Category: Triple Hooked Blogs

Sunflower Team Series on Melvern

The fourth Sunflower Team Series event of the year was on Melvern. Nick was my partner for the event. The day before the tournament, we found a couple of spots, but one of the spots Nick lost a good keeper. We didn’t fish the spot very hard, so we were going to start there. It was about a 100 yard stretch one point to another. On the day of the tournament, we fished down the spot throwing topwater, and I hooked up with a good fish on a spook. Nick was able to scoop up the fish with the net. Great start!  We fished 15 minutes and already had one keeper. There was another spot the day before I had seen a huge smallmouth. With no one fishing the spot yet, I thought lets fish it fast and then go back through the spot that we started on. Nick caught one nonkeeper off the standing timber. Just then another boat pulled up on the spot we started. So I told Nick, “Let’s go back down to the other point since there is a boat on the opposite point.” We caught three non-keepers on soft plastics. Most of the fish were coming off of a laydown or stumps in the water. We started to fish the wood really slow. I would throw topwater a little while Nick threw plastics.  Then we would switch. I was getting a little worried about the weather as some really dark clouds had moved in. Getting the rain gear on, I was wondering if we need to go in. Then about 5 minute later, it was through. Nick was throwing a whopper popper around the laydown. I noticed a dark spot behind his bait. My soft plastic was just under Nick’s bait. Then the dark spot disappeared. Just then Nick had an explosion on his bait, but it missed. Then I noticed my line moving, I set the hook.  It was a good smallmouth.  We landed my fish, and it was keeper number two. A couple of casts later, Nick hooked up on the whopper popper.  It was probably about a 2 pound smallmouth. I told him to take his time.  Just then, it jumped and threw the bait back to the boat. Nick was very upset, but that is topwater or anything with treble hooks. After fishing another couple hours on the spot, we moved. I have learned that in big tournaments, if you find keepers at a spot, you better pick the spot apart before you leave because someone else will move in on the spot. We fished for about an hour around the lake without any luck. So, we headed back to the spot we started because there were two boats on the bank. There was a little bank further down that looked good. Right when we stopped to fish, Nick’s second cast, he hooked a smallmouth.  It jumped, and it was a keeper. Nick was so excited!  He took his time, and we landed the fish. Three keepers!  We need two more fish. Then, I hooked up with a big fish, and told Nick “Get the net.  This is a good fish.” It was a big fish, but it was the wrong species.  A walleye about 23 inches. First thing Nick said was “Mom would love to eat that.” I threw it back, and said I really didn’t want to mess with cleaning it today. I was watching the bank trying to see if the other boats would leave. After they left, we moved back to the laydown. Nick was able to catch two non-keepers before the tournament was over. We had 3 fish for 6.14 pounds, and good for 9th place out of 33 boats. It was awesome to get in the top 10, and with just one more fish we may have gotten a check. Next event is on El Dorado on July 14th. Kyle and I will fish Wilson on August 18. Hopefully we can catch some fish and maybe get another top 10 finish. It has been an awesome season fishing with the twins. We have learned so much on how to fish tournaments. It is totally different then just going fishing.

An Incredible Day on a New Lake

We decided to try a new lake we had never been to. We drove an hour and half to the lake. On the way it was raining a little, so I was hoping we would get lucky and not get too wet. When we arrived at the lake, it was windy and raining a little. By the time we got to our first spot it was down pouring. Kyle started with a fluke and Nick with a frog.  We decided to start on a deep bluff out of the wind and rain. We fished down the bank without any bites.  Then we decided to try the dam which the wind was blowing in on. When you go to a lake you have never been on, it is always a good idea to try the dam especially when the wind is blowing in on it. Both of the twins decided to try a crankbait on the dam. My choice was a spinnerbait. It did’t take long to hook up. On the first pass down the lake, we all hooked up. Being the first time on the lake, we decided to have another pass down the dam. For the next two hours, we caught some really nice fish with a couple being over 5 pounds. After you find fish with moving baits, it is always a good thing to go back through with a slower bait. All the big fish were caught on weightless Senkos. I felt bad the big fish kept hitting my baits. I even moved to the back of the boat, but it didn’t make a difference. The boys were throwing the same thing. For the last hour, I sat down and just watched the twins fish. It was an incredible day, and our best five were 19lbs.

