MBC Super Teams - Alamo Lake - Sept. 29

With my boat in the shop, I figured fishing was out of the questions. My friend Mike called me up and asked if I wanted to go, we'd take his Ranger Z20. It had been too long since I had gone and I had to say yes. Alamo Lake is one of those lakes where anything and everything could work at any given part of the day. Without any prefish, it was a total guess, so we planed to power fish reaction baits, if that didn't work we'd rely on soft plastics and jigs the rest of the day. The ride up Friday night was long but the conversation fun, and even better once we got to the lake. You have to love hanging out with friends the night before a tournament, never a dull moment.
The morning came super quick, and we loaded the Ranger in the water about 5:15 waiting for safe light, around 5:45. We were third flight due in at 3:30. We took off down the lake towards the dam, hoping to find a topwater and squarebill bite. Within minutes the bite was on and strong. The sight of blowups on a Rico, and the brutal strikes on a squarebill make for some fun fishing. We kept catching slot fish after slot fish which, we could only keep 2 between 13 & 16 inches. Once the bite slowed we decided to keep moving around and try new water. After a few stops and fish that wouldn't help our weight we went to a cove with flooded grass with stickups and stained water. While we caught fish on Senkos and buzzbaits, we just couldnt cull up. We decided to try the outside on the point leading in on a drop that was covered in grass at 7ft and dropped to 22ft covered with rock and brush. I threw a deep crankbait and my partner switched up from a shakey head to a senko anytime fish boiled next to the boat, we filled our limit with the smaller fish right away and once I switched to the carolina rig, we were culling cast after cast. That rock pile was holding fish that were demolishing a Baby Brush Hog and my partner was catching them on a Crazy Legs Chigger Craw. We decided to make a move because we needed a kicker fish, we decided to head towards the river side which once we got there was nearly pure mud and 1-2 inches visibility. We tried sqaurebills, pitches t-rigs, and spinnerbaits but could seem to find any fish to help. We then made our decision to hit rocky points with soft plastics, since it worked for us earlier. It was a great move since we caught and culled many more times. We worked each and every point, trying to get an over (16+ inch fish) but to no avail. All in all, it was a great time out on the water with tons of fish caught. While we didn't win, it was much needed time with friends and competition on the water and a learning experience. Sorry for no footage, the fish didn't cooperate, everytime the camera was on, no fish, everytime it was off we got bit! Guess they must have known.
Congrats to Doug and Dean on the win, it was much deserved. Thank you Paul and MBC for putting on such a great tournament. I would also like to thank all my sponsors, without you I wouldn't be out able to do what I love. It was a great start to the season and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.

New Sponsor - PowerTeam Lures

I am proud to announce a new sponsor for the 2012-2013 season, PowerTeam Lures. I have been using PowerTeam Lure's products for the last year or so and their product quality is second to none. The baits are loaded with a garlic scent with an amino acid base, it's something the fish can't resist. They have made a massive difference for me this year and I can't wait for more success using these products. I am looking forward to the upcoming season and my partnership with a great company.

 



PowerTeam Lures offers some of the best soft plastic baits on the market today. Our truly unique designs were created for the hardcore angler that wants to put more fish in their livewell. Whether you’re the tournament pro that relies on a winning bag or the weekend warrior looking to land that fish of a lifetime, PowerTeam Lures is your key to success. It doesn’t make a difference if you’re flipping, pitching, punching, Carolina rigging, Texas rigging, drop shotting, wacky rigging or throwing a shakey head, PowerTeam lures has got you covered!

 

Here is a link that my friends can click to get a 10% discount off of their purchase!

http://ptl.refr.cc/SPDX8VH

 

Canyon Lake 8/3/12 - Personal Best

My fishing partner, and step-father, Fred and I decided to go to  Canyon Lake for the full moon. It's been a while since we've both been there, but we had high hopes that our old spots would payoff with some fish and hopefully a trophy sized fish, since this lake is known to have a few. The weather looked like it would cooperate without any summer monsoon storms. The lake was 84-86 degrees but above the water it was over 100 degrees.

We started the evening off right, Fred caught a nice fish on a dropshot Roboworm withing 5 minutes of being there. We figured maybe the bite of flipping the canyon walls and rock boulder ledges was the right idea. We headed further into the canyon and I caught one on a texas-rigged Menace Grub. A few minutes later Fred caught one on a texas-rigged 10 inch red shad worm, it was about 3.5lbs. While he was tending to that fish I flipped into the exact same spot and set the hook and yelled FISH, GET THE NET! We knew it was a good fish when he told me "put it up" and I couldnt! After a few heart racing moments it was in the boat, my personal best at 6.94lbs. I was stoked to say the least and full of energy, took me a few minutes to regather my thoughts. A few minutes later I thought I had another big fish, turned out to be a good sized flathead catfish, fun fight but not what we were looking for.

After another pass through the area we decided to move since the sun had gone down and slowed things down considerably. The move didnt payoff but after we made another move a lesson was learned very quickly. We hadn't noticed that the aerators had been accidentally turned off and the big fish wasn't looking too good. She was quickly turning white and breathing rapidly. We flushed the system with fresh water and filled it to the top and poured in some U2 Pro Formula. It wasn't looking too good but after about 45 minutes she started to come around and turned dark green again and was staying upright on her own. The hard work paid off and she was good to go.

