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Tournament
Trail for 2004
April
25 - Anchor Marine
North
East River - Susquehanna Flats
We
finished our second tournament of 2004 Sunday April 25th.
Seventeen teams appeared for this tournament in order to
flail the water again for another nine hours. As usual some
teams struggled and others faired well to excellent.
We'll
get over my excuses for this tournament first. Coming off
last year with Vern and I winning the last two for 2003
I don't think we could win this year if the fish jumped
into the boat for us. The two old guys are really rusty
this Spring. As usual we caught plenty of 14 3/4" fish
but couldn't get any keepers. Well I did get out Saturday
to practice and went south to my spots below the Sassafras
River. I took Mrs. Uhler and the dog along and we had a
good afternoon. I shook off a bunch of keeper males and
teased two large spawning females in the back of one of
my favorite coves. I had one male hang on to a spinnerbait
with no hook all the way to the boat and he only let go
when I tried to swing him in. So, when I get home I look
at the weather channel and see that the wind should be 5
to 10 from the North West. Dumb move listening to them.
Never ever use the Weather Channel for important local info,
instead listen to NOAA radio for reasonably accurate info.
Well
with bad weather info I planned my strategy to go South
from the North East. Travel to my spots South is over 30
miles by water from Anchor Marine, and I thought that would
be no problem with the forcast and I made no secundary plans
for back-up spots. Well Vern and I stopped at a spot in
North East to let the day warm and the Sun get up a little
before going South. Just as we started our run the wind
picked up, and up, and up, until it was 30 mph out of the
East. We made an attempt to run to the closer spot but got
beat up and gave up the shot. This left us without a plan
other than to try and fish comunity holes in the Susquahanna
and North East. We finished in Furnace Bay. Everywhere I
went guys were camped on my holes and brush piles. Well
the two old farts gave up and just piddles around catching
shorts. Next month we'll kick butt!!!!!
Now
for the winners. Rick Ash and Chris Swearer are regulars
in our club and good fishermen for sure. WOuldn't have figure
that with their performance in our first tournament as they
zipped. Well Rick was determined to redeem himself and put
the time on the water to find patterns and fish that they
could depend on. Rick knew the tides would be different
from his practice the weekend before butt he found good
fish and planned on where they would be on different tides.
He fished areas in the Susquahanna and North East using
jigs, spinnerbaits, and crank baits to russle up 21.68 lbs
for five fish with a 7.75 kicker. Rick was throwing his
jig on his Furnace Bay 7' 0" MHXF Cast rod and attributed
his success to the ability to make an accurate flip tight
to cover with his favorite rod. Rick likes the light tip
with stout backbone on this rod and laments - "This
is the perfect rod for my style of jig fishing. It has the
fast light tip to give me the control and accuracy I need
to put the jig right where I need it. I use 3/8 and 1/2
ounce jigs most of the time and I need to get real tight
to the cover to get these fish to eat. The cold front had
them tight and it took many flips to the same spot to get
the bite." Chris covered the open water with cranks
and spinnerbaits to catch the cruising males in the opennings
around the cover.
Bob
and Dan Wright braved the wind and went South to their water
to take second with 18.00 even. Spinnerbaits and light worms
was what I was Bob told me he used for shallow fish.(can't
always believe his story).
Sam
McMullin and Chris Boder fished well in the Northern areas
with cranks and worms worked slow. Sam and Chris finally
had a good placing and a reward for all their hard work.
I actually got to see them cull at the end of the day and
that's a good feeling for sure.
That's
this months report.
John
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