MLF Phoenix Series Rookie Diary: Event 1

[Koz]

Background: I decided to fish the MLF Phoenix Series (BFL) this year for two reasons. The first, I'm an older guy and this is a bucket list item. Second, it's good PR for my hotel. My hotel has provided me limited sponsorship for the events. Also, some of you know I have the Fishing with the GM events at my property, and this year I asked for donations from bait companies and in return one of the things I do to promote them is have their logos on my tournament jersey. I'm an average recreational angler with very little club tournament experience and with that I have no expectations entering these tournaments. I'm in them to have fun and for the hotel PR.

 

Event 1: Lake Lanier

Getaway Day

 

I will not make that mistake again! The hotel I was staying at is in Gainesville, GA and for some reason I took the main roads to the hotel. Despite it being early afternoon the traffic going into the Atlanta area was brutal. In heavy traffic, an 18 wheeler on my left cut into my lane just as his cab passed the front of my vehicle. Luckily the car behind ne in the right lane saw what was happening and slowed down so I didn't get crushed or sandwiched. Not a great way to start the trip.

 

While driving I get a message that there is no in person, pre-tournament meeting at the marina that evening. A virtual meeting is scheduled instead. I'm a co-angler, and just before the meeting I get notified of the contact info for my boater. I give him a call after the meeting and he's a great guy. He's been pre-fishing for two days and provides me with his insights. But I'm not sure it matters that much because after a few days of mild weather a cold, cold, cold front moved in.

 

I'm staying at the Hampton Inn, and despite a tired looking public area the room is OK and best of all it's clean. I try and go to bed at 8:30, but it appears that everyone in Gainesville is either driving without a muffler or they are all driving Chargers and Challengers. Seriously, the street noise is maddening. Just as I finally doze off, my son starts blowing up my phone with texts. He's supposed to pitch for his HS team tonight, but after a few weeks of rest his elbow starts hurting again when he warms up in the bullpen. It looks like he'll need an MRI this week. I finally fall asleep at midnight.

 

Tournament Day

 

We drew a 7 am launch time and the marina is only 15 minutes away so I sleep in until 5. I shower, start packing, and get a weather update.

 

It's 26 degrees outside.

 

When I had checked the forecast two days ago, it was supposed to be about 40 at launch time. I should have checked again on Friday. I had thermals with me, a heavy jacket, rain/wind jacket, jeans, fishing pants, and extra socks but it still didn't prepare me for the cold. I'm wishing I had some of those chemical hand and foot warmers.

 

I get to the marina and meet my boater in person. I'm going to tell you that I lucked out and couldn't have been happier with the pairing. I was worried about this going in because, well, you know, there's a chance you get paired with THAT guy. This made the day a lot easier. He shared knowledge of the pre-fishing he did earlier in the week, offered up storage space on his boat, and shared some great conversation. I gave him a couple of $20's for sharing his boat, local knowledge, and gas. He declined, but I insisted.

 

We're Off!

We launch on time and by the time we get to our spot I am mind numbingly cold. We start to fish and my hands are so cold it feels like someone is driving nails through my fingers. I probably should have started with a shaky head simply because I could not stop shivering!

 

Lake Lanier is known as a spotted bass lake and the major forage is Blueback Herring. All my research on Lanier says to fish the rocky ditches and rip rap in February. With that, I had a number of Blueback Herring crankbaits for different depths, swim baits for an A-Rig, and some matching paddletails. If things were really slow I was prepared for drop shots and Ned rigs.

 

But as I mentioned, my boater had been pre-fishing for a few days and had other plans. He is also from Florida, and prefers working the banks and docks. I love beating the banks on my kayak, so I'm good to go. Or so I thought.

 

I packed my gear in a pretty big Plano Duffel bag, but because of the cold weather I had consolidated baits and pulled one box to make room for extra layers. As it turns out, one of the baits I left behind was what my boater had success with - a black and blue jig. I had a few other jigs and a black and blue chatterbait, but I couldn't get a bite on them.

 

Anyway, it's brutally cold and I can't get my hands or toes warm. They eyelets on my rods are freezing over quickly. Despite trying to clear the ice from my reels each cast, the line guides on two of my Curados freeze up. I switch over to spinning gear and toss a Ned rig with no luck. After a few hours the cold finally becomes tolerable and my boater landed a keeper on his black and blue jig.

 

I'm throwing jigs with no luck. I don't have the black and blue, so I try dragging a chatterbait. No luck. My boater is fishing slow, and because he put a few largemouth bass in the boat this is where I make my mistake. I didn't stick to my plan or my strengths and followed his lead. I slowed down and tossed soft plastics including a worm and a craw. I went back to the jig and the chatterbait. My boater had said he had a few hits on a red crankbait teh other day, so made a few casts with a red crankbait and not the Blueback Herring.

 

Now let me say this - my boater was doing everything he could to help me out based upon what he saw earlier in the week. But I should have went with my confidence baits and stuck with my own plan for a few hours instead of chasing his strength. As it warmed I did through the paddletail on an underspin and got a few week strikes hitting the tail but not the hook. I should have thrown crankbaits in the deeper channels and I should have broke out the A-Rig at some point.

