Six month tournament comes to an end.

[Bassn Blvd]

Hawk (forum member)and I just finished our seasonal night tournament. There were 14 tournaments since March and ended September. All tournaments were 4 hours long and we averaged 18-22 boats per tournament. We finished in the money (top three) 9 times in a row. All of our keeper fish, except maybe 4 or 5, were caught on the following.

Lake Fork swimbait, trout and tilapia colors.

Senko's black/blue flake or black/blue laminant, fished with a splitshot, T-rig or weightless.

Lucky Craft Pointer Minnow in American Shad color.

Chrome rattle traps, various brands.

A few fish were caught on black/blue jigs and topwater poppers.

We caught one fish over 5 pounds in at least 7 of the tournaments .

We won "big fish" one time but missed big fish a couple times by less than 6 ounces . We missed 1st place one time by an OUNCE >. (I had a hard time going to sleep that night.)

What I learned from the tournaments.

1. Have a landing net

2. Have a good culling system.

3. Keep ALL fish until you reach your limit. Don't throw away the dinks in hopes of catching a bigger fish. We had an exemption for no size limit.

4. Use a good live well additive.

Some interesting facts;

The tournaments were held at Lake Osborne (S. Florida members know where it is) and you could fish anywhere w/out leaving the water. Some boats ran 10 miles north and south. Hawk and I won our tournaments never going more than 2-400 yards from the boat ramp.

The team that had most weight combined from all tournaments caught most of there fish within 2-400 yards from the ramp.

Used less than one tank of gas all season.

Our first tournament was Hawk's first time fishing the Osborne chain.

Hawk and I would have never met (more than likely) if it wasn't for networking through BassResource.com

GET TO KNOW YOUR FELLOW MEMBERS.

Thank you Hawk for the good season and great times.

[Carrington]

congrats man, sounds like an amazing season.

[GLADES]

Congrats to you and Hawk. I have had the pleasure to fish with a few of the guys here on BR and it was great.

Generally, I always suspect boat ramps hold some nice fish. The fish are released there after tournys and I am sure some stick around the area. I have never fished Lake Osbourne, I should give it a try one of these days.

[I.rar]

congrats man, sounds like an amazing season.

x2. 

[Bassn Blvd]

There are a few points in my original post that may or may not always help. Although, these four are a must.

1. Have a landing net

2. Have a good culling system.

3. Keep ALL fish until you reach your limit. Don't throw away the dinks in hopes of catching a bigger fish. We had an exemption for no size limit.

4. Use a good live well additive.

There are a minimum 4 tournaments a month held at Lake Osborne. Weigh in is at the same boat ramp/launch site. There are approximately 60 -125 bass released each tournament, that's up to 500 bass a month. Not all bass will leave the main lake and not all bass will find their way back home. Lake Osborne's main lake (at the ramp) is EXTREMELY pressured with jet skiers and fisherman that don't know much about fishing. Lake Osborne, however, will lead you to 1000's of acres of fishable water such as canals and other lakes.

Hawk and I assumed a large portion of the fish had to stay in the main lake after being released, we just didn't know where they went in the lake or how to find them.

What Hawk and I found was a PATTERN, or we think we did anyways. Our tournaments started about 1 to 1 1/2 hours before the sun went down (dark). We managed to catch a few before dark but most of our fish, including our fish over 5 pounds, came at or after dark.

After fishing and winning in the same spot on back to back times, we recognized the black birds might play a part in our success. We would put over to our spot at launch time and would be lucky to catch 2 bass before dark. On the 3rd tournament we noticed the birds, by the hundreds, would fly to our end of the lake and sit in the cat tails/bull rushes. The birds weren't diving into the water but would just sit in the bush and sing. This would last for about an hour EVERYTIME at sundown. Where the birds came from, I don't know but this area seemed to be their home for the night. Whenever the birds arrived is when we started to catch fish and the bites continued well into the night, even after the singing.

I'm sure the singing/chirping had nothing to do with the "bite" turning on but I do believe the birds had something to do with it.

Now, I fished the same spot at sunrise and into the late morning on three different occasions and guess what, no fish. Guess what else? No birds.

Anyways, our theory is just that, a theory. Could it be coincidence? Sure. But, we placed in the top three 9 times in a row fishing our spot based on the birds.

The only other boat to fish the main lake ALL NIGHT finished 1st for the year with most weight. They anchored in a spot about 250 yards from me and they too found a pattern that worked for them.

For those of you who fish small, local tournaments, don't overlook the release points from previous tournaments. Don't be afraid to hang back and fish the main lake, even if you're the only one there. Also, find a pattern and stick with it.

  The End.  Tight lines and good luck!

[SoFlaBassAddict]

Sounds like you guys had a great year.  The whole deal with the birds is kind of interesting.  They could have been following small baitfish.  Who knows, but if it worked, great.  Osborne is a nice lake.  I need to get out there again one day to fish it.  It's been a while for me out there.

[evrgladesbasser]

Goes to show that all of nature is inter-twined and connected in some way. I think it's awesome you guys figured out a pattern using birds, something most of us would overlook. Don't you love it when you get a hunch, develop a plan, stick with it, and it actually works? Way to go and congrats on a good season!

[SoFl-native]

Did you guys fish that classic Doug?

I was fishing in Clark that day and thought i saw you running through.

How did you do?

[Bassn Blvd]

Yes, we fished the classic, unfortunately.  Hawk had to back out at the last minute.  I found a 15 yr old kid through another friend who fished with me. (We can't fish the classic alone).  We did TERRIBLE.  I started out in Clarke catching a few and then BAM, fish disappeared.

We went back to Osborne and fished my night spot(s) with little success. The winning team caught their fish in Lake Ida.