MBC Seniors - March 29th - Apache Lake

Spawn time at Apache for me has been hit or miss, lately miss. I am not sure why but always seem to struggle there. I went pre-fishing and figured out the bed bite was not the way to go, 10-12lbs wouldn't be good enough to pull a check and all the shallow fish were small. Tournament day was going to be partly sunny to start and breezy most of the day.
We made a run to our first spot, as we pulled up 5 boats were in the area and we scrapped the idea, and headed to secondary area. Within a few minutes we had a small fish in the well, and while getting a bait unhooked shallow we noticed a few fish on beds. We decided to get them early to get a few fish in the livewell and get the day started. Within a half hour we had 4 in the well and found another that just wasn't quite ready. We made a move down lake and filled out a limit and culled once or twice but we couldn't get a kicker. We went back to the fish on a bed and a few minutes later while battling the wind my partner hooked her up and got her in. We fished down the bank a few hundred yards and caught a few more keepers but nothing of size. With the wind blowing I made a decision that had been debating all morning to hit steeper banks halfway back to spawning areas. We culled 4 times over the next 45 minutes but nothing big. We found a few big females just outside of the beds but they were not ready to eat anything. We made a move to steep bluffs throwing jigs and texas rigs hoping for the big bites. It never paid off with a fish that would cull.
We finished with a lackluster 24th place finish, weighing 12.71 with a 3.30lb big fish. Looking back We should have stayed out deeper and changed presentations but the bed bite can be addicting. The next tournament is Roosevelt which should put the fish in spawn/post spawn with shad spawns going on depending the weather.

Saguaro Lake - March 9th - Swimbait & Bed Fishing

I finally got some time to go out on a Sunday and relax for a few hours. Saguaro Lake had been pumping out some great fish on beds throughout the previous week so my buddy and I decided to try it out. We were not expecting how busy the lake was going to be, it was almost full by first light, guess the word gets out quick when it comes to bed fishing. The water at launch was 58 and got up to 62 in the middle of the day. The spawn may be on but it was just starting.
We decided to make a run to an area I have been throwing swimbaits around and have had some monstrous followers but no takers. Second cast of the morning I finally had my first swimbait fish in the boat. It wasn't a monster but I will take it. Within the hour I only had the one hookup but had 15-20 followers in the area, I am still working on getting them to fully commit. Throughout the rest of the morning we decided to bed fish and could only find and land smaller males. My friend had to leave early for work and with the winds picking up I knew the bed fishing was going to be tough. I hit a few spots and caught a few 2-3lb fish but only saw one decent fish, which was not ready by any means to be caught.
By the end of the morning the swimbait seemed to be the key since had seen more follow that than on the beds I just couldn't get them to eat it. That technique is a blast but is an art form almost, it's extremely hard to learn and fine tune.

MBC Seniors - Feb. 22nd - Lake Pleasant

Lake Pleasant in the winter can be absolutely brutal or a ton of fun depending the weather. The weather was absolutely gorgeous which means it was going to be tough. I had my partner there, even though he was toughing through some serious pain. We had an early number so he could get out in cleaner water and not take so much abuse in the heavier waves, plus we were making a long run to Humbug.
We made a clean run to our first spot but being 5th boat out, we were fifth boat into that area. I couldn't believe it, all 4 boats ahead of us were going to the exact same spot. We all filed out and fished the same shallow to deep drop off with A-rigs and swimbaits. We decided to moved down a bank since we saw some fish busting, even though we couldn't tell which species they were. After awhile with no bites we decided to cover some area and noticed there was a mud line which was affecting the water clarity for the A-rigs and made a move. Come to find out we needed to go slightly further back into the cove than we did, the shad had moved back with the warming weather into the trees. We decided to make a run to some other areas and try a more finesse approach with small swimjigs and dropshots. Tons of water covered and no fish. The water was super clear in the main lake and very cold, and the blue bird skies and lack of wind wasn't helping the bite at all. Move after move produced the same thing...nothing. We decided to make a run to the marina a little early since can usually find some fish in the scattered wood even though water clarity is 20+ft there.
We fan casted drop shots while looking for bedding fish. It produced our first bite and our big fish of the day, 2.53lb largemouth. A few minutes later we had another fish in the well and another short fish. We just ran out of time, the marina area had the fish we just made the move and adjustments too late.
It was another brutal day on Lake (Un)Pleasant as most people call it. Congratulations to Pete and Rick, they only had 2 fish but they were the right fish, a 4.92 big fish and a total of 7.79. This tournament was one of the toughest for fishing but hard to beat the gorgeous day on the lake. Lessons learned every time out and hopefully next time it'll turn out for the better.

