Lake Norman NC in the Fall

The last tournament of the 2014 Bassmaster Southern Open season took place in Charlotte NC on Lake Norman. This 32,000 acre highland reservoir lake is nearly double the size of my home town waters of Lake Toho. It is always a challenge to figure out in four days how to catch the biggest bass in a strange lake and beat local experts. That is what the Opens are all about.

Lake Norman Practice
Water temp in August was holding in the mid 80s before the event, and dropped into the mid 70s by practice period.

Two sunny days greeted me the first days of practice in NC. I fished with local resident Cary Martin before the off limits at midnight Sunday night.  Spotted bass were eating well, and active baits like spinnerbaits , topwater, and jerkbaits were very productive. I was able to quickly locate deeper docks that held schools of bass. The largemouth bass species eluded me.

 

On Monday, two days before the tournament, a weather front brought a solid day of rain and clouds. Schools of shad and spotted bass unexpectedly moved out deeper to the 20-40ft range. Luckily, the spots would still come up to hit jerkbaits and spinnerbaits worked over them. Solid limits of 16" bass were again easy to find and catch.

 

  

An abundance of 16 inch spotted bass should have clued me in on fishing for larger-than-average spots. I even knew that a local tournament took 11lbs per day to place in the top, that's a 2.2 lb average that 16" spots would not fulfill!

During the last day-and-a-half of the practice period it was partly cloudy and partly sunny. Wolf packs of bass began showing up along the shallow backwater banks. A trick worm worked along the numerous seawalls got me a 3lb largemouth bass and a possible big-bass pattern. 

 

Spotted bass up to 18" were hitting all week.

Black, clear water continued to flow down from the upper end of the lake while the lower end remained green and algae-rich. I wasn't sure what to make of this water color change. I believed rainfall and water release from the upper dam was the reason rather than a turnover, but I wasn't sure. Threadfin shad sure liked the freshwater and were schooling in the shallows.  

Typical Fall school of threadfin shad on Lake Norman, NC.

 The algae bloom of the lower end acted like a lake turnover, when the cooling surface waters sink and push the deeper nutrient rich waters to the surface. This mix often drop oxygen and pH levels. I was perplexed without my oxygen and pH meter to confirm the depth profiles.

Day1 of Tournament
The first day of the event I am paired with William Shipes, an experienced college angler who joined us for his first-ever Open. It was nice to see him have the support of his mom and dad Robbie and Janice.

 

Photo by Janice Shipes

Photo by Janice Shipes

At nearly every stop I catch keepers on a StrikeKing Chartreuse Sexy Shad jerkbait.
When I work around shallow water, William quickly fills him limit on a shakeyhead jig/ trick worm combo. This traditional spotted bass bait failed me in practice. However, William showed me the error of my ways, and I ended up catching several nice fish mimicking his technique.

Photo by Janice Shipes

This is where I differ from many boaters. I remain open to learning from my coanglers, and I give them a shot at catching bass too. The more we both catch, the more clues we gain to what the bass are keying on.

My day one weight is five bass for 8.4lbs, good for 69th place and only 3.7lbs out of top 12 cut.

My coangler William weighs in his allotted three bass limit for 6.10lbs, and good for 9th place among the other coanglers.


Day2 of Tournament
On the second day, my partner is Josh Price, sitting in 29st place for the event.  More importantly, sitting in top5 for coangler of the year race. Nice guy who seems ready to place number one.

Launch Day2, my boat #33, weigh-in 3:30pm.

Darrell Pons Sr. in his Lucas Oil wrapped Ranger Boat.

Florida angler Cecil Douberly waiting for his boat launch.

High winds from the SW blow first thing Friday morning.  I stop at a set of productive wind blown docks and we both land keeper bass. The next few stops on shoal islands only frustrate us with short bass. Graphing the areas show the shad moved deep again but the bass won't hit jerkbaits, buzzbaits, or topwater. Try as I may, no luck.

The rest of the day I alternate between shoals and docks with limited success.

Two hours before weighin I make a deal with my coangler. I'll let him him fish a new series of productive docks I've been holding off on fishing. When he fills his limit, I'll go back to pitching the docks as well to fill my limit.

