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.
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