Missed Chances at the Finale
The Tour is over, and now it’s time to prepare for the Forrest Wood Cup
The final Walmart FLW Tour event on the Potomac River was a tough event for me. After one of the strongest practices I’ve ever had there, or anywhere, really, I drove home scratching my head.
The FLW Tour didn’t hit the river perfectly on this visit. We were faced with early low tides and rising water throughout the tournament days, torrential downpours and storms, and the postspawn blues. Many pros and locals think the river is suffering from some issues, or a bass virus, but I really don’t think so at all. It was all timing, in my opinion, based on what I saw in my unbelievable practice.
I found schools of fish up north and down south, but the typical “community holes” and mid-river areas did seem to be a bit off. Instead of pulling into a milfoil patch and catching 30 fish, you might get three or four bites. But the fish I found were out off of the grass, out in the more open water, and there was a bunch of them roaming around out there.
The size of the grass fish for the most part was also down. I’d say they averaged around 2 pounds. The bigger fish I had found were offshore and on hard targets, mainly wood and barges. I pulled up to one and caught a 4- and a 5-pounder on the first two casts, then went to another and caught a 5 1/2-pounder. Another one over 5 pounds ate my bait on a similar place about 30 minutes later, and I was excited.
These were typically places where they would load up, but I didn’t stick around long enough to find out. I moved on from it, not even checking anything else similar over the next two days and saving it all for the tournament. I decided to spend the next two days of practice combing the grass – coontail and hydrilla up north, and milfoil further to the south. I had good results both days in the grass too. I’ve honestly never felt so confident heading into a derby.
I don’t really know what they were talking about when some pros complained about the lack of grass. It was as good or better than I’ve seen it in many years. It was literally everywhere, and it’s still growing. Time will obviously tell, but I personally don’t think the river is on a down cycle either; it was just the series of events and the exact timing of this particular event that made it tough. If you really look, the weights really weren’t all that bad considering the conditions.
On day one I sat in 24th with 13 pounds. I had one escape me at the net, and unfortunately it happened to be a 5-pounder. Really? Again? It was a $10,000 fish, but I didn’t think so at the time. It was on a bladed swim jig in open water, and it just pulled off. After it came off (about 1 foot from the net) it literally sat there and swam off really slowly like it didn’t even know it was hooked. This fish will join several others over recent events in an upcoming “lose-fest” video I’m working on. Ironically, about five minutes later, another one about 3 1/2 pounds got me wrapped around a stump and snagged into another log 10 feet away. It was a chaotic couple of minutes, but I actually got that one, which came off as my co-angler slid the net under it. That one was on a crankbait of all things … makes no sense at all.
After 30 plus keepers on day one, I decided not to go catch a quick, easy limit to kick off day two. HUGE mistake in hindsight. I instead fished for the big bites all day, believing I could easily fill my limit at the end of the day if need be. But having two hours less time to fish on the second day due to an early boat number would bite me; not to mention other anglers Power-Poled down on my exact flurry spots from day one. I simply didn’t count on that happening, but I probably should have.
After striking out in the storm-affected muddy water up north, I finally left the area at noon totally empty-handed. I flew south and caught my first fish at 12:20, then missed the next two. I caught my second at 1:45, missed another and then captured my third at 2:35. I caught my fourth literally on my last cast at 3:15, just 60 seconds before check-in and 300 yards from the check-in boat. I barely made it back on time with about eight seconds to spare.
Though I didn’t think it would be, I prayed that last fish was enough to squeak out a check. I finished 73rd, a mere 13 ounces from $10,000. That was painful and an event I’ll never forget. It is inexcusable for me to come in with four fish on the Potomac River, but I learned a lesson via this train wreck at least, and I will grow from this bad one.
The baits I used this week were a black bladed swim jig, a 3/16-ounce black and blue Terminator jig with a blue Yamamoto Flappin’ Hog trailer and a new prototype black Terminator frog. This frog has a slightly bigger profile than the others, and the hook-up ratio was really good. I think the hook-up ratio is so high because the weight is behind the hooks and doesn’t interfere with the hook gap. On the second day I threw a black 1/2-ounce Terminator Super Stainless Buzzbait with a black YamaFrog trailer replacing the skirt. If you haven’t tried this combo yet, you definitely need to. It’s big and can be fished incredibly slow. I also had a 5-inch green pumpkin Senko rigged for missed strikes, and if you got that thing in there quickly it worked every single time. But if you missed the hole on the first cast, it usually cost you on the opportunity. Two slightly errant casts were the difference in getting a check in this one as well.
This is something I need to practice repeatedly during my week off. You have to be quick, quiet and able to control your emotions and excitement at the same time. This sounds easy, but add the element of surprise to it all and it’s tougher than you might think. I will be doing this thousands of times over the next couple days, I guarantee you that.
Congrats to Scott Martin on the AOY and my old teammate Clark Wendlandt for a great finish to the season. Also, a shout out to my buddy Troy Morrow for doing exactly what he needed to do to grab the second to last qualifying spot for the Cup. Though this particular event is a tough one for me to swallow, I did secure a Forrest Wood Cup berth. Also, by placing in the top 15 in the AOY race I also qualified for the Toyota Texas Bass Classic. I love fishing in the state of Texas.
My next Tour event is the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita in Hot Springs, Ark. in August. So I’ll hopefully see you there.