I recently wrote an article about timing knowing when to be in the right place at the right time. Once again timing was everything in the tournament I fished with my wife this past weekend. I was a little concerned when we were informed that weigh-in would be at 2 instead of our normal time of 3 because of the excessive heat. The bite I was on was in the afternoon and I needed the extra time for the bigger fish. Since this was the last tournament of the series and currently sitting in 5th place 17 points out of 1st I needed to try and catch big fish. I ran up a creek arm that is fed by a major trout stream I knew this water would be cooler and have some current.
The first spot we stopped on is a nice pea gravel point right off the outside edge of a channel swing perfect spot for fish year round, but the timing has to be right. That morning we caught numerous fish off this spot from shallow to deep and left with one 15 inch black, the next spot not much different however further up the river and water temps in the mid 70's. I lost a big fish at the net on a spinnerbait on a flat with several ditches but everything else was short. I had yet to put a keeper in the boat my wife was keeping us afloat and in the game. We fished another mile up the river almost until we ran out of water. On the way back out it began once again timing. The water temp had gone down to 69.5 degrees I had fished the shaded bluff side on the way up I switched to the sunny stump side on the way back I had made a few casts to that side but hadn't really picked it apart. The 3XD did its thing once again as I boated three keepers off these stumps and my wife picked up a walleye while netting my last fish. We worked our way back with 4 in the live well again nothing but short fish we needed one fish and it was already 1. I went back to the point we started on and broke out the 5XD on the third cast she struck a solid 3 pounder the Wild Wild Orange Carrot stick handled the fish perfectly and my wife net in hand scooped it for our limit. I have to think that lose of an hour could have hurt the limit I would of had if that extra hour would have been available.
Although the day was kind of a struggle and we ended the day in 7th place we were still able to put together a limit and finish the series in 3rd place overall and headed to Kentucky Lake for the Classic. We also had a fine Waleye dinner later that evening, but the point of this is timing. The previous tournament had similar results with the bite being in the afternoon, as both tournaments the bigger fish didn't move up until after 1. So as you prefish pay attention to the time of day as well as the size of fish you catch, with all the technology around us today its easily logged. I'm still kind of old school and write things in a log including the date, time, weather, and water temps. Most tournament anglers are aware of these facts but we all need a reminder every now and then. I have got to praise my Carrot Stix rods as they performed flawlessly. Make sure to take care of your fish during these hot summer months, a couple of frozen milk jugs and some Sure Life in your live well will make a difference as all my fish were alive and well. Tight lines until next time.