delta. There was no wind, the temperature was warm and a full moon was lighting the sky. It just smelled like a great time to be out with nature and our little green friends!

Although I was tempted to hit Victoria Canal, I decided on my reliable “above the barrier” approach. Less pressure, no chance for boats and hopefully not everyone would be making the row. Turned out as I was right.

The fishing was not what I was expecting these first couple hours of our six hour tournament. No bites at all in the first two hours for me. Hmm. Looked like some of the hyacinth had grown like mad from what I was seeing. Much of the area I like to throw a frog or horny toad type of bait was covered thick. Only thing I could do with that was punching. I did do a little but it just didn’t feel right while night fishing!

Upcoming coming up on the 2^nd high spot in the middle, I finally got my first fish. Nothing to write home about but Deps frog did the trick! Another bite but that was all in the area. From there I went around the corner but another no go.

The glow of dawn was approaching so I decided to go back to the area of my first fish. It always seems to hold plenty of fish and was the only real area of activity thus far! It wasn’t long before I came back on it and talked to Scott R who said there was plenty of activity there but the fish were not quite cooperating. I experienced what he described while fishing right across from him with a nice couple blowups but nothing to show!

Activity around the high spot was growing along with my frustration. I decided to hit the point as I kept on seeing more fish munching on something. On one of my first cast out, a nice fish swiped at my frog! I set the hook but thought I missed it when I realized it was coming towards me!! Yikes! I ended up getting the fish to the boat quickly and it looked to be a nice chunky 3 lber. Nice! After a couple more casts with the frog I grabbed the LC Gunfish and fired a long cast out. I used a quick cadence and as I was about to take the lure out of the water….KAWHAM! A shower of water hit me and with only a couple feet of line out I had to release some line to make sure I didn’t pull the hooks out of the fish! Thankfully, it didn’t take long to get to the net and I was a little disappointed it wasn’t bigger but still excited with the explosive strike and #3 in the well.

For about the next two hours I was getting numerous strikes but no hookups on either the frog or Gunfish. A couple fish looked to be pretty solid and I thought they would be on when I swung but nothing.

Time was starting to run out so I started doing some quick punching and frog throwing trying to cover some water and get #5 in the well. As I hit the barrier only 20 minutes remained so I knew my last best chance was the weeds and tulles across from the launch area. I breathlessly arrived with only 5 minutes to do and started doing the quick punching again hitting specific “sweet” spots. With 2 minutes to go I felt a surge and set the hook into one! It hit the top of the mats so I quickly threw my rod into the water, grabbed the line and pulled out a smaller than expected fish out of the weeds. Yes! Keeper #5 with less than a minute to go!

This turned out to be crucial as I ended in 2^nd place only 0.20 lbs ahead of Troy who only had 4 fish but it included a 6lber which was big fish of the tournament (weights have been low on the delta this year in general). Jeff Wilson took home first with a bit over 15lbs for 5 and my weight was around 14.70 lbs.

A great day on the water and I was home before 11AM!

Here's a writeup as well from "Jody Only" - http://www.examiner.com/fishing-in-stockton/bass-n-tubes-battle-for-bass-on-the-california-delta

July 23rd – WRL Clear Lake Delta/Wine Region event

We are starting to come near the end of this years tour de WRL Delta/Wine region! This was a critical event for Gee and I to try to make up a few additional points on the AOY race to have a good shot when we head back to the Delta in August.

Gee spent a few hours prefishing the two days leading up to the event but did not find any particular pattern that seemed to be giving up good fish. Only one area produced well enough to warrant a “for-sure” spot but it was going to be a kind of fly-by-our-pants type of event once again.

We drew #19 which happened to be the very last boat out of 80 or so boats entered into the tournament. This would give us a little extra time to fish but we figured most of our potential spots on the lake would be hit before we even launched. We made a last second decision to hit my spot at Boat Works for our first destination.

Three boats were in the vicinity of Boat Works but none happened to be in the sweet spot. Nice! We pulled up and immediately got the jigs and topwater out and made our way around the rocks and entrance. As Gee worked around I got a chance to throw to the sweet spot and immediately noticed my line moving in the wrong direction. Yes! I get a quick swing and bring in our first fish of the day in our first 5 minutes of fishing! The fish was only about 2.5 lbs but nice to get it out of the way. After a few more casts we head out to our next destination.

Fraser was supposed to be the spot (Gee didn’t know the name) but 5 boats were surrounding it so no go there. Thankfully this was on the way to the area I hit with Phil Garcia the previous weekend when I fished the TBF event so on we went. The boat Phil mentioned was already on the area but only concentrating on one spot. Nice. There was activity from bass feeding but after spending over 30 minutes on it, nothing.

