AZ Head to Head Bracket - Round 4 - June 4th - Bartlett Lake

After 2 hours sleep and a horrible Saturday night showing at Bartlett it was time to do it all over for round 4 at the same lake I struggled at. I covered one end of the the lake to the other and  threw a crankbait all morning. I found a pattern about 7am, throwing a crankbait on the inside of small points. I noticed that they were mouthing the bait and had to give them a second to eat it then set hard. It produced 4 keepers on the points and a few shorts. After I talked to the guy I was competing against and knew he had a limit, I decided to crank some rocky shoreline near the ramp area. That was the ticket for me, I caught my 5th fish and found a spot on a spot and proceeded to catch 70-80 fish on the area and had a limit that went well over 11lbs and they just kept biting. We weighed at 11am and I took the win with a little over 11lbs with a 3.79 kicker to his limit of just under 7lbs. The fishing was so good I went back out to see if could cull up to 12lbs, it took about 15 minutes and 4 fish later and easily had over 12. It was one of my best days on Bartlett Lake, and a huge turnaround from the previous night. Now only have the finals left, looking forward to wherever it will be.

JML Outdoors Jet Renu North Valley Nights - June 3rd - Bartlett Lake

This was the first night tournament of the season for my partner and I. Last year we smashed them this time of year, so we had high hopes for this tournament. Without any prefish we decided to head down lake and see what we could crank up. First cast caught a short and proceeded to catch a few other shorts. We hit a steep wall with some rocks and my buddy got short lines by a fish over 4lbs that got off right at the boat. We fished down the bank and proceed to catch two keepers and a few more short fish. We had heard once it got dark the fish shutoff, but we had heard that before and caught them. At the end of the night we could have left at 8pm when it got dark, not a single bite. Was brutal tough for us, we weighed 2 fish for 2.8lbs and took 29th of 50 boats. The fish we lost would have put us in the top 10 with over 6lbs. That lake rarely fishes that tough but the water clarify was 1-3 inches and lime green, it should get better as it clears up.

Personal Best - May 26th - Canyon Lake

With the success I have had at Canyon Lake lately I wanted to take my stepdad out to get him on some of the fish I found. I went out May 24th before work and absolutely smashed them, had over 20lbs in 3 hours, all bed fishing. He needed to break in the new Phoenix 921 with a big bag. We went to the area I had found and it was a little slow to start with the sun not fully up yet, but still had a few 2-3lb fish in the boat. After a 4lb largemouth, I noticed a massive fish near a rock, and about a 4lb fish with it. I made a long cast to them and it nosed down immediately. I had my stepdad throw into the bed area and within a few seconds it was game on. We thought he hooked the male until we saw the mouth open on the head-shake. She took him for a ride across the cut and into the reeds, I jumped on the trolling motor and as was going in to get her she came out. When we finally got her in the boat I knew it was his personal best. I figured she would be close to 10lbs but she came in at 9.12lbs!!! It was an awesome moment, he took me out when I caught my personal best, and to take him out and get him his, was perfect. It is a day I will never forget.

AZ Head to Head Bracket Tournament - Round 3 - May 18th - Canyon Lake

With as great as the previous round went, I was looking forward to another great day of topwater. Unfortunately it was a little slow, the fish just weren't committing to the bait. I had 3 small keepers and decided to try to fill out a limit on a Carolina-rig. A few casts later I had a small limit but knew it would take way more than I had. I did notice a few fish were shallow even though 75-78 degree water temps. I flipped up to them and found out there were still guarding beds! I figured out that to catch the females, had to take the males off the bed and within a few minutes the females would lock down the nest. I ran that pattern the rest of the day and wow the results were amazing. My big fish was pushing 7lbs and I culled up over 22lbs, and had a shot at over 30lbs, but ran out of time with the wind on a massive fish. I pulled off the win with 22.06lbs to 19.89lbs. Turned out to be an awesome day, now into the final 6!