This week was the State Championship Tournament at Lake Norman. There was about a total of 60 boats in this tournament. To qualify you needed to fish two prior tournaments with the same partner and boat captain. This is a two day tournament so some of the teams would need to fish on Saturday and Sunday to try and win the tournament. You needed to be in the top 20 at the end of Saturday in order to fish on Sunday. Neither Fletcher or Grayson would get to fish on Sunday because we did not catch enough fish/weight to be in the top 20 teams. Grayson and his boat would end up with 4.62 pounds with 4 fish. One of the 4 fish came from a buzzbait and the other 3 fish would come from a shaky head with a green pumpkin worm. Fletcher would catch 3 fish. One of the fish would come off of a buzzbait, one on a greenpumpkin tube, and the third one on a watermelon seed shaky head. This was the final tournament of the year and it did not turn out how either of us wanted it to but we will be back next year. Genius Hour helped us learn a ton about fishing and some of the patterns that fish go through each year and we will continue to use this information in the future. It was a very fun project and we will always continue to learn.
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This weekend, Fletcher and I went to Lake Norman and fished the northern part of Norman around Long Island. We caught a total of 27 fish and the majority were "spots" or spotted bass. Most of the fish (25) were caught on a shaky head with a green pumpkin worm or a watermelon green worm. The other two were caught really shallow around brush and docks with a June bug color wacky rig. The fish we caught ranged from 1-10 ft deep. The majority were around 8-5 ft deep though on drop offs and points. The water was fairly clear and the temp ranged from 67-75 degrees while we were fishing. The fish seem to be staying in the shade under docks or limbs, or they are staying deeper to help stay cooler. Even though we never caught a lot of big fish it was still a success. Hopefully we can catch some larger fish during the upcoming state tournament. The state is a two day tournament that will be 16 hours of fishing in two days. Luckily, both Fletcher's team and my team were able to go to the state this year. To progress to the second day of fishing we must place in the top 20 to advance. If we then place in the top 2 spots, than we will be going to the Nationals. The nationals can be held anywhere across the country and will be a 3 day tournament. Last year Jackson and I were 5th on the first day and finished 8th on the second day at High Rock. Hopefully we can come back this year and finish even better.
This week we decided to take a break and research what we could do for the state tournament at Lake Norman. It will be post spawn so all of the female bass will be moved away from their beds. The water temperatures should be warming up fairly soon and fish will want to move back to deeper water. Bass will want to find more cover in lay-downs and docks. These fish will be hard to catch because they are no longer spawning and do not need as much food as they did when they were laying their eggs. Fishing in the spawn is the best time to catch fish because all of the bigger females will be protecting their eggs from predators like lizards and worms. They will not be doing this anymore so they will be in deeper water and not as hungry. You will want to move away from more finesse baits and use reaction baits more. This will help trigger a bite from larger fish and get them to commit to something. It will be a long and hot tournament and it will also be a two day tournament so hopefully both of us will be able to advance to the second day. We will both have to be in the top 20 to advance and hopefully it will work out for both of us.
April 30th we had a tournament at Lake James in the mountains. This is a lake that is a little bigger than High Rock lake and has beautiful views of the surrounding mountains no matter where you go. When we fished this lake we fished it at the end of the pre spawn stage for Lake James. Some of the fish could be found on beds and could be caught sight fishing. Most of the fish that I weighed in that day was off of beds. Fish "bed" with a male and a female. Most of the time the female is larger and is more desirable to catch during a tournament. The fish do not like for other fish or objects to be in the bed and will try to run it out or eat it as a last resort. I was able to catch a large 4 lb female off of a bed and a 1 lb small mouth off of a bed. I used lures like a Ned rig (mini shaky head) and other finesse lures that I could drop in the bed to try to aggravate the fish, but they always hit the tail of them to push them out. Finally, I tried a large rooster tail which is a lure with a spinner that flashes in the sun connected to a treble hook and a furry feather object that sways in the water. Once I threw this in the bed for about 10 minutes I was able to catch some fish since they hit the treble hook. The hook is the tail of it so they hit the hook when they bit the tail and I was able to catch them. I was caught 3 fish total on a rooster tail total and 1 on a wacky rig with a green pumpkin worm. A wacky rig is a rubbery/plastic worm that is hooked in the middle and fished slowly around shallower water like docs and trees. Wacky rigs are light and easy to skip on the water to reach tight places in cover. I had to fish by myself weighing in a total of 7.26 pounds while Fletcher and his partner caught a few fish but sadly lost them all at the boat. Overall I would say it was a fairly successful day and I am excited for the upcoming state tournament at Lake Norman.
This week was spring break and Grayson was on vacation at the beach. Poor Fletcher was left at home all by himself and had to pass time by fishing. I would fish at the Bermuda Run Golf Course, My Grandparents pond, and High Rock Lake. I would catch one fish at Bermuda Run on a good ole shaky head with a motor oil and chartreuse senko. It was a sunny day with little to no wind and the water was very dingy. At my grandparents pond I would catch all of my fish on a wacky rigged bubble gum pink zoom trick worm. I would catch 14 largemouth bass in a span of 3 hrs. The day was a little bit overcast and a slight drizzle of rain but overall a good day to catch fish. On Saturday of this week we would go trolling for crappie at High Rock Lake. Trolling is when you put lines out of the boat and slowly drag them along with the boat as you move. We would catch 22 crappie all on jig heads with an assortment of grub colors. We would come home and clean all of the fish and eat them later the next day for a delicious meal. That is all that we did over spring break and was overall a fun week of fishing.
