Wheeler Elite Series

John Murray – day 4
Monday, April 6, 2009

> Day 1: 5, 10-04
> Day 2: 5, 12-03
> Day 3: 5, 13-08
> Total = 15, 35-15 (28th)

I ran up the river to a place where I'd caught a 5-pounder in practice and stayed there all day. I didn't even go to my stuff downriver. I needed to go for the big bag, and I caught two 3 1/2-pounders.

All I did up there was flip the new Berkley Crazy Legs Chigger craw with a 1/4-ounce Kanji tungsten weight, 20-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon and an 8' Powell Flipping stick.

I fished shallow – to where you'd get stuck with your trolling motor, then threw shallower. I've literally never caught bass that shallow in my life. I never saw another boat all day, so that was nice. I just had a hunch that I could go up there and do something.

So I'm ecstatic. Anytime you can move up 40 spots in the last 2 days, you have to feel pretty good. I could have stayed downriver and caught 10 or 11 pounds, but I made the right decision. That's the kind of stuff you have to do to stay up in the points for the Classic. And when it works, it gives you the confidence to make those decisions.

When I fished downriver the first 2 days, I threw a Lucky Craft RC 2.5, a Luhr-Jensen Speed Trap and a ChatterBait along the bluffs. I also fished largemouths in a marina backwater with a 6" Roboworm Fat in margarita mutilator.

I also need to say a big thanks to Wilson Frazier for getting my transducer put it on day 2. The Lowrance guy wouldn't help me. Wilson put a through-hull transducer on my boat – he and the Ranger guys.

John Murray – Day 3
Saturday, April 4, 2009

> Day 1: 5, 10-04
> Day 2: 5, 12-03
> Total = 10, 22-07 (48th)

I cut it real close, but I cut it on the right side of close and made the cut. It feels good. I feel so good, it feels like I just made the Top-12 cut.

I started on my smallmouths this morning and caught quite a few, and actually caught three nice 2-plus-pound largemouths there in my smallmouth area. Then I decided to go fish my largemouth stuff and used my old favorite – a dropshot Roboworm. I caught a 3 1/2- to 4-pounder on that, and that's what got me in the cut.

Basically, I went down to the dam – out in the main lake – and worked my way back up. I'll probably go up the river tomorrow and do something different.

The lake was definitely full today. It was a lot higher and the water was up in the shoreline stuff. It was just totally different than it was 2 days ago. Tommy Biffle's in heaven.

When I do go up the river I'm going to throw a crankbait, like I've been doing for the smallmouths, then I'll probably slow down and slip some areas and just grind it out with a Chigger Craw.

I don't think there's any way we're going to have the Top 12 fish Monday. The forecast is just horrible. And I'm really surprised they didn't cut to 12 today. I was expecting to get a check and go home. So there's still a good chance for me to move up in the points.

John Murray – Day 1
Thursday, April 2, 2009

> Day 1: 5, 10-04 (68th)

It was interesting. I went downlake like I'd planned and ended up catching a bunch of smallmouths. I caught a limit of smallmouths pretty early, but never got any good ones – just 1 1/2- to 2-pounders. I caught them all on a crankbait, spinnerbait and ChatterBait.

Then I just started fishing largemouth stuff and culled most of those out, but the largemouths weren't much bigger. I caught three or four limits of fish – I just never got a big bite.

Tomorrow I'll probably do the same, but expand out on my areas a little bit. I'm just missing that 5-pound bite. And the area I caught some 5-pounders in during practice – I never had a bite in there. I don't know if they left, or if I just can't catch them.

John Murray – Practice
Wednesday, April 1, 2009

My first day of practice was real good. I launched on the lower end of the lake and caught a 5-pounder and four or five 3-pounders. I felt I had it figured out there, so I went to the complete opposite end of the lake and caught a 6 and a 3. I thought things would really start to go, but it got tough after 1:00 and I didn't catch much.

Yesterday was more of the same – I struggled. I caught one 5-pounder and a ton of little tiny ones. So over the first 2 days I covered the whole upper end and the whole lower end. Those bites give me the confidence that the fish are there – I just have to figure out a way to catch them consistently. The fishing overall seems to be pretty good, but getting those big bites is going to be the key.

sI'm fishing the middle today. I'm going out to the Decatur Flats. No one's been out there much – partly because the grass is gone, partly because the weather has been real windy. The weather's nice today, but it's supposed to blow 15 to 20 tomorrow, which could tear the Flats back up.

The river end of the lake has really been bugging me. They catch some big spotted bass up there in March, and I wanted to get that out of the way early, but I didn't catch them.

The largemouths are pre-spawn – they're probably all staging right now. I don't know about the smallmouths. I only caught a couple of them, and they looked pretty healthy, so they may not have done much yet either. I think these fish wait until April 15 until they get really serious about spawning. That's when they pump the lake up to summer pool.

They're moving a ton of water through and it's basically just a big river right now. You can try to get in some backwater areas, but it's not like Dardanelle where it's deep back there. The water's dropping so the shallow water's changing a lot.

I'd love to catch 12 to 13 pound tomorrow. One good fish and four little ones would be good for me. I know there';; be several 20-pound stringers caught, but not 4 days in a row. It'll be hit and miss.