AERF & Kids in Support of Soldiers help me catch bass!

Talking with Chris Bowes on the weigh-in stage. Photo by Janice Shipes

The first pass on the docks and Josh fills his limit, then culls one. As he does, I work water around the docks and get my 4th fish on a jerkbait. A three pound spot follows my hooked bass, but I can't catch it. I move in to pitch the next set of docks and finally catch my fifth fish. 

The last hour and a half we work hard to upgrade without success.

 

 

In the end, my 16.11 weight is only good for 62nd place and out of the money.

Josh Price, my day2 coangler, makes a nice 21st place finish for $413 and retains his 4th place AOY standing!

Williams Shipes, my day one coangler, made it to the final day and finished 4th, good for a $2433 payday!


Summary
Overall, it was a fun time on Lake Norman. The fall transition made the fishing as tough as the fish changed behavior with the weather front. Normal fishing techniques and lures worked a little, but the fish reacted odd.

 

This video shows and explains the baits I used to catch a moderate bag of spotted bass each day.

Most anglers can catch fish on their home waters given enough practice, but the challenge of going to new lakes and competing with only a few days of scouting makes you a much better angler.

I thank Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Foundation (AERF) for allowing me to represent them on the Bassmaster Southern Open and Bass Nation tours.

I am so happy to be running a Mercury ProXS outboard! Thanks to Mercury Marine and their service crew Andy, Scotty B, & Jay for making a great outboard motor and standing by it!

Jeff Miller at Millers Boating Center sells the best Triton Boat rigs, complete with Mercury, Motorguide, Lowrance, and Power-pole. Stop by and see them next time you're near Ocala, FL. 

I encourage every aspiring angler to fish at the Bassmaster Open level on new lakes. It's fun, challenging, informative, you often fish with Elite pros. If you're good, or lucky, you can even earn a little money. 

 

Bassmaster Southern Open #3

Weather in North Carolina during the Oct 2-4 Bassmaster Southern Open event #3 has been unique. A few days of sun, then all day rains, then foggy weather, and back to sunshine. 

Spotted bass are in their transition from summer patterns to fall migration of following the shad back into creeks. A lake turnover has many of the fish in a foul mood, making the fishing tough. Still, I caught a few and enjoy these challenges. 

We were treated to a tour of Michael Waltrip's Racing garage during our pairings meeting. We were shown how the cars are built from the ground up. Really a ton of work to build each quarter million dollar race car. 

Here are the photos of practice over the last four days and Waltrip's garage. I'll be posting daily status updates as the tournament progresses.   

Lake Toho Bass Nation Qualifier 2014

The Florida Bass Nation held one if it's last qualifying tournaments for the State championship on August 23, 2014 on my favorite lake, Lake Toho, northern most lake on the Kissimmee Chain Of Lakes. 

I ended up finishing 4th place with just under 11lbs and earned my entry into the State Championship on my favorite river, the St Johns River in Palatka, FL. 

How I found and caught my bass on Toho:

The last time I had visited the lake was during the January Bassmaster Southern Open event. Wind blew heavy, the lake was muddy, and cold fronts brought freezing temperatures that covered my boat with ice each morning of that tournament. 

The month of August was the polar opposite: a heat wave with an index of 105 degrees F was forecasted, sunny skies heated lake temperatures to 90s F, and I lacked the time to practice and locate bass. I had to rely on my ability to quickly assess an area and find a pattern.

Going into the event, I made three assumptions: state agency weed control efforts from January had completed their job of reducing hydrilla in the lakes, water clarity would be a key to success, and dog-days of summer would slow down the bass bite. 

It appeared to me the summer pattern of aquatic life was normal: shad were schooling and feeding on algea, bluegill and redear sunfish were spawning, and bass were probably feeding heavy at night. 

Throwing topwater baits on a glassy morning lake was great fun, but failed to get me a strike at the first three areas I tried. Then, a gentle breeze from the west brought feeding baitfish to the surface, each fish noticeably dimpling the water as they fed on microscopic food. 

