BBT Weekend Report

[abkeenan]

Quick blurb from the weekend. Strange conditions with near freezing temps at the start of both days but warming throughout the day into 60's and 70's. Windy would be an understatement except for the first couple hours day two. Don't mind some wind but for cripes sake that was a little much. Fished from Cow to 86 Park and everywhere in between. Fished all kinds of bank compositions from main lake to the back of creeks, shallow and deep and some docks. Fishing was pretty poor but managed to stick a few on the McStick, Crank, S-Waver and A-Rig. Couldn't get a sniff on the jig. Snuck into a 10 spot on day one with a 3.80 largemouth on the McStick in a pocket next Spring Branch (because for once I had the place to myself...for about 30 minutes anyways). Cost myself a 7th spot by not weighing in the hour before and waiting for the final hour to roll over due to mistake made reading my digital scale...doh! Hindsight, I fell into the old "force them to eat it" pattern instead of switching gears to what they probably were more apt to eating. Was a great time fishing with my brother, as usual, even though fishing was a little disappointing and weather was somewhat frustrating (wind tunnel). Stayed around after the end of day two to see Mr. Keltner accept the keys to his new rig which was pretty cool. His retelling of his catch was a hilarious, typical "big fish story" deserving of the new boat.

Shout out to Mr. Babler who was kind enough to give me some info and intell WITHOUT provocation and without any skin in the game. He went out of his way to contact me just to lend a helping hand (I needed BOTH and it still didn't help a hack like me). Just a class act and we are lucky to have him here on the boards and patrolling Table Rock in his Phoenix. Thanks again Bill.

Second shout out to the overall production of the Big Bass Tour. Although some will gripe about the amount of boat traffic and some unsavory moments on the water, for the most part it is just a fantastic event. I had only one instance of moronic on the water behavior by another boater but that is somewhat to be expected when you have an extra 300+ boats fishing the same body of water on top of locals and non-tourny fishers. The BBT staff is ultra friendly and puts on a great event. All the fish that I saw weighed in were in GREAT shape with plenty of spunk. Did not see nor hear of any fish coming to the scale struggling or dead in the tanks. Always a blast and can't wait til next year.

 

My 3.80

Brothers 3.66 bubble boy brownie (last spot bumped)

[m&m]

andy, thanks for your take on the weekend.  I watched from our deck overlooking the dam area north of point 1 and let me say there was a lot of gas being burned by the number of boats we saw going into and away from Long Creek. 

Mike

[Quillback]

Sounds like a great time, Ab, and that is what it is all about.

I'm with you on enough wind already, been blowing since last week.  It blew again today, but not as bad.

[big c]

Good report , thanks.

[Bill Babler]

Ab's would you give a quick recap of the winners story unless it is already posted here and I'm just not seeing it.  TKS

[m&m]

big C, when are you coming down to TR?

Mike

[dtrs5kprs]

You'd catch more fish with a better sweatshirt...

[abkeenan]

 

Ab's would you give a quick recap of the winners story unless it is already posted here and I'm just not seeing it.  TKS

The winner (Buck Keltner) was called up to the stage and was asked to tell the how the winning fish was caught. He said that the fish was caught in the Kimberling City area and caught pretty much right off the bat in the early morning. Said he caught it slow rolling a white Strike King KVD (naturally) Scorcher spinnerbait. He was the co-angler in the back of the boat with his longtime fishing partner. Said that the fish had made a few runs under the boat and "rolled" on the surface and his friend said "Dang it, catfish!" assuming due to low light conditions and seeing a lot of white belly. The friend had been crappie fishing the week before and forgot to put the big net back in the boat so all they had was a small panfish hand dip net. Said that after the fish made a few runs under the boat the friend finally, after much difficulty, got the fish into the net head first and pulled it aboard. This whole time Buck thought he had a catfish at the end of his line. Said he yelled "It's a bass!" when he finally got a glimpse of it after being landed. The rest as they say is history. Funny story I'm sure he has told 100 times already and will probably tell every time someone new enters the new rig he won and how he came about owning it.

[abkeenan]

 

You'd catch more fish with a better sweatshirt...

I was going for the pity bite from the bass. 

[dtrs5kprs]

 

I was going for the pity bite from the bass. 

Think it's just a repellent, at least until Labor Day.