SuddenLink Open Bass Tournament

The SuddenLink Open Bass Tournament was held March 6th at Ivie. Weather was a little windy with highs in the low to mid 60s. The overcast clouds and light chop favored the fishermen. Water was surprisingly warm with some parts of the lake registering 53-55 degrees compared to the 48 from a few weeks past. Well, see for yourself.








Corey Peddy took a moment to talk with us about the turnout for this year's participants.









Not long after I got there, I hooked up with Romero Galvan, the photographer for the SL tournament. He really knows his stuff. we planned to go to the dock to beg someone to take us out for some pics. Lo and behold, Dean's Marina was there with the Skeeter Texas Demo Team to save us the humiliation and took us out to get some pics.

Kenny Rooke (left) drew the short straw, but was gracious to Romero (right) and I. He even tried to help us toss our cookies on the demo ride by showing how well the new Skeeters turn. I have to admit, this is an amazing boat!

Weigh-In loomed so we heading in but not before we got a chance to get some pictures of the fishermen.

Tad Box and Shane Lemoine were working the shore over. Shane was fishing the Junior BassMaster Federation as well as the Suddenlink tourney.








Anticipation grew as the results were being tabulated.

Finally, the wait was over!

The Teen Division was announced first.

Winners were:

Shane Lemoin took 3rd. Andy Ortega squeaked 2nd. Gareth Fulks won the division.

Next, the Adult division was announced.

Bandy Watkins walked away with 10th with stringer if 14.20.


Dale Dixon snagged 9th with a stringer of 15.15.

Richard Seals came in 8th with a weight of 15.40.

Bob Ellison won 7th with 16.26. You may recognize him.

Tanner Wood came in 6th with 2 fish. Weight was 16.95.

James Vance snared 5th with a bag of 18.99.

Joshua Goode got 4th with 21.03. What a day!

Brian Bollinger cranked it to 3rd place with a weight of 22.37.

Randy Porter came in 2nd with a huge stringer of 24.50.

And the Winner was .......
(Drum roll please)

J. R. Howard of Del Rio with a winning weight of 28.19. The 2 9-pounders were great to see!

Bob Ellison had the Big Bass, just shy of being a Share Lunker, at 12.23. What a wonderful fish!



Big shout out to the folks at Sudden Link for their hard work putting this event on for the guys. The proceeds went to Hospice of San Angelo in memory of Tony Gibson. Family and friends were participating and their hard work contributed to the success of the tournament as well as spread the word of what a great man Tony was.

I want to personally thank the participants who took time to talk to me. It is because of them that I am able to do any of this.

Thanks for taking the time to check out this blog. I hope you enjoyed it!

Ivie Reservior 2-6

Hi guys!

I got an invitation from Bob Whitt to go flog the water over at OH Ivie Reservoir Saturday, 2-6-10. You have all heard the stories and seen the pictures of the quality bass coming out of the lake and seeing as I have been out there only a handful of times I lept at the opportunity! I really want to learn more about this lake and possibly catch a biggun!

We launched at Kennedy Park on the east side of the lake. We got there by about 10ish and the parking lot was packed. This attested to the popularity of the lake.

You heard him and why he thought the day would be productive. The water was reading about 43 degrees in the NE areas of the lakes. Wind was pretty light, but so cold that driving the boat was a challenge and the stinging cold air caused our eyes to tear up something awful.

We started up fishing a shoreline with a combination rock and mud. This was a rough start as my casting was uncharacteristically off and I promptly lost 2 crank baits. Bob was casting away when he landed this beauty!

We hadn't been fishing long. Bob was showing me a technique he and a buddy were using the prior Thursday where they were casting spinner baits. Now, conventional fishing was to throw slow baits like worms and jigs in the cold winter. Supposedly, the fish are lethargic and do not want to hit something that struggles too much. I had this notion challenged Jan 1 and it seemed to be continuing. Bob is running those spinners just under the surface through the submerged trees. Last Thursday this was successful and his friend caught an 8-pounder with this technique. The spinner we were using were chartreuse and white with a gold willow leaf and gold turtle shell spinners. It produced a different sensation on the line and was flashing brightly. As he would bring it through the trees, he would stop and let it flutter down right in the middle of the mess. Late in the afternoon, the fish were coming out of their negative mode and started chasing his spinner out of the trees, but wouldn't snag it.

