Illinois Bass Federation Open Trail at Rend Lake

The IBF Open Trail event is over, and I narrowly missed another win!  I finished 2nd with 15.29 lbs   Check back, I'll be posting baits and pattern info for the Ohio River BFL and the IBF tournament soon!

4th stop of the Illini Division BFL is Complete

Saturday I competed in the the 4th BFL event in the Illini Division.  As you know I've had a "less-than-stellar" year in the Illini Division, I've had a string of 30 something finishes, pretty lackluster at best. 
That all changed this week.  Yep, I was finally fortunate enough to put it all together, almost.  I finished 4th in the tournament, got a good check, and missed winning the event by one pound.  By my best calculations, a 2.5 lb fish would have won it for me.  As most of you know, you're allowed 5 fish per day, as you continue to catch fish, you can replace your smallest fish with a bigger fish (as long as you can continue to catch bigger fish), this is called "culling".  In the limit I had, I weighed in a 1.5 lb fish, had I caught another 2.5 lb fish, I just might have pulled out a win.  With all of that said, I'm confident that I was blessed to catch what I caught, so I'm grateful for that. 
Stay tuned I've got an Illinois Bass Federation tournament at Rend Lake this weekend and in two weeks I leave for Lake Norman in Charlotte, NC for the second PAA Tour tournament.
'til then, God Bless,
Duke

PAA Tour - Lake Cherokee is in the books

I think if I had to choose one word to describe the first event of the 2010 PAA Tour, the word BRUTAL comes to mind.  I know there were fish caught, there always is, but other than one decent bag of fish brought in by winner Tommy Biffle, nobody elcipsed the 16lb mark.  Two other anglers topped 15 lbs on day one, but that was it.  A ten pound limit was worth its weight in gold, at least figuratively.  I finished the event in 56th place, basically on the strength of my day two catch.  I bombed on day 1, I had a late weigh-in on day 1, which means I had a long day of fishing, usually that translates into more fish.  Not so, or at least not for me.  My day 1  weight was 1.32 lbs, I never lost any, I just didn't get bit, period! 
On day 2, I caught four keepers fro a total weight of 6.42 lbs, not great, but a ton better than day 1.  My two day total was 7.74 lbs, it took 10.32 lbs to get a check.  That is what has me frustrated, I lacked a little more than two and a half pounds to get a check, and limped in with one keeper on day 1, what a extremely poor performance that was.  To add insult to injury, in the last fifteen minutes of day two, I made a bait change and caught my two biggest fish of the tournament.  Had I adjusted sooner, like on day 1, I feel like I could have caught enough weight to not only get a check, but also make the cut (it took 11.5 to make the cut). 
So that's how the tournament went, not a horrible finish, but not what you would call good by any standards.  I'll be putting up the baits and patterns information later this week, I gotta get a few picutres first.  Thanks for stopping by, and a special thanks to all of those who took the time to pray for me, I appreciate it.
God Bless,
Duke

Cherokee Lake...Wow, it's gonna be brutal!

Quite often, I have struggled in practice and thought the fish weren't biting well, only to watch bags of bass get toted to the scale.  I've got to say I don't think I'm off too far when I say this is going to be one tough son-of-a-gun!  I've been in tournaments where I wasn't catching them, and then nearly every angler in the whole event whacks them.  I don't think I am missing the mark too bad on this one, I have caught three keepers in two days of fishin.  That's how tough this place is!  Normally I would think I'm the only angler not catching them, but after talking to a couple anglers I trust, and they are having a tough time catching them as well.  So this is going to be an interesting one.  It'll be a tournament where every bite is critical.  Hopefully I'll figure out a little something more.  Check back, I'll update as the week goes on.
God Bless,
Duke

2010 PAA Tour kicks off next week at Lake Cherokee

The first event of the- 2010 PAA Tour will take place next week on Lake Cherokee in East Tennessee.  I'm heading out in the morning, with a day and a half stop over at my good friend Wesley Strader's house.  We're going striper fishing below Watts Bar dam, or at least that's the plan.  I'll keep you posted on my practice and on how the tournament goes.  Stay Tuned!
God Bless,
Duke