Potomac River Curve Ball
After finishing in 6th place at my last ABA/BASS Bassmaster Weekend Series Tournament, I had a disappointing follow-up finish this past weekend on the Potomac River. I finished in 50th place on our 4th tournament of the year and failed to do what I had made my goal at the beginning of the year and that was to just catch a limit at every event and let the consistency factor take it course. The finished dropped me from 7th in the AOY standings to a 9th place tie.
I had been practicing all week long all the way up to the event. I had three good main river spots that I had a solid bite on and a bunch of confidence in along with a spot inside Mattawoman Creek. I was checking these areas throughout the week at various phases of the tide and had a consistent bite. I mainly used Kaotik Shaker Baits to search the bass out and would then run back through the area with a craw imitation. I also had a solid frog bite going as well. The situations during practice were high bright skies with no wind. As I looked into the weekends forecast, the weather was calling for partially cloudy skies with around 10-15 mph winds. I felt like this was going to be perfect and only improve my approach.
I drew boat launch #10 which was great. My non-boater pair was also a friend of mine who I had always wanted to fish with but never had gotten the opportunity to do so with. A great angler named David Williams. Why he chooses to go non-boater is beyond me but to each his own I guess.
I started off in my Creek spot. The tide was high and I felt like if they were going to be in that area than a high tide morning would be my best bet. After a couple of hours I had no fish in the box, so I picked up my trolling motor and ran to my first main river area and was disappointed at what I saw.
The winds were coming out of the SW a little faster than expected. They had also been blowing overnight which was unexpected. The forecast wasn’t calling for the winds until around noon. Regardless, the winds had trashed my main river areas. All of them, muddying up the water and blowing in drfit wood and loose grass. Too make a long story short, I ended up back at my first spot in the creek. I chanced a couple of other creek areas with no luck but spent the majority of the time back on my first spot scrambling around the area looking for a concentration but only had them scattered.
The result of my day was 3 fish that weighed just under 7.70 lbs. My non-boater caught 2 for 4 lbs and some change. Between the two of us, we probably caught 30 bass but most of them under the 15 inch minimum. It was definitely a disappointing day for me not because I didn’t whack them like I had been all week long, but because everybody else did. The payout was 15 places and if you didn’t show up with at least 15 lbs, you showed up without a chance. That’s why they call it fishing and not catching I suppose.
In speaking with some successful fellow anglers, it seems as my pattern was duplicated by many of them, but the morning bite that I missed out on was crucial. I have one more 2 day divisional championship in August. I will be focusing my efforts on that, but now being a shoe in for the Regional, I will also be looking into preparing for that as well.
I would like to say congratulations to a couple of guys who did really well. Brian “Scutter” Lee, Terry Olinger, and Rich Newton all earned checks with some nice limits brought in and Brad Lear catching them good but placing one just outside the money. I was hanging out with Scutter as the weigh-in line shrank. With three anglers left to go and him sitting in the lead with 19.52 lbs, a 19.61 sack came across the stage bumping him into 2nd. A heart breaker, but a 2nd place finish is good all day long. To see the final results, click here.
To see the current Angler of the Year Standings for the Maryland Division, click here
Good luck to the rest of you at your next upcoming events and be sure to let us all know how you do.
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POSTED IN: American Bass Anglers, Miscellaneous
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