Sunday as I went for a run I kept thinking of Colonel Kurtz/Marlon Brando from Apocalypse Now. In one scene he is shown in dark shadow speaking to the man hunting him, a Special Ops Captain played by Martin Sheen. As they are discussing the insanity of the war Kurtz whispers “…the horror”. For some reason or another I equated this scene to the first (annual?) LMBC Team tournament held the day before on Green River Lake.
The team concept is not new to bass fishing but it is new to the LMBC. The original thought was that it would keep everyone interested through the hot summer by providing those lower in the standings a chance to move up. Pairings were based on each angler’s performance leading into this tournament with the best paired with the worst based on average points to date. The winning boat would split the prize money plus each person would receive 50 points, and so on through the remaining boats.
Coangler attendance was not what we expected it to be so Joe Howard volunteered to sit in the back and was then paired with Larry Whiteman. That gave us a total of 6 boats with 12 fishermen. Launch time was set for about 615a-620a on a lake that LMBC members have traditionally done very well. Add to that history a cooling low pressure system approaching, a full moon at day break and a light wind early surely the fishing would be at least good. That optimism quickly turned to frustration as the horror set in…
Results
The third place boat included Dale Siebert, the winner of the April tournament on Green, with your’s truly, one of the lower ranking coanglers in the club. Dale and I started by fishing deeper water along bluff walls. We went into cuts and bays, then back out on the main lake. Typically text-book places in which to find summer largemouth. Top water bite was non-existent, then I lost a small fish on a deep crank bait. That would be as close as I would come to landing a bass. After an hour or so of various crank baits, top waters and other fast-moving baits we slowed way down. Dale would then land a 14″ spot and a few hours later a 12″ largemouth, both caught on a shaky head worm. The rest of the bites we had were of the bluegill variety with machine gun taps and soft plastics bitten in half or pushed up the hook. No more bass seen for the last 4+ hours of the tournament…horrible. Those 2 fish came in at a whopping 2.42 lbs. While I didn’t boat a fish, I do get 48 points. This team thing worked, at least for me.
The second place boat would surely have more than 2 fish, or at least have a kicker right? Nope. The horrific fishing plagued Mike Sherley and David Nash as well. They went way up river further than David had ever been in search of keepers. Mike is known for finding and bagging shallow bass regardless of water temperature. Each person in this boat had 1 fish. For those keeping score that is 1+1 for 2 largemouth. Those two fish would include the Tournament Big Fish, a 1.85 pound monster of the shallows. That pushed their total weight to 2.88 lbs, just under a 1/2 pound ahead of 3rd place. They caught more fish than some other groups but only had these keepers. Nice job guys…way to collect those 49 points each!
First place garners the first place money combined with the top boat money, plus 50 points to each person on the team. Funny how this team was a pair of anglers with Larry and Joe paired up. Larry went way up the river like Mike but he turned left and went up the other way once he passed the bridge. Joe explained that they were kicking up heavy mud at times looking for skinny water and fat bass. They found the skinny water and went on to throw white spinner baits to catch 4 fish between them. Larry had 3 of those while Joe had the other one, but fat they were not. The 4 fish came in at a total weight of 4.22 pounds, or just over a pound per fish. Regardless, finishing in first took away the scary looks they each had before weigh-in.
With the numerous big fish the LMBC has landed at Green River the last few years the conversation at dinner, and then the drive home, focused on where do the big fish go? As it happens the latest issue of Bassin’ magazine was in my mail when I got home Saturday. It contains an article that outlined exactly what happened to us. “Fish that were hitting top water just a month ago are no longer found…”. The author goes on to write that this time of year in these conditions you need to look for water 20-30 feet deep with structure in the middle of the main lake! Use maps, move off the bank/shore/bluff walls, and find the creek channels with humps, chunk rock or brush piles. Once those are found, verify they hold bait fish with your electronics, then haul in bass after bass. Maybe. The author went on to say that this time of year, even if you find them, they may have lockjaw. Oh…the horror!
See you next month on the Ohio for the family picnic event! No way it can be as horrifying as this trip was! Can it?
Louisville Metro Bass Club 