We tried to go to Fraser again but boats were still on so we decided on Konocti Harbor point. As we headed there we noticed a boat going towards it but not exactly on the point. We managed to get the point harbor side all to ourselves for a few minutes and I promptly landed a long and skinny 5 lber on the jig once again. We pounded the side some more but noticed a boat coming from the other side so I told Gee to move to the point and we would cast to the opposite side to deter the other boat from making a move. Good call as my first cast had my line moving off again and another 2.5 lber made it’s way aboard. We spent quite a bit more time here with lots of bait on the graph but could not muster another bite.

This time we decided to cover some of the water on the shore along with a dock that had produced in the past. Nothing going there so the next spot to the North we went which was a private area surrounded by big rocks and docks. On my first cast to the shady side I got a distinct ‘tap’ and set the hook on a solid 3 lber. Nice! We spent a good amount of time on the side and front but nothing more until we hit the other side and I get our limit fish on the jig once again.

Our next excitement came when we finally went back to Fraser and had it to ourselves. The limit was nice but we knew we had to do some upgrading . On the outside a small rockpile in about 30 feet of water was a target Gee had mentioned. In the process of working on getting some liquid in my system I threw a dropshot overboard and suddenly had a nice one load up Gee’s spinning gear! He didn’t think much of it until it started taking some line a couple times and grabbed the net. When we finally did get it in the boat it turned out to be our 2^nd biggest fish of the day right around 4lbs!

Gee lost one here on the Carolina rig but we could not get any other fish to go.

After spending a significant amount of time there we hit a couple other spots but was running out of ideas. In the end we decided on a deep rocky area across from Monitor Island to work the rest of our day. The tournament was coming to a close for the 1^st couple flights and before we knew it, 4 of the boats in the area left! We had it to ourselves and it seemed the fish were starting to bite. Well, they bit but many were seemingly just trying to kill the jig so missed strikes abounded. After Gee lost one that came to the surface I finally got one to hook up for our last fish of the day and helped cull our 2.5 lber to 3 lbs.

At the end of the day we had a respectable 17.75 lbs for 12^th place and another check! We didn’t realize at the time but this helped us gain another 10 points on the top AOY team to put us within 20 points of AOY title. Here’s hoping we do good at the last event of the season on the Delta and they don’t do good! J

WRL - Delta - June 25th Motherlode Region

I’ll start with our latest and greatest, the Motherlode Region WRL Delta event with Danny Peluso running the show.

After talking with team D&T, I decided I really wanted to fish this event. Not only because they were fishing but we had just come off a 10^th place money finish the previous weekend and easily could have been a bit higher. This was also the Motherlode event which means not nearly as many Delta rats fishing!

Gee wasn’t planning on fishing this but with my lack of finding another partner, decided in the last minute to fish with me. Good choice!

We decided from the beginning (1 day before the tournament) we would run the same pattern we did the previous weekend and hope there would be some topwater fish as well. Gee would fish reaction baits and I would follow with the senko.

70 boats ended up showing so we knew we had to get at least into the top 10 to cash a check. We were thinking 15-17 lbs should cash with a 20+ lb sack winning.

The morning started off a little frustrating with a number of fish slamming our lures but not hooking up! Gee had 4-5 blowups on the frog and I had a number of good hits with the senko but nothing was sticking. One of the fish that hit both Gee’s frog and my senko (came up while I was retrieving it in!) looked to be at least 4 lbs which would have made for a terrific start.

Finally after a couple more blowups, Gee brought in a keeper on the frog. Unfortunately the way the fish was hooked created some bleeding in the fish so we decided it would be better to release than chance having to weigh in a dead fish. We were crossing our fingers we could get some more!

Thankfully, Gee finally got a nice blowup and brought in a 3+ fish to the boat. WooHoo! That started a mini rally for us and my senko started landing some keepers as well and by 8 AM again, we had our limit. The only issue was for our first limit, it only looked to be about 8-9 lbs.

The day was different, the weather had heated up during the week a bit more and the bite ended up being more consistent for us. We (mostly Gee) ended up catching fish on the chatterbait, wakebait, senko and eventually the flip punch bite. We got over 20 keepers to the boat but most were right in the 13-14” range. Steve ended up getting one close to 5 (4.94) lbs while punching and I added one around 3 lbs.

Although we did better and caught more fish, it didn’t feel that great while going to the scales. The thing we had going was lots of people were complaining about the bite! As I went to weigh in (we were one of the last flights) I was told only 17 lbs was leading??!!?? 16.48 turned out to be our final weight and to our surprise at the awards ceremony, 4^th place was our take!

Team D&T also made up a bit for the previous weekend and came in with a 12.10 lb limit and was less than ½ lb off cashing a check. Crazy!

Signing off for now - Moto

WRL Delta May 7, 2011

A little late getting to this…

Our first Delta event of the season! Woohoo!

The expectations were pretty high but tempered by the fact neither of us got a good prefish in. I had gone out with a couple guys the past Saturday and only managed to get banged up by the waves while running out of Frank’s Tract. Gee didn’t get any fishing at all in.

We decided early in the week to go to our strengths and try to power out some fish with the hope of having one of us slow down with the senko.

