John Murray – Competition
Friday, May 21, 2010
I ran points in the mornings. Yesterday I started throwing a new pencil-popper by Paycheck Baits and I caught about 30 stripers and white bass. Today I got a couple of nice largemouths on it.
After that I'd got to finesse stuff with a Carolina rig and a dropshot. I lost one about 3 pounds yesterday, but even that wouldn't have gotten me there. I just never got any good bites.
If I had to start over again I'd probably throw a (Zoom) Fluke more. I had some good bites on it, but I was missing them, so I got off it. I think some of the guys who are catching them are throwing a Fluke.
John Murray – Practice
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Practice was just hideous. My gameplan is to go out and try to scrape up five 12-inchers, probably using a combination of topwater and finesse. Yesterday was the only day I had five keeper bites. I had three in the first hour this morning, but I never got another one before I had to get off the water at noon.
You see some fish visually, but they're impossible to catch. Your timing has to be just right. There's lots of bluegills, and I saw a 3-pounder bust through 50 of them to get a herring that was an inch and a half long. I guess they don't eat the bluegills.
This place is the anti-Guntersville and I think if you can average 12 pounds a day, you'll be right there. I'm sure a few big stringers will be caught. If you're at a point when a school comes in, you could whack them and be done.
