Cops for Kids and First Time Bass Fishing on TRL

[Seth]

My buddy and I came down to fish the Cops for Kids Tourney that was held today. We came down a day early so we could fish Monday since we've never actually bass fished on TRL before. We caught 11 keepers and around that many shorts on our maiden voyage on Monday so we had high hopes for Tuesday. On Tuesday, we started off with the shallow pattern that produced most of our largemouth the day before. I caught a nice 3 pounder right off the bat and then broke off its twin about 5 minutes later. The sun popped out after that and things slowed for us so we went out to hit some gravel points. They produced quite a few dink smallies, but never any keepers today. After screwing around with that until about 2pm, we decided to run back to the cove we started in, set the trolling motor on 100 and just beat the banks with squarebills and spinnerbaits. In the last hour and a half, we caught three more keeper largemouth, a couple just under 15" and lost another keeper on a crankbait. The four fish we did have weighed 10.68. Had I not screwed up on the early 3 pounder and also not bailed on our shallow power pattern, I really think we could have won some money. Either way, it was a well run event and we really had a blast down there.

Here are the pics of each of our keepers from Monday. The largemouth were caught on weightless trick worms and squarebills. The smallies and spots came on spinnerbaits, squarebills and a PBJ Ned rig.

[m&m]

Seth, thanks for the information and pictures. Very healthy looking fish. Safe travels. 

Mike

[Quillback]

Some great quality fish, thanks for the report!

[Bluff-Bassin]

FYI to add. Tournament had about 200 boats. A hair under 20 won it. That bag had a 6 and 7 pounder in it which was also big bass. Guy was a tad tight lipped on how they caught them but I heard mentioned "brush" and "jig". Paid out 15 spots. 15th was 13.6 I believe. Also a 15 pound limit of all smallies weighed. Stacey King and his partner were third I think. 

[Champ188]

Definitely a well-run tournament by people who know how to run one.

Far as that winning bag goes, not saying they did or didn't BUT conditions were perfect for sight fishing yesterday. Just hope not too many of them got yanked off the beds.

Myself and ranger185 took it on the chin with just a couple of nice LM keepers that he expertly brought to boatside. Yours truly contributed nothing but a complete lack of ability to adjust to changing weather conditions. Practiced too many days not to have a good backup pattern in place. This sport is really frustrating at times.

[m&m]

Champ, and very humbling also.

Mike

[Seth]

1 hour ago, Champ188 said:

Far as that winning bag goes, not saying they did or didn't BUT conditions were perfect for sight fishing yesterday. Just hope not too many of them got yanked off the beds.

We covered a lot of shallow water and I never did see any bass on beds or cruising along the banks. I kept hoping we'd stumble across a big one locked on to a bed, but it never happened.

[Bluff-Bassin]

I hardly saw any fish on beds. I think most are done, and the water at least around the dam was too dingy to see any on beds deeper than 3 feet.  We caught most of ours in 20 to 30ft. Had 13.26. Had fish on for 15.5 maybe, but who doesn't have that story. 

[ranger185]

Had a enjoyable day with my great friend champ 188. We would have liked a few more keeps but that's fishing.

He also put me on the smallmouth of a life time. I'm grateful.

[Champ188]

13 hours ago, ranger185 said:

Had a enjoyable day with my great friend champ 188. We would have liked a few more keeps but that's fishing.

He also put me on the smallmouth of a life time. I'm grateful.

 

Very kind of you to say, my friend. Unfortunately, the big smallie bit a day early. But hey, anytime I can watch a buddy totally get his butt kicked by a 4-pound smallmouth, I'm in for it. He did a very good job of staying patient on light spinning gear and bringing the fish to hand (I don't carry a net except on derby day).