Today we fished ponds at Oak Valley on holes 6 and 7. The weather was mostly overcast with temperatures ranging from 62-71 degrees Fahrenheit. The water was dingy, and the water temperature was about 59-61 degrees. Since we have so much faith in finesse fishing and shaky heads, we tried them again. Fletcher caught 4 on a shaky head with a green pumpkin worm, and I lost 2 on a black worm and caught one on a green pumpkin worm with a chartreuse tail. As the sun went down and it started to get later, we moved on to the ponds on number 7. I decided I would try my luck with top water and threw a buzz bait (aka Hog Caller). I ended up losing 2 fish on it as well. The Oak Valley ponds seemed to be calming down and we weren't catching many fish anymore, so Fletcher got the idea of going to his grandparents' pond. Since his grandparents didn't live far, we packed up and headed that way just before dark. Once we got there, it was prime time for top water, so we tried to catch one on top water lures. I threw a poppin' pad crasher (a floating frog lure), and Fletcher threw a hula popper (resembles a frog also). I again lost 3 on the pad crasher, while Fletcher did catch one on his hula popper. Overall, the day was a success, and I can't wait to try it again. Fletcher also went to High Rock Lake on April 3rd, while I went to Kerr Scott. For information about these lakes, go to our notebook tab at the top of the page.
This weeks adventures were a little different. April 3rd Fletcher went crappie fishing at High Rock and I went bass fishing at Kerr Scott. Fletcher wasn't able to catch any crappie but he was able to learn the lake better for possible tournaments at High Rock. After a day like that, Fletcher said he about threw it all, his rods, tackle, and everything in the lake. He was very little aggravated. The water was extremely dingy with winds making the water choppy. The winds also made it harder to make accurate casts and hold the boat steady. Kerr Scott is a much smaller lake located in Wilksboro NC. This small mountain lake wasn't effected by the winds quite as bad as the flatter landscaped, larger body of water of High Rock and the surrounding area. I was able to catch 4 fish total. Two large mouth bass were caught on a black worm and shaky head in about 4 ft of water. While the other two were caught on a parakeet color crank bait in approximately 4-6 ft of water. All of the fish caught were off off a secondary point towards the middle of a creek. The water at Kerr Scott was much clearer and the mountainous terrain allowed some shelter from the wind. This information about fish habits in the spring at mountain lakes will help us in the upcoming tournament at Lake James.
This week we decided not to fish and to take a week off and study what lures we should throw the next week. This part of the year is when fish start to move up to the banks so that they can spawn and lay their eggs. What triggers this time of year is the water temperature and when the water starts to warm up they will start to move. This is the best time of year to catch a big bass because all of the larger fish will be protecting the eggs on beds. You can sight fish and see where the fish are all up along the banks if the water is clear enough because they will be so shallow. This time of year is normally when you would use more finesse type baits but both finesse and reaction could work. For crank baits you would need to use very shallow running ones. You could drag a plastic worm over the beds and get a bite from a fish by finesse. Many things would work this time of year because the bigger fish are trying to protect their eggs. In lakes fish will be around structure trying to stay in the shade so that the water temperature will not affect them as much. This will help them stay a little cooler. This can be one of the most exciting times of the year to fish but also one of the most challenging.
This week we had a tournament that was located at Lake Wylie. We had to be at the boat launch by 6 AM so that we could get our boat number and now when we can start fishing. Fletcher's boat number was 36 and Grayson's boat number was 34. There were 76 boats total in the tournament. Your number would determine when you could leave and we were both in the second flight. There are three flights that divide the boats into even numbers and leave every 15 minutes. The water temperature was anywhere from 55-58 degrees. The wind was steady at 30 mph and were gusts up to 45. The lake was really choppy and lots of wood and brush that was floating throughout the main channel. The water color was very dingy in the main channel and some of the coves were clear. Most of the fish were on primary points or on docks and poles right off of the main channel. Fletcher caught all his fish on a white crank-bait with a pink top. Grayson would catch all his fish on a black shaky head with a black zoom trick worm (it does tricks) and a green pumkin worm with a chartreuse tail. The fish for the tournament would need to be 14 inches and Fletcher would catch 7 fish but none of them would meet the size requirement. Grayson would catch 3 and only one would meet the 14 inches and it would weigh 1.21 pounds (whopper). Overall the wind would make it very hard to keep the boat still and over fish. Between the wind and the rain in the early morning it would not be a good day to be fishing. The winner of the tournament would catch 18 pounds 2 ounces. This is our week of fishing and we hope to improve next week.
This week we went to Fletcher's Grandparent's pond. We weren't able to go to a lake this weekend because of us both being busy, so we made a last minute decision to go to the pond. We caught 8 total and lost 6 fish, a pretty good day overall. The bass we caught were all largemouth and were averaged about 2 pounds. The weather conditions were brutal. The temperature stayed around 34-37 with a 5 mile per hour wind with 25 mile per hour gusts. The wind made the temperature drop and fishing difficult. The strong winds would blow lures when casting, blow your line when reeling making it hard to feel fish bite, and making the water choppy. The fish we caught were in approximately 2-5 feet of water. The fish seemed to be on a shelf that dropped off into deeper water. From this information it sounds like they are staging before they come up really shallow to spawn in the upcoming months. The water was a very dingy/muddy color which made the black worm a good choice to use. The color black shows up in muddy water better than most other colors because of its darker color. The black worm was on a shaky head which is a type of finesse lure that is fished slowly. Generally, when the water is colder like it was in the low 50's, fish are more likely to hit a slower moving lure than a fast moving reaction bait. This requires less energy the fish must use to eat the bait when it is cold and they aren't as aggressive. We have documented all of this information and more in our notebooks and we will see if this information helps us in the upcoming tournament on March 19th.
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