Old Hickory Elite Series

It's pretty frustrating. I got about the same number of bites today that I did yesterday and I had three or four that were really close (to measuring), but they wouldn't make it.

I caught a 4-pounder right off the bat (today), but then it was just dinks the rest of the way. I fished mostly deep with a Yamamoto jig and a dropshotted Roboworm out on the ledges. The keepers just weren't there today.

If I had it to do over again, I would have spent a lot more time in the shallows and in the bays. It seems like a lot of the quality fish are being caught shallow, which is pretty common on this lake.

It's a tough lake, and this is just one of those lessons – I needed a backup pattern and I never really had one.

I've caught one good one – a 5-pounder – in practice each day, and that's probably not good because it could mean I won't catch them in the tournament. I've also gotten a couple of 3-pounders, but most of the fish you catch are little.

I've only been getting six or seven keepers a day, so it's not like I'm catching a lot of them. I've been using a lot of different techniques and catching them from a foot of water down to 15 feet.

It's going to fish pretty small and a lot of people will be on top of each other, so that'll be fun (sarcasm). I'm just going to key on the places where I've gotten the biggest bites and just hope I can get some more.