Lake Norman journal

[Team houston]

My travel partner for the trip Andrew Bray picked me up at about12:15 am Sat morning. He had just gotten off work and prefered to leave then, as opposed to sleeping a couple hours. The drive took about 10 and a half hours. We got settled in, found the ramp, bought licenses and rigged up in hopes of getting some practice in. We went to the ramp the next a.m. and were both fortunate enough to hook up with boaters for practice. I got a ride with Bob Bjorkland from Colorado. Bob had done pretty well on the Northern portion of the lake the previous day so was going to stay on the closer end today. Within the first few minutes I got a strike on a topwater but did not hook up. Bob started catching small spotted bass on a shakey head. I picked up a flick shake worm and shortly after caught my first bass of the trip. Ironically is would be the only fish I would catch on the flick shake the entire trip. Bob then picked up a topwater and the spots really started hammering it. I switched as well and the rest of the day most of our bites came on the shakey head or topwater. Bob commented that these spots would be no good in the tourny as a 15 or 16 inch spot would only weigh about 1.5 to 1.75 lbs. LM were what was needed and he found that going to the very back of cuts and pockets he would find one good 3lb LM. So we spent the day fishing as many as we could to find productive ones. I ended the day catching about a dozen fish with three being keepers(14 inches) Bob caught about 25 fish and had a couple limits. His best five would go about 11lbs.

[Team houston]

Practice day two. This day we went to the midlake section and did the same thing. Fished as many cuts, coves and pockets as we could. The topwater bite was very strong in the morning and I got confident that if I got to fish the same type of water in the tourny that I could catch 3 to 5 keepers a day. That is if we had some cloud cover. Both practice days it was cloudy. I also tried a small jerkbait and caught a lot of fish with it but no keepers. I ended this day catching about 20 fish with 4 keepers. Remember any time we got into an area that we caught some better fish in we left it right away so I wasn't to worried about my keeper total. Bob again caught a couple of limits again but would only weigh another 11lbs or so. His plan was to run and gun the cuts he found with the better LM in the backs.  Andrew and I decided to take the next day off. We had spent two long days on the water, got a good look at a lot of the lake and felt like we knew what we had to do catch fish.

[Team houston]

Wedseday was meeting day. Also our 3rd roomate showed up Andrew Lemley, who as you know from the post below had a great tourny.  We did the usual got our free shirts and hats and a free BBQ dinner. I was boat #72 paired with Bill Day. He picked me up at my hotel because it was on the way and we got in the water without any incident. He told me we would be shakey head fishing docks but he wanted to check one good bed fish he found. He was afraid with not a great take off number someone would be on it. Sure enough Clark Wendlant was working her when we got there. We started fishing nearby and after a while I caught a 13 and a half incher. With no other action it was off to stop two. Just another of the million cuts that are on this lake. Bill preceded to put 3 keepers in the boat and my chest started to get tight. Finally while he was working shallow up near a dock I decided to throw out to deeper water. Thump thump, set the hook and #1 is in the box. A couple of  casts later to the same area and , boom #2. We swing to the other side of the dock and again I throw to deeper water, #3 in the box. !5 min and 3 keepers and my chest loosens considerably. With no more action here we go to more of a cove at the next spot. There is no docks here and Bill tells me this keeps people away and that the fish are spawning on the slight drop off. He Catches #4 and 5 min later I match him. We are catching all LM on this part of the lake and I am glad because 4 of the five fish I have caught so far are keepers. On to the next cut. At the back of this one we see all kinds of cruisers and a bunch of bedders. They are not locked down and are spooky. After a while we see a group of about 5 cruisers. Bill makes a long cast and one immedietly sucks in his wacky rig Senko. I should mention that the topwater bite that I was so confident in does not seem to be working on this part of the lake. After about 10 min first thing in the morning it did not look or feel right and I never threw it the rest of the day. As Bill is unhooking his fish I see the the remaining cruisers and make a long cast. Here they come 3 of them swim right by my wack rig within inches, AAARRRRGGGHHHH. The day starts to wear on and we are still finding cruisers and bedders in the backs of the cuts in this part of the lake. I had my 4th keeper at about 9:30 it is now approaching 1:30 and the chest is getting tight again. I know that a lot of limits will be weighed and if I want to be in contention I need one. After throwing at many visble fish during the afternoon I finally spot one sitting by itself. I don't know if its on a bed or just sunning itself. I throw my wacky rig past her reel it up to her and kill it. I see her turn and her gills flare so I set the hook, got her. Get her in and I am happy. I do not catch any more keepers and Bill has culled a couple times before the day ends. I weigh 9lbs even and am in 23rd place.

[Team houston]

Day 2 I am paired with Sean Hoernke who is in 2nd place on the Pro side. He is launching at another ramp and will pick me up at the takeoff ramp. He is right on time and we start the day on a little marina over deep water. Good fish were blowing up on shad when he was here the first day and he caught 8 keepers in 2 hrs. Today the action has slowed considerable. There are some blowups but the fish are smaller. He does catch one swimming a white jig but it is not the quality he had the first day. I had talked to his first day partner and he only caught 1 keeper but I keep an open mind and fish hard. Sean starts running pockets and I do mean running. The trolling motor is on 100% the whole day and it is very hard to throw anything effectivly when the boat is moving that fast. When he comes across a fish that will help him he fishes for it. It is ironic that before I left I did not want to get with someone bed fishing. Now I am happy when he does because this gives me a chance to fish the shakey head properly and saturate the water around us with casts. Sean is an exceptional bed fisherman, not just catching them but knowing which ones he has a chance to catch and how long it might take. I learn a lot. I am proud to say that 2 of the fish he weighed that day I spotted. At the end of the day he tells me he would not have made the cut without those 2 fish. Both weighed between 2.75lbs and 3lbs. I manage three fish and 1 keeper which gets me 95th place and a $750 check. Sean goes on to lead the tourny and eventually win. Meanwhile Andrew Bray catches 2 limits and gets a $1000 check and Andrew Lemley cashes $7000 check.

[motocross269]

Good job...I need to look closer next time I am throwing out attaboys to the MI guys..
Andrew is a good fisherman..He was my dedicated boater last year in the BFLs...Just don't let him play with your favorite spinning rod the night before a tourney.. Ask him about it I am sure you will get a good laugh...

[rufus]

Awesome report Phil! Hope to see you in a month on smallie heaven.