Posted By: BaylorBass
Choke Canyon Lake, TX FLW Collegiate Tournament 1/22/2011 (pic heavy) - 01/23/11 04:10 AM
Today my partner Quin and I had our first collegiate bass fishing tournament of 2011 on Choke Canyon Lake. We represent the Baylor University Bears in Waco, TX. The tournament was an FLW collegiate event with a pay out for first through fifth, with first winning 10K; 5k for the anglers, 5k for the school.
We started out preparing pretty early for this event. We pre-fished the lake last weekend with fair results. We managed around a dozen fish with only two being rats; all the rest were over 14”. We stayed up late the night before rigging up all the rods, and then caught a few Z’s in the truck with the alarms set for 5 AM.
While packing for the tournament our buddies made fun of us. We had a dozen rods and reels with at least 50 lbs of tackle. We had a scale, culling floats, a weigh bag, and a ton of rain gear and weatherproof clothing. Skinny Bear Tackle who happens to be out of Bakersfield, CA generously sent us a box of assorted fish killing lures. Their flukes and drop shot baits mean business, if you have not seen their product line you should definitely look them up. I was super stoked to have finally gotten those in the mail just in time for the tournament.
We were all loaded up with over 100 crankbaits; mostly Mann’s medium and deep divers, five tackle trays of soft plastics from Roboworm, Culprit baits, Mann’s, and Stanley. Some killer finesse jigs from Stanley Jigs, and some Stone jigs from Mann’s with craw imitation trailers. A spinnerbait box that we could not fit another bait in if we tried, and a few swimbaits should the opportunity present itself.
Going into the tournament we did not have a concrete game plan yet. Everything was going to be determined by the water temperature. Pre-fishing was tough due to a cold front that kept the fish from moving up for their pre-spawn pattern. Sure enough, this week just prior to the tournament there were several cold fronts that came through and totally ruined any chance of a consistent shallow water bite. The air temp was below freezing and made for a very numb and uncomfortable run across the lake.
Fish were rather sporadic and not concentrated on any single pattern that we found. Once we got on the water we saw how cold the water was; averaging around 52 degrees, and decided to target medium to deep rock piles and rocky points. We hit them with crankbaits, Carolina rigged Sidewinders, drop shot, and wedge spinnerbaits. Nothing was really producing for us. Finally around mid-day we hit a rock pile we had found on the bird’s side scan sonar. I finally got one to bite and hold on; fishing a ¾ oz Carolina rig on 17lbs test with a creature bait. Unfortunately we stuck him on the measuring board and he was a tad shy… he went back and we kept fishing. We stuck with that area a while longer until one of the pro’s fishing from the top 10 of the Everstart series started fishing one of our rockpiles and would not budge… no worries, that’s what they do for a living and 25K was on the line.
Fishing was looking to be slow so we kept on the move. We finally found a point with some shallow areas around it that produced a fish! The bite was real subtle but dragging a Stanley Sidewinder on a C-rig got Quin a big bite. A short fight on one of our new North Fork Composite rods a fat largemouth made its way into the live well. We nailed her in about four feet of water, her tail wasn’t red at all, no surprise as the spawn will be a ways off if the freezing temperatures persist. (the fish above was just the rat we released, I don't think we got a good picture of the keeper)
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(Here are the guys from OU I think… anybody who follows this series know what’s up with these guys?.... they were in first, but the website does not even show them. It says Lamar won? What did they get DQ’ed for?)
We made a move up to try some more shallows to see if the sun coming out finally helped things. We tied on a senko rigged wacky style with a Skinny Bear weighted EWG hook to throw around the thick timber and fish a little deeper. We fished the timber and a rocky bank for a while with spinnerbaits, and plastics. The bass are sluggish so there were no bites on the drop like you’d come to expect flipping senkos. We had one bite that spit the hook. Nothing was producing there so we put the throttle down and made a big move across the lake at about 60 mph making good time to another point in deeper water with an adjacent flat and a deeper drop off from a rocky bank. This only produced a bite that ripped the worm in half (inched shy of the hook though!)
With only a half hour left in tournament time we made a quick trip back towards the weigh in. We made a brief stop at a flooded tank that had produced a few small keepers in pre-fishing. We could see the edges of the tank on the side scan, and kept over them with the trolling motor. With a lack of fish in the live well I down sized on the tackle and started drop shotting Skinny Bear flukes with 10 lbs fluorocarbon on a Rainshadow RX8+C865. The fast action and the super lightweight feel made it perfect for feeling for subtle bites. We had one short bite, but no takers. With one fatty large mouth in the tank we made it back to the dock with about two minutes to spare. (gotta love gunning a 200 hp Merc out of the hole to get from point A to point B in no time flat)
We trailered the boat and made our way over to the weigh in. Our official weight was 2 pounds 11 oz. Fishing was very slow for the field over all, so we’re not too disappointed. We did bump a team from the hot seat, and got to sit on stage for a short while though.
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At the weight tanks
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All in all today was a blast! We’re already making plans for pre-fishing Sam Rayburn Reservoir next month. Hell or high water, we’re going to qualify for nationals!
Here are a few pictures from pre-fishing. I apologize for editing out the locations, as I usually do not do that. But we found some really good spots that are not community spots anyone would automatically find. I have a feeling they will really produce when the conditions are right!
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Can you tell I’m not an Art major?
Lastly, I would like to extend a HUGE thanks to our generous sponsors. I kid you not when I say it would not be possible without them!
Skinny Bear Tackle, Mann’s Bait Co, Culprit Baits, Roboworm, Stanley Jigs, Batson Enterprises, North Fork Composites, Bullard Int., Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Ardent Reels, McCoy Premium Fishing Line, Seaguar Fluorocarbon, Earthsports.com, Bass King Clothing, Hodges Capital Management, Diamond Pacific Construction, Owner Hooks, Unibutter, Cablz
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Thanks for reading!
