Now that we southern folks are slowly headed for what we call “winter” fishing, it’s a reminder of one FLW event I fished back in the early 2000’s. There’s nothing worse than fishing in the freezing cold unless it’s a wet freezing cold. This tournament took place on the Tombigbee Waterway in Tennessee and today we’ll look back at just how cold and difficult this tournament was, and the lesson learned.
Let’s set the stage… it’s early March and a major cold front had made its way into the deep south. Several days of sleet, snow and freezing rain prior to this tournament, made it a test of one’s will and determination. It wasn’t about winning or getting a check, it was truly about surviving the brutal conditions.
For me personally, keeping my hands warm has always been the difficult part of a cold day on the water, especially after they’ve gotten wet. Some guys can wear gloves, but I’ve never been able to do that because I have no feel for making a cast. In this event, even the eyes on your fishing rod would freeze up, forcing you to dip your rod into the water frequently to thaw them out.
Now for all FLW Tour events at this time, as a co-angler you could bring your own boat and pre-fish on your own, get to the tournament early and pre-fish with one of the pros, or just show up and fish once the tournament started. Call me a soft Suzy, but due to the extreme weather conditions, I decided to forgo the pre-fishing and just be ready when the tournament started. Just getting to this tournament was a challenge with the road closures across the south.
The night before the tournament, I was paired up with my day 1 pro partner from Granbury, Texas. As we sat and talked at the pre-tournament meeting, he told me how tough the fishing had been. He said he only had one bite in three days of pre-fishing!
Now this is not what you want to hear from your pro the day before the tournament starts, but I tried to stay positive and just fish the conditions. My mindset was to fish slow and to get three bites because all I needed as a co-angler was a three fish limit.
Day 1 rolled around and even though the sleet and snow had stopped, temperatures for the day were in the low 20’s with a wind chill factor of 15 degrees. One thing I learned very early in my fishing career is that if you dress in layers, you can stay warm and get through the day.
Finally, it was time to fish, and my pro partner made the comment that we were going to start on the only spot he had a bite during his three days of practice. It was a 30-yard stretch off a backwater point. On this point there were three underwater stumps about 15 yards apart.
Over my many years of tournament fishing, I’ve developed major confidence in one bait, a Black Emerald Zoom Trick worm rigged with a 3/16 oz. slip sinker. This turned out to be the perfect lure with the water being very muddy and cold. I prayed the dark colored low-profile worm would be the answer to me getting the bites I needed to be competitive.
Well, my prayers were answered, as it was only 10 minutes into the tournament when I made a pitch to the first stump I saw and set the hook on a four-pound largemouth bass. My pro was so excited and going nuts over what I had just caught! He made the comment that I just might lead the co-angler side of the event with just that one fish!
With a good fish in the live well and my chest sticking out, three minutes later I pitched my favorite worm onto the next stump and set the hook on a three-pound largemouth bass! Less than fifteen minutes into this event, I had over 7 pounds of fish with just two fish. My pro was speechless and could not believe what he was seeing!
It only got better when ten minutes later, I made a cast on the third and final stump on this stretch and caught another four-pound bass! At the end of the day, just as my pro predicted, I was leading the tournament on the co-angler side after day 1. To be clear, that was the only three bites I got all day!
To wrap this up, I caught one fish on day 2, but it was good enough to make the Top 10 on the third and final day as I went on to finish 4th overall.
Turns out, fishing in this tournament was extremely difficult as there were 90 pro anglers out of 150 that did not catch a single fish the entire tournament. But the lessoned learned was that even in the most extreme weather conditions, bass will still bite. You just need to figure out exactly what they want, and how they want it.
Till next time, good luck, good fishing, and make sure to wear your life jacket especially when the big motor is running.
Contact Steve at sgraf26@yahoo.com
