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ABM closed out the fall season last night with the last FREE Tuesday night tournament of the year. They really did it up right with BBQ sandwiches and all the fixins, plus a cooler of cold drinks, all for free.
I will miss this format, 3 hours and 3 fish - they had 27 teams last night and I heard 22 of those teams brought their 3 fish to the scales.
For the report:
Arrived at Mansfield to find cloudy, windy and rainy conditions stemming from a cold front that just pushed it's way through. Had to dig in the boat and pull out the rain gear and off I went. For the last 2 weeks I have been fishing marinas around the Mansfield and lower basin area, to maximize my 3 hours of fishing time, and I am too lazy to put gas in the boat.
With the wind blowing like crazy and the cloud cover it really made for ideal conditions to try to get a spinner bait bite going. Stanley makes a "compact model" spinner bait that sells at Academy. This has been my go to blade this fall, and I have caught a ton of fish on it, however haven't been able to get the bigger bites on it. Last night I threw it around some shallow docks and ledges and put keeper #1 in the boat in the first 5 casts or so. Right at 2Lbs.
http://www.fishstanley.com/compactsbt.html
Continued tossing the blade and caught a few short fish on it but the keeper bite was missing. Went to the trusty old Kinami Flash(small 1/16 ounce weight - 3/0 hook) and had another keeper in about twice as many casts. I was really focusing in on 4 docks and ledges and kept beating up the same water, so giving them something new to look at seemed to trigger a better bite. Last keeper came on the Kinami Flash:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Kinami_Flash_5_7pk/descpage-KF.html#multiview
So that gave me a small three fish limit and I picked up the Stanley Ribbit, kicked the trolling motor on high and went to covering water in the last 20 minutes of light. Culled up with a solid 2lber that replaced a squeaker 14" fish I had caught earlier. Straight braid, 6/0 hook and the ribbit. Only had one blow up but it helped to improve my bag a little:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Stanley_Ribbit_35_5pk/descpage-SR.html#multiview
I was asked a few times what I had weight wise and I said should be right at 6lbs for 3 fish. Got to the scales and it was 5.99, not good enough for a Top 6 finish but a great time and really an enjoyable evening on the water, despite the rain.
Hope this helps yall, the fish should stay on this pattern all the way into late fall and the topwater bite should continue to improve as we see water temps now in the mid 70's.
Again, big thanks to Austin Boats & Motors and all the hard work and effort they put into running this deal. Early plans are to start them back up in the spring with the time change.
I will miss this format, 3 hours and 3 fish - they had 27 teams last night and I heard 22 of those teams brought their 3 fish to the scales.
For the report:
Arrived at Mansfield to find cloudy, windy and rainy conditions stemming from a cold front that just pushed it's way through. Had to dig in the boat and pull out the rain gear and off I went. For the last 2 weeks I have been fishing marinas around the Mansfield and lower basin area, to maximize my 3 hours of fishing time, and I am too lazy to put gas in the boat.
With the wind blowing like crazy and the cloud cover it really made for ideal conditions to try to get a spinner bait bite going. Stanley makes a "compact model" spinner bait that sells at Academy. This has been my go to blade this fall, and I have caught a ton of fish on it, however haven't been able to get the bigger bites on it. Last night I threw it around some shallow docks and ledges and put keeper #1 in the boat in the first 5 casts or so. Right at 2Lbs.
http://www.fishstanley.com/compactsbt.html
Continued tossing the blade and caught a few short fish on it but the keeper bite was missing. Went to the trusty old Kinami Flash(small 1/16 ounce weight - 3/0 hook) and had another keeper in about twice as many casts. I was really focusing in on 4 docks and ledges and kept beating up the same water, so giving them something new to look at seemed to trigger a better bite. Last keeper came on the Kinami Flash:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Kinami_Flash_5_7pk/descpage-KF.html#multiview
So that gave me a small three fish limit and I picked up the Stanley Ribbit, kicked the trolling motor on high and went to covering water in the last 20 minutes of light. Culled up with a solid 2lber that replaced a squeaker 14" fish I had caught earlier. Straight braid, 6/0 hook and the ribbit. Only had one blow up but it helped to improve my bag a little:
http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/Stanley_Ribbit_35_5pk/descpage-SR.html#multiview
I was asked a few times what I had weight wise and I said should be right at 6lbs for 3 fish. Got to the scales and it was 5.99, not good enough for a Top 6 finish but a great time and really an enjoyable evening on the water, despite the rain.
Hope this helps yall, the fish should stay on this pattern all the way into late fall and the topwater bite should continue to improve as we see water temps now in the mid 70's.
Again, big thanks to Austin Boats & Motors and all the hard work and effort they put into running this deal. Early plans are to start them back up in the spring with the time change.
Doug 