A cast to the area and a solid 3.5lb bass ate my topwater bait and gained me my first fish of the day. Several casts and several short strikes later, clued me in that something was off. As I stopped the bait to check on my live wells, a bass over 5lbs sucks under my topwater bait as it was sitting still on the surface. I was out of position, and after a brief battle I lost the fish. I knew that was going to cost me, and it did. But the strike did fulfil my assumption that the bass bite would need to be slow. 

I was able to catch three more keeper bass by fishing soft plastics baits through the area. It wasn't long before the wind died and the bite ended. 

The other typical summer pattern in Florida is flipping, so I ran to a grassline and started speed-flipping to locate active fish. About half a mile down I missed a bass that grabbed the tail of my worm. A few more feet down the grassline and I missed another fish. Same thing, the fish grab the tail. I thought, bass or bluegill?

It took me another ten missed fish before I dialled in on the bait and how to present it. Since the bait's fall triggered the bites, I just had to keep reducing the bait size until the bass ate the hook too. Once I figure that out, I caught a bass on my next hit and filled my five-bass limit. 

Lake water temperatures in my area reached 94F and I was glad that Triton live wells have a recirculation feature which vortexes air into the water. Leaving the circulator to contant-on provided great fish care and kept oxygen levels high in the hot weather. I would suggest all anglers maintain a good live well battery so the live wells can be set to constant-on in summer months. 

I continued pitching my bait along the grassline and finally caught a decent bass, a four pounder! That bass allowed me to cull a smaller one out of my live well. I caught a few more bass that helped cull a little more weight before I had to end the day.

Looking back, had I executed better and landed every fish, I think I could have made run for the 18lbs needed for second place. Many of my missed fish felt strong, but when fishing in thick grass, the tough plants make it easy to lose some bass.  

Overall, it was a fun day on the lake with bass biting steady all day. I reached my goal of qualifying for the State Championship and I earned a little money to pay for gas. 

My congratulations go out to Kyle Fox who ended up taking the win at 20+lbs.

I look forward to seeing all my fellow Bass Nation anglers at the State Championship on October 18-19, 2014 in Palatka, FL. Until then, tight lines...

Kids In Support of Soldiers video

In Studio With The Three Amigos

Meeting the Three Amigos
Every morning, the pink and purple colors of sunrise push away the darkness of night. On this morning, I was not watching the lavender color of sunrise from the water, but instead I was witnessing radio show host BooDreaux walking up to Clear Channel's media center dressed in all purple.

 

This was my first visit to the "Fishing Florida Radio" show broadcast room. A funny thought made me pause: should I turn and run away now while I had the chance? Once the other hosts Steve and Captain Mike let me in the secured building, I might not be able to escape. I had to suppress my "flight or fight" instinct and join the guys on the show.

Seriously, the three Amigos: Steve, Captain Mike, and BooDreaux, hosted a great radio show and made me feel at ease. Fishing Florida Radio (FFR) has been traveling the air waves for over six years.


Steve Chapman (L) and BooDreaux (R)...thinking.

The first hour of the show we discussed experiences on the Bassmater Open Tour, shared stories about my recent charity events on Lake X and with Kids In Support of Soldiers, and worked on the pronunciation of the acronym A.E.R.F. (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration Foundation). 

 

Bill Biship (L) and Captain Mike Ortego (R) in studio

The other guest was Bill Bishop, a Tarpon flyfishing expert who shared stories as effortlessly as waves lap upon a shore.  Our fishing philosophies between tarpon flyfishing and bass fishing held many similarities. Bill and I shared an understanding of paying attention to how individual fish react to each cast.

In between air times, we discussed our regards for fishing, illustrating, and teaching. Again, our philosophies were a like. Bill authored a book, "High Rollers: Fly Fishing for Giant Tarpon," which demonstrated his love for all three.

My blog is a dynamic book that I use to improve my writing. One day I will share a book of my own with the fishing community, mainly to pass on the fishing tips and techniques I have learned over the years.  The more I write the more fun it seems to become and I look forward to getting a book published.  My friend Stephanie has become my mentor as she is now authored five published paperback books under the name Petie McCarty.  Her books are now available on Amazon.com. Check out "Catch of the Day" if you want a good action story with a fishing theme.

