Pickwick FLW

It took about 6 days to do it, but I finally caught a couple. I was apprehensive coming in and I went up to Wheeler every day even though I knew time would be short and I wouldn't get many bites. I wasn't thinking that this was going to be a win type of deal.

I had about four pull off yesterday, but my partner caught two good ones. Sometimes it's your day and sometimes it's not. Maybe next time it'll go my way.

I caught the two fish dropshotting a Robo Worm. I'd been using finesse worms and other local-type worms, but I got back to my basics and got off the other stuff.

Now I'm just looking forward to Amistad.

Today was not so good. My partner (Katsu Furusawa) basically just went practicing, which isn't necessarily bad, and with the fishing as tough as it has been, there were many others doing the same thing. But it means he wasn't on anything, and unfortunately didn't get on anything in the 9 hours we fished in the wind on the lower end of Pickwick today.

And I do mean "in the wind." The ride down the lake was way too rough, and we got the Ranger 519 totally airborne several times. I think I may have put permanent claw marks in the seat I was trying to hang onto. I was popping ibuprofen as soon as we got wherever it was we were going. That and the lack of keepers kind of took the spirit out of me for a while. I heard later he has a reputation as a speed demon. To his credit, he took it easier coming back, which I appreciated.

Despite catching three bass, I zeroed today, ending the tournament with the lone keeper spotted bass I caught yesterday for 1-06. One clone of that one today would have put me in the money (2-11 I think was the final money spot for the co-anglers). My bass club pal Brian Worden, fishing his first pro-am, did much better. He blanked yesterday, but drew Takahiro (Omori) today, and bagged over 7 pounds fishing behind Tak. That's pretty doggone good in my book. They were flipping stumps way up a creek on Pickwick.

I think what I learned from this – and last summer at Wheeler/Guntersville, and 2 years ago at Smith Lake, and in 2001 on Wheeler – is to stop fishing pro-ams in north Alabama. I wanted to learn more about lakes I fish regularly, but it's been more frustrating than educational. I wish I'd gotten into the Bassmaster Elite Series event at Amistad, now that I saw what the Stren Series guys did there. I may have to just drive down there and experience that place anyway.

I didn't do very well in this tournament. I had 1 day of practice and I fished some grass on the lower end of Pickwick and caught about 20 shorts and one keeper. I wasn't too excited.

On the first day of the tournament I fished some shallow stumps and caught one keeper, about 2 pounds, and then I just kept pre-fishing. Today I got the wild ideal to run all the way up to Guntersville, which is the farthest I've ever run in my career. Not necessarily mileage – it's about 100 miles one way, but then there's three locks. The locks are what add to the time.

I had about an hour and a half of fishing time, and that's all I fished today. I'll never run that far again. You can catch plenty of fish in an hour and a half, but it has to be when they're feeding. It's a morning bite, and by the time I got there they weren't feeding. They were just on the bottom.

My goal this week was just to scramble around and get some points for the FLW Championship. I finished 96th so I didn't get too many points, but that's better than 196th. I'll take it and move on.

I caught one keeper (spotted bass) that weighed 1-06 and I'm happy about that. I zeroed at Wheeler last year and I zeroed at Smith 2 years ago, so I'm glad to get that monkey off my back.

It was an extremely tough day – I caught one short fish, a drum, the one keeper, and I missed a few bites. I fished with Dave Smith and we were back in a creek that was about 10 degrees warmer than the main lake. Dave broke a couple off early on and he was a little bit disgusted.

An awful lot of people ran down to the lower end of Pickwick – a lot more than I expected. I thought more would lock up to Wilson.

I'm fishing with Katsu Furusawa tomorrow and he has no idea what we're going to do. He's going to sleep on it. He's been in (the U.S.) for four years, but his English still isn't that great. It's going to be interesting.

I'll be fishing my second FLW Tour event as a co-angler at Pickwick. I really hope I do a lot better than I did on Wheeler last May, when I zeroed both days. It's not looking good right now though. The fishing on Wilson and Pickwick has been tough. Guys I've talked to are saying things like, "I got two of what might have been bites today."

I fished a small Boeing Bass Club local tournament on Wilson from 7:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. a few days ago, and not to brag, but our boat was the only one to bring in any bass. We had a 3.02 and a 1.38, both largemouths, caught within 30 minutes of one another around noon.

We caught them on jigs in 5 to 8 feet of water near a bluff bank with some laydowns. Other than those two, I caught one dinky spotted bass and had two other hits on my suspending jerkbait.

We fished from 2 feet to 32 feet, using crankbaits, jerkbaits, jigs, spoons, tubes, Carolina rigs and more. Man, it was cold. The first hour we were shaking ice out of our rod guides and reel levelwinds. This is Alabama? I don't think we thawed out until around 10:00. The wind made it even worse, blowing 10 to 20 mph from the north-northeast.

We fished in Shoal Creek (where I got the jerkbait bites) until 11:00 and then ran up toward Wheeler Dam for the rest of the day.

I didn't get any more practice time in, but weather for the tournament days is looking nice. I hope they start biting by then.

One funny note on the practice day: A while after we caught those two fish and were hunting for a couple more, when my partner asked if I had turned on the livewell. I knew I had but it scared me anyway.

Later he asked if I'd checked the fish: "We don't want any floaters, you know." Then the third time he worried about the fish, I realized he was baiting me, trying to get me to pitch a fit and throw my running light in the water. It didn't work this time.

I was only able to practice yesterday because of the Bassmaster Classic, and I had mechanical problems so I could only practice until about 2:00. I got a whopping half-day of practice.

About all a guy can do in that situation is go fish where you've caught them in the past - where you've got confidence the fish should be this time of year.

What that situation doesn't give you is time to really find something that's overlooked by all these other guys – the more subtle patterns and out-of-the-way stuff. You have to go fish obvious places where they should be this time of year.

You just hope you catch enough to hang in there with the points. I'm in 10th in the FLW points. If I could leave after this tournament and still be 10th I'd be ecstatic. It's unrealistic to think I can win after a few hours of practice.

Physically, I'm beat. We had a 13-hour drive on Monday. The Classic is probably the most fatiguing tournament we have all year. To have to drive such a long ways afterward – it wears you out. But I'll keep grinding away and see what happens.

I fished Pickwick, Wheeler and Wilson in the 4 days I was here. I caught one keeper smallmouth yesterday on a jerkbait – that's it. I caught quite a few shorts.

I'm going to spend the time locking and go all the way up to Wheeler. It's the only place where I have confidence in anything. I've fished Wheeler a few times and I know there's some good ones there. Even if I'm only up there for 4 hours, I think I have a better shot at catching them than on Pickwick or anywhere else.

I've heard rumors that some guys might go to Guntersville, but I think it's too far. I don't think you'd have any time to fish there.

I'm hoping for two keepers the first day. With three keepers I'd be happy. But heck, I fished 4 days for one fish so one keeper would be great.

Basically I'm sitting here waiting to drive to Amistad Thursday night.