Stratos Championships Update

[Cheetam]

I talked with PB yesterday and he and fishon1219 have had two days of practice on Old Hickory in preparation for this weeks Stratos Championship.  On Sunday, they managed to catch 6 keepers for about 6 pounds total.  Yesterday, they managed to scrounge together 10 keepers for about 10 pounds.  The recent BFL Super Tourney (2-day tourney) was won with 17 lbs 10 oz, so if they can duplicate the 10 pounds they found in practice each day of the two day tourney, they should do pretty well.  If I get any additional updates, I will pass them along.

[dhuff]

They should of posted that they were going down there.  I have fished that lake and done very well there.  Could of possibly helped them out.  You can waste a ton of time on that body of water. 

[dartag]

talked to the boys this afternoon.  they were fishing the main lake and not doing very good.  at least the weather was hot and clear..  sounds like they were going to dinner tonight to get some Wings and Beverage .

[Langer]

They should of posted that they were going down there.  I have fished that lake and done very well there.  Could of possibly helped them out.  You can waste a ton of time on that body of water. 

Poorboy did, you must of missed it:  http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=1340.0

[dartag]

Well were all waiting for a report / story,  details we need details..

[McCarter]

Not much to tell, really.

We got down there early sunday morning.  Found the hotel, then headed to the boat launch.  Waited for the sun to come up and then watched the BFL guys head out for day 2 of there Super T. 

Talked to a few local guys and they invited us to follow them to there spot in Bledsoe Creek.  We checked that out and caught a few shorts and i think 2 small keepers.

Next day we check out some new water, this time finding a limit of one good solid fish and 4 other squeakers.  Played around in some other areas and checked out some more of the lake.

Day 3, we had plans.  Big plans.  But the plans kinda fell threw when we couldnt find any big fish.  We did, however get into some fish.  We really felt like the pieces of the puzzle were starting to fall into place.

We stayed at a motel with a bunch of michigan guys.  Most of them were Wonderland Marine Pro Staff.  Had a good time with those guys.  Everynights was the same thing.  Get off the water, decide on what to do for dinner for 3 hours, re-tie some tackle, sort threw all the stuff you bought from Flippers tackle store ( the best tackle store i have ever seen ), drink beer, then go to dinner and eat. 

We found fish every day of pre fishing.  We were averaging 5 a day with a decent kicker.  But the problem was, the others we were catching were very very skinny.  I mean we were catching 15" fish that didnt even weigh a pound.  So with a 3 lber and 4 fish that averaged 14 ounces, we were looking at under 7 lbs a day.  Which, looking back, i would have killed for come tournament time.

The weather was beautiful the whole trip up until the tournament.  A massive cold front blew threw bringing very cold air temps and heavy winds. It completely blew our first spot.  A spot where we had done the best since getting down there.  We pulled up to that spot in the morning and fished it hard for 3 hours.  No bites.  Finally, i pull a small keeper off a dock after hanging my jig into some brush.  That tipped me off to the reaction bite pattern.  In the days prior, you couldnt get bit unless you barely moved your lure across the bottom.  Those fish wanted it slow or not moving at all.  Now all of a sudden, they change there mind.

After fishing this area for a while longer with no bites, we moved to a creek we had found in practice.  It was loaded with shad a few days ago so we were hoping to find them still hangin out back there.  We did.  Withing 20 minutes we boated 2 more keepers and about 20 short fish.  Time was winding down and we only had 3 fish in the boat for what we thought was 4 lbs.  we couldnt get another keeper bite back there and it was time to go.

We ended up weighing in 4 lbs 10 oz and ending day 1 in 48th place.  We were both pretty upset with our day one performance.  we had been able to put a limit together just about every day of practice, and now we are choking under the pressure of the tournament.  But on the bright side, we did catch some fish and there is always tomorrow.

we decided to swing for the fences on day 2 and hit every spot we caught keeper fish in practice.  we opted to leave one area out.  the spot we had started at on day 1.  We returned to our little bay where we had caught 2 of our keepers tht dfay before.  We enjoyed this spot alone the day before, but found out it was a popular day 2 startinf spot as we were met by a half dozen other boats.  We never got a keeper bite in the back of the creek, despite catching about 15 bass in the 13" - 13.87" range.  Mix in a couple white bass and a sauger and now your talkin.  Boat after boat was piling in back here so we worked our way to the mouth.  Kev was crankin a drop and hooked into a good keeper, our first of the day.  This fish went about 3.25 lbs.   I dont rememebr where we caught our 2nd keeper but i know kev caught it.  Then we went back to another spot where we had caught a keeper in practice and i got our 3rd and final fish of the day.

We ended up with 6 llbs 2 oz for a two day total of 10 lbs and 12 ounces.  we moved from 48th place to 38th place and ended up cashing a check for $140.  On a side note, i did miss two keepers in the last 20 minutes of day 2.  Nothing i could do, they just came off.  But they would have helped tremendously.

Had a great time.  Glad to be home.  I have never fished so hard in my life. 

Big thanks to the Wonderland Marine crew.  RVG, Papa Chris, 'Bobby' Bakeman, Todd Dreyse, and the rest.  These guys are class acts and treated me and kev very well down there.  Even tho i am a Triton guy who drives a ranger, they made me trade in my lucky Triton hat for a stratos hat for the week.  And they bought me dinner. 

PB himself

[Bassman24]

Excellent report PB.  The feeling is mutual.  It was great to hang out talking fishing and stuff.  No doubt this is one tough body of water. You know there are hogs out there but to pull one out is a chore, to get two, your a stud.

The amazing part about this lake is the amount of shad busting everywhere.  You would think every fish would be shaped like a football. 

This was the last Stratos Championship as we know it, but they say they are looking into having an Owners Tournament in the future to replace it.  I also heard they may be changing locations so this may bring more boats to the event.  Having only 94 boats this year was somewhat disappointing.

Hey, all-in-all it was a great time.

Talk at you soon PB, remind Kev to wash the pillow

GT

[fishon1219]

Talk at you soon PB, remind Kev to wash the pillow

GT

You dont need to remind me. Wrestling it away from that gal was reminder enough. I thought she would never give it back. 

[dartag]

all that and you never went to Hooters.   i am so disappointed in you two. 

[dhuff]

What areas of the lake did you concentrate your fishing on.  Which creeks?  When I was there I had a few really good spots in a few of the creeks and a few that kept yielding our big fish on the main lake it was a nice millfoil bed.

[McCarter]

We spent time in Bledsoe Creek, Station Camp ( not east station camp ) BIG thanks to rufus for the tips on that, we found keepers back there everytime.  Fooled around in Drakes Creek and another small creek that i cant remember the name of, and we checked out Spencer Creek.

We also fished a small cut just past the barges where we found active fish in the grass.  I missed 2 keepers here in the last 20 minutes of day 2. 

And a spot on the main lake under the power lines on the channel edge where Kev got a nice 3.25 lber in practice cranking a Bandit 300 and i had a nice follower on a trap.

Thats really about it.  Its such a big lake, a week isnt enough time.

PB himself

[bosshawg]

 watch that RVG guy - he's a shady character .. talked to him yesterday and he also had a tough go at. sounds like you might've done better than he did. hope to be fishing w/ him next week for some fishing on kent lake.

[dhuff]

Yeah when I was there Station Camp was huge for us but only in a few small areas.  They held good fish.  We also keyed in on one spot in spencer that produced for us.  Then we spent time on the main lake around the mouth of cedar creek.  How about that Flippers tackle shop.  Nice place about anything you could want.  Not to mention some good food.