On this day it wasn't producing, but I stuck with it as I was learning something new. Bob was doing the same and he was chased out of the trees by some small bass.

Then it happened.

I watched this little booger come up and hit it. Bob said I announced the catch before I even set the hook. Interesting info on the teeth of a bass as an indicator on what they are hitting. Another knowledgeable guy, JR over at Field and Stream, said the bass will be feeding on crayfish soon for the minerals in the shells. This is when we start to see regurgitated crayfish in the live wells ... if your boat has a live well! Does anyone know if there is a live well for a little plastic boat??? Good info to have. I am also reminded of when Scott Miner showed me how feeling a bass stomach for the tell-tale sign of shells in the belly. This may change your tactics a bit.

We ended a great day of fishing with one catch apiece. We headed back to Kennedy Park and observed a tournament concluding. I walked over and talked with some guys to see what was going on. To my luck, this was what was happening.

What a great bunch! If you want more info on Still Waters out of Abilene, their website is

http://www.stillwatersbassclub.org/

Eric was very kind to take a minute to talk to me.

Funny story, I have fished the plastic yacht for a few years now and dream of the day I migrate to a real boat. I have been begging a few friends to teach me how to drive a boat and Bob has been gracious enough to agree to teach me. We were in a cove and he put me behind the wheel. We were in 12-feet of water and in the channel. After getting started going, we were puttering out and Bob told me to give it some gas. I stared to, but was doing it slowly. Just as I was about to open her up a little, the front of the boat shot up and I felt a HUGE thump on the front. A second later, I felt a thump under me and the back shot up. I about keeled over! Apparently, I found the only tree in the "safe" channel. Neither of us saw it! I had visions of a hole in the hull or even a Titanic-like tear and we would sink immediately. I was freaking out! Thank God that Bob was A LOT calmer than I and he was telling me that this happens. He was great!

There was not damage done to the boat, but I was rattled. I did manage to safely pilot the boat the rest of the day, but MAN! If this is an omen, maybe I just need to stick with the putt-putt.

Big shout out to Bob Whitt for taking me fishing and teaching me a few things! It was a lot of fun and he is a blast to pass the time with!

Thanks for taking a minute to read the article and check out the videos. Please feel free to comment as I and many like me are always looking to learn!

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Concho River: January 1, 2010 (I hope this is a good omen on the upcoming year!)

Wow! Wendell said it already, but .... WOW!

This day had great weather, friendly faces, and some big fish to include a personal best! It's always a great learning experience for me as my partner put me to the test on a quality experience.

Wendell and I took the plastic yacht up the Concho. We were tossing creature baits and he lost a couple of quality fish on the first set of bluffs. On our way up the river, we saw a few friendly faces from the Paul Ann Bass Club: Jesse and Travis Lucas as well as Scott Miner. Scott caught a nice fish.

We headed on up where the above mentioned yo-yos just left and started fishing. We cast at some rocks in the channel for a bit when I saw Wendell tying on a big crank bait. I thought he was nuts. Within a couple of casts he caught 2 fish to include this one.

Please note the Bass' Revenge on the camera.

For reasons which will hopefully become apparent soon, I cannot post all the fish that Wendell caught. Just note that I believe him to be a bass magnet. It seems that whatever he ties on almost calls to the green monsters. He claims that isn't so, but I have to wonder and the camera doesn't lie. If the fish get much bigger, I'll have to quote Brody from Jaws, "You're going to need a bigger boat" as my plastic piddler might start to look like a top-water.

After a bit, I got into the action with this one.

Dig the rubber boots?

This was my second catch of the day. Wanna see my first?

Now, THAT'S the way to start the new year! The funny thing is that this wasn't even the big fish of the day (although it was up there). It was; however, my biggest kick fishing-wise of the new year! Man, I gotta check that scale!

