Saturday, January 30, 2010

North Tampa Bass Club-Lake Tarpon Tournament

Well it was a struggle all day for me and my co-angler Eamon as we couldn't seem to muster up very many bites as we threw everything imaginable in countless spots! We started at the mouth of Salmon Bay (Anderson Park) throwing traps but couldn't get a hit. They must of turned on or moved in sometime after we left because rumor has it anglers from the Tarpon Toms Trail were slaying them there later in the afternoon. We headed south to the Cobbs Landing area where it was a little calmer and also where I got a few bites on Thursday but nothing doing today as I threw flukes, senkos, and texas rigged worms. Surface activity was non-existent as it was for the whole day. We then bounced around to John Chesnut area, south cove, mid-lake bar area, and several canals on the East side of the lake with still no fish. I had one hit under a dock but broke my line on the set. Very disappointing to work so hard for a bite only to have it break off! I missed a couple of other small hits through out the day as did my co-angler before heading back North to Salmon Bay for the last hour of the tournament to try and work some rattle trap magic! Unfortunately, my trolling batteries died on me so we had to do a couple of drifts ripping our traps through the hydrilla. I was able to get one 8 incher at 2:40 to save me from being skunked and then at 2:50 I nailed a 15 oz keeper to get me on the board! Thanks to Eamon for persuading me not to call it a day after the trolling motor went down! The winner was John McAllister with somewhere around 6 pounds caught on several different baits. Big bass was around 3lbs. The winners of the Tarpon Toms Trail had around 13 pounds with big bass around 4 pounds. Overall the weather turned out to be decent with no lightning and temps from 60-70 degrees all day although we did get rained soaked the second half of the day and the wind was howling! Water temps were between 62-64 degrees.

Lake Tarpon Tournament pre-fish 1/28

I got out and pre-fished Thursday for my Saturday tournament on Lake Tarpon and I was able to stick a couple keepers but overall the bite was slow. Water temp was between 64-66 degrees and the air temp was around 70 degrees and the water level was very high. Got on the water about 11am starting in the sandy point area with no success. Hydrilla was much thinner in that area than normal as is the norm around the lake these days with the all the spraying. Moved across to the Cobbs Landing area and was able to get a few keeper bites but couldn't land them which is fine since I was pre-fishing. I missed 2 on a junebug trick-worm and 1 on a green pumpkin fluke. I moved around flipping senkos and flukes with no success except for a small keeper sized bass on a black/blue senko in the canal north of Dolly Bay. Overall, I couldn't establish much of a pattern bite I was encouraged to get a couple nice bites after the cold weather. We shall see what happens on Saturday!

Saturday, January 9, 2010

It's official! Largemouth bass record tied!

The International Game Fish Association announced yesterday that the 22 lb 4oz largemouth bass caught by Manabu Kurita in Japan last September has indeed tied the world largemouth bass record held by George Perry since 1932. The catch has been controversial as it was originally reported that the bass was caught in a no fishing zone in Lake Biwa. I am not sure if they found this to be true or not or whether it would effect the record if it was true.
In order for a fish to be declared the "world record" the IGFA must inspect the fish, usually cutting it open to make sure it's weight was not altered.

The AP release can be found here:
Largemouth bass certified a world record





Thursday, January 7, 2010

North Tampa Bass Club

North Tampa Bass Club is looking for new members for the 2010 season. We take both boaters and non-boaters but it is best if you sign up as a boater/non boater tandem. Points are all individual but anglers are allowed to fish with whomever they wish. Membership fee is $20 and tournaments are $30 with an additional $5 big bass pot. We fish a 10 tournament season with points for angler of the year given in each tournament based on finishing order. We fish lakes all over the state including Crooked, Kissimmee, Toho, Rousseau, Tarpon, ect. If you are interested, you can click here to get more info on signing up.