With the lake rising over 20ft in the days prior to the tournament, my partner and I, knew the fishing was going to be tough and the weights close. The tournament ran 6pm-1am and it was going to be a moonless warm night. At launch the wind was blowing 15-20mph and it was 108 degrees. Bartlett is notorious for smaller fish and with the rising water and heat we decided to throw deep crankbaits on the first drops and near any point or boulders.
The first hour was slow only producing a 12lb flathead catfish. We decided to make a run to a spot that holds fish year round. It turned out to be the right decision, but took 20 minutes to find the pattern and placement of the fish. We found them on the drop from 10-16ft, and the deep diving crankbait was the ticket. Over the next two hours we proceeded to catch well over 60 fish, all cookie cutter look-alikes. Once the bite slowed we milked the spot with Carolina-rigged plastics for a few extra fish. We made a run to try to find some kicker fish. We kept catching fish throughout the night but couldn't seem to find the fish we needed. We weighed 7.93lbs and finished in 8th place - 34 boat field - 6th place taking the last check weighed 8.13lbs.
Most guys were reporting it being hard to get a bite and the winners only had 7 bites all night, but the right ones. We had the right pattern but not the right size. We are already looking forward to the next one and what it might bring.
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