We decided to make another move to where we started and it proved to be the right decision. The wind was blowing down the channel and across the area and there was a small area that was very calm. After pass or two I popped a brush hog over a rock on the ledge and the bait just stopped. I set the hook and knew instantly it was another good fish. It was dark but the fish made a splash on the water that sent water everywhere trying to shake the hook. It jumped again trying to get in the back of the motor then dove deep. It made a massive run then as it came up Fred completed a great net job and the fish was in the boat and I was speechless and adrenaline filled. We both looked at the fish and knew it was way bigger than the other fish we caught earlier. We weighed it on the Accu-Cul and Cul-M-Rite and it went 10.11! It took me a few minutes to settle my emotions and get my brain back to functioning properly to finish out the night. We made a move and Fred caught another fish at about 4.25lbs. At 1:00am we weighed the 3 biggest at 21.30lbs!

21.30lbs, what a night! It was a night of personal best and a team best. We may not have caught a ton of fish, but we caught the right ones. It was a night we won't soon forget, I couldn't be happier and glad Fred was with me on a night I broke the 10 pound barrier.

MBC Seniors - April 28th 2012

Well while the tournament didn't turn out like I planned it still was a fun leanring experience. I prefished and located a spot filled with fish and shad as the shad spawn was in full effect. We headed there first thing and caught some fish right away but the size shrunk from practice and left me at a loss for words. It officially got to me mentally and threw me off my game a little. We still caught fish on the same pattern but just couldnt catch any of size. The baits of choice were both the squarebill crankbait and Assassinator spinnerbaits. All the top finishers were using the same baits just different locations and had more success. Not only did this tournament make me realize that you can't put all your eggs in one basket(area), I also learned that the mental side of fishing may be the most important.

Here's a video from the event - http://youtu.be/Qg9vK14sQyI

100%

MBC Seniors - Apache Lake - March 31

Sorry for the late post, but things have been hectic. I prefished the for the tournament and decided to cover as much water as possible since I hadn't been to Apache Lake in years. I launched out of Burnt Corral and headed West towards the marina. I was fan casting a crankbait while looking for bedding fish. I caught fish shallow on crankbaits but none of size. I decided to keep moving and found a drop near shallow water that indeed held some bigger fish. The rest of the day I threw an Assassinator Spinnerbait for a search bait and bed fished. I found some decent bedfish and GPS'd them for the tournament.
Tournament morning my partner and I decided to head to the biggest bedfish I had found in practice. We made the long run and hit the cove where my biggest fish has been. We started casting prior to getting to the back of the cove and my partner had a fish within a few casts. We got to the bed, hoping she was still there. With the light low it was hard to tell but thought I saw some movement in the same place and on the 3rd cast she was on and in the boat. She was just under 4lbs. We decided that was the bite we were going to stick to. We headed to another decent fish I located but when got there, another boat was on the fish and they weren't leaving until they caught her, 4 hours later they finally did. We had a limit fairly quick and continued buring up shoreline to cull up weight. A smallmouth and an exploding life jacket made the day interesting for about 5 minutes. I had a fish engulf a Warmouth but never felt it so missed it on the hookset. Within the next minute I heard an exlosion of sort and hissing sound, which scared me enough to make me jump about out the boat. I look down and my partners PFD canister went off and his lifejacket was expanded. After we both calmed down for a minute, I threw back on a rock where I thought the fish had been and it was game on. The smallmouth went nuts, jumping out the water, ripping drag, and tackling up my line with my partner's, he was runnign to net the fish I was all over the deck trying to keep it from breaking the line it was something I would love to watch over and over. We got the fish in but it definately wasn't our best moment!!!
We ended up with a good limit but some of the other guys found a deeper prespawn bite and had some impressive weights. Two 9 pound largemouth were weighed along with one over 7 and another over 6. It was great to see that lake making a comeback and putting out some awesome fish. I will definately be going back!

My partner made this video of the time out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-ZZ-G-R8E4

First Video with GoPro Hero 2

I went out to Saguaro to try new camera. It was a blast. Here's some of the footage that I took with it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ms0XaiodMs&list=HL1333415327&feature=mh_lolz

MBC Seniors - Feb. 25th Roosevelt Lake

I finally got back on the water to prefish for the tournament and was lucky enough that I had my uncle in town. He was one of the people that got me into fishing and taught me how to fish and use different equiptment etc. We got up early and launched out of Windy Hill. It was a cold morning but we had fun. First fish came off a Strike King 6XD. We left the area and headed to some points to throw a carolina rig with brush hogs. It paid off with a couple bites and missed fish. Then decided to hit some other areas and run to other side of the lake. Same result some bites and fish in the boat. It was a fun time and helped me figure out what I wanted to throw for the tournament and where I wanted to go.
Tournament day came and my partner found a area in prefish he was pretty sure held some fish. We decided to head there first thing. It paid off within a few minutes and we caught one on a KVD 1.5 squarebill. It ended up being just under 4lbs and was third big fish of the tournament. We decided to keep running around that area and picked up another fish on the 6XD. We made a run to some shallow flats with no luck put found a secondary point with some trees and hooked up on the carolina rig. We ran near the dam right after that and picked up another fish on the 6XD and the day was looking good. A few minutes later we lost big fish on the 6XD which cost us, because that was our last bite of the day. We hit tons of spots after that but never got another bite. It was a tough day but it was gorgeous outside and we took a check so it was definately worth it. I'll be ready for the next one and learn from that day as I always do.