Beyond the Scales - "Wondering on Watauga"

The TNCBA fished their ninth tournament of the year this past Saturday and while the fishing was slow, the quality of fish being caught was impressive. So lets look at how the night broke down for some of the anglers...

The tournament began at 7:30pm with about thirty minutes of daylight remaining. Kelsey Harvey was able to capitalize on the twilight bite and pick the Harvey's lone keeper on a green pumpkin finesse worm before dark...

Ryan Pope and Wiley Gobble had located some quality Spotted Bass during practice earlier in the week, but the timing was off during the tournament with the bass having already fed a little earlier in the day. Wiley was able earn the team 3rd place with his two keepers for 8.41 lbs. Wiley also took home big fish honors with a nice 5.49 lbs. Smallmouth. Gobble and Pope caught their fish on a magnum shaky head worm...

Wiley Gobble - 5.49 SM

Looking at some of the other fish caught, Robert Chatman and Jeff Banks finished third in the team competition with three fish for 8.59 lbs. which was anchored by Jeff's 3.92 lbs. Smallmouth. David Crockett also brought a nice Smallie to the scales a 3.73 lbs. All in all 6 of the 13 fish weighed eclipsed the three pound mark and three of those six eclipsed the four pound mark. It was a good night for big fish!

Cody Dison and Keith Dison took home the victory with six fish for a combined weight of 17.84 lbs. The Dison's began the tournament in a small creek not far from take-off, but quickly found the water unproductive after fishing the area with topwaters and spinnerbaits. They then moved out, following the creek channel, hitting swing banks as they made their way towards the main lake.

The Dison's then moved about a mile or so up the lake after dark and focused their attention on main lake, channel swing points and banks. The bait of choice was a small brown and orange jig with a small green pumpkin chunk trailer. All of their keepers came within 75 yards of the swing points. Early in the night the bites were coming in the 5-10' range, but as the night wore on the fish moved deeper as bites came in the 10-15' range. The Dison's final keeper was boated at 3:05am.

***My Personal Opinion***

Dad and I rotated three walls throughout the night...and only two were productive. Wewould catch one or two fish on one wall and then move on to the next, we never turned around and went right back down the same wall. It is very important to rotate areas where you know there are fish, and not keep running new water all night. These fish move up and down a couple times during the night, so as you keep rotating your walls you will finally connect. The technique that was getting us bit Friday night was a very slow, lift and drop...then we would let the bait soak before ever moving it again.

Thanks to all who came out and fished with us!!!!