Big Hill Tournament

We had our first Flint Hills Bass Club tournament of the year on Big Hill. My partner Thomas and I pre-fished the evening before the tournament. I already had an idea of a couple of spots to fish, but it is always nice to try a couple of other spots to see if you could find a backup. We ran up the lake, and we fished pass the bridge. I was pitching texas-rig plastics around the tree, and was getting a couple of bites. I figured that they were bluegills. Thomas did catch one small bass on a buzzbait. We decided to run out to the main lake and try some points. I found some grass along the bank. I was swimming a jig and hooked up right away with a good bass. So, we both started throwing swimming jigs on any grass we could find on the main lake. Thomas was able to catch two good bass. I told him lets see if there are any bass on the dam. Right away we both started catching bass on the dam with plastics. I told him we should leave since we had a couple of things going for us. Thomas was not listening; he was having too much fun so we kept fishing. We caught a couple of good keepers. Finally it got too dark to fish anymore.

Tournament Day, I was relaxed and just needed to catch five keepers. I decided to start on the dam. After running to the dam, we both started throwing plastics. I asked Thomas to adjust the GoPro, and just as he touched it, a fish took his bait. Being off balance, he missed him. I felt bad; I told him to hang in there and we will make it up. We both were able to catch one keeper each off the dam. The day before the fish were very shallow. Today, I saw more fish out deep suspended on the graph not feeding. So, we decided to move to the grass. It would be a great decision. I was throwing a weightless stickbait up along the grass. I saw my line moving, and I set the hook. It jumped right away out of the water; it was a big fish. Thomas jumped to the front of the boat getting the net out of the locker. We were both excited with my second fish being over 19 inches. Great start!  We both caught two more fish out of the area. Thomas was able to catch a good 17 inch fish on a swim jig around the grass. I was able to add one more small fish to my bag. Then the bites stopped, and after a hour I needed to go try something different. We decided to go up pass the bridge for a hour and see if we could catch another good fish. Thomas wasn’t happy with the decision; he really doesn’t want to be pitching plastics around trees. He really enjoys fishing finesse around riprap. I needed a change just for a little bit. Thomas hooked up with a fish right away, but it jumped off next to the boat. Then after 30 minute without a bite and boats were everywhere, I told him “Lets move.” Not sure where we were going, lets just go. We went driving down the lake looking for a spot to fish that didn’t have a boat on it. We noticed some wind blowing good on a bank with grass, and saw some fish moving around chasing bait. I picked up my soft plastic bait, and threw it right next to the grass close to the fish chasing bait. Right away, I felt a tick and slammed the hook. It jumped right away out of the water, and it was another big fish. I fought it next to the boat, taking my time. It jumped right next to the boat throwing the plastic bait up the line. Thomas thought it threw the hook, so he dug the net into the water hoping to catch the fish. I knew it was still hooked, and I was yelling at him “Don’t do that your hitting the line.” Then it rolled next to the boat, Thomas netted it. It was a 20 inch long bass. While I was trying to get the fish out of the net, Thomas had cast up to the same spot and hooked up right away with another fish over 17 inches. I was holding a big fish in one hand and netting Thomas’s bass in another. I would say every boat in the area heard us. We both had limits, and were pumped. I was able to creel one more fish just before we had to go in. I was able to take first place with 13.39lbs, big bass of the tournament and also won the team side with 2365 points. Great start to the season.

