MBC Seniors Championship - May 30th & 31st - Apache Lake

Well Championship weekend was here, two days at Apache Lake. Temperatures were supposed to be around 100+ and little to no wind in the morning with a few gusts in the afternoons. With one great day of prefish and one horrible day a week later, we knew it was going to be a challenge where we just had to go out and fish hard all day both days.
Day 1 - We started at the same area from prefish and noticed that the water warmed up to 72 degrees, 6 degrees warmer than previous times there and that the schools of shad had moved. There were still fish in the area and shad as well but they had moved out with the warming water. We went down the bank and managed to catch one keeper on a jerkbait and number short fish on topwater. As we came around a steep cliff Mike threw out a small crankbait and caught a nice keeper smallmouth. A few casts later to the same spot and he hooked up with another one, this one over 5lbs. After a decent fight it ended up shaking off the crankbait. Even though it was a heartbreaker it showed us that there was going to be a crankbait bite, one we couldn't find the previous 2 weeks. A few minutes later he hooked up again and we had 3 keepers in the boat. I decided to throw out deep with a deeper diving crankbait to see if could get a kicker fish. Second cast I was coming up the break-line and the bait stopped, I thought I was snagged, I pulled into it anyways to try to keep it coming and then the line shot to the top of the water. The massive fish came up shaking its head throwing water everywhere, and also shook free as my bait went flying out of its mouth. I was in shock, it was my own fault I never really set into it, only pulled into it. It took a few minutes to reset myself but had to stay focused. We made a run to our spot from last year that had bluegill beds, and we fished dropshots in order to fill out a limit. With one pass we had our limit while also culling a couple times. We went back through the area but didn't produce any other culling fish. We decided to hit another area with steep sides with crankbaits and big worms hoping for the big bite. Once again my partner hooked into a beast that was jumping and ripping line then all of a sudden was off, we couldn't believe it. Under closer inspection, the hook actually broke at the barb, key lesson always upgrade stock hooks! We made another move and managed a few more keepers of jigs and worms, to cull up but nothing of size. We weighed a limit of 10.77 and we were seriously behind the 8-ball needing a massive limit, which we had the right pattern if could only get them in the boat.
Day 2 - We started where we had the smallmouth and lost the big one, and within a couple casts we had a good fish on a crankbait and we were excited for the day. With 2 fish in the boat we came around a steep drop corner, through the deep crankbait out and it got slammed, I could tell was a big fish but something wasn't right, after a fight back and forth finally got the fish to the boat, a 15lb channel catfish. Right size wrong fish, learned a valuable lesson though while handling the fish, never stick your hand it its mouth, it rolled and ripped my thumb pretty good. The rest of the morning was tough, we fished out same areas but only had 4 fish in the livewell. We hit a steep shelf area and I hooked up on a texas-rig but it came off at the boat, fish swam straight at me and couldn't catch up. A minute later my partner had a good fish that was jumping from one side of the boat to the other, after a battle on super light test he got it in. It weighed 4.01lbs and boosted our spirits a little that finally got a quality fish in the boat and didn't lose it. We fish a few areas on the way back in and caught a few fish that culled and tons of bluegill. We managed to catch a limit for 12.21 with the 4.01 big fish. We finished 16th and could only blame ourselves due to the unforced errors. It was a ton of fun though and look forward to next season.

MBC Championship Practice - May 17th - Apache Lake

I decided to go out and practice for the championship that was coming up and my partner had to work so I went at it alone. I had no clue what the bite was going to be like so I just went fishing in new areas because I have always struggled at Apache Lake for some unknown reason. My game plan was topwaters, swimbaits, crankbaits, Carolina-rigs, texas-rigs, jigs, and dropshots with whatever else I happen to have with me that might get bit.
The morning was brisk but almost no wind and water temps were around 66 to start the day. I started out on a bank I have never tried because it looked like was steep and would had some nice boulders on it. I was throwing a big Gunfish and could see shad swimming up and down the bank spawning. Within a few minutes I saw a fish trailing my bait, I sped up the cadence and BAM it annihilated it. I flipped the fish in and it weighed right at 4lbs. I was stoked. I kept going down the bank and could see fish staged just outside the balls of shad and they would chase the Gunfish all the way to the boat but wouldn't eat it. I decided to see if an old area still had the same bite going as last year and within a couple casts I has one around 2lbs, one 3lbs and another smaller fish. I left the area to try some new stuff again. I saw a friend of mine who made a comment about the post frontal conditions and lack of wind and I made a change to my approach with the topwater. I went to a smaller Gunfish to see of that would help them commit, the second cast confirmed it. I through it out and could see this black figure come up behind the bait and track it, sped up the cadence again and it exploded on it. I fought in my personal best smallie that weighed 4lbs and was one of the darkest I had seen, and notice when fighting it, there were 7-10 others that were trying to take the bait from her. This spot was close to where had caught the 4 earlier in the morning, so decided that spot was holding good fish due to the shad being there. I made a run to a point I had done well on in the past and threw a Carolina-rig, with a few casts I hooked up with another quality fish and landed it, another right at 4lbs. I was having my best day of size at Apache Lake. At this point I has 3 at 4lbs and a 3 and another 2+. The wind was starting to pick up and I figured I was done for the day but made the run back to where I started to see if the fish were there all day and also during the high winds. Second cast I had one explode out of the water 2 feet on the Gunfish and it was another great fish, 3.5lbs. It was only 10:30-11 but I was done for the day, I had 18lbs and was extremely stoked for the tournament.

