Saturday Feb 21st

This Saturday was another Anglers Choice Pro Teams Winter Survivor tournament. Weather conditions leading up to the tournament was less than prime, with cold nights and winds that gusted over 40mph. The tournament was held out of the Marshall Hall Ramp and I drew 6th boat. Everyone in the entire field ran north to the favorite winter fishing spots except me. When I arrived at my first spot I was greeted with a layer of skim ice and a water temperature of 36 degrees. The tide was going out and was about halfway out. The location I was fishing was ledge that was covered in grass and dropped to 9 feet of water in the deepest spot. I began casting 1/4oz lipless crankbait and instantly hooked up and landed a 3lb bass. I could not believe how hard and deep the fish had eaten the bait. 36 degree water and I was catching bass on a lipless crankbait. During the next 3 hours I hooked 7 more bass and landed 4 of them. The weather report was calling for the wind to blow out of the south throughout the day which would have been beneficial to my spot. The only problem is that the weather report was incorrect and the tide dropped way lower than normal. This lower tide either pulled the fish out of the grass or made them relocate and I never got another bite the entire day. I tried to force the fish to bite on low water and was unsuccessful. I ended up weighing a limit of bass that was over 12lbs, which was good enough for 2nd place. Looking back now I should have left the grass bite and relocated to hard structure in deeper water with the low tide. This proves that while fishing tournaments anglers should pay attention to what the fish are telling you, and make adjustments accordingly.