Yesterdays tournament

[carolina-rig-01]

As you know I prefished on Friday for a tournament on Saturday. Well the tournament started off horrible for us. We ran all the water that we caught fish in on Friday and couldn't get a bite. Now Friday we had a limit that would go around 15lbs by 7:30 in the morning and by 10:00 we probably had around 16-18lbs and all this was done by catching a fish in a spot and leaving and catching another fish in another spot and leaving. We didn't catch more than 2 fish out of any one area because we didn't want to beat it up for Saturday, so obviously Saturday morning I had high hopes for out areas to produce. However I was also concerned because the air temps dropped quite a bit overnight and I was affraid that it would move our fish out of the areas we were catching them because they were in the very backs of creeks and pockets in just a few feet of water. Well sure enough, the water temp dropped 4 degrees overnight and we couldn't buy a bite in any of the areas that we fished on Friday. We were in a pretty good tailspin and I was having a mental meltdown in the boat by around 11:30 or so. I was starting to fish sloppy because I was letting my emotions get out of control. Finally I just sat down on the front deck of the boat and took a little break to calm myself down. I told myself that you can't play this game mad, and let's just put our heads down and grind it out. So from that point on we just went fishing. We caught our first keeper at noon and our 5th keeper at 1:00, talk about how much things can change in an hour. A few minutes later and we were culling. We culled several time throughout the after noon and with about 30 minutes left we headed to a shallow pea gravel point that is close to the ramp. I caught a few dinks off of the point and then I told Britney one more cast. One the last cast I caught our kicker, she was the big fish we needed and she weighed just under 5lbs. We ended up winning the tournament by a little less than a pound and I also won big bass with the last cast fish too. It was an amazing day and one that I will never forget. I have had good tournaments before but I have never had things turn around so quicky like that before. The best bait of the day was the KVD 1.5, that is what most of our fish came on including the big kicker. We also caught a few on spinnerbaits, jigs, and Biffle Bugs. I also caught a flathead on the KVD 1.5 that went over 12lbs as well haha.


Our Kicker


3 of our Keepers


The flathead

[Tavery5]

Congrats, looks like you guys had a great tournament, and better yet a good time together.

[rrw4258]

Nice job guys! A kicker like that is a big help in any tournament. It's great when the day can turn around and end up being so memorable. Congrats on the win!

Ryan

[CamG]

Congrats! Looks like a great day on the water!

I don't know what it is about Flatheads and crankbaits, but they go hand in hand.

[bcklash]

Great tournament guys. I know that was fun.

[WaffleJaw]

Man thats awesome Kory!..I know reeling up that flattie had to be a little disappointing though,haha...Nice pics,and congrats to both of yall on the win

[Jrob78]

Nice job Kory and Britney!! Congratulations on the win and big fish!!
You had Bubba and Cass scratching their heads, I didn't know you didn't send them the cat pic too. hahahaha

[carolina-rig-01]

Thanks guys. I learned yesterday to stay positive even when things aren't going well. When our morning was a train wreck my attitude went from good to horrible and as a result everything I did made matters worse. Finally when I sat down and collected my thoughts I decided to just put my head down and grind and good things happened.

As for the flathead I knew from the begining it wasn't a bass, I could just tell by the way she was fighting. I was hoping that maybe it was a good bass that I foul hooked but I still knew better. What was funny was watching Britney drop the net and run the the back of the boat screaming when that ugly thing finally broke the surface hahaha.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Jrob78

Nice job Kory and Britney!! Congratulations on the win and big fish!!
You had Bubba and Cass scratching their heads, I didn't know you didn't send them the cat pic too. hahahaha

I was waiting for them to reply to the pic of the scales first. But then I went to bed and they just had to wonder all night long hahaha.

[bamabassman]

yep........he had me for about 5 mins. then i asked to see the pic. lol.


congrats guys. good job of staying focused kory. that is keey in tournies. good job.



now.......tell how BRITNEY really won it for oyu, lmao!!!!!

[Bubba_Bruiser]

Nice haul Kory! Good way to settle down and get down to business. When did you glue those mudflaps on your windshield?

[MIbasser]

Great job Kory!

Does that help you and Britney out in AOY points?

[Embrey]

my day started like yours and ended the same. i think we were last or close to it. sucked terrible. i hate fishing!

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by MIbasser

Great job Kory!

Does that help you and Britney out in AOY points?

Yeah it will help us out for sure, still waiting to hear how much though. We were in 4th so we should close to the top now if not in first.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Embrey

my day started like yours and ended the same. i think we were last or close to it. sucked terrible. i hate fishing!

LOL been there before and I know how you feel. I was so ready to load the boat up and head home at 10:30 in the morning, looking back I'm glad I didn't.

Just found out that we moved into 1st in AOY points............getting there is half the battle, staying there is the problem.

Curado you like my girlfriends on the windshields?

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by carolina-rig-01

LOL been there before and I know how you feel. I was so ready to load the boat up and head home at 10:30 in the morning, looking back I'm glad I didn't.

