Lake Cherokee – PAA Bass Pro Shops First Series Event

I really didn’t know what to expect heading into this event. It was my first time on Cherokee, the first PAA tournament of the year and the first one since I was elected President. I had high expectations, to say the least, but also knew that I’d have a lot of responsibility. Fortunately, the tournament as a whole went very well. There are still a few things we need to improve upon, but on the whole I think everyone who was there thought it was a success. My own performance was less satisfying, although I managed to salvage some points out of a near-disaster.

The lake is super-clear and water temperatures were in the 90s, so like just about everyone else I expected that the dominant bite would be deep. I spent the first day of practice fishing offshore exclusively and I felt like I could catch a limit of spots, maybe a few largemouths or smallmouths too. I knew it was going to be tough but I thought 10 pounds was within the realm of possibility and 10 pounds would be strong.

With just one day under my belt I felt that there was a lot left to learn, so I decided that night that I’d spend part of the second day of practice out deep again and part of it up shallow. Unfortunately, some unforeseeable mechanical problems put an end to my plans. I was able to fish a little bit – maybe an hour – on my trolling motor, but I spent most of the day on the phone trying to find someone to deal with my issues. As a result, it was pretty much a wasted day.

Day Three didn’t start out much better. I did manage to hop in a friend’s boat for a few hours while I was waiting to get some info on my mechanical issues and I caught 3 or 4 bass real quick on top, but I never got to see how that would play out because just then I got a phone call about my boat and had to leave. Sometimes things out of your control take over a tournament and you just have to roll with the punches. It’s not fun, but it’s a fact of life on tour.

That evening we had the pre-tournament registration and there was lots going on for everyone, perhaps a little more for me because of my role as an officer in the PAA, but that kept my mind off the tournament. I wasn’t really able to think about it until very late and it was probably 1am before I made the decision that on the first day I’d fish deep as long as I could. To be honest, based on what I was hearing I felt there was a legitimate chance that a bunch of us would blank, so when I caught a decent spot at 10am, I knew I had some points on the board and that relaxed me, so I went back to prefishing. I probably landed 10 or 11 largemouths and smallmouths on my Lunker Lure football head jigs, but none of them hit the line, so I was left with that one good spot.

In the last hour and a half I went shall and saw one real big bass that I could not get to bite. I also caught some smaller ones that wouldn’t bump. When you got in the right areas, there were lots of bluegills and shad, and that’s where the bass were, too, so I started thinking about a change in game plan for Day Two. Even though I was surprised by how high some of the weights were that day, I also knew that if I caught a few good ones I’d be right back in it.

Given what I’d learned at the end of Day One, I decided that on Day Two I was going to go all the way up the river and just fish everything that looked good. On the way I stopped at a bluff where I knew there was a school of fish holding. I thought I could catch them on a topwater on a fluke, and I managed to get three or four giants to follow the fluke, but I never caught one, so I had to cut my losses after a couple of hours.

Given the tremendous caliber of angler in the field, the shallow fish were simply beat to death by that point and I was lucky to get 6 bites, which resulted in 3 keeper largemouths. I also had one big fish miss a buzzbait, but that’s the way it goes.

The result was that I ended up working the show at Bass Pro Shops on the third day, and while there are rewards in that, I was still frustrated that I didn’t get to keep fishing. Still, my three fish on the secon day really moved me up on the standings, and I have to keep my eyes on the larger prize – qualifying for the TTBC and for next year’s All Star series (top 43 in the standings will qualify).

Next up on the PAA series is Lake Norman in North Carolina, a place I’ve fished several times on the FLW Tour. I thought I’d have a 3 week break, but I got home from Cherokee on Sunday and on Monday I got the call that I’m in the Northern Open on Champlain. Suddenly 3 weeks turned into 3 days. Back to the grind.

While my personal performance at Cherokee was less-than-optimal I can sense right now that the PAA is on a lot of peoples’ radar. We proved that with the crowds and by the high talent level at Cherokee. There were a lot of anglers there who didn’t have to be. Take Tommy Biffle, for instance. He’s already qualified for the TTBC and he has the Elite Series post-season coming up, but he showed up to support the cause and ended up winning the whole deal. We’re on the verge of big things.

61^st Place

4 fish, 6.81

Share on Facebook