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April 24
What an amazing day! Trey and I fished the Mac Carmichael Fundraiser tournament put together for one of my guide Hunter Carmichael and his wife Brandi. We had a great crowd of 50 boats with food in the morning, food in that afternoon, raffle prizes, silent auction, and MORE! We were able to raise tons of money for this great cause and I want to thank everyone who supported or participated. Trey and I were able to pull off the win with 20.09lbs for memorable finish!
We headed down lake into Suggs Creek after launching at 7am. We passed the big point on the right at the mouth and headed straight across to the coves adjacent to the big point on the left that comes way out. The water temperature was 69 with 2ft visibility. I started with a 3/16oz Texas Rig green pumpkin Rage Craw. We parked the boat in 30ft on the point where the channel swings against. We fished all the way down to the right to the back of the cove…nada. We trolled 30 yards to the right bank and started casting in front of a green channel buoy washed up on the bank. In front of the buoy there is tree in 3ft. Trey dragged his Rage Craw over the tree….BOOM! He set the hook and landed a 2+lb largemouth. We fished back up the same bank we started at and then back down to the green buoy over the next 2 hours…we only caught two dinks. I trolled to the next point to the right and started pitching my craw to the rock bank. We let the baits fall into 6ft……BOOM….Trey caught a 3lb! I caught a few more short fish as we continued around the point. We went back to the first spot where we started in 30ft and I switched to a shaky head with a mardi gras color trick worm. I quickly had a bite, but Trey was standing next to me and I missed my hook set. Moments later I had another good bite, but did not get a good hook set again(Treys fault..lol). It was now 1130am and we only had 2 fish in the well. We knew we had to make a move.
I motored to the little island in the cut through across from Anderson Beach. We started on the inside of the island and worked our way to the right. There were schools of bait everywhere with a few little bass chasing. After 20 minutes Trey and I both caught a short fish. We continued around the right side of the island while sitting in 15ft and casting into 6-8ft. Trey switched to a wobble head jig with a green pumpking Rage Craw and on his first cast he had a bite. He set the hook, and said “biggin!” I grabbed the net and watched the fish jump a few times before netting the 5+lb largemouth!!! That fish really put wind in our sails because we were starting to get discouraged. We sat in the same spot and moments later Trey and I both missed another fish. After I missed mine I reeled it in to make another cast and watched a giant bass follow it to the boat and turn! We continued down and caught another keeper, but just 15″. With 4 fish in the well and needing more big fish I told Trey lets go try a spot I like.
We motored over to Smith Springs. If you are facing the Anderson Rec boat ramp we started on the 3rd left point. The water was much clearer at 3ft visibility and 72 degrees now. I switched to a wobble head too, 1/2oz with a Big Bite Craw in lime and green pumpkin. I made a long cast to the bank and felt a tick. I set the hook and yelled “biggin!” She jumped and took me around the boat making me sweat bullets and then Trey finally got her in the net……another 5.5lbs! Now we had a limit and was REALLY stoked. We had one hour left and wanted to get rid of the 15″ bass we had. We fished for 30 minutes and then in the same spot Trey set the hook and yelled ” another giant!” We netted the lunker and stared at another 5.5lb!!!! We tossed the little one out and fished until our time was up. We ended up winning with 20.09lb and had big fish with a 5.65!!! I had been doing pretty good this year in my tournaments, but its been awhile since I put a “W” on the board in a big tournament.
All and all…….what a memorable day!!! It started and ended with Mac and the Carmichael’s on our hearts and we were able to have such a special event for them. We raised a lot of money and the community was able to come together. Winning was great, but I’d be a fool to think that was the highlight of the day. Trey and I won $2500 and gave it right back to the family. It feels good to do the right thing! God is good.
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7 Replies
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Awesome job dude. We were around fish all day on Saturday but couldn’t get the big bites in spots where I had been catching them. Ironically, all of the spots you referenced were within 200 yards of where I fished on Saturday. 🙂 It must be even sweeter knowing you won the inaugural tourney for such a great cause. That little fellow was looking down on you guys yesterday and there was probably no one more fitting to win that tourney than you two.
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Congrats!
I was out Friday afternoon from 3:00 to 6:30. Spent almost all of my time in the Bryant’s Grove area. I caught 18 LM, with 7-8 keepers including a 5 lb, 4lb and two 3 lb. I could cast to the shore with my trusty 1/4 oz RT and catch LM or cast out toward the middle and catch white bass. I caught 15-20 nice white bass. Wind was beating WSW 15-18MPH, but one of my best days ever.
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That’s great guys. Man, why cant I ever find 15lbs on 3 fish in the last hour of the day? 😀
Congrats! -
By 8:30 a.m. or so we had caught a 3.21 smallmouth and a 5.1 largemouth. If you would have asked me then, I would have told you we were going to crush them. Fished our tails off and only caught 1 more keeper the rest of the day. Eric caught 2 smallmouth that both measured about 17″ that would have made our limit fairly nice if they were green. We fished some of the areas that Brian just mentioned and didnt get a bite, but thats how timing goes. Our 3 weighed almost 11 and missed both big fish by a little over 1/2 lb total.
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glad to hear you won. we were out for about 2 hours sunday. till had to call it quits. son in law got the heaves. caught all shorts on wacky rigged bulegill ochos. wonderful to hear what you did with prize money.
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I’ll add, I haven’t ever seen acts of pure kindness by the winners. If I’m not mistaken, Big largemouth, Big smallmouth, 1st place and 2 place payouts were all donated right back to the family and they all refused checks. Class act Brian and Trey. and you have to teach Trey how to smile 😀
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quote jard:and you have to teach Trey how to smile 😀No joke, I was thinking the exact same thing! If 20+ pound limit and first place doesn’t get you to smile, I don’t know what will!
Congrats, guys. Sounds like it was a memorable day on the lake, to say the least.
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