Neely henry is a lake that I'm beginning to really like. It just seems to be one of those bodies of water that you feel comfortable with, despite the fact that I have spent a grand total of eleven days fishing there. My last trip as you know was the final stop on the 2011 Bass Pro Shops PAA Tour. I was fortunate to make the final day cut, a blessing indeed. So let's dig in to the patterns and baits I used in route to a 17th place finish.
Practice:
I actually discovered the main pattern that I fished on the first day of practice at 5pm. I had been on the water since daylight and had concentrated on areas near the main river, mostly on wood and grass and had failed miserably in figuring anything out. What I initially thought was act of desperation turned out to be one of the best moves I could make all week. I was in a major creek arm and noticed a long stretch of rip-rap at the back-end of the creek. Out of frustration I ran to the back of the creek to make a pass down the rip-rap. I hadn't been to the backs of any of the creeks, and I hadn't fished any rocks as of yet, but when I arrived I realized how many bait fish had migrated to the back of this creek. In my intitial pass, I caught 3 keepers, two were what I would call "good ole big-uns" a 19"er and a 20"er. I truly believe the 20 inch fish was pushing 5lbs. With only an hour or so of daylight left I got out my map and looked for similar situations, found several and the first one I fished, within three casts I caught a nice 2.5lber. I immediately stopped and felt confident this was a pattern I could run all over the lake. Day two of practive I spent up the river above Gadsden, AL I managed a pretty decent limit, but no big fish, but I also was able to establish a pretty decent pattern for those fish upriver. Day three I spent back down lake looking for more stretches of rip-rap that had all the right ingredients. I found several more areas. I quit at noon to work on tackle and get ready for the tournament.
The Derby...
I started the tournament downriver towards the dam, by 10:30 I had cobbled together a pretty small limit. Fearing, I had made a bad decision, I ran 40 miles from where I was to the areas upriver where I had caught them on day two of practice. I managed to cull four or five times, but never had a quality bite. My day one total was 8.17
On day two of the tournament I ran back downstream in hopes of catching those bigger spots I had found. I decided that I would spend all of my time on the lower end, slowing down to see if I could locate and catch these fish. I knew I needed a pretty decent limit to make the cut, I felt like the lower end had the ptoential to produce bigger bites for me. Day two ended, I had a limit that went 10.09lbs, landing me as the last man in the cut...Halelujah!...Payday!
Day three was pretty uneventful. The fishing got tough, I managed another limit, and moved up two more places to finsish 17th. Overall it was a great tournament, I never did connect with any of the big fish I had found in practice. Undoubtedly, I was in the right areas to do well, I just never got a big bite. I'm thankful for what I did catch. Below are some pictures of the baits I used during the tournament. Until the next tournament,
God Bless,
Duke
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| I initially found the fish on the rip-rap with this Original Little John crankbait in Citrus Shad color. I used a Powell 703cb glass rod and 10lb maxima monofilament with this bait. |
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| This is a Lunker Lure Shakee Head in 1/8th ounce. I used a Zoom trick worm in Red Bug Color on 8lb Seaguar fluorocarbon and a Powell 733 mef spinning rod. |
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| In the tournament, the fish seemed to shy away from my Lunker Lure Buzzbait, but it helped me locate several areas holding fish. This is a 3/8 oz white on white buzzer, I fished it on a Powell 704 cef rod with 20lb Maxima monofilament line |
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