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

Good Ole Shelbyville!

Right now, if I could, I'd let out the best imitation of Charlie Brown's "AAARRRRGH!!!" I could muster, but I don't think it would help.  It would be fitting though, just like when Lucy sets the ball up for Charlie Brown, he eyes it up, feels good about it, and off he goes towards Lucy to give that ball the best kick he can deliver, and just at the last minute Lucy jerks the ball away and good ole Charlie Brown swings and misses.  That scenario pretty much sums up my tournament last weekend at Shelbyville.  You see, I too have a long lasting realtionship with Lake Shelbyville, just like Charlie and Lucy, and for years Shelbyville has been jerking the ball away at the last minute, just when I think I got it lined up perfectly, Shelbyville changes the game plan and I deliver a Chrlie Brown style "swing and a miss".  Case in point, I had an excellent pre-practice trip a week before the tournament.  I didn't set the world on fire, but I caught them pretty decent.  Which left me feeling pretty good about last Saturday's tournament.  That's when it all began to unravel...well, sort of.  It rained every day, practically from the day I practiced until last Friday (the day before the tournament).  Which in turn raised the lake about 7 feet.  I never could relocate the fish I found the week before.  So I limped in to the weigh-in with 1 keeper that weighed right at a pound and a half.  That my friends is terrible!  But, on the bright side I survived both events at Shelbyville this year (that's a new trick for me) so maybe I am learning a few things out on the road, that can help me at home.  I fell from 23rd in the points standings to 25th, so no major damage occured.  The top 40 anglers at the end of the season advance to the regional championship.  The last two events of the year are scheduled to take place on the Ohio River at Golconda, IL.  I haven't been to the river in about 5 years, but I always did like fishing down there, so maybe, just maybe, I can get this ship turned around and headed in the right direction.  Lord willing, I'll get it together.
God Bless,
Duke

Spent some time on Shelbyville

I got to spend a day on Shelbyville last week.  Actually, to my surprise, the fishing was ok.  I didn't get very many bites, but most of the bistes I did get were keepers, so I'm somewhat encouraged about this next tournament.  I'd like to say I'm pretty fired up about it, but having played this tournament game enough, I know that a lot of things can change between now and tournament day.  I caught seven keeper fish (big enough to make the 14" minimum lenght requirement), I caught all of them on a Norman DD 22 crankbait.  Which, is another reason I'm a little bit excited, I really like deep cranking, I doin't always have an opportunity to do so, so when I do it's a refreshing change.  Anyway, we'll see how my practice plays out in real-time on Saturday.  I'd like to think everything will stay together, and overall I think it will.  It'll be a situation where I have to pay attention to where and how my bites come to determine exactly how the fish are positioned, if I am capable of figuring that out, I should be in good shape!  Lord willing I will be.
God Bless,
D

Two weeks until the BFL at Lake Shelbyville

I've got two weeks until the BFL at Lake Shelbyville.  I decided this year to fish the Illini division of the BFLs in hopes of qualifying for the end of the year regional that is on Kentucky/Barkley lakes.  With that said, Shelbyville has always been my arch nemesis, I mean it has treated me pretty badly in the past.  I think I have probably fished 20 events on this lake in my life, and I know for sure that I have blanked nine of them.  Yep, never caught one in 9 of 20 events, that's downright terrible!  Hopefully, the tides are turning, I have learned a few things since those early trips to Shelby-town.  I finished in the top third of the field at the last BFL (at Shelbyville), but the fish were shallow, now that warm weather has arrived, it is most likely going to be a off-shore bite, which is good, if you can get your timing right.  It has always seemed to me that on this lkae you can get out of time with the fish, and when they're actively feeding in a ledge, and miss the best bites the entire day, only to have fellow anglers tell you that they clobbered them on the very places you fished.  Ugh, that just adds insult to injury.  Anyway, Lord willing I'll bag me a few, or maybe even better catch enough to get paid and move on to the next one.  We'll just have to see.
God Bless,
Duke

Fun fishing complete!

I went to the lake Saturday, didn't get there until about 10:30 a.m., yep, I was in no hurry.  I spent the day on the lake with a friend of mine who I fish buddy tournaments with, and his 8 year old son.  We had a blast!  We caught a lot of bass, even located a couple areas I am going to go back and look at this week for my tournament.  We kicked back, dodged the pleasure boat traffic and absolutely whacked 'em, I mean clobbered em (go ahead and plug in any other term you use for having a great day of fish catching).  I even managed to catch a giant...I'll post a pictue of it in a second.  I know a lot of things can change before tournament day, but as far as I am concerned, mission accomplished, it was FUN fishing at it's finest!

Oh yea, the big fish, well here ya go...

(Did I mention it wasn't a bass?  Oops, sorry)

Heading to the lake in the morning...

I'm heading to the lake in the morning with a good friend of mine.  On a fun fishing trip!  yep, fun fishing.  I have tournament on this lake in two weeks and it's too early to try and "figure out" what they're doing exactly, but we're going to go beat around the pond and see what we can come up with.  I'm ready for tomorrow, no pressure to perform.  We'll probably clobber 'em, catch them like crazy, that's what always happens when you don't have to have them, they bite like crazy.  If they do, I'll post a few pics.
Have a good weekend!
God Bless,
Duke