Bassmaster American

My gameplan going in was to stay deep – anywhere from 15 down to 30 feet – because I'd had success doing that in the (Bassmaster) Classic 2 years ago. I was dropshotting Roboworms and Skinny Senkos on 8-pound Sunline.

Yesterday (day 1) wasn't bad. I caught six or seven keeperss – nothing big, but at least I had a shot. Today all the dinks showed up. I caught eight or nine 13-inchers, and I hadn't caught any shorts before.

I had a couple jump off that might have gotten me a check, but I ended up with only two keepers and a lot of frustration.

Most of the big ones are shallow, on the bluegill beds. If I had it to do over, I definitely would have spent more time shallow – especially in the morning, since the deep bite didn't turn on until about noon.

On the first morning I threw my back out, so I just fished half a day until I couldn't handle it. Then yesterday I just rested and didn't go out at all.

In the short time I had, I just tried to reacquaint myself with the lake from (the Bassmaster Classic) 2 years ago. I had the biggest stringer on the last day back then fishing deep and I've got a couple of key spots, so I've decided to work those again. You either catch them shallow or deep here, and I'm committed to the deep water.

I went out today and caught a few on a Rico, but the size wasn't there. You seem to get a lot of shorts on topwaters.