Wild West Bass Trail Teams - Oct. 15th - Lake Pleasant

The first tournament of the season for me and I had mix feelings going into it, but was really looking forward to getting my Phoenix Boat/Mercury Outboard out and running it under a full tournament load and wow it didn't disappoint.  Holeshot was awesome and top end was impressive. It really turned heads and got nothing but compliments on tournament day and practice.
My partner and I got in a day of prefish before the 5 day off-limits and we ran around the entire lake. We started in the north coves and within a few minutes had a solid 3.5lb fish and fish were busting shad. We fished the area for over an hour and that was the only fish. We did notice they were concentrated in the area where the bank had a slight cut, so we ran with that pattern the rest of the day. We then ran into the river and caught a few short fish and made a few more stops only to not find any other keepers. With only 1 keeper in the boat it wasn't looking good for the next week so we moved to the North Ramp area and within a few casts had another 3.5lb fish. We fished the area and finally caught some small keepers. It wasn't until about 2pm that we found some schooling fish and proceeded to rack up 18lbs for a limit (7 fish). We decided at that point, we were going to go there and knew we could be hero or zero if they wouldn't feed.
Tournament morning we were boat 39 and boat 27 was the start boat number, so boat 12 out. That turned out to be a good thing as we were the first boat in to the area, quickly followed by 4-5 more. The schoolers weren't showing but fan-casted an A-rig and caught one fairly quickly followed by a double a few casts later. We had a solid 3 fish start but that turned out to be the last fish on the A-rig. We fished the next few hours catching smaller fish that were moving up and down a ditch with some deep trees on it, but the keeper bites were few and far between. We stayed in the cove all day and hit each point and even the ramp dock, which produced our big fish late in the day, a 3.49lb largemouth, that was caught on a dropshot. We ground out our limit and even culled up a few times, only a few ounces each time but every ounce counted in this one.
We finished the tournament with a 7 fish limit for 14.11lbs and finished in 9th place, out of 69 boats, which was good enough to keep us in check range. It was a hard fought day but persistence and confidence in the area was a key to our success.

MBC Summer Nights - Aug. 20th - Bartlett Lake

Well it looks like this was the last night tournament of the season for me. After the failure during the championship for JML I was looking for a little redemption. Mother Nature had a different idea! Pulled into the lake and the skies opened up, a serious downpour with some intense lightning mixed in. Thankfully I had great rain gear and after it seemed to "lighten up" a little we launched the boat and prepped ourselves for a rain filled and windy night. We decided to abandon our normally starting point and after a quick fish we were happy we did. My partner threw a crankbait while I made a change to texas rig and that was the one-two punch. We got our limit fairly quickly and should have had more, had to learn how they were eating the t-rig. We knew how tough the night bite had been and were happy to have our fish early. To our surprise the fish kept eating the texas rig for us all night and we caught 25-30 on it. We culled nearly every fish but never had the one kicker fish we needed. We weighed a limit for 8.34lbs and finished the night in 12th and had a blast doing it. The weather even kept it cool during the evening and the rain mostly subsided.
With night tournaments done and over, the new season starts here in a few weeks and it'll be a completely different ball game, can't wait!

MBC Summer Nights - July 23rd - Bartlett Lake

With Bartlett being the main focus of the nights series this year we decided to fish the Monterrey Bass Company Summer Nights at Bartlett to prefish for the upcoming championship. Unfortunately not much had changed. The bite was great to start, we had a limit and culled within the first hour, the once it got dark the bite severely slowed. Unfortunately for us we just couldn't find any size early or late. We managed a small limit of 7.84lb which placed us in 16th for the night. At least it solidified a few ideas for the championship.

JML Outdoors - Jet Renu North Valley Nights Championship - Aug. 6th - Bartlett Lake

Well, with my partner out of town for the championship, it was on me to get through the tough night time bite. I started in an area that has produced well the last few times out but started with only 2 fish before I had to abandon it. After that I made a decision to switch up our run pattern. I hit our third stop second and it paid off quickly with my 3rd fish and two other bites that were missed opportunities. After hotting those spots again I finally for number 4 in the boat and was my biggest fish on a deep crankbait. Moving to spot 3 I missed two other fish that really cost me. I fished the rest of our run and moved around the lake every 15-20 minutes if fish weren't biting. I never did catch the 5th keeper due to missed bites and they were the difference in a top 4, money spots, and the top 10 that I finished in. I learned a few things from the mistakes and hopefully I can capitalize on the next opportunities.

New Boat - 2016 Phoenix 819 Pro w/Mercury 200 Pro XS

With the sale of my Ranger a few months before, I had been boatless and working a deal with my sponsor Germaine Marine. After a few trips and working back and forth I am now running a new 2016 Phoenix 819 Pro with a 200 Mercury Pro XS. I was a little uncertain of going with a smaller boat and smaller motor but I am extremely happy with the decision already. This boat truly is something else! It weighs less, so I get better gas mileage towing, it is a rocket out of the hole, and the handling and maneuverability is unmatched. I loved my Rangers in the past but I love the performance of this boat so much more. It gets a ton of attention on the water and the ride is incredible. The boat is already a beast and once I get it all dialed in, it will be even better. Thank you to the guys at Germaine Marine and Mercury Marine for all the help, I am loving it.

JML Outdoors North Valley Nights - July 9th - Bartlett Lake

The 3rd tournament of the night season was back at Bartlett Lake where the water has risen over 20ft in last few weeks because of water released from the upper dam. Partner and I decided to stick to what we had been doing, Carolina-rigs during the day light mixed in with crankbaits at night.
We struggled early but found an area holding fish near a mountain dropoff. It produced two fish very quickly to start our evening but only a few missed bites after. We made a move to a spot that has held a few fish the last few tournaments for us. The spot produced some quality fish but also keyed us into a new bite. They stopped hitting the Carolina-rigged brush hog and instead were inhaling Texas-rigged worms. We mixed it up with the crankbait as well in that area and our next and filled a limit and culled along with a few other missed bites. We knew we had some quality but needed a few more culls and a kicker or two and a moved produced the culls but never the big big bite we needed. We fished the rest of the night and culled up to a limit for 9.84lbs which put us in 7th place for the tournament. We are still trying to figure out where and what the bigger ones eat but we are figuring out more patterns and areas along the way. With a few more tournaments and trips to Bartlett before the championship we are hoping to lock in and figure it out.

JML Outdoors North Valley Nights - June 18th - Lake Pleasant

The second tournament of the series was at Lake Pleasant, not my favorite lake by any means. The river had just opened and out idea was to capitalize on those fish being fresh and untouched for last few months. The first run was rough and brutal, but we made it to the river before anyone else and it proved to have fish, just the wrong size. Without any prefish for this one we didn't know what to expect. We spent the first few hours of the tournament catching and getting bit but has nothing to show for it as all of them were non-keeper fish. We finally made out way out around 10:30pm and made a stop on main lake point/dropoff near the mouth of the river. It proved to be a great spot once we figured out the bite. We caught our limit by 11:30 and proceeded to cull fish. The fish were staging off the drop where bluegill were up shallow either bedding or feeding. We figured out the bite on Carolina-rigged brush hogs just a little too late and we weighed 5 fish for 8lbs and 10.5oz. We should have done better but just didn't have the time on the lake prior to have the better performance. We will take the 10th place finish, especially when we were going out just to have fun and be in the points for the championship at end of season.