Family Day on Banner Creek

Flint Hills Bass Club had family day on Banner Creek on June 2. The twins and I would start the day without Trey and Melissa because Trey had a tee-ball game in the morning. A nice rain storm came through in the morning before the fishing derby started. We had about 4 good spots to fish. I knew our first spot would be gone. So, I planned on fishing our second spot, which just before we took off, I noticed some bank fishermen on the spot. We had to start on a spot that was similar to the other spots, but just doesn’t usually have the quality or quanity. But on the first casts, both boys hooked up with 15 inches. A great start! We would catch our limit in 30 minutes and started culling. Most of the fish were caught on soft plastics, and a couple of smaller fish where caught on crankbaits. Kyle was able to catch two fish on a frog. Melissa and Trey showed up with a hour to fish, and we only caught a couple of small fish in the last hour. We ended up with 11.88 lb for second place. It wasn’t a bad day for fishing. Anytime you fish with your family is a great day.

Boys having fun at the City Lake

I had the pleasure of taking the twins and their friend fishing at the City lake in Council Grove. Having three boys fish docks can be very daring, but the boys did a really good job fishing them. They did lose a couple of good fish under the docks, but you have to expect that. The best baits were the weightless stick bait and jig. I hope you like the video.

Sunflower Team Series on Wilson

The Sunflower Team Series hosted an event on beautiful Wilson Lake on May 12th. It was going to be a great day for a tournament as the weather prediction was sunny and only 10 to 15 mph winds. There were 41 boats ready to tackle Wilson lake’s largemouth and smallmouth.

I was fishing with my son Nick. We were looking forward to fishing Wilson. I have never fished Wilson in May. But, I have fished Wilson before so I had an idea where to start and would just need to go a little more shallow. Being the sixth boat out, I fiqured we could be the first one to the spot. We started on secondary and main lake points in the area. We fished for an hour before moving to another spot that had some shallow grass and wood. I would hook up with a non-keeper largemouth on a frog. After another hour of fishing, I decided to move to our third area.

We arrived at the area finding about four other boats in the area. I drove all the way to the back of the cove. I was throwing a Senko special rigged and Nick was fishing a couple of different types of plastics. We came up to a ledge on a bluff with some grass. I tossed the Senko onto the grass and it took off to the side. I set the hook on a three pound smallmouth. After landing the fish, Nick and I were very excited. We fished down the bluff to another ledge with grass. I hooked up again with another three pound smallmouth on the Senko. After landing that fish, I told Nick to cast up there quickly while I got another Senko rigged up. Nick right away said “Dad I have one and it is a big fish”. He fought the fish to the boat and I landed it with the net. It was another 2.5lb smallmouth. When it jumped, it looked huge! They always look bigger when they jump. After fishing the spot for another hour without another bite and watching a couple of other boats landed fish around us, I decided to move on.  It was a hard decision because there were fish in the spot. We fished around the cove for another hour in a couple of different areas, and never got another bite. So, we decided to move to a shallower cove, and Nick would catch 4 non-keepers on a tube. We tried a couple of main lake little pockets without much luck for the next few hours. With only 1 hour left, we moved back to were we caught the three keepers. I threw a Senko up to a white shallow spot between the cattails in 6 inch of water. The smallmouth hit it right away when it landed. I was able to get the fish out of the cattails and Nick landed it with the net. It was our fourth keeper.  We were so pumped, but we still needed another keeper. Nick even gave me a one handed hug. We fished for 40 minutes without a bite. It was a long drive back to the boat ramp with only 4 fish. There were a lot of five fish limits and four fish bags at the weigh-in. Most of the fish were averaging three pounds. There was also one big smallmouth at 5-11lb.  I won’t be very surprised if in the next year the Kansas State record smallmouth is caught in Wilson. Nick and I had 11.70lb for 18th place.  Not bad out of 41 boats, and one more fish would have got us in the top 10. It was awesome to fish with my son. Nick is a grinder; he will fish all eight hours and never quit. Even when he has not caught a fish, he won’t quit. Thanks Rick and Kip for giving me the chances to fish tournaments with my sons. We will see you at the Melvern tournament on June 9.