Today was the third and final Virginia high school qualifying tournament for the state championship at the end of this month. My partner and I fished one in September on the Potomac, and one on Lake Anna in November, prior to this. The top 15 teams ranked by total weight for all three events go to the State Championship. We ended up finishing 4th today putting us in 2nd in the state rankings, so the pressure is on at Buggs Island Lake April 30th and May 1st when we fish the championship, the top two teams in that tournament qualify for the National Championship!
I'm gonna do a pretty wordy write up on this one since it was such an interesting tournament...
I went to the lake on Friday to pre-fish, and I was pretty stunned by the amount of boats on the lake. There was also a 160 boat FLW BFL tournament today, so lots and lots of those guys were pre fishing too. My boat captain and I spent our first 3 hours in a very large creek and didn't even get a bite, we saw one fish on a bed, and that was it. We didn't see anyone else catch fish either, and there was almost a boat in every pocket of the creek. We headed to another creek after that, and pretty soon we had a couple 12" fish come unbuttoned working some grass mats on a pretty expansive flat protected from the wind by an island. Once we got in the back of the flat, I saw something that looked like a bed behind a stump. I pitched my texas rig in there and sure enough one came out and ate it. I shook the rod over and over but the fish just wouldn't spit it out so I brought him in the boat and turned him loose (felt good to catch one but I really did not want to catch that fish). A little further down the bank I found another one on a bed beside a stump. This one spit the bait when I shook it (the water was very stained so the only way to see if there was a fish on the bed was to pitch in there and see if someone was home).
We hit 3 or 4 other creeks trying to duplicate this but nada, and the water was getting dirtier even though we kept heading down lake. We ran way down the lake to see if we could find some cleaner water, and when we did I got pretty excited. We headed back into a very large creek, just checking out pockets, fishing the docks, looking for beds, cruisers, etc. We found one really small pocket with 3 or 4 nice fish cruising the banks, and about that time we had to head out to make the 5:30 mandatory tournament meeting.
This morning was a balmy 35 degrees, so the 65mph run felt wonderful as we headed to the bed that had a fish I didn't sting on it, to hopefully get that fish before someone else did. We got to our spot, dropped the trolling motor down, and I started pitching at the stump. It was still way too dark to see the fish or even the bed, but I had a pretty good idea where it was. After 5 or 6 fruitless casts with a texas rig, I switched to a Jackall Clone Gill on a drop shot, two pitches to the stump and I caught him, a male about 16" long. We were off to a good start not even 5 minutes into our day. I headed down the bank towards the fish that I did catch during pre fishing, and before I made my first toss at the bed, I hear my partner say "Fish!", I grabbed the net and scooped up his fish, a 13"er, not big, but another one for the livewell. The fish on the bed didn't want anything to do with my bait, so we packed it in and made the run down lake to the pocket that had crusing fish in it the day before. We fished the whole pocket with a drop shot and senko working the docks, and didn't even get a bite. Then I saw one up against the bank in less than a foot of water, not anywhere near a dock. The fish spooked when I tossed my drop shot to him, so I switched to a wacky trick worm in an effort to have a quiet entry and a slow fall. Five casts later and I hook up. After a brief, nerve-wracking fight, my parner nets the fish, about a 15"er. Into the livewell he goes. Not even 20 yards down the bank my partner hooks another one on the senko out in the middle of nowhere, which was another 13"er for the livewell. Before moving at all Ispotted a fish who looked like he was guarding a bed, maybe some fry, I'm not sure what he was doing but that fish was HOT. First toss with the trick worm he nails it, but when I set the hook he shakes one time and he's gone. While my partner is razzing me about a bad hook set I see the fish go right back to where he was. Surely he wouldn't bite again? The fish nails it again, and what do I do? Roll him again. Now my partner is ready to throw me in the lake. Shockingly, the fish heads back, and though I had to downsize to a wacky 4" Yum sharpshooter, the fish bit one more time, and this time I didn't mess up. Not even 10am and we have 5 in the boat, confidence was high. Well good thing we got our fishing done early because for the rest of the day we could not buy a bite. Found 4 more fish on beds but they had already had all sorts of stuff dropped on their heads by the FLW anglers I assume and would just leave if a bait came in the bed. It is incredible how they will still aggressively chase bluegills away when a fishing lure spooks them. Weigh in was at 1pm and it was a grind for pretty much everybody today. Out of 24 teams in our division there were 3 limits caught. Our limit went 7.03lbs for 4th place. 3rd had 2 fish for 7.07lbs and big fish for 4.24lbs. 2nd place had 5 for just under 10, first was 5 for just over 10.
Out of curiosity I checked the results of the FLW BFL event and 7lbs would have put us above over half of those guys. In their tournament it took 12lbs to get a check, and Ryan Powroznik won it with 18lbs.
Lets not make this thread a discussion about the ethics of bed fishing, that topic has been beat to death elsewhere on the forums. Congratulations if you read this far. Tight lines!
You have to long arm them when they're all under 2lbs!