Chandler Bass Thursday Night Open - May 15th - Saguaro Lake

A friend of mine and I decided to do this tournament last minute. The tournament was the first night tourney of the season and went from 6pm-10pm, so an easy one to start with. There were 40 boats, not bad for a Thursday night, and the fishing is still in transition.
We decided to run a few patterns from last year that worked later in the season but after an hour the firs spot wasn't working too well so we made a move. We were hoping to get a deep crankbait bite going on a deep drop but that didn't work either. As it was getting dark we made a few more stops but still nothing. We hit a cover on the way back that worked in the past and had out first bite of the night, but failed to get it to hookup well and into the boat. A few minutes later we finally has out first fish, 2.5lbs. We fished down the bank without any more bites. With 30 minutes to go we went back to where we started to finish out the night. Within a few minutes my partner hooked up with a good fish, and after good battle we finally got it in the boat. After a long night the fish looked bigger than it was for the first few minutes. We finished out the night but couldn't get our third limit fish. When we pulled out the fish, what we thought was 6-7 we knew was smaller but it still weighed in at 4.98lbs and we had 7.58, which surprisingly enough was good for 7th place, was a tougher night than we thought. Even though we didn't take a check, it was a good start to the night season.

MBC Seniors - April 26th - Roosevelt Lake

With plunging temperatures and severe winds and rains in the forecast, my partner and I knew this could turn into a brutal day on the water. The temps went from 90's to a high of 60 and 35+mph winds with gusts over 50. We decided to make a short run to a spot we normally fish before the wind and weather really kicked in.
Within a few casts we had a small keeper on a squarebill, I decided to throw an A-rig since there were shad in the area and some wind while my partner continued to throw the squarebill. Within the next 30 minutes we has a limit and were culling nearly every other cast. By 6:30 we had caught over 20 keepers and were working our total weight up. Once the bite slowed on the A-rig we decided to run down lake and try to beat the wind and waves to get a kicker fish from Mystery Island. That by far was our worst mistake of the day. We fished for a few hours with only small fish that wouldn't help our total. We saw the storm rolling in and when it hit, the rain and wind were intense. I had my trolling motor on 7 and we weren't gaining any ground in the back of a protected cove. We motored out when the wind broke a little and went around a deep ledge, it panned out for a fish or two but nothing that would help. By this time I noticed it was going to be a nightmare going back towards the ramp again. We were in the back of a wind protected cove with 4ft waves capping outside of it and those were the small ones. We didn't think the win was going to let up at all and was supposed to get worse so we tightened everything down for the run back across. We made it out about a mile before we hit the 5&6ft waves with a few over 7ft mixed in. For the first time since I have owned my boat I took a wave over the front, went up a 5 and I hit the gas trying to get the nose up and buried it instead in the middle of a 7+. That was the only wave we took but it was enough to wake me up to slow down and take my time through the bigger waves. Once we got past the main basin the waves got back to 3-5 footers and was smoother driving back.
We finally made it back to where we started and my partner was soaked, and thankfully I had my 100MPH gear and was basically dry except for where some water had gone through the opening of the face guard. It was in 50's and the wind was blowing but sun was trying to shine so we set the clothes out to dry while we fished on. I'm glad I always bring extra clothes just in case, it was nice to be completely dry with the cold weather. For the next hour we caught fish and managed to cull twice getting our total to 10.42 with our biggest of the day being 2.62lbs.
It wasn't what we wanted but we did have a great day of fishing on the water despite the weather and finished in 6th place, culling error cost us 5th. We caught the majority of our fish on A-rigs with the rest coming on squarebills and dropshots. With this tournament in the books we qualified for the MBC Seniors Championship, 2 days at Apache Lake.