Tournament Monkey (Episode 1: The calm before the storm)

[McCarter]

Yes, i was greeted Sunday by an old friend.  My tournament monkey, who spent the better part of 06 perched high upon my back.  He must have headed south for the winter but he arrived just in time for the ABA Kent lake paper tournament.

There is really no way to make this short and sweet.  Therefor, it shall be long and sour, kinda like my tournament season last year. 

First let me say that i am starting to feel like a fraud.  Looking back at some, or most, of my fishing reports from Kent lake, i realize that one might think me a liar after reviewing my tournament finishes on Kent over the past few seasons.  I am usually dead on out there no matter what time of year it is.  I spend more time on Kent than most people and have consistant success on this lake, except when there is money on the line.  So it would come as no surprise to learn that people think i may be embelishing the truth when i do post my Kent lake reports.  That being said, lets delve into my continued misery of tournament mishaps on my favorite body of water.

Shall we start with "pre-fishing"?!?!  Ok, Thursday May 3.  Being that we are so slow at work, i opted to take this day off in hopes of finding someone to take me fishing.  As it turned out, Maize was willing to loan me his boat for the day.  He dropped it off Wednesday night.  I woke up at the crack of 11:15 am the next morning and headed to the lake.  I was a little surprised to see as many boats out there as i did, being that it was a work day.  But then, there were 3 tournaments coming up that weekend.  I launched the boat and headed out to some likely spawning areas.  As i suspected, most were already being observed by others.  I found a spot i knew they would spawn and dropped the tm.  Right away i seen some smallmouth on shallow beds.  The water was pretty dirty, but still visible to about 3 ft.  I probed a few beds with my favorite bed fishing bait, and stuck a few smaller fish.  They were biting right away, so i decided to leave them alone and go looking for some bigger females. 

Sensing  i would need a back up plan, i stopped near a small cove and worked it hard with a horny toad.  I seen a ton of carp and no sign of beds.  I worked out of the cove and down a long stretch of shoreline, alternating between the toad and a stickworm.  I caught a couple shorts on the stick and never got a bite on the toad.  This took up about 2 hours of my pre fishing time so i scrapped the toads and headed over to an area i know very little about and started dragging the bottom with a jig.  At first, all i felt was soft bottom, and pulled up a dead leaf here and there, but the wind blew me a little farther away from the structure than i had fished before and all of a sudden, i start feeling rock.  Not long after, i get a tap and set the hook on a healthy pre-spawn largemouth.  The bass was about 18-19", full of eggs and well over 4 lbs.  A few casts later, i had another good tug, but opted to shake the taker off.  Knowing they would willingly take a jig, i switched up to a home made stick bait to see how they liked it.  I was pretty much deadsticking it on the bottom, letting the slight wind push it along, when another fish picked me up.  I swung on this one and it was another over 4 lb largemouth.  After quickly releasing the fish, i made another cast with the stick and not long after hitting the bottom i felt another thump.  I didnt want to stick this one so i tried shaking it off, but it would not let go.  I felt it swimming along and chomping on my bait for several seconds, so i put a little tension on the line.  The fish went nuts and made a hard, carp like run down the ledge so i decided to go for it.  But it let go just in time and i missed.  Ok, so they are eating jigs and sticks, how about cranks?  I tossed out a Bandit 200 and began cranking the rocks.  I had 2 good hits in about 5 casts, luckily not sticking either of them.  Feeling good about this spot, i left it alone, hoping the fish could hold out for a few days before moving up to spawn.

Next, i moved back into a popular cove.  Kev had fished here a few days ago and had a banner day with multiple fish over 4 lbs and even a 5 lber or two.  He suggested i check it out, so i did.  I didnt find much going on back here.  There were a few other boats in the way back and on the opposite side, so i quickly headed back out and to the other side of the lake, stopping back at the east launch to pick a friend up.