MBC Seniors - Jan. 25th - Bartlett Lake

With my partner out and no prefish I decided to fish to my strengths. The weather was steady and warming but the water was falling. I had pretty much everything rigged up just in case.
I started throwing a jerkbait and squarebill along with a deep crankbait on the steeper parts of the bank. Nothing seemed to be drawing a strike, so I went to a shakey head and dropshot. Without a bite I made a move up lake and threw a chatterbait along with the shakey head and jig, but couldn't get a bite going. I decided to keep moving up river hoping I would find something. I found some shallow trees and bushes and threw the chatterbait throughout the whole flat, with only one chaser. I decided to idle further up river and saw some baitfish activity on the surface and on the graph near a breakline. I threw a Alabama rig through the fish but couldn't get a strike. I pulled out the trusty Carolina-rig and tossed it around the brush and gravel drop.
At around 10am I got my first bite, a solid 2+ keeper. A few casts later I caught another one. Within a few casts I missed another one that I couldn't reel fast enough to catch up to it. I finally has a pattern and decided to work the entire flooded trees throwing the Carolina-rigged Brush Hog. Over the next hour I filled out my limit and was culling fish. They were buried deep into the trees and I had to almost drop it directing into the trees after pulling over them. The bite stayed steady until about 2pm but I decided to make a move as I wasn't culling up in weight and due to losing concentration, I was losing and breaking off fish. I went back towards the ramp stopping at each reef I normally hit. There were fish there but they were all smaller than what I had in the box. I made a last ditch effort to cull on some islands and caught two more but they just weren't big enough to cull what I had.
I finished 15th with 9.00lbs and know I cost myself a top 10 if not top 5 or better by losing the fish earlier. All in all though, I was happy with how things turned out. I went out there with a game plan of having fun and not having any ridiculous expectations. I had a great day with a limit to show and a few lessons learned as well. I almost dare not say I am looking towards the next tournament at Lake Pleasant on the 22nd of February, but hopefully my partner will be healed from surgery and will be able to join me as it will be a tough tournament.

MBC Seniors - Nov. 23rd - Alamo Lake - Day of Remembrance

This was supposed to be a fun tournament at a lake we only get to visit once a year. It turned out a tournament that we never got to go to. My grandpa passed away during the week and we had the services to attend. He was the one that got me started in fishing and a huge influence on me. I made to call to Paul, the tournament director for MBC and told him we were going to be unable to make it and the situation behind the reasoning. What happened next was something I will always remember. Paul said that they would have a moment of silence for my grandpa and he was launching him as Boat 1 in his remembrance. I can not thank Paul enough for the gesture and I'm sure my grandpa didn't miss it. Fred and I may not have fished the tournament that day but I guarantee it'll be one we never forget.