We had an unexpectedly great day. The winter has been good to us and I am appreciative of the relaxation and thrill bass fishing gives me. I know you share similar beliefs.

I want to post this last fish Wendell caught just because of how unusual the circumstances were regarding it. It is good for a few laughs.

Thanks for logging on and checking out the blog. Big shout out to Wendell Ramsey for taking time to take me out and show me a few things. He is an incredible fisherman. I hope to continue to bring you great info on the best west Texas fishing has to offer. I also hope to continue to bring in some great writing and writers from the area. This experience has definitely been worth while.

Remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and be kind to the guys in the plastic boats!"

*PS: For the record, Jesse Lucas was finally nice to the guys in the plastic boat! ;-P

*PSS: I'm still tinkering with format and some feedback would be appreciated. Do you like the above text-with-video-component format as opposed to the webisode format? Let me know!

8-29-09: Twin Buttes

We fished the PABC Monthly Tourney today and I struggled.

Period!

I had 5 top water hits and a bunch of worm hits and couldn't stick a one.

My partner, Scott, caught this weird bass. Does anyone have any ides what's wrong with it?

It's always good to get out and fish. For the tournament, we didn't do well as the results will show.

There's always next time.

Cast straight and cast often, fellow fishing jerks!

6-17-09: Lake Nasworthy

I had the chance to head on out with Wendel Ramsey on Nasworthy so of course I jumped at it.

After helping a lady and her son load up their new boat, we went over to the reeds just south of the dam. Wind was blowing pretty steadily at 15 mph and the water was pretty stained. Water was about 86 degrees. Temperature was hot, but with the wind the 96 degrees wasn't too bad.

We fished the area for a good bit with neither getting a strike so we went over to the skiing lanes to try our luck. Both of us were using creature baits; me with a 4" ringworm and then a 6" pumpkin with chartreuse tail Yum Dinger and Wendel using a black with blue fleck Ultra Vibe Crawfish and again no luck although he did manage to get a bite. Wendel then thought it might be getting late enough in the day to go back to our first spot as the wind had been laying down a bit and maybe work our way to a lilly pad area he knew about.

We did with no luck until we worked our way to the pads. From there, we both tied on Ribbits and worked the area over pretty good. I managed a cast and saw a disturbance about 5' from my bait. I got excited. I jiggled my Ribbit a little and a big commotion in the pads was now 2' away. I got REALLY excited. I barely wiggled the ribbit when SWOOSH a black movement jumped my bait. I thought I had a good 'un for sure when Wendel said, "Frog". I was thinking, "Yep, I'm fishing a frog" when I realized what he meant. It was indeed a big, ol' bullfrog. I laughed myself silly reeling it in. It had hooked itself good, but we got it back out into the water.

The visiting was great, but neither of us caught anything. We got skunked, but it was still a great day on the lake.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in plastic boats."

5-16-09 Twin Buttes

Interesting day!

Thanks to one of my fishing club buddies, Scott Minor, I had access to a boat and got out on the water! What a blast!

I dragged Paw-N-Law out onto the lake and logged the points. The water was about 74.5 degrees and pretty stained. Wind was high; probably 30 mph at 7:30. We were on a 14'er and did pretty well on the waves. After about 45 minutes of practicing our Kung-Fu balance exercises with multiple strikes, we decided to call it quites. He had caught a decent little striper and I lost a decent one on the flats.

We were going to limp on in and call it a day, but we thought we had found a place where the wind had layed down across from the boat ramp. We had already considered it a good day, but what would have made it great is to hook John up on a good fish.

He found it!

This 2.5 pounder gave him a good run for his money and was a blast for me to watch.

We wrapped it up a little bit later and it was pretty hairy! For my first time piloting a bigger boat with a real motor, we managed.

Many thanks to John for putting up with my shenanigans.

For the record, I didn't get skunked! :-D

BTW, below is a pic of a future fishing jerk! My nephew, Baxter!

Is he adorable or what!

