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Top Calfishing.com The Rob and Nico Show topic #175
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Subject: "Episode 10: Sealy Big Bass Splash - Lake Fork, TX - Sep..." Previous topic | Next topic
swimbaitSun Nov-16-14 02:21 PM
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#175, "Episode 10: Sealy Big Bass Splash - Lake Fork, TX - Sep..."


  

          

Video: http://youtu.be/3yxyF1hC-oM

Nico and CV flew out in September to fish with Josh and I at the Sealy Big Bass Splash at Lake Fork. We debated this trip for awhile but in the end the thought of fishing a 1,000 plus boat tournament on one of the most famous lakes in the country got the better of us }(

Nico drove with me, about 8 and a half hours from the house in Mandeville, LA. Cris drove with Josh from Houston.

Practice

Josh and Cris practiced the day before the tournament. Nico and I launched mid-day. Well, I launched, and he waited in line for 3 hours lol. If you don't pre-register for this tournament, it's a comical line to sign up. Taking all barni tournament aspects in stride we did get a few hours in and fished 'till dark without a bite.

CV and Josh caught a few on Strike King 6XD and dropshot, but overall it was tough. I guess the lake had turned over a few days prior to the event - at least that is our excuse for why we didn't catch non-stop 10 pound bass :)

Day 1

The day of the tournament came. We launched at the Minnow Bucket. For you CA guys who are used to ordered blast offs - the way this event works (and many in TX) you just go to your spot from any ramp at any time and start fishing at the appointed time. Some dudes are out there in the middle of the night tied off to trees to guard their spots.

So yes, the lake looked lit up like a Christmas tree with red and green lights by the time we got launched and got to our spot (we fished by Josh and Cris since we found nothing the day prior).

The event started in the pitch dark, which was amusing. I thought maybe fish would bite in the dark but we never did any good in the dark on any of the 3 tournament days. Guys next to us were tied to trees catching barfish and stuff in the dark, it was a bit surreal.

The way this thing works, Fork is a slot Lake so you can only weigh in bass that are under 16" or over 24". We started throwing a-rigs in 30' of water. Sure enough after the sun started to peek out, Nico got bit and landed a perfectly sized under. The fish was 15 and 3/4" long, weighed 2.14lbs which tied for 2nd biggest fish of the 10-11am hour, good for $700. There is something about Nico and the first time he fishes a tournament, like the time he fished his first team tournament and his first bite as an 11lber :)

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2014_09_18_fork/day1_weights.jpg

Didn't get that fish on video, it was still darkish and I'd forgotten to turn the camera on. After a bit I caught a 5lber on the a-rig and Nico caught another fish that was not far from being a money fish. More like 15". We didn't weigh it in for the weigh in, I think it was 1.7lbs.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2014_09_18_fork/rob.jpg

We moved around and caught some of these white bass striper hybrid fish. The sun came up some more, it was flat and calm. We decided to try frogs.

Ran back to some cove where Josh said we could find lilly pads. Sure enough Nico catches two immediately. One 4 and a half pounder and one fish that was just barely in the slot, 16 and a quarter inch or so. Too bad!

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2014_09_18_fork/nico.jpg

We fished around there for several hours getting a few frog bites but they were hard to land. We did see one big 8lb bass blow up on a gizzard shad right by the boat but it didn't bite. Darn. We fished after the end of the tournament day because... why not. Nico caught one small fish on an a-rig.

Day 2

Day 2 we started in the same spot as the first day. I can't remember what happened but fishing wasn't good. This day I fished with CV and Nico fished with Josh. The morning bite was terrible so we tried frogging.

Frogging was OK. Never great but we got bit here and there. Missed a lot of bites in the pads. Caught a few small ones. Drove all over the west side of the lake. We tried in the back of some big shallow coves and saw birds and bait but no one was catching. Josh and Nico had a similarly tough day.

At the end of the day Cris and I went up in to some cove arm and saw a guy catch one outside some trees in 15'. Cris missed a nice bite on a brush hog. No money fish for anyone this day though.

Day 3

Day 3 I lent my boat to CV and Nico while Josh and I fished in his boat. The morning was terrible again. We fished some community hole offshore stuff for several hours. Guys next to us were heaving lunker punkers over some high spot for days. No one around us had a bite. The water was brown and bubbly and no good.

Nico and Cris started on the spot where Cris and I had left off the day before and saw a guy catch an over right next to them. They missed a few bites but none landed.

Josh and I moved up lake and threw frogs. It was dead slow. Other boats were frogging the same areas and the lake just felt punished. The water looked good but the fish were over it.

After awhile we got a call from Cris and Nico (of course calling people and telling them where fish are is legal in this tournament because why not?) who had run up the east side of the lake to a place that looked good on the map to CV. Sure enough they had found fish schooling offshore there. Like way offshore in the middle of the lake kind of thing.

Even better, no one else was fishing this spot. A minor miracle. We drove over and Nico had just caught another perfectly sized under and lost a 3lber. They were ripping rattle traps in the trees. We rigged up and had good action. Well, good if you mean hybrids, catfish, crappie, and barfish.

Fish would come up busting on shad and throwing water in waves. There was lots of action but the bass bites were few and far between. I hooked one good fish that was most likely in the slot and lost it. Nico and Cris caught a few more bass. Josh caught the biggest crappie I have ever seen in my life. It ate a 1/2oz trap down it's throat, gone.

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2014_09_18_fork/josh.jpg

The end of the day came. Boats were clearing out. Nico and Cris raced back to weigh in for the final hour. Josh and I put it on the trailer. After awhile we got the call, Nico had won the last hour of the last day. Nice way to cap it off :)

http://www.calfishing.com/files/Images/daily_reports/2014_09_18_fork/day3_weights.jpg

We pulled off the water around 4pm and drove home. One of those blurry 4 day on the water drives. Fishing was not amazing but the company was great and we fished what has got to be the biggest bass tournament in the world on Lake Fork. Fork is a beautiful lake, filled with a variety of bass habitat.

What worked

in Rainbow Shad on a Krazy 8 a-rig
http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/new_thumbs/KSIF-RBS-thumb.jpg


http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/new_thumbs/SPPF-07-thumb.jpg


http://img.tacklewarehouse.com/new_thumbs/LCLV500-CTS-thumb.jpg

  

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