Unfortunately the wind was whipping again by the time we arrived to the South Delta and never relented. This somewhat worked out as Gee threw his trusty chatter bait and managed to get us most of our limit in 30 minutes! #5 came shortly later but it was fast and furious with some decent quality as well. There was a couple good quality lost fish in the mix but we figured this could turn into a decent day if we could get a nice kicker. It wasn’t to happen.

We culled the smallest fish twice but only managed to get up to about 2.5 lbs on a shallow running crankbait. The wind kicked our butt so much that by noon, we were throwing into the towel in our main area and tried to find some shelter.

Mildred Island area was reasonable and soon we ended up locking onto a spawning fish. She wasn’t huge but certainly an upgrade from our 2.5lber. This was part of our undoing. She was interested in our offering enough to keep us fired up expecting to catch her quickly but we soon let the time slip away without getting her into the boat. I had the best shot at her when I threw a bluegill imitation out a ways but turned around only to turn back and see my bait was gone! A one handed set and she just came out of the water and spit the bait out. Our last best chance.

We ended with 15.07 lbs and a 25^th place out of 76 or so boats. Quite disappointing. All we needed was a 5 and it would have put us in the money.

Well, onto our next adventure in June!

WRL Lake Berryessa – April 16th

We did do our homework this time around and took the time to prefish both the past Sunday along with Wednesday as well. Thankfully, we eliminated a lot of water along with finding some fish that seemed as if they would hold for our tournament. There was only one major game plan, fish the shallow east side flats for the bigger largemouth bass!

Somehow once again, we ended up in the first flight. Not ideal considering the day was going to get pretty warm in the afternoon and we knew more fish would come up to make their beds in the shallows. No matter, we would be able to get to our water before the rest of the crowd and hopefully pull off a couple fish first thing in the morning on swimbaits.

I ended up pointing out the wrong spot to start but it was a great looking area so fished it anyway. It wasn’t too long into the fishing when Steve sets hook on his swimbait and promptly breaks off the fish. Dang! I throw in immediately after with my Trash Fish swimbait and also get railed but no hook up. Grrrr! I quickly tied on a fluke and get it in the same vicinity and half way to the boat a nice swirl. Oops! The fish has my bait! I reel up the slack, horse the fish to the boat and swing it inside, yes, our first of the day! Nothing else happened in this pocket of brush and trees.

We make the move to our original spot and it took a while to get our next fish. Steve is looking up front and spots a small male locked onto a bed. My Trash Fish comes out again and we only take 5 minutes to get #2 in the boat. Another bed fish 20+ minutes after #2 but #4 comes right after with Steve throwing his swimbait and #5 not long after. A small limit and we still have lots of time!

Our first cull fish of the day takes a long while to get in the boat as we had to patiently figure out what type of presentation to make to it but in the end pays off with a nice fish close to 3 lbs and turned out to be our 2^nd biggest fish of the day. We end up getting 3 more fish from that same area (all on beds) but none cull our other fish.

Our largest fish of the day comes blind castings a Trash Fish once again right next to a brush. I get railed by the solid fish and immediately it goes straight into the brush! After a short tug of war, the fish pops out and Steve gets the fish in the net. 4.80 lbs which is by far my largest fish on Berryessa! Sweet!

Even though we have a solid limit of Berryessa fish we were figuring it would not be enough to cash a check on this beautiful day. 14.90 lbs was what we had and was pleasantly surprised to find out we cashed a check with an 11^th place finish out of 71 boats! Awesome! Some much needed points and a little money to cover our entry.

On to the Delta!

April 4 2011 - California Federation Delta #2

I had fished the second tournament of the California Federation delta circuit.  Prior to the tournament, we had a week long of warm weather that peaked in the high 80’s.  On tournament day it was in the mid 40’s prior to launching and we had 15-25 mph winds.  Toward the end of the day we had temperatures in the high 50’s and we had high winds through out the entire day. 

I had prefished 2 days prior to the tournament and had developed a simple plan for tournament.  The plan was to fish a specific area that had clear and warmer water.  I started out the morning fishing an entire strip of bank with a buzzbait and got nothing to strike the lure.  Then I had noticed the opposite bank had white caps crashing on the banks.  So I had crossed the slough and threw a blue gill pattern chatterbait.  I got a bite after the 3^rd cast and I had reeled in a 5lb fish.  I continued to fish the entire bank and caught a limit within 2 hours.  The easy part was done, the hard task was trying to cull out 2 small fish.  At this point, I had 3 solid fish and 2 small fish that weighed 1 to 1.5lb each.  The tide had bottomed out and the bite had turned off after 11am. 15 minutes before weighing in, I had caught my 4^th solid fish and culled one of the small fish.  

I had weighed in a 5 fish limit for 19.65 lbs with a 5.60 big fish.   I was in the first flight and my weight looked pretty good in comparison to the field.  Then the second flight came in and the bags looked pretty big.  I had placed 4^th for the tournament.  The tournament was won with a 37lb bag with a 11lb big fish.  

www.geemoto.com