Eufaula (AL) Bassmaster

I had a good day and a bad day, if there is such a thing. Randy Howell is a great Christian, person and fisherman. I really learned a lot fishing with him today, but I didn't catch a single fish. Fortunately, I didn't fall completely out of the money. I ended up 56th and got my entry fee back.

Randy scrambled impressively today and caught five that weighed between 12 and 13 pounds. He never culled any. We made a quick pass on a shallow weedline then moved out and cranked some isolated, man-made brushpiles on the main river flats. While we were out there, he mentioned how hot the pipes were last year and that he had done very well on them. I asked if he caught anything off them in practice and he said that they weren't running. I told them that at
least two of them were running because I could see them on the way to and from the launch ramp the first day with Mark. Randy went with his instincts, and took off to check the pipes.

We got to the pipe and it was running with nobody on it. Randy pulled up and immediately caught a small keeper. Then he threw right back in and caught a nice 2 1/2 pounder. He gave me one of his hot little crankbaits and we thought we were going to tear them up, but neither of us had another bite.

We headed back down the lake and cranked some more isolated brushpiles, and he caught another nice fish. We cranked hard until the sun got up without another bite, and then went sight-fishing. Randy is an awesome sight fisherman. He caught one good one and another small keeper fairly easily to fill his limit, but couldn't catch a couple of the big ones that he worked on for a quite a while. I tried to fish the deeper beds in the middle of the pockets with a Senko, tube and lizard, but never got a bite.

Talk about a Top 12 with some heavy hitters. The pro side reads like a legends tournament: Brauer, Shuffield, Fritts, Reese, Klein, Davis, Peter T. and my practice partner, Alton Jones. The amateur side is no different. At least three former winners are in the Top 12: Howard Stephens, Dennis Sandoval and T.R. Fuller have won before and are very good fishermen. Robert Wilkinson made the cut with me at Guntersville, and everyone on the amateur side is capable of winning. It is going to be a very exciting and competitive tournament day tomorrow.

I wish I was there too. Oh well. In the two events I've fished this season, I had a 9th place and a 56th place, so I covered my expenses, had a great vacation and got on-the-water lessons from some of the best fishermen in the world. I highly recommend it.

I had four today – four each day. I'm so mad at myself. Mechanics really cost me here. I should've had my fifth fish each day, and that would've been 30 more places.

It got harder for me today. I caught one fish off one of my ledges, my last fish, and I caught two off the bed and one just casting a lizard shallow. I lost one bedding fish, about a 2 1/2-pounder. I worked on her for 45 minutes – I needed a fish bad. I figured I could catch it because it kept nipping at the bait. It took 45 minutes to take the whole bait, but it was blowing it out by the time I jerked.

Here I am again going into the last tournament on the bubble in the E50s and 30 points out of the Classic. I could end up first man out of the Classic, the first man out of the E50s and the first man out of the Shootout. That's almost where I stand right now. I'm laughing, but it's not funny.

There will be a lot of pressure on me at Santee.

I had five for 14-something today. It's about time I caught a bass. I had 8 keepers, and the biggest was about a 3 1/2-pounder. It was one I lost yesterday on a bed.

It got calm today so you could sight-fish. I flipped 3-4 in the morning, and then cranked a few and then sight-fished 3-4 more. Almost anything you wanted to do, you could catch them. That was the problem. You just had to commit to something.

If I had it to do again, I would specialize more – this time of year, when the fishing gets this good – instead of trying it all. Yesterday I tried a little of everything and never caught them. I should've just put my head down and concentrated on something.

I can't wait to get to Santee. I left them biting the last time.

I had a great time fishing with Mark Menendez today. I boated 10 fish: 9 bass and 1 mudfish. Only 4 bass measured, for a total of 6-12. That was good enough for 26th place. I had my limit-fish to jump off at the boat. It was just a 2 pounder, but it would have moved me up a bunch of places. It was the only one I lost today. I caught some on a lizard and some on a spinnerbait when the wind got up.

Mark had a decent day. He had a limit that weighed 13-09, and caught a 5 1/2-pounder late in the day that really helped him. He's not swinging for the fence in these last two events. He just wants to get his limit every day to stay in the E-50s. I hope he can do it again tomorrow.

I drew out with Randy Howell for tomorrow. Normally I would be really excited to fish with Randy, but he is going down to the clear water. That type of fishing really makes it tough on the guy in the back. I don't think his partner had any today. I have some experience with this type of fishing, so maybe I can get a few keeper bites.

Making the cut is not out of the question. I came from 70th to 6th on the second day at Guntersville to make the cut. I do believe that the weights could go down tomorrow, but I'm probably wrong. These guys are good. Hopefully I'll stick a couple of good ones and move up, or at least hold my ground.