 

My boater ended up with 5 keepers for 14 pounds including a 5 pounder, 4 LMB and one spot. I ended up with a goose egg. But I learned a lot and met a new friend. We're going to request to be paired again when he comes back to fish Oconee and Sinclair.

 

What I learned this weekend:

 

1.  I absolutely hate fishing in brutally cold weather. I'll take the heat any day.
2. When you do your research, stick to your plan.
3. Stick to your strengths and don't chase what everyone else is doing.
4. I need to be more well rounded and work on my weaknesses including jigs and skipping.
5. Either load my own depth maps on my phone or ask the boater to put the depth map on the unit at the driver's console. This will help me pick out ledges, channels, and drop offs from the back of the boat.
6. Despite not having the jig I needed today, I actually need to pare down the amount of baits I bring. I had too much redundant stuff and stuff I was never going to use, and that leads to paralysis of analysis. I did my research and should have trusted that even though I had never fished Lanier before.

 

Stage 2 is at West Point Lake in a few weeks. Despite getting shut out today I'm still excited for the next event. I just hope it isn't freezing out there again.

 

 

[TnRiver46]

Thanks for the write up! Get some wool socks

[Ski]

Fishing from the back seat is tuff as I also am a co- angler in my club here in Fl.

Scaling down the amount of tackle you bring is a great Idea and I am in that process myself, just looking for the right system. It is a good tactic to throw something other than him even though it is hard to watch him catching fish and your not(Been there) When you do throw the same bait, watch where he throws and make sure to not do not throw to that same spot. And it does not hurt to angle backwards from the rear seat and throw to targets as your passing them as this would be the opposite side from were your boater threw( works for me) I could go on and on, however Glen has a video you should watch.  (attached here) Good luck, sit back, watch, learn and enjoy the day.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/tournament-etiquette-backseat-coangler.html

[Koz]

3 hours ago, Ski said:

Fishing from the back seat is tuff as I also am a co- angler in my club here in Fl.

Scaling down the amount of tackle you bring is a great Idea and I am in that process myself, just looking for the right system. It is a good tactic to throw something other than him even though it is hard to watch him catching fish and your not(Been there) When you do throw the same bait, watch where he throws and make sure to not do not throw to that same spot. And it does not hurt to angle backwards from the rear seat and throw to targets as your passing them as this would be the opposite side from were your boater threw( works for me) I could go on and on, however Glen has a video you should watch.  (attached here) Good luck, sit back, watch, learn and enjoy the day.

https://www.bassresource.com/bass-fishing-videos/tournament-etiquette-backseat-coangler.html

Thanks. I am familiar with being a back seater.

 

We did fish a few narrow creek channels which allowed each of us to target one side on the way in and the other side on the way out.

[Koz]

Well, it stings a little less today. Just under 25% of the co-anglers were shut out this weekend, so I wasn't alone. I'm going in with a different attitude for the next event. Participating isn't enough this time. The goal is a top 20 finish.

[TnRiver46]

33 minutes ago, Koz said:

Well, it stings a little less today. Just under 25% of the co-anglers were shut out this weekend, so I wasn't alone. I'm going in with a different attitude for the next event. Participating isn't enough this time. The goal is a top 20 finish.

Did you thaw yet? 

[SWVABass]

Good luck in your next one. I fished BFLs last year and for the most part I enjoyed it. What division are you fishing? If I didn’t have work commitments I would be at chick this weekend.

[Koz]

13 hours ago, SWVABass said:

Good luck in your next one. I fished BFLs last year and for the most part I enjoyed it. What division are you fishing? If I didn’t have work commitments I would be at chick this weekend.

Bulldog Division, but I was also thinking about signing up for a Florida event or two.

 

Oconee and Sinclair are practically in my back yard, and Lanier is only a few hours away. Even West Point Lake is only two and a half hours away.

[InfantryMP]

I feel your pain in a tournament that brutally cold. I fished one up in Indiana, where the high was 28-30*. All of my rods and reels were frozen up besides 1 spinning rod. I said I would never do that again.

 

As far as your boater goes, I think it is great that he was so cool. It makes it a lot better and enjoyable even if it was cold as hell. I think tournaments are the ultimate learning experience.  Even though it did not work out for the numbers, it seems like it was still valuable!

[Bankbeater]

Very nice write up.  Fishing in the cold is the worst.  Even after you're back inside you can't get warm.

[detroit1]

Thanks for sharing Koz, looking forward to the next one. And good luck...

[Koz]

1 hour ago, detroit1 said:

Thanks for sharing Koz, looking forward to the next one. And good luck...

Stay tuned. We fish at West Point Lake this weekend. Unfortunately, a front is moving in on Friday night and after a warm week it looks like we'll start out with temperatures in the mid 30's, but at least it will be above freezing.

 

I've had a lot of time to think since then and one item I want to address is being a back seater in a non-team tournament versus being a back seater in a buddy tournament or fishing with a friend.