I noticed several boats hovering in an area i wanted to scout.  The fish were obviously there but too many people knew about them to count on for the tournament.  So i headed way back into a large bay to a rocky shoreline.  I hadnt seen anyone fishing this area at all.  And as i thought more about it, i dont recall really ever seeing anyone fishing over here in the past either.  This spot gets some shoreline fisherman pressure, but barely any from boaters.  I picked up my bed fishing rod and made a quiet cast to the shoreline, working slowly down the rocks that line it.  Once on the bottom, i shook the bait and got a bump.  I set the hook and landed a nice 18" smallmouth.  Funny thing was, it was a pretty skinny fish.  Next cast about 3 feet down i hook into another smallmouth even longer than the last one, but again skinny.  Good thing weight doesnt matter in a paper tournament.  I backed off the area, and fired up the big motor.  I didnt want to poke any more fish here.  2 very good fish in 2 casts, this is my starting spot for the tournament, no doubt.

I headed into the smaller area of the lake south of the I 96 bridge and started working the east shoreline with a crankbait.  There is a ton of wood here and the smallies like to spawn around the stumps that are scattered along the shoreline.  I caught several largemouth to my surprise.  Nothing big, most were between 12" and 16".  No smallies were taking tho.  I knew they were there on the stumps, they are always there, so i didnt mess with them, incase i needed them in the tournament.  Next i headed over to the beach, another huge spawning factory.  As i suspected, there were beds everywhere.  I eyeballed a couple good sized fish and pulled a few smaller ones off the beds very easily.  I knew this area had already been fished hard becuase the bigger fish were gone as soon as the bait hit the bed.  I gave up on this area pretty quick and decided to hit one more area looking for some pre-spawners.  After fishing it for 20 minutes with no bites, i called it a day.  I would have one more day to pre-fish before the tournament but only for a couple hours.

I was feeling pretty good about what i had found pre-fishing.  I had a terrific pre spawn pattern going, but would it hold up?  And i really felt like the smallies i found along that overlooked shoreline would give me a good weight come tournament time.  I watched as hords of boats beat the shorelines and poked every fish they could all day long out there.  But no one was even close to the two spots i was going to fish.  Maybe this would be my year.

Saturday morning i met up with Kev for my final day of pre fishing.  Kev wanted to test his boat out before heading to North Carolina for the Fishers of Men tournament and invited me to tag along.  We would only have 3 1/2 hours to find me some more fish and then we both had to head in.  I had to drive to Melvindale to pick up Jose Garzas boat so i could fish the tournament as a boater, and Kev had a long day of packing and spending time with his family before he took off.  We headed back into the cove Kev had done so well in a few days earlier.  He pointed out the exact spots where he caught all his fish.  But we werent getting any bites.  we continued further back into the cove and i finally picked up the first fish of the day on my stickbait.  A feisty 20" pike.  Not long after, another fish grabbed the stick, this time a short largie.  Then another largie, this time a keeper.  A little further back into the cove i hooked into a GIANT on a bed, but the fish quickly pulled off.  I didnt know there was a bed there, but i must have landed smack dab in the middle of it while pitching my bait to the shoreline.  this fish hit it hard and tried to move it off quickly.  I memorized the spot on the shoreline where she hit so i could come back here in the tournament.

Next, we hit my pre spawn spot.  It had been 2 days and i was interested to see if they were still down there.  I got a quick bite and shook it off and we moved on.  We hit a couple more spots with no takers.  Kev pointed out a few more areas to try in the tournament and then we left.

After picking Garzas boat up, i spent the next few hours preparing my tackle and rigging up rods.  I went over the game plan numerous times in my head.  I had the whole day visialized in my mind right down to the post tournament celebrations at Hooters.  I was psyched like i had never been for a tournament before.  I felt like i had finally prepared the right way.  Usually i spend the day before a tournament drinking beer, staying up late, and barely making to registration on time.  But not this year.  I was in bed at 8:00 pm and the alarm was set for 4:15 am.  This is gonna be awesome.

( to be continued...)

McCarter himself

[dartag]

the fish were fished hard.  after we saw you we found lots of beds that were empty.  the next day there were 3 boats in that little bay at noon when we went through.  today we saw about a dozen bass boats fishing.

on the flip side.  on my lake the launch is closed and i have been out watching fish make beds and spawn.  i have been fishing a little bit but it is more fun just cruising and watching them. 

ss