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Aug 25
Saturday night I fished the LONG 7pm-5am tournament out of Fate Sanders.
I fish a little at night, usually in the evenings until 10pm-11pm, but rarely into the morning. There were 70+ boats in the tournament and I was boat 26. The last couple nights I have been out practicing down lake without much luck. So, I decided to start up lake where I have been catching fish in the day and had more confidence.
My first spot was the Smyrna pump house. We flipped the rip rap with Big Bite black/blue plastic craws and black plastic worms on Texas rig, spinnerbaits and crankbaits. No action.
I moved down lake to the second channel bend on the left where the PVC pipe is and started casting my plastic craw and homemade black 3/4oz spinnerbait with single Colorado blade. There are about 12 big stumps right on the channel drop. I kept the boat in 25ft and we cast into 8ft dragging back slowly. I did not feel like we would get a lot of bites, but maybe a good keeper….nope.
Next, we moved into the mouth of Fall Creek and fish the left channel just inside the opening and 50 yards to the left of the PVC pole. There is a rock pile with some stumps along the channel in 8ft I like to fish a lot in the spring. Sitting in 13ft and casting into 8ft with the same baits……nada.
We motored to the mouth of the Spring and Fall Creek and started casting to the big hump. This is where there are several PVC pipes and a lot of bass fisherman and crappie fishermen. We fished 60% of the hump, casting into 8ft. We dragged over rocks, stumps and had a few bites, but never hooked into one.
Our last spot before we actually caught some fish was down lake just down from Fate Sanders and across from Sister Cove. We sat in 20+ft near the red channel buoy and fished to the PVC pole with our Texas Rig black and blue lizards. There is a row of stumps on the ledge there that hold fish consistently. The night before we stopped here around 1130pm and caught 4 bass including one decent keeper. Tonight……nothing.
Ok, as painful as it was to and relive the first few hours of our tournament, the second half of the night was much better!
It was now 12am and we moved down lake to the two islands just before Hobson Pike bridge. Starting in the middle of the two islands we cast to the backside of the bigger island. We sat in 10ft and chucked our lizards into 6ft to the rocks. First 15 minutes, 2 short bass. We trolled around and fished the front of the island where the wind was blowing. I caught 2 more short bass there on my spinnerbait and my partner caught 2 more short bass as well. It was kinda frustrating that we were catching short fish, but it was encouraging getting some momentum.
Next, we moved under the bridge and fished the first point on the left where the power lines are. Sitting in 15ft-20ft and casting to the bank I caught two short smallmouth bass(big smallmouth bass was 3.40lbs and was rewards $1,400!). My partner also caught one on a Texas rig plum Net Bait ribbon tail worm. We fished down to the rip rap without any more bites and decided to move.
I motored across to the next big point down lake on the right where the channel swings up against(its 70ft right on this point). On the point my partner caught another short spotted bass on his plastic worm. We fished down a little further and fished the HUGE foundation. Sitting in 30+ft and casting into 10ft, I caught 2 more fish on my spinnerbait…both short.
It’s now 2am and time is ticking. I moved back beneath the bridge and fished the first cove on the left. Specifically, we fished the first point on the left before you enter the cove. We planted the boat in 10ft-13ft and started casting to the bank and out from the bank into 9ft. On this point the rocks tapper out 20 yards and then in turns into gravel. This in were the bass like to hold. For the next 1.5 hours we sat on that point and caught 10 or more bass. We landed our first keeper at 3.25lbs right off the bat, then caught 6 more before I landed a 3.5lbs! We caught 4 more and had lots of bites the next 20 minutes and then it seemed to die off. All of our fish were caught on the plum, 11″ Net Bait ribbon tail worm on a 3/16oz texas rig. I did set the hook on one that felt like a good fish, but it unbuttoned seconds after:(
Our last spot was the popular ledge just up from the bridge in between the green and red buoys. We pulled up, my partner made a few cast and BOOM, another 3lbs! We were pumped, but knew we started getting action too late.
We headed to the ramp and had 3 bass for around 10lbs. I was happy with that, but wished we had another good fish or 2 keepers to go with them. It took 12.5lbs to get a check. It was a LONG, but fun night. I’m still trying to recover. I’m not sure, but if my pastor is a member of the forum and reads this……sorry for nodding off in church Sunday morning, it wasn’t because of your sermon.
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2 Replies
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Great report. I tried my hand at night fishing. It is defintely harder than it looks especially when it come to navigating from place to place. As for nodding off in church, I’m, sure you pastor would agree.
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Brian, I saw you guys on Sunday morning when we were putting in and I imagined that you were worn slap out. Thoughts crossed my mind about fishing it, but the sinus and ear infections and another family commitment made my mind up. That is definitely a long night on the water, especially when the fish aren’t cooperating. Good report. I plan on fishing the Friday night tournament this week, so hopefully some fish are holding on the night spots with the weather stabilizing somewhat.
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