Just found out that we moved into 1st in AOY points............getting there is half the battle, staying there is the problem.

Curado you like my girlfriends on the windshields?

so where did your fish go? lol. i couldnt ever find mine. other people had no problem getting 15+lbs. all i know is of the 3 people i know there, we all stayed shallow,none of us weighed more than 2 fish.

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Embrey

so where did your fish go? lol. i couldnt ever find mine. other people had no problem getting 15+lbs. all i know is of the 3 people i know there, we all stayed shallow,none of us weighed more than 2 fish.

Honestly it sounds like my fish stayed right where they were on Friday. Dad was prefishing with me on Friday (he and my cousin fish our club too) and they caught fish running the same pattern that we ran on Friday), I sure couldn't get them to bite though for some reason and I tried everything. I tried slowing down and flipping and pitching to the stuff they were eating crankbaits and spinnerbaits on the day before. Where I threw a buzzbait on Friday I tried slowing down and throwing a Spook on Saturday and that didn't work either. I thought maybe they pulled out to secondary and primary points but talking to another good stick in the club he experienced the same thing I did and he thinks they just pulled off the bank, where they were in 3 foot of water on Friday he thinks they backed out to like 7 foot on Saturday. He might be right but the fish that we caught were up very shallow on spawning banks, not too much unlike where we caught them Friday but it was in different type areas.

[66KingFisher]

Thats a great story....I'm glad you guys had such a great day together, and winning the tourny was too cool....Congrats again.

[MississippiBoy]

Originally Posted by bamabassman

yep........he had me for about 5 mins. then i asked to see the pic.

First thing I thought to ask him was how many bass he had hanging on the scale...I figured it had to be at least four fish on there.

Good job, Kory and Britney. That had to feel really good.

[keithdog]

Congrats on the win Kory and I love the pics too! What a day of memories you had.

[cassidyta]

The pic came through while I was setting up for Emm's birthday party so I wasn't able to respond immediately.
Congrats on the win. I think that when tourney fishing, we often forget why we are doing it. Heck there are a lot of easier and less stressfull ways to make some money on a Saturday. I really liked and can relate to the phrase "You can't play this game mad"

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by cassidyta

I really liked and can relate to the phrase "You can't play this game mad"

My highschool baseball coach used to tell me that when I would get frustrated. It was true then and it's still true today.

[Embrey]

Originally Posted by cassidyta

The pic came through while I was setting up for Emm's birthday party so I wasn't able to respond immediately.
Congrats on the win. I think that when tourney fishing, we often forget why we are doing it. Heck there are a lot of easier and less stressfull ways to make some money on a Saturday. I really liked and can relate to the phrase "You can't play this game mad"

well, after this weekend, im starting to play mad...lol. out of 4 tourneys from march till now this year, our weigh in numbers look like this. LOL.i dont have a clue this year...
#1 - 1 fish
#2 - 0 fish
#3 - 1 fish
#4 - 2 fish

[carolina-rig-01]

Originally Posted by Embrey

well, after this weekend, im starting to play mad...lol. out of 4 tourneys from march till now this year, our weigh in numbers look like this. LOL.i dont have a clue this year...
#1 - 1 fish
#2 - 0 fish
#3 - 1 fish
#4 - 2 fish

Keep in mind that I fully understand that I haven't seen how you are fishing, and I am just taking a guess here based on what problems I deal with and I think they are pretty common.

I have seen you post a lot of fishing reports on here and it's obvious that you are capable of catching fish. I know that 90% of the time that I struggle in a tournament it's because I fish too fast. I don't only mean that I am retrieving my baits too fast, but also other things like moving down a bank too fast, or maybe not fishing out a certain area as hard as I would if I was fun fishing. It seems like most of the times that I recover from a rough start in a tournament it's because at some point in the day I stop and take a deep breath and make myself calm down, after that things usually go better. I have no idea if you feel the pressure of being on the clock in a tournament like I do but if so maybe this is part of what is hurting your performances. Like I said I know you can catch fish so it's most likely something simple, you probably have that feeling that there is just one part of the puzzle that you haven't put into place yet but once you do you will have it figured out right? I have that feeling a lot, and most of the time that missing piece is something mental not mechanical.

[cassidyta]

Originally Posted by Embrey

well, after this weekend, im starting to play mad...lol. out of 4 tourneys from march till now this year, our weigh in numbers look like this. LOL.i dont have a clue this year...
#1 - 1 fish
#2 - 0 fish
#3 - 1 fish
#4 - 2 fish

Embrey,

This is not meant to rub salt in a wound, but how are the other competitors doing? Are most struggling to catch fish too? I have seen several tourneys where those numbers could still be considered productive.

For me, the biggest issue when I am not catching fish is that too often I fish from memory rather than real time. I go to a spot and throw a bait because it worked last time. I usually don't pay attention to the fact that last time had way too many difference from the now.
The second problem that I have is pretty much what Kory said. I get in a hurry and rush too much.