ABA Central AZ - Nov. 9th - Apache Lake

This was my first time back at Apache Lake since a championship back in May, and my first ABA in awhile. I forgot how hard Apache Lake could be. My partner and I were expecting a great day on the water, which it always is, but the fish didn't cooperate. We launched first thing in the morning and headed down lake, the boat ran incredible, but it was a cold first run! We planned on throwing small soft plastics, jerkbaits, swimbaits, jigs and crankbaits throughout the day depending on the area.
Once we started fishing we had 2 small unders, one smallmouth and one largemouth on squarebills. Had a big fish annihilate a swimbait but only hooked up for a few seconds, amazing how they avoid all those hooks. We went over the area a few more times without another bite. We decided to make another run to an area we usually get bit. There was another boat there so we had to fish it a different way which just didn't work as well. After some more time we made a move further down lake, which produced another small fish and a lost keeper. About half way through the day my partner finally put our first fish in the well, it was small but it was a start. A few more spots later and no fish to show, we worked out way back towards the ramp and the hump that is in front of it. That paid off with our second keeper. With limited time I decided to throw the swimbait again in hopes of a big fish while my partner through a Carolina-rig. He lost a keeper within a few yards of the ramp and I had another big fish toilet bowl the swimbait pull some drag and came unbuttoned. That's how our day ended.
I learned a valuable lesson, that I had forgot, prefish helps eliminate water and baits. We never got a chance to prefish and the bite wasn't what we were expecting. It was still a day on the water and that always helps in the end. I am looking forward to redemption in March on this lake as well as the championship in May again.

TBA Championship - Sept. 6th & 7th - Roosevelt Lake

Fred and I qualified for the championship through the night series that was held. There were 21 boats that showed for the 2 day event, held at Roosevelt Lake. Sign up for the championship was held at Boston's Lake House Grill. I was able to get out and pre-fish the weekend prior for a few hours and had found a few different patterns that could work throughout the 2 days. I found fish early on buzz frogs and square-bills in the backs of cuts and deep crankbaits, Carolina rigs, and Alabama rigs deep off points and cliff ledges. The two days of competition turned out to be completely different, Day 1 was sunny and hot, with temps over 110, while day 2 was over cast with wind and rain mixed in with a high of about 80.
Tournament morning for Day 1 came early but we were rigged up and ready to go. We made the short run to the deeper cuts with grass growing in the backs of them. We started at the point of the cuts and worked all the way back in looking for the shad as we covered water. Within a few minutes we had our first keeper on a crankbait and a few casts later had our second. The morning was looking good and we just kept up the same pattern. In the back of the next cove, I connected with a quality buzz frog fish that came unbuttoned just before it got to the side of the boat. That one hurt but had to keep on moving as it was still early. We covered some bank with only a few short fish to show. We found a cover littered with shad but could only manage a strike out if the time spent there, and we threw just about everything we owned! At that point we decided to go with the more finesse bite that I had found with dropshots and Carolina rigs on the steeper breaks. This is where things happened to go severely wrong for us. As we took off to get on plain we heard an odd sound and then the motor got really loud and lost power. Immediately we knew something was wrong and popped off the cowling. The spark plug had literally shot out of the cylinder head and was laying inside the cowling. Without the proper tools to put it back in and make sure was secured to not do excessive damage to the motor, we turned the trolling motor on high and headed towards the bank to fish our way in to the ramp. Heading across channel something internal on the computer for the trolling motor short circuited and we lost almost all the power to the trolling motor. It was a slow pace back to the dock which produced a few short fish, one nice keeper, and a fish that broke us off on light line. We finally made it back to the dock between 9am and 10am and got the boat back on the trailer to assess the damage. Thankfully is looked worse than it was, we placed the spark plug back in and it held without issues, but we were done for the day as the power to the battery and trolling motor was fried. We weighed 3 fish for 4.70lbs which surprisingly got us 2 gift certificates for Day 1.
Unfortunately, we were unable to get the motor tested and the battery and system for trolling motor fixed so we were out of Day 2. It was a frustrating way to end a Championship as we had never had a breakdown force us out before. It was a learning lesson to always check the plugs, fuses, charging system etc. as the roads can cause something very minor that could turn into something major. Also, learned to always put the tools back in the boat, they do no good sitting at home!
I want to thank all of my sponsors as they allow me to do what I love. I am looking forward to next season already!