It's that time of year -  year end Classic time in the Indiana bass fishing world. This past weekend there were events for the Eagle Cr. Wed. nighters, the Fri. night Morse events as well as the regular division of the Hoosier Open circuit. No results posted yet for that last one.

In the next couple weeks we'll have the G2LI Classic (10/2-3), the IBF Classic (10/9-10), and the H.O.T. Srs. Classic (10/12-13). A pair of regulars from the site, Tyler Z. and Rod Yoder have both qualified for the IBF Classic as co-anglers, so hopefully we'll get some inside info on how that that event shakes out when the time comes.

A little later this year there is Ted's tourney down on KY Lake, BFL Regionals, as well as the 'Snowball' tourneys on Raccoon in November, the Tuesday night Geist Classic, and the Halloween Open tourney (also on Geist) hosted by the Indy Bass Club (see right sidebar). There are also a couple tourneys coming up in November on the White River, the Wed Night Classic (see details below), and the Indiana Smallmouth 7th Annual 'smallie only' tourney ran by Josh McDermott.

So still lots of bass fishing to be had here in the Hoosier state. Here are the posted Wed. night White R. details:

Wednesday Night Classic/Broad Ripple

Saturday November 6th from 8 am to 4 pm

Cost is $50.00 per boat and all usual Wednesday Night Tournament rules will apply with the exception being its a 5 fish limit.

At 7 am we will be cooking bacon, sausage and eggs before we all launch if anyone is interested.

Posted for Doug Ashley, any questions you can call me directly at 317-292-6150

This was the fourth and final Eastern Division FLW Series event of the year. I was sitting in 25th place in the standings with little to no chance of moving up to the top ten and qualifying for the 2011 FLW Cup. But I did want to make the most of this opportunity to fish at this level.

I spent the first two practice days, Sunday and Monday, fishing with my travel partner, Dick Shaffer. 27 hours on the water in two days - first light 'til dark. We found lots of shallow matted grass but it didn't take long to realize the fish just weren't in it. Actually a quick drive around the lake could have told us as much. Not a bass boat was seen flipping or frogging the mats.

Instead we targeted main river current breaks be it wood, rock or points where we tried to find either largemouth, smallmouth or spotted bass. The trick here was the size limits. Largemouth needed to be 15", spotted bass only needed to be 12". But smallies had to be 18" in length and then limited to only one smallie per day.

Although we did find a keeper here and there, we never felt like we found a real key to the puzzle. We both expected that the tournament would probably be won fishing deeper ledges, but a couple days of practice isn't enough time to locate prime deep water locations on a new lake. What we did find was that we could get keeper bites on the edges of four to six foot deep scattered patches of grass located next to deeper water. They would blow-up on topwaters but rarely actually connect. Big worms on the bottom seemed the best bet.

As usual, I took Tuesday off from fishing to re-tool, re-spool, re-tie, and recuperate before the three days of competition. At the pretournament meeting, FLW has started distributing the pairings via text messages. This makes for a much shorter meeting and works out well. Then, when we returned to the hotel and checked online, I found that the final day, I would be paired with my roommate and practice partner. As Dick told me, "You best pick up the pace the first two days if you want a chance at this." Interestingly, I was paired with Dick on the last day at the Eufala tournament earlier in the year. Normally, not a good guy to have to fish behind, but we weren't doing too much flipping to isolated cover so it would be less of an issue.

Day One

First stop was a main lake pocket. Third cast with a popper netted a two pounder. He was nice enough to hammer it a second time after missing it the first. It really does take practice to not jerk on a blow-up, but rather continue the retrieve until the rod loads. Not always easy - they often explode on a topwater when you least expect it.

I was thrilled to have a keeper in the box to start the tournament. But I struggled to not allow myself to think what I was thinking: How often to we make a lure change and bang a good fish, thinking we've got it all figured out, only to be the only fish we catch. As it turned out, I had a great and enjoyable day of fishing. Just not a great tournament day. Caught a lot of 14.5" largemouth, mostly on a Senko thrown as a follow-up bait. Lots of short fish but only the one keeper to weigh in at the end of the day.

Day Two

A new day a new partner and a new approach. After looking for schoolies that never showed up we headed back down the lake to fish a deep bluff point. After catching a couple keeper spotted bass on senkos, we went looking for largemouth in shallower water. With no luck shallow and an hour or so fishing a deep ledge, we returned to spend the last half hour fishing the deep point.

As luck would have it, we were in a late flight which gave us extra fishing time. That extra time proved helpful when a chunky two and a half pound largemouth ate my Senko with only minutes left. I ended the day with 2 small spots and one largemouth. Not great weight, but only a little over a pound away from the top 35. If I could have a good last day, I might just finish in the money...

Day Three

Hooking up with your parnter for the day is always easier when you are paired with your roommate. A good breakfast and we were off. A 20 minute run up the lake and we were fishing. The little bit of cloud cover had us both throwing buzzbaits over the patches of grass just under the surface. After a couple near misses, my partner connected with a nice keeper. As he put him in the livewell he mumbled something about wishing I had caught it because it would do him little good. Having weighed in only a few fish in the first two days, he was out of the running.

As we continued fishing the buzzbaits it became obvious something needed to change. His white and chartreuse buzzer was getting strikes but not connecting, and my black buzzer was not getting any attention at all. I removed the black skirt and replaced it with a Zoom Swimmin' Fluke Jr. This added weight, bouyancy, and cut down on wind resistance. Translation: longer casts, a slower retrieve, and a good match to the bait we would see being chased by the bass.

One of the keys was to make a cast as soon as possible when and where the shad get busted. With a hot and triggered bass showing himself, you had limited time to make the most of it. After making the change to my buzzbait, I started not only to get strikes, but they were eating it! No need for a trailer hook and no need for a net - just wind them in and with 65# braid, swing'em in the boat.

After whacking a couple short fish I landed two keepers and it became obvious to me that my partner was... well, to say it best... he was making sure I had plenty of water to fish. I have had this happen to me before in multiple-day tournaments where my boater is not catching fish and comes to the conclusion he is out of it. Then makes a point of doing what he can to make sure his non-boater has a chance.

This realization does something to the adrenaline. Being given a chance, I am now fishing for not only me, but in a sense, my partner too. I don't want to let his gesture of good will go to waste. I fished Day Three as hard as I have ever fished. As my partner said, "Tied on a buzzer and let 'er eat!"

 

As soon as I'd think the topwater bite was over, I'd get hammered again. I'd really like to know how many casts I made that day - all with the buzzbait. I ended the day with a limit - even culled once. 19th place and a nice check... always good to end with a great day!

Back to Indiana

My year spent in the FLW Series at an end I headed for home. Well, first I had to stop off at Monroe to fish the last Indiana Bass Federation Invitational. I was sitting in 25th place in the IBF standings and needed to catch one keeper on Monroe to secure a spot in the end-of-year classic. I got a prophetic text message from Tyler Z on the way home. "Congrats! Now you get to come fish for one bite all day! LOL!"

I guess if your going to get only one bite a day, this one is the one to get:

I thought I was going to get big bass honors, but the aforementioned prophet done walked all over that silly idea. :)

All in all it was a great week. But I'm glad to be home. I don't know how the pro's do it. I'm toast...

Rod Yoder

(Stop by RedShad.com and see other Belly Cam footage.)