Ft Madison Regional

[LAPORTE]

Nice job dashaver63, I was keep track of you thru the whole thing .... Better luck next year.

Now how do you feel about fishing Belleville? Or do you need a break.lol

[rufus]

Phil,
Yes they did change the format. On the final day the top 12 now fish. I guess this would be great if you were in 7th, but I think me personally would much rather fish the final day knowing I had already made the All American. Maybe next year I will be in 7th and will change my opinion  .

[Team houston]

Yes, my thoughts are like yours. If you jumped from the bottom 6 to the top 6 on the last day then I guess our opinion would change.

[dashaver63]

Thanks guy's. I had 2 awesome boaters to fish with. I felt bad for my first day guy, Chris Burgess. He is from Joplan, Mo. I think everyone that is used to fishing clean water probably struggled a little. Being from Ohio and fishing dirty water everywhere I go down here, I've learned that clear water is no good, the fish will move out deeper. And on the Mississippi, that means the main channels. I talked my first day guy into finding VERY dirty, almost choclate milk muddy water no more than 2 1/2 feet deep, and instead of downsizing, I threw a 5" Berkley Beast. You want to move as much water as possible. As soon as we did, I put my 3 keepers in the boat and a bunch of shorts. Chris couldn't get bit at all even on the baits I gave him. Day 2 I had the 2nd place guy going into the final day, Jared Pederson, I think was his last name. We fished matted eelgrass covered by thick duckweed. He had a good bag on a frog, My frog bite was all short fish so I started flipping heavy plastics through the weeds and my first fish was that 3-13. I started flipping to late because it was already 2:15 by that time and we headed back at 3:00. 3 more shorts was all I could get. All-in all, I had a decent tournament,  just glad I don't ever have to go back there.

[dashaver63]

Sorry guy's. I just re-read my last post and I didn't mean to sound like I know it all. Actually far from it, I'm still learning. 

[djkimmel]

dashaver63 - your reports were fine and exciting to read. It's always good to hear the thought process that leads from struggling to success. Most us fish tournaments and know how things go. We all know some things and we all can learn more. Congratulations on your very good finish.

[dashaver63]

Thanks Dan