He caught this on a minnow. The story goes that John was looking on the blog with Baxter and Baxter was getting a kick on John clicking on the FJ gallery where guys are proclaiming being fishing jerks. Bax loved it.

When Bax's parents took him fishing, Baxter cast, set the hook and reeled in the 1/4 -pound monster all by himself. His mother heard Baxter calling himself a jerk. She was like, "You're not a jerk." She immediatly called John and asked him what he had taught him. John liked to have fell out laughting so hard. As you can imagine, Baxter was saying, "I'm a fishing jerk! I'm a fishing jerk!"

On another side note, Garath Fulks sent me this picture of his personal best. 8.8! What a beaute!

Great picture taken by his grandfather!

If all works out, we will have the next webisode from Oak Creek tomorrow.

Take care, all, and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

4-17-09 Twin Buttes

Dragged Paw-N-Law out Friday evening. We fished the old boat docks on the north shore. He caught this 1.7 on a crank bait. I caught 1 dink! It was practically a parking lot on the ramp!


The area has been slow but John knows the bigguns are out there.

We'll get them yet.

The water was stained and in the low 70s. Wind was about 10 MPH.

Good luck, folks!

4-12 Middle Concho

Hee Hee! You are witnessing my feeble attempts to developing a webisode. I figured it would be good for a laugh, anyway!

Jeff was nice enough to invite me out Sunday evening. For the last 2 days in similar conditions, the wind had laid down in the evening so he wanted to give it a shot. So we gave it a shot.

The wind was pretty fierce. Here's a shot at what we were launching into.

It was one bumpy ride to get to the Concho. Once we got there, it was a little more smoother, but not by much. We went to the Second Bluffs and started just before there fishing the salt cedars. We both struck out. Rounding the bluffs, Jeff saw something. First cast saw him catching a 2-pounder. He cast again and caught a 2.5-pounder. The pattern he detected was wind blowing bait fish into an area so he told me to cast in. I did and was rewarded.

This 3.54-pounder hit my Brush Hog HARD! She tried to shake me off, but I lucked out. It had been a while since caught anything and it felt great. It was in 2 feet of water and a good pattern detected by Jeff.

Jeff would have nothing of it, though. Shortly, he caught this beauty!

This 4.65-pounder crushed Jeff's crank bait. It fought hard and gave him a serious run for his money, but he got it! Jeff's a real jer .... er .... fishing jerk!

Water was in the low to mid 60s. Wind laid down as predicted and I felt like a junkie with a hit.

Many thanks to Jeff for taking me out. I have learned a lot from this guy!

I hope you enjoyed this. Remember, cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!

New Record Striped Bass?

In case you hadn't heard ...

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/2009/mar/31/youth-breaks-lake-nasworthy-striped-bass-record/

WOW!

PABC Monthly Tourney @ Twin Buttes 3-21-09

The PABC Monthly Tournament for March was conducted 3-21-09 @ Twin Buttes. 17 fishermen braved the wind and baking sun in pursuit of the elusive big fish that Twin Buttes hides so well. The fishing was pretty good with a lot of sightings. Right are 4 boats we saw as we headed back in.

Scott and I baked and fished the Middle Concho. We hit the salt cedar and bluffs with crank baits and worms. We really thought they would hit the worms, but discovered that they really loved the crank bait! This was found out on my first cast with the Bomber.

Right is a picture of the traffic we saw. For the record, most of the fishermen were very respectful of the occupants of the small plastic boat. Just for the records, Jesse Lucas was not nice (but he is a heck of a nice guy!). ;-P

Not everybody was fishing bass. These guys were parked up against the bluffs fishing crappie. My better half made my buddy and I a T-Shirt for WTJB. I loved that she did this and it worked as these guys were asking about the site. Thanks, babe!

We were pretty beat and caught a number of small fish, but no keepers. Limping in on my 30-pound thrust trolling motor against the wind, we stumbled into Bob Witt and Garrett Day flogging the water. Bob and Garrett both weighed in 3 fish and placed well in the tournament. (4th and 6th respectively.)

