Well the regionals at Lake Eufuala have come and gone. I don't really have much to show for it except for some good memories, pics of big gators, met some good people and a few lessons learned. I will try to encapsulate my pre-fishing time and tournament time within this blog.
I arrived in Eufaula about 8 a.m. on Oct. 29th after a 7hr drive from Nashville, TN. Yes, I drive slow! It is a lake I have never fished but have always heard good things about. I dropped the boat and headed off out of the LakeSide Marina. Water temps were 68-70 degrees so I assumed the fish would be still on the ledges or at the very least near the mouth of the creeks. As soon as I got to the mouth of the creek I dropped the trolling motor and fished. My 1st fish came on a 3/16 oz
Snootie Jig in black with a Zoom black trailor. It was a 17" fish in the upper 2lb class. I kept the motor down and headed down a ledge for what seemed about 1/2 mile. I ended up with 3 more keeper fish with one being a 16" KY Spot. I mapped and GPS plotted a few rock piles I had found right off the ledge that was holding the fish. I found three schools of fish on three different ledges. I was pretty happy with day 1 of practice. Around 3pm my room partner John Wells had arrived so I decided to head in and get settled in the hotel room.
Day 2 practiced was a pretty good one as well. We had about a 2 hr fog delay so I fished mid creek near the launch, Kowicki creek. Excuse the spelling if it is not correct on the creek name. I managed to catch three keepers on a Bandit 200 Citrus Shad right off the creek ledges. As the fog cleared I headed up river to fish some river ledges. I ended up catching a few more fish on a DT-16 and DT-14 but nothing to brag about. I ended day 2 with 4 keepers for about 8lbs.
Day 3 John and I headed down lake to fish from the railroad bridge to the dam. We had specific creeks we were targeting. I was going to fish Patella, Barbour and Drag Nasty. I started out in Barbour and quickly had a nice fish on a watermelon Bitsy Bug. The day went down hill from there. It was a very tough day with only 2 keepers and 4 fish total to show for my efforts and John faired about the same. I can say I did catch two bass out of the Drag Nasty creek. I dunno it just sounds cool to say "Drag Nasty".
Day 4 I figured I would fish until about noon and run the pattern I planned to use on Race day. I hit my 1st ledge and caught 2 keepers on a DT-16 in about 15 mins. I hit my 2nd ledge and had 2 keepers off the rock pile on a
Snootie Jig. I ran to my 3rd spot and had 1 more keeper off it with
Secret Weapon Spinnerbait, white. By 9a.m. I had a limit of about 10lbs. I was pretty happy with it and felt I had a real good chance to make the cut.
Stable weather patter,
day highs 80 degrees
Skies - clear
Wind - 1mph to 5mph.
Thursday on Race day - Everything fell apart. I won't go into all the details of each day but a major cold front moved in and with heavy winds. As soon as I got to my 1st spot I knew I was in trouble. I had my 1st fish on my 5th cast and had a few other dinks but the bait fish just was not there. I headed to my 2nd spot and knew I was in big trouble. All my spots where in the middle of the lake and with 20mph to 30mph winds I just could not hold position on the sweet spots. As I tried to fight the wind and waves coming over the bow of the boat my non-boater caught 2 keepers. I think I was lucky to make 20 casts in an hour due to heavy winds. I could not work my jig at all. I tried to up-size to a heavier jig but no luck. Needless to say I did not make adjustments fast enough. Day 1 I had one fish to show for it.
Friday I decided to head up the river and try to find a shallow pattern of spinnerbaits, cranks and flipping jigs. I was shooting a for a 15lb sack. It never happened. I zeroed on day 2 and was pretty upset with myself for not making the cut after a good practice period. I only needed 11lbs to make the cut and could not do it.
Lessons learned:
1. Don't rely on only one pattern. I had a good ledge pattern but never figured on the wind being a factor.
2. Once you have a solid pattern go looking for a back up pattern just in case.. I never got off the ledge pattern during practice. I should have gone looking for a creek pattern, shallow pattern and something that would be protected from the elements.
3. Come prepared for anything. I think if I would have either had a stronger trolling motor or maybe a drift sock I might have been able to better handle the wind.
4. 105th place finish just will not cut it!
All in all I had a great time and it was a valued event. Anytime I can learn from my mistakes it was worth the effort. Even though I did not win the $50,000 I would do it all over again. I am already looking forward on next year and improving on what I did this year.
I will still fish throughout the winter months but probably not as often. It will be cold but at least it is not frozen water like those in Minnesota. I will keep blogs on each outing in the up coming months.
Tight Lines,
Billy Harris