I only had 4 that weighed 11 pounds. I couldn't get the fifth fish in the boat – I lost 3. I was fishing a ledge. One wrapped me in a tree and broke me off. I think it was a big one. I couldn't do anything with it. And I lost two others that came undone. I don't know why. I had a chance to be in the thick of things, in the 20 or 30s, but I'm not even in the money now.

I was going to go sight-fish, but the wind got up and I couldn't. You could hardly see them, and I'm not that good at it so I got worried.

My partner had 4 that weighed 12 fishing behind me, so I'm around enough fish. I thought I could catch 14-15 pounds a day out there if I had a decent days.

Tomorrow I just have to go back out there and ledge-fish. I know they're catching them on shallow ledges. I tried to catch them that way in practice and couldn't do it. I missed it for some reason.

I started on the pipes and caught a couple grinnel and a couple dinks. I didn't think it was going to be good, but I thought I'd catch a couple. But no keepers. Several guys were in that area and a lot of fish were caught in there. They were sight-fishing and blind-fishing, casting worms and stuff. I was just one of the guys who didn't catch them.

I left there and ran to another area. Quite a few guys were there, so I didn't mess with it. I ended up with one fish for 3 pounds. I stayed on one that was 7-8 pounds for a couple hours and never could catch her. But overall I picked the wrong places to be at the wrong times.

It was one of those deals that started out bad and got worse. I was fishing way too fast. You have good days and bad ones, and this was a bad one.

Tomorrow I'll do something different. I'll try to get out of everyone's way and catch a couple of bass.

Today was a short practice day compared to the last two. We rechecked several key areas, and I only had 3 bites again. Alton has a hard decision tomorrow on where to go and what to do. I'm glad I don't have to make it. I hope he has a good day. I really enjoyed fishing with him again.

I drew out with Mark Menendez. I'm very excited about fishing with him because he's done well here in the past. He's also done well on two of my "home" lakes, Wilson and Jordan, so we'll have a lot to talk about tomorrow. I also get to fish with hooks tomorrow, so I feel sorry for the first fish that bites me. I'm ready. It will be a fun day.

I caught a couple good of ones, 2-3 pounders, sight-fishing. A bunch of fish are up, but I don't know if I'm even going to mess with them. I did a bunch of looking today. That was about it.

Tomorrow I'm going to start on the (effluent) pipes just like last year. Last year I got 22 pounds off them, but this year I'm hoping to catch 1-2 good ones and then take the day as it comes. I'll fish real slow and try to catch a limit.

Alton and I covered a lot of water today. It rained for a little while this morning, and then the sun came out and the wind picked up. Neither of us had as many bites. But in all fairness, we spent less time fishing today. We checked the water temperature and clarity in almost every creek and pocket. It really refreshed my memory of the lake. I used to fish Eufaula regularly, but I don't get down here much any more.

I still wish they would bring the water up. It sure would help, especially the guys in the back of the boat. More water usually means more fish.

The weather is looking good, so Mother Nature is doing her part. I hope I can put the rainsuit away for the rest of the week.

I had about 6-7 bites, and saw quite a few more. No big ones – 2 1/2-pounders were the biggest. The fish are shallow and seem to be in a lot of areas, so really it's a matter of finding a little bit bigger fish.

I did a little bed-fishing today, mostly in muddy water, just to see if I could figure out how to catch them. I caught quite a few, but still no monsters. Tomorrow I'll be sight-fishing. I like to do that the day before a tournament. The fish move up, they move down – I like to get an idea of what's left.

Sight-fishing will be a real big key in this tournament. I love doing it. I used to do it 15 years ago when only a few guys were doing it. Now a lot of them do it so it's not much of an art anymore. It's still fun, but it's just a different mentality.

I caught 3-4 keepers early cranking, and they were nice ones, 3-4 pounders. I went around looking for sight-fish and saw a few. But overall it was a little slow for me, especially in the afternoon.

I'll try to get out there and catch a few tomorrow, maybe find something, keep looking around. I know some good ones are there, but they're getting beat up pretty good. Maybe I'll find something different.

Well, Lake Eufaula wasn't quite as good as I expected today. The water is down almost 2 feet, so a lot of the good cover is dry. Hopefully they will let it fill back up this week. The water is warm (64-70 degrees) and stained.

I wish I could report catching lots of big fish, but practicing with Alton Jones can make that a tough job. No hooks, so no fish boated today. I did get several bites today, so I am getting some confidence baits. We'll look at a different area of the lake tomorrow.

We're supposed to get the rain tomorrow that we were supposed to get today. I'm hoping for a full pool and tight lines.

I didn't have much of a day today. I found some fish on one spot. I thinks several fish are there, but I don't know if they'll stay. They're out on a ledge. I had a 4-pounder, a 3-pounder and a couple 2 1/2s, but that was the only place I found out of about 12 ledges where I normally catch them this time of year. Evidently they're shallow.

I fished ledges all day to get it out of my system so I can go shallow. I'm going to go shallow tomorrow and see what's going on.