We also found Jeff Morris (front) and Jim Day. Jeff ended up winning the tournament with 10.14 pounds of bass. His biggest was 4.12. Jim placed 5th.

We saw the Dormans all day long. These guys fish hard and have both placed well in other tournaments. Unfortunately, this was not the best of days for them.

Roy Cavaness showed us his big fish at the time. Roy placed 2nd with 8.3 pounds of fish. This guy seems to always be in the top end of the standings!

Everybody reported that the bass started up at about 6ish. Most caught their stringers at this time and there were some good fish brought in.

Big Bass honors goes to this yo-yo!

That's right, fellow fishing jerks! I lucked into this 5.04 with 10 minutes before we had to head in. We were beat and just looking for a place to get out of the wind to finish off our time. I do a little trick in my tiny boat where I grab a cedar with my ankle to hold us on a spot. In this area was a little cut about 10 yards long. I cast down it thinking I had caught a big bass like this before when it hit my bomber right by the boat. I knew it was big, but I figured it would get off easily as my partner couldn't have possibly had time to get the net. Just at that moment, Scott dipped the net in and caught the fish. All I could say was ..."WOW"!!!!!

Sometimes it is just better to be lucky than good.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Twin Buttes 3-20-09

Paw-in-law and I fished around the old boat dock up towards the north shore. Weather was a bit windy at first and settles down about 9ish. Water was clearer than usual and about 65 degrees.

I struck first with a crank bait catching a keeper and a dink. But then John caught a lot on a

crank bait.. I lost count after 5. We wrapped things is at about 10:50, but he caught this 2.15 right there at the end. He ended up harvesting 4 keepers and the TPW would be proud.

I had fun getting whipped and look forward to the next big catch!

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat."

Concho River @ 306 and Ben Ficklin 3-19-09

Went solo to this spot and fished the west bank. There was a lot of fallen timber. Water was low to mid 60s and pretty clear.

I would throw a worm in the timber, but got nothing. I ended up dragging a crank bait across the wood and got a few this way. My biggest one was probably 14".

Heading out tomorrow with paw-in-law.

Take care and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat."

Twin Buttes 3-10-09

WOW! I got a surprise invite from this guy.

San Angelo's own and Standard Times Outdoor Columnist, Wendell Ramsey! What a privilege for anyone and an honor I do not take lightly. I had a blast getting my behind whooped by this guy!

Heading out, Wendell confessed that he felt the pressure to put me on the fish. I had to assure him that there was no pressure as I was use to not catching fish. We had a laugh and this lightened things up.

Wendell took me to a spot that I could never find again if my life depended on it. It just looked out in the middle of nowhere. Weather was nice; overcast with a slight breeze. Water was 61 degrees and we both agreed that it would be great fishing weather.

Wendell was fishing a shallow running crank bait and I started with a swim bait. I threw it a time or two and decided to change to my confidence bait, a baby bass Bomber Fat A. I knew this would pay off as I noted that Wendell caught 3 in the time it took me to tie on my crank bait. I tried to record him catching this 3+ pounder, but being the bright guy that I am I predictably could not find the right button in time.

In all honesty, Wendel did this for quite a while. He caught 6+ in the first 30 minutes we were there.

I finally tied on and started casting. I caught a few trees, but managed to work my way off without embarrassing myself too much. Wendell said there were big ones here, but I was pretty busy watching what he was doing.

Then it hit.




This 5.9 is by biggest fish. I was sure I had caught a bark bass as Wendell and I got into a discussion as to whether it was a fish or not. I was wrong. I almost freaked out when I saw the fish. It took some time, but we got it. I could get use to that.

We fished a lot of spots and caught more fish than I could count. I just appreciated the chance to learn from one that truly has spent a lot of time learning his craft.

Thanks, Wendell!

Thanks for reading this and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats."

SuddenLink Open Results 3-7-09

The SuddenLink Open was conducted Saturday, March 7th.

The winner of the SuddenLink tournament was Lee Smith.

