BASS Federation Nation State Tourney

[Duke]

I fished the Indiana BASS Federation Nation State Tourney this past weekend on the Ohio River, and it didn't go too well... Hats off though to Ron Moses for running a great tourney and representing B.A.S.S., the leader in bass fishing, in an exemplary manner.

Day 1, my partner in the back of the boat caught a limit of fish on a watermelon/chartreuse Zoom lizard, 1/8 oz texas rigged. I caught 1 on a Bandit 100 series crankbait. I'm not quite sure what the difference between us was as I was throwing a combination of creature baits of same colors.

It was a real slow bite for us. I caught about 8 fish total, and my partner had about the same. I had 3 fish that were 1/8" shy of legal size, (but even if they would have kept, it would not have helped me). We spent a great deal of time in Deer Creek. It was heavily pressured and the bite was slow at best. Thus, we left for Poison Creek and caught 4 keepers in the last 75 minutes; then we had to go back.

Day 2, my partner had a chance of making the state team. However, my motor didn't work that day so we couldn't run to Poison Creek. (For some reason, each time the boat got on plane, it shut down; lost all power. Its going to the shop Wednesday.) We ran around Deer Creek some and he had 2 keepers that barely went 2# and I had 1 that went .91#. Thats a small fish!

Overall, I did terrible. There were a lot of limits caught, including several 8-10# sacks each day. People caught fish all over that river for what I could tell. I don't know what the winners had, but 8th place had about 15# for 2 days. I heard a lot of fish being caught on creature baits & buzzbaits. Obviously, that body of water has my number, but I already promised it I would be back someday. It was a lot of fun to fish.

Duke