During the radio show I found myself relating to Bill's stories of his evolution as an angler. He spoke of measuring success in his younger years by counting the number of fish he caught per trip. Now, as a seasoned angler, he targets a single tarpon or two in a day to acquire an even higher level of success.

After reflecting on what he said, I found I measure my success by determining the habitat, cover, and lure cadence needed take to catch bass in a tournament.  I am proud to say my biggest bass weighed in a tournament was 11 pounds, 13 ounces from a Florida event. In other states I target the more common but elusive six to eight pound bass.

The pace of my pursuit of working for "one big fish at a time" clashes with Bill's, as my pace is very fast and intended to cover water. Because I usually fish lakes over 10,000 acres in size, I must use "moving baits" to efficiently work as much habitat as possible in two and a half days of practice.  Once I get a few bites, then I focus on the productive types of cover and habitat where I might catch the bigger bass, "one at a time."


Floating On The Radio Waves:

Broadcasting on Fishing Florida Radio was more fun than I imagined. The April 26th show was syndicated on the radio stations "740 The Game", "West Palm Beach's 1230 The Talk Station",  and "Fox News Radio 94.5 WFLA."

The Amigo's conversations were engaging, the stories were enlightening, and the information shared by the Captains calling in to the show made me want to leave the studio and get out on the water! It was awesome to be a part of the whole production!

It felt good to contribute to the bass fishing content of the show and it was nice to have a podcast  recording on ITunes to get a measure of my performance on the show.  We made a joke of everything was going well until I looked down and noticed BooDreaux's purple-funk growing on my right arm.

Ok. Never mind. Here was the joke: In my facebook comments, I shared my worry that the purple growth now on my arm from sitting next to BooDreaux was going to infect me with Barney-song turrets and give me the urge to water my hair like BooDreaux's hat-hair. Again, the guys were great and the radio show was a lot of fun! Boudreaux takes the jokes in stride. I hope he survived the parachute jump the following day.

Anytime you are planning a fishing trip in Florida you should listen to FFR and get the latest info on what species of fish are biting. On our episode, we heard from the Captains how the Cobia bite started picking up last week and the Tarpon bite is just starting. Great stuff!

Similarity in the fishing community amongst the freshwater and saltwater groups is really neat. The freshwater side is just a micro-version of the saltwater side. Fish and habitats are smaller and more limited in freshwater, but every technique is comparable. That's why Bass Pro Shop Orlando has two separate sections that keep inventory of similar styled baits.

Fishing is an friendly sport and is unique in giving anglers the ability to meet and talk with icons in the sport such as Shaw Grigsby, Gary Klein, and Bill Bishop. The professionalism and down-to-earth nature of these top anglers is inspiring. 

Fishing Florida Radio! Please take a minute to visit ITunes or IHeart Radio and check them out.

Thanks for following along.

 Jeff

I just finished a video sharing with anglers my method of saltwater wade fishing in Florida's rich and abundant fisheries of the East Coast Intracoastal. Enjoy.   http://youtu.be/kpCFelTtMZ0

Kirchman Foundation's Lake X-travaganza

Early morning before sunrise a barn owl hoots, making it's call heard on the other side of a calm black-water Florida lake. 

 

All is quite until the silence is broken by the sound of gravel being crushed under truck tires. The first of many fishing boats arrive at the launch ramp of the former Mercury Marine testing site known as Lake X. Long since abandoned as a testing facility, the Lake X property is now managed by the charitable organization of the Kirchman Foundation. 

Lake X-travaganza is one of the many ways the Foundation introduces awareness and understanding of nature, wildlife, and old Florida to kids and parents.

On April 12, 2014, myself and 40 other boat captains arrived at the Lake X property to take a group of nearly 100 kids fishing and to share the outdoors.  Another group of volunteers provided educational programs and workshops at the recreational facilities on shore. 

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Youth Tournament:

I was to captain twin sisters Giovana and Giomara, high school seniors a month away from graduating. Neither of them had ever cast a fishing pole, let alone fished any kind of tournament. 

The tournament organizer, Neal, allowed me to use two Zebco 202 push-button rod and reel combos for the girls. Being they were new to angling, I had hoped to spend the day teaching them to cast and just enjoy a nice morning on this undeveloped private lake. I never knew the trip would turn out the way it did. 

