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"The view from the back seat"By Rick Latta
I just finished another FLW Tournament. This time at
Lake Tellico/Ft. Loudoun. These two lakes are located
just west of Knoxville Tennessee and are joined at the
hip via a navigable canal. Tellico being a bit bigger,
deeper and clearer than Fort Loudoun, but with less
bass per acre. Most of the boats went to Fort Loudoun,
but both of the Pro's I fished with chose Lake
Tellico. Probably because there was less boat
pressure. I really wanted to do well, and I tried my
best, but could only catch one fish big enough to
bring to the scales. I'd never seen a fish quite like
this one. He was a naturally occurring hybrid. A cross
between a Spotted Bass and a Smallmouth Bass. They are
referred to as a "Mean Mouth Bass", and he certainly
had the disposition to go with the name. Smallmouth
had to be 18 inches in this tournament to keep, while
Spots had to be 12, and Largemouths needed to be 14
inches. "Mean Mouths" are treated as Spots but are
sometimes hard to identify. At the weigh-in I was told
my fish was a smallmouth and not long enough to keep.
The weigher changed his mind after I pointed out that
this fish had teeth on his tongue like a Spotted Bass.
That was close! Almost had my one fish not count at
all. Whew!
As a co-angler a lot of things are out of your
control. I know I won't get much sympathy from anyone
who has been down the co-angler road already but at
times it's sort of like having your hands tied behind
your back. Picture this - the Pro is going down the
bank with the trolling motor set at a pretty good
clip, the boat is about 20-25 feet away from a bank
with a 45 degree slope dropping into 30 feet or
greater. He's fishing shallow water targets and doing
a darn good job of picking apart the cover. The only
areas that aren't being fished are the water under the
boat and the other side of the boat in open water.
What do you do? You can try a different bait and hit
the same targets after he's done with 'em. You can try
dragging a crankbait through the water the boat has
already passed over - just be willing to break them
off if they get hung up on the laydowns. You could
maybe try a Carolina Rig and drag it (literally)
through the deeper water. But for the most part you're
locked out of doing much that's going to be worth the
while. Even if the Pro was fishing by himself, I'm
sure he would have positioned the boat the very same
way and proceeded in the same manner, just because it
was the best way to cover the target area. It also
just happens to be stifling for the co-angler. I don't
know if it falls under the heading of "Defensive
Fishing", but I will say it's an effective way to kill
two birds with one stone. Next time I'm gonna try the
Carolina Rig with one of those Rock Hopper weights, or
use a different/smaller bait than the guy in front.
It's also a great time to pay attention to what the
other guy is doing and learn something. If any of you
mugs have some effective co-angler "guerrilla tactics"
I can use, I'm all ears! So what did I learn? I
learned another way to present a fluke type soft jerk
bait. This presentation called for a fluke which sinks
a little faster than most flukes and falls evenly. By
that, I mean one that doesn't fall head or tail first
but descends evenly on a vertical plane. I hope you
know what I'm trying to say. Anyway, it was a very
effective method for the fish in the shallow water
target area, which was laydowns, brush piles and
rocks. He would let it sink about a foot or two
initially and then give 2 or 3 upward twitches with
baitcasting tackle. Then he would let it slowly sink
down another foot or two and watch carefully. It was a
white/pearl colored fluke so he could see it as it
descended. The Smallmouths and Spots loved it. They
just didn't happen to be the size he needed.
One of the really enjoyable things about these
tournaments is meeting the other fisherpersons and
swapping info and stories. Kim Stricker and Clark
Wendlandt's boats were beached side by side and they
were shooting the breeze as the day started to wake up
on day 2 of the tournament. Kim wanted to pick me up
at 5:30am, mostly so he could get a good parking spot
and because he loves these early morning boat-side
chats. It's just part of the experience. Get there
early, grab a cup of coffee at the weigh-in tent and a
sausage biscuit or doughnut and talk fishing with some
of your kindred spirits! I'll also not forget
listening to co-angler Judy Isreal in the breakfast
room of the Holiday Inn. It was the morning of day 3.
Not having made the cut, she was with her husband and
Pro Angler Jim Short and his wife Judy, describing why she
needed to be able to feel the bottom with her bottom
bumping baits. With eyes closed and her arm
outstretched, holding an imaginary rod, her mind
transported her to an imaginary lake and she was
feeling every tick of every imaginary rock. That's the
kind of passion that inspires me and reminds me of why
I love bass fishing! I also saw Clay Dyer. Many of you
know that Clay was born without fully formed limbs.
But he fishes for a living. His co-angler for day 2
was on stage to weigh his fish and had to mention to
the crowd that if you ever get to fish with Clay, you
will have an "attitude adjustment". Clay looks at
things and sees what "is" possible, not what isn't.
Maybe next time I feel like I'm stuck in the back of
the boat without much to do, I'll think of Clay!
2007-04-02 16:34:03
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