Summer Time Fishing - Saguaro Lake

With work being insanely busy and tournaments at night and on work days, I had only been going fishing on Sundays and at Bartlett or Pleasant. A buddy of mine called me up since he had sold his boat and wanted to go fishing and figured we would hit up Saguaro hoping to find some better quality fish. It was a great decision, over the last few weeks we have caught so many solid 4-7lb fish and numerous other 2-3lb fish that got calls from tons of people wanting to go. I took people out and even got them on their first bass ever. I am still going every week and hoping for a few more monsters before the tournament season starts again.

AZ Head to Head Bracket - Roud 3 - Bartlett Lake

I had been out to both Bartlett and Lake Pleasant over the last week or two. The fishing at both lakes was great and both patterns were completely different but solid. For Round 3, Nick wanted to wait until the night of to draw lakes, it came up Bartlett. I had plenty of confidence going in and was going to stick to the game plan. Early my bite was fizzling and was trying to figure out what to do to adjust to the fish repositioning. I figured it out and once again started catching them on the carolina-rig but the moved to the steeper drops on the reefs and on the isolated boulders. Once I figured it out I got my limit quick and started culling. I knew was going to need some solid fish and Nick is a guide there and won 2 previous tournaments on the lake. It was another 50+ fish day and the weights were close. Nick took the win by under half a pound. I fished clean just didn't have the right bites in time. The fishing was so good I went back out and my first 3 casts all produced fish over 2 and would have propelled me to a win by a hefty margin, that's fishing though. I had a blast in the series and look forward to next season.

AZ Head to Head Bracket - Round 2 - Bartlett Lake

Round 2 in the bracket was against Jeremy, we fished in the finals a few years back. I had another excellent day on the water fishing the same pattern as the previous round. The carolina-rig bite produced another 50+ fish and had a great limit. We didn't weigh via looking and the fish size different. I took the win and moved on to round 3.

AZ Head to Head Bracket - Round 1 - Bartlett Lake

Round 1 I drew one of my close fishing friends. I had just recently been to the lake with my father and Bartlett Lake was randomly drawn. I Figured would stick to the same game plan as the previous week and throw crankbaits. I quickly learned the fish had changed patterns and started slapping at the bait. After catching a couple short fish and losing a fish or two, I made a complete change. I went to an area close that has a ridge and a dropoff on it. I decided to throw a carolina-rig out and caught 5 fish in the next 5 casts, including a couple solid Bartlett fish. I ran that pattern on the other spots previously fish and proceeded to catch 50+ fish by the 11 cut time. I lost a monster on a deep crank and thought was going to cost me but I was able to pull out the win with a little over 8lbs.

Summer Day with My Father - Bartlett Lake

After my partner having boat troubles and us having to skip the JML Championship, I was a little bummed. My dad asked to go fishing and I instantly said yes. He has only gone with me one other time. We went to Bartlett and hot some old spots since the lake level was completely full. I tied on a crankbait for him and I threw a different color. For the next few hours we absolutely wrecked them. He had an absolute blast and it helped me reset my mindset. That day on the water meant more to me than any tournament could have. The look and smile on his face said it all, that is what fishing is all about.

JML Weekend Warrior Bass Series - Tournament 7 - March 29th - Bartlett Lake

The lake was completely full after the massive storms we have had, and finally a little stable weather. The lake looked to be primed for prespawn and spawn fish. I had to fish this one alone as my partner was on a business trip so I decided to cover some water with a squarebill and blade. I couldn't get bit so I moved and grabbed a topwater, second cast caught my first keeper. I figured maybe found something but never got another on top. Switched areas and back to the squarebill and got things dialed in. The fish were extremely shallow with the dirty rising water and caught a limit fairly quick once started running the pattern. I was able to catch 30+ fish on the squarebill but never got a big bite, even though burned some fuel covering every inch of the lake. I weighed in 7.79 and finished 29th place. It was good enough to move us into 4th on the season for overall point in the Angler of the Year race. Looking forward to the championship at Roosevelt in June.

Arizona International Sportsman’s Expo and Boat Show - March 2019 - Bass Cat Boats and Century Marine

I was asked to work the ISE Show again this year after working it last year. I had a blast last year and once again it was fun to be there. Century Marine had a number of Bass Cat boats available along with their other brands. The turn out over the weekend was better than the first few days but that is to be expected. The new Caracal and Pantera Classic boats with the new Mercury V8 4-stroke were extremely popular with the Caracal selling the second day and other one being ordered. Got to meet tons of new people and saw some old friends as well. The Bass Cats really stood out and got a ton of attention and praise from people looking at all brands. Awesome boats sold by a great company to work with.

JML Weekend Warrior Bass Series - Tournament 6 - Feb. 6th - Lake Pleasant

The lake had been fishing insanely tough and in prefish I tried some areas away from Humbug with it being popular this time of year. I tried everything and couldn't find anything until fished Humbug Cove late. We went into this tournament knowing it was going to be a grind all day and getting a bite was going to be huge in a decent finish. It was a cold morning that led to a decent day with some winds that moved it to keep it cool. To my surprise we has a couple fish early on dropshot and it allowed up to fish more freely the rest of the day. My partner threw a dropshot most the day while I mixed it up hoping for a bigger bite. We stayed in one small area almost the entire day, and caught fish throughout the majority of it. We finished out day with a limit weighing 7.3lbs with a big fish of 2.3lbs. That earned us 6th place and a check, which was a pleasant surprise. We moved up into the top 5 in points for the season with one tournament to go.

JML Weekend Warrior Bass Series - Tournament 5 - Jan. 26th - Bartlett Lake

Recent storms had the lake extremely muddy and rising cold water. My partner and I decided to fish some past areas and planned to fish fairly slow with the cold water temps. We started off with a couple fish early on a jig and small crankbait shallow. We moved around and cycled through some areas and had a small limit. We culled a few times and finished the day out with 7.38lbs and a big fish of 3.28lbs. Was good enough to earn us 22nd place and kept us up in the points standings with a couple tournaments left.

JML Weekend Warrior Bass Series - Tournament 4 - Dec. 8th - Roosevelt Lake

This one was brutal for me. My partner was out of town and I had to borrow my step-father's boat, which I was glad he let me use. I pre-fished and didn't find much, just some random fish. I listened a little too much to some dock talk from friends and took a left to start instead of a right. I had to grind all day and ended up video game fishing the majority of the afternoon to catch my fish. I could only scratch out 3 keepers out of all the fish I caught. Weighed 3 for 3.07lb and ended up 36th. It was more of a season points tournament than anything. Definitely looking forward to the next tournament.

JML Weekend Warrior Bass Series - Tournament 3 - Nov. 17th - Bartlett Lake

I had a very rough pre-fish for this one and my partner found a few fish so we decided to take Dave's Bass Cat Caracal this time. With the weather changes and time of year we knew we had to keep an open mind and make some right moves. Our early stops didn't work out too well so we hit some tried and true areas and each produced some keeper fish but nothing of great size. We saw a few friends and checked in on them, was all small keepers for them as well. We moved across the lake and proceeded to fill out out limit and cull up. For the rest of the day we covered a 100 yard stretch off and on, moved to let it rest a little. Late in the day finally caught one we needed, a 3.38lb largemouth. We caught a few more but only culled ounces. We finished the day with 8.18lb which was good enough for 13th. All fish were caught on carolina-rigs and dropshots.