We were boat 35 and at takeoff I motored my Triton boat across the lake to a Cypress tree line in water only two feet deep. 

My experience had taught me that shallow water areas hold the most fish, so I chose an area to give us the highest odds of catching something. To keep the girls from snagging all the grass and trees along the shoreline I tied on artificial worms. Using a weedless Texas-rig technique, I buried the hooks deep into the plastic baits. 

The Zebco reel is a classic beginner fishing reel of many anglers. It is easy to operate and cast.  This push-button style reel was created after World War II when the "Zero Hour Bomb Company" (ZeBCO) begin using its factories to make fishing tackle. 

I was pleasantly surprised to see the girls master casting after only a few tries, and they even developed the ability to cast the worms between Cypress trees.  

Giovana, the oldest twin by 1 minute, caught the first fish of her life, a twelve inch bass!  

Within a half hour her sister Giomara had hooked and lost two nice bass before landing her first fish ever, a thirteen inch bass! 

I was proud to be teaching these first-time anglers all about the great outdoors. The girls battled it out all morning hooking and losing more fish, asking who's is biggest and keeping track of who got the most bites. 

Occasionally, while the girls cast to shallow water, I would make a pitch out to the deeper grass line with my flipping rod.  On one pitch I felt a fish hit the bait, so I handed the rod to the closet girl Giovana. When she reeled down to set the hook the fish nearly pulled her overboard. A five-pound bass came rushing out of the grass like a lassoed bull. Giovana faught with all her might and her sister Giomara helped hold the rod during the battle.  After what seemed like forever I netted the bass. The girls squealed and celebrated at having landed such a big bass on their first fishing trip ever. I was astonished at the size of the bass these "first timers" had landed! 

Not to be outdone by her sister, Giomara began concentrating harder at catching a big fish too. She hooked two bass in the three-pound class that simply pulled off. She continued to get bites but the bass were short striking and threw the hooks.  

After having fished the first area for several hours the bite slowed. I moved to another area to keep the girl's excitement up. It worked, and the sisters began fishing around the new set of Cypress trees with renewed energy.

It wasn't long before Giovana let out a yell that she hooked a fish. I turned around to hear the drag of her Zebco reel scream as the fish peeled the ten-pound fishing line off the reel like thread. At first I thought it was a mudfish, a species that also inhabits the shallows of Florida blackwater lakes. Then my eyes widened as I could see it was a bass worthy of any experienced tournament angler!  

Giovana fought the fish around the boat and wore it down so I could net the giant bass. The bass easily weighed over six pounds, and later at the weighin it earned her the event's "Big Bass" award for the 14-17 yr age bracket. 

Because the tournament was a "one-fish-per-angler" event, Giovana had to cull out and release her five pound bass. Having landed two big bass on artificial worms was an amazing feat for such novice anglers. 

Giomara, the younger sister, was not afraid of touching fish and helped her sister release all the culled bass. 

Giomara had fun casting and catching anything, and ended the day by catching her personal biggest bass just before weigh-in. 

While her fish did not beat her sister's big bass, Giomara did hook into the most bass of the day and earned bragging rights among the sisters.  

These young ladies had landed two quality bass despite having never fished. I was so proud of both girls and their ability to listen to my coaching. 

It was a joy watching the wonder in their eyes as I explained the roles that each bird, plant, and dragonfly played in nature. 

Thanks to the Kirchman Foundation, many kids and parents were able to experience the beauty of nature and it's healing powers at the Lake X property. 

A special thanks goes to Neal Lazarus and Bass Pro Shops for allowing Giovana and Giomara to take home their Zebco combos. The memories attached will likely last a forever. 

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In addition to the Osceola County Sheriff’s department, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), Teen Sportfishing Association (TSA), and Fishing Florida Radio were key partners at introducing youth to the outdoors and making the event successful.  It was a pleasure working with all the groups. 

To learn more about the educational and outreach programs, click on the links below: 

http://www.kirchmanfoundation.org/

www.teensportfishingassociation.com

www.myfwc.com

www.fishingfloridaradio.com