It seems every Austin Bass Club (oldest Bass Club in Texas, est. Sept 1960) event held on Falcon Lake:
The wind blew the first day to keep anglers from running the lake to areas where they normally like to go. It was a little chilly in the morning to warming up by the end of the day. Water temperature seem to stay in the 65 degrees mark in the morning and warm up to over 70's by afternoon. The wind came out of the North Saturday and Sunday was a 180 degree turn around and came out of the southeast. The temperature Sunday morning was around 45 and warmed up to in the 80's. Do you think these conditions added to the frustration of the anglers?
As the contenders began weighing their catch, not many limits were seen.
Of the twenty members that participated only eight brought in limits for the first day of the two day event. They weren't the average Falcon creels, the bag weights were much smaller than normal for this time of the year especially when the fish were in the spawning stage. There were only two individual weight sacks over the 20 pound mark on the first day with Team Mike Whitten and Jim Brown with their total creel being 46.35 lbs. The next closes were Bobby Landes and Denis Parish with total team weight of 24.58 pounds.
Mike and Jim had found their fish in practice, and knew what spot they were going to hit. The areas of choice for them was way back in a creek from the wind and protected by the thick brush. Did they think they had enough fish for the second day and did they have a backup plan in case it did not hold up?
Sunday wasn't much better even though the wind shifted. The lake was great to run in the morning but by close to the end of the tournament the wind started picking up. Only seven members brought in five fish limit dropping from the first day. Of the two day event only four individuals were able to land ten fish limit. Those individuals were Jeff Woodard, Mike Whitten, Darryl Hanson and yours truly. No teams were able to put together the limit of twenty fish for the both days. Although Mike Shields and Jeff Woodard were the closest with 19 fish; Jerry Carpenter and Darryl Hanson would have been second with 18 fish for two days if they had not missed the weigh-in on Day One by two minutes causing them to be disqualified for that day.
Reports were that the fish were in depths of 12 feet to the banks. All sorts of baits were used to catch fish, ranging from spinner baits, crank baits, flukes, senkos and other types of plastics. If you were able to find the fish you were sure to catch some. Notice I did say some as reports were told of big ones coming off or getting broke off.
The second day did improve a little. Six teams came in with sacks of over twenty pounds with the biggest sack of over 30 lbs by Darryl Hanson and Jerry Carpenter. Jerry helped with that creel by catching bigbass of the event with a 8.84 pounder. Darryl and Jerry would have placed second with a total creel of 53.31 lb on 18 fish, had they not gotten into traffic on the way to weigh in and were two minutes late. Time management is crucial if you trailer to weigh in. Only one team came in with a ten fish limit and that was Mike Shields and Jeff Woodard.
The standings for the top three places were as follows:
1st Place - Mike Whitten/Jim Brown – 17 Fish – 67.64lbs
2nd Place – Mike Shields/Jeff Woodard – 19 Fish – 47.22lbs
3rd Place – Jake Jakubowsky/Jan Cartwright – 15 Fish – 43.61lbs
To hear the story of where the winning team caught their fish, and the structure they were fishing, attend the next cclub meeting. Congrats to the winners and all those that attended.
Remember, next month event will held on Lake Buchanan on 4/19.
The wind blew the first day to keep anglers from running the lake to areas where they normally like to go. It was a little chilly in the morning to warming up by the end of the day. Water temperature seem to stay in the 65 degrees mark in the morning and warm up to over 70's by afternoon. The wind came out of the North Saturday and Sunday was a 180 degree turn around and came out of the southeast. The temperature Sunday morning was around 45 and warmed up to in the 80's. Do you think these conditions added to the frustration of the anglers?
As the contenders began weighing their catch, not many limits were seen.
Of the twenty members that participated only eight brought in limits for the first day of the two day event. They weren't the average Falcon creels, the bag weights were much smaller than normal for this time of the year especially when the fish were in the spawning stage. There were only two individual weight sacks over the 20 pound mark on the first day with Team Mike Whitten and Jim Brown with their total creel being 46.35 lbs. The next closes were Bobby Landes and Denis Parish with total team weight of 24.58 pounds.
Mike and Jim had found their fish in practice, and knew what spot they were going to hit. The areas of choice for them was way back in a creek from the wind and protected by the thick brush. Did they think they had enough fish for the second day and did they have a backup plan in case it did not hold up?
Sunday wasn't much better even though the wind shifted. The lake was great to run in the morning but by close to the end of the tournament the wind started picking up. Only seven members brought in five fish limit dropping from the first day. Of the two day event only four individuals were able to land ten fish limit. Those individuals were Jeff Woodard, Mike Whitten, Darryl Hanson and yours truly. No teams were able to put together the limit of twenty fish for the both days. Although Mike Shields and Jeff Woodard were the closest with 19 fish; Jerry Carpenter and Darryl Hanson would have been second with 18 fish for two days if they had not missed the weigh-in on Day One by two minutes causing them to be disqualified for that day.
Reports were that the fish were in depths of 12 feet to the banks. All sorts of baits were used to catch fish, ranging from spinner baits, crank baits, flukes, senkos and other types of plastics. If you were able to find the fish you were sure to catch some. Notice I did say some as reports were told of big ones coming off or getting broke off.
The second day did improve a little. Six teams came in with sacks of over twenty pounds with the biggest sack of over 30 lbs by Darryl Hanson and Jerry Carpenter. Jerry helped with that creel by catching bigbass of the event with a 8.84 pounder. Darryl and Jerry would have placed second with a total creel of 53.31 lb on 18 fish, had they not gotten into traffic on the way to weigh in and were two minutes late. Time management is crucial if you trailer to weigh in. Only one team came in with a ten fish limit and that was Mike Shields and Jeff Woodard.
The standings for the top three places were as follows:
1st Place - Mike Whitten/Jim Brown – 17 Fish – 67.64lbs
2nd Place – Mike Shields/Jeff Woodard – 19 Fish – 47.22lbs
3rd Place – Jake Jakubowsky/Jan Cartwright – 15 Fish – 43.61lbs
To hear the story of where the winning team caught their fish, and the structure they were fishing, attend the next cclub meeting. Congrats to the winners and all those that attended.
Remember, next month event will held on Lake Buchanan on 4/19.