Lee won with a total 3 fish stringer 20.30 with over half of the weight being based on his big bass that was 10.55.

Second place went to Tad Box (left)who's 3 fish stringer totaled 18.04 with his big bass standing out at 6.71.

Third place went to Joe Smith (right). Joe's 3 fish total was 15.84 with his big bass being 5.52.


Russell Baumann (left) took 4th place woth a 3 fish stringer worth 13.78. His big bass was 5.39.






12.52 was the weight Paul Montelongo (right)recorded off his 3 fish stringer which was good enough for 5th place. His big bass was 5.51.







David Elliot (left) had a big bass of 5.63 with his other 2 fish totaling out at 12.50. This placed him at 6th place.







12.46 (man, what a close call between 5th and 7th)) was the weight Tony Gibson(right) recorded to take the 7th place spot






Roy Cavaness( left) recorded 11.98 pounds to wrap up 8th place.






Rick Danials (left) took 9th place and Bryan Dorman (below) rounded off the top 10.













Congrats to all who competed on behalf of SAISD and RCY Internet Safety. Hats off to you, folks!

Thanks for taking the time to read this and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boats!"

Suddenlink Open 3-7-09

The Suddenlink Open kicked off on 3-7-09. The fish caught came out of Nasworthy and Twin Buttes. Weather was pretty decent despite being a bit windy. Water temperature was low 60s and 118 fishermen ranging from as far as El Paso made this an event to remember.

The Suddenlink committee members really worked hard to put on this event. The members seen left (from left to right) are; R.J. Jones, Cory Peddy, Craig Thornell, Monica Kincer, Junior Torres, and Gary McDonald.

It was obvious right from the start that these nice people had put in a lot of effort on making this a success. Volunteers were organized and efficient in getting the fishermen in to weigh their catch minimizing the stress the fish had to get through.

As mentioned earlier, the wind was up, although not gusting to 30 mph like it did last weekend. Skeeter boats were offering to give demonstration rides and the Suddenlink Photographer, Ramiro Galvan and I got lucky enough to get to ride with Scott Burriss (left) and score some great pictures of the contestants. Thanks Scott!

On right is Andrew Ortega and his son, Andrew Ortega Jr. from Odessa. We found them not far from the docks over by Knickerbocker Park. Although they didn't catch any keepers, Junior did manage to score the high score for the Cast for Kids Casting competition and has been invited to compete at the next level at Hubbard Lake. Contrats, kiddo!

Tim Dolenger was working the reeds in his kayak as we passed by to say "Hi"!

Over here, we found Kenneth Preston working the boat docks.



About this time, we headed back to the Head Quarters over at the Concho Bass Busters Club House for the weigh-ins.



And we didn't have to wait long.






Melvin Harris showed up with this 5.86. This was a quality fish!












Despite this great start, it didn't take long until Lee Smith showed up with this monster.

It was a 10.55 caught in Nasworthy in the ski lanes. Lee said he caught it on a black and blue jig and that it took him 10 minutes to land it. He also said that he had been waiting 17 years to catch a 10+ pound fish. What a time and place to do this!







What a beautiful fish! Remember, those are 14+ inch keepers under the monster!

I wasn't the only yo-yo covering the event. Wendell Ramsey, Outdoor Writer for the San Angelo Standard Times, fished the tournament and stuck around to watch. Wendell is a heck of a fisherman and writer. It was great to see him here and take a few minutes to visit about the fishing.











I was sincerely appreciative of the tournament as that the proceeds went to SAISD to benefit the kids of San Angelo. Dr. Carol Ann Bonds showed to participate and represent the district. As the head of the district, it was great to see her and her husband be a part of the crowd and visit with the people that we serve.







Thanks, Dr. Bonds!







In all, this was a great experience for everyone involved from the volunteers to the participants to the MC and weigh masters!

My sincerest gratitude to Cory, Gary, and the Suddenlink folks for allowing me access to everything for the coverage of this blog.


Stay tuned for the next post covering the results and remember, "Cast straight, cast often, and keep your wake small for the guys in the plastic boat!"