Bassmaster Classic - Lake Wylie

Today was awesome, even though my first bite didn't come until almost noon. I caught one about 4 pounds, and ended up catching about 14 pounds in the last hour off the same spot.

I was dropshotting a brushpile in 30 feet with a 6-inch, oxblood-colored RoboWorm. The rest of my rig was a No. 1 RoboWorm rebarb hook, 1/4-ounce Kanji tungsten dropshot weight, 8-pound Yamamoto fluorocarbon line, a Shimano reel and a 6' 10" medium-action Lobina Westy Worm rod.

I had two keepers, and the biggest was 4 pounds. I almost had my hands on a 4 1/2-pounder. She jumped four times, and I lost her on the fourth jump as I was reaching for her.

I was sight-fishing bluegill beds. The bluegills were up there spawning. I waited (this morning) until I could see the fish. The first one was that 4-pounder, and the next one was the 4 1/2-pounder. She bit on the first cast.

When the bluegill got done, most of the fish were gone.

I lost about a 2 1/2-pounder on a buzzbait trying to swing her in, and that was the only four keeper bites I had. I also had two shorts.

Not making the cut feels like hell. You want to get things right. I've been in it 14 times and I only got it right once.

I had one nicer one than yesterday, and one about the same. I caught them early. Today I had three at 11:00, and yesterday I didn't have any at 11:00. My first fish was over 3 1/2. I thought if I caught a couple more of those I would get back in it, but I didn't.

I'll probably be the last one in (the cut) or the first one out. Either way is fine with me. I'll have a drink tonight or fish tomorrow.

I'm dropshotting RoboWorms and Yamamoto worms. Today I fished five deep brushpiles. The fish are there, but not consistent. I stayed down low all day – there's not as much boat traffic down by the dam.

I had two keepers and six bites. I caught the two deep, but I fished shallow until about 11:00. I had one 6-pounds or bigger try to get my buzzbait at the boat, but it didn't touch it. It just blew up all around it. I also had a 3-pounder eating a jig, saw it, set the hook, and it just had the trailer.

I'll fish deep all day tomorrow.

I had five keepers. I caught one on a Rico, and the rest deep, and I never had a fish until 10:30. I watched Aaron (Martens) catch about 100, it seemed like, but I couldn't catch them until later.

The number of fishermen watching us was very impressive, and they were extra-courteous. They didn't even try to talk to you – just excellent people. Unless Jason Quinn pulled past you, you were fine.

The water was pretty clear where I was fishing, and tomorrow I'll do the same thing. I had about a 6-pounder follow a about a 13 1/2-incher to the boat, and I want to try to catch one of those tomorrow.

Practice was okay. I had to scramble. I got on some shallow stuff, but the deep stuff has gone to heck. I went to five out of 10 (deep) places and got no bites.

I don't think the water rising will really affect me. It won't hurt, and could actually help one situation.

Practice was pathetic. This place is weird. Fish are everywhere – you can see them boiling and see on the graph – but catching them is tough. I attribute it to time of year and high pressure. These fish have seen everything and they're well-fed. There's acres of shad out there.

It was pretty muddy when we were here (for prefish), and it's gotten muddier, but fish in the mud seem to bite better than the other fish, so it may not hurt that bad.

I'm going to go fish like I want to fish: deep. If you run into one of those schools of bites, you could get healthy real quick, but it's sort of a needle in a haystack type of deal. If it gets three-quarters of the way through the day, I might go shallow for a few fish to weigh in. I'll also probably start shallow with a Rico, depending on what the clouds want to do.