Summary: Fished typical discharge pattern on Power Plant Lake in January. Cold/Cloudy in the AM, with a stiff breeze. Partner and I did not start catching fish till noon and had limit in about 30 minutes. All fish came on plastics on outskirts of discharge.
Date: 2/21/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Ray Hubbard Place: 9th Weight: 4 fish, 9.58 lbs
Summary: Toughest tournaments are those where the fish are on fire and everybody knows where. Caught my 4 fish within 1st 2 hours of tournament flipping plastics to prespawn fish staging in 5 to 7 ft of water on creek channel drop off.
Date: 2/28/04 Event: Poormans Team Club Lake: Ray Hubbard Place: 4th Weight: 5 fish, 12.20 lbs
Summary: Same situation as previous tournament, except cold front moved through area previous night. Partner and I keep at it all day and I caught largest fish on last cast. Dead cranking battery resulted in penalty and being knocked out of 1st.
Date: 3/13/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Fork Place: 2th Weight: 5 fish, 4.88 lbs
Summary: Strong cold front came through morning of tournament with 20 to 25 mph winds out of ENE, and only was to fish effectively was to anchor and slip out 75 ft of rope. Boat bucked up/down all day, but managed to catch 5 fish using C-rig on outside edge of grass bed.
Date: 3/27/04 Event: Poormans Team Club Lake: Cypress Spring Place: 8th Weight: 3 fish, 5.06 lbs
Summary: Partner and I knew going into tournament that we probably did not have a chance at winning, due to lack of prefishing. None the less we managed 3 decent fish and lost 2 others. Fish came on a variety of presentations from Traps to C-Rigs.
Date: 5/8/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Lavon Place: 3rd Weight: 1 fish, 3.66 lbs
Summary: Tournament on the Dead Sea. This lake will humble the best of fishermen and the average to go home crying to Mama. Rotated between 3 areas the entire day and on 2nd round picked up only fish using a C-rig on a typical post spawn area.
Date: 6/12/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Fork Place: 4th Weight: 3 fish, 4.39 lbs
Summary: Fish weren't active on primary area, so had to start covering water to get some bites. Finally caught 2 fish after covering approximatley 2 miles of shoreline using small spinnerbait. Picked up 3rd fish on primary area and lost 2 others.
Date: 6/26/04 Event: Poormans Team Club Lake: Ray Roberts Place: 1st Weight: 5 fish, 4.08 lbs
Summary: It took a while for fish to turn on in primary area, but once they did we managed to catch a limit quicky and culled throughout the day. Majority of fish came on fast presentations to simulate active baitfish. Partner was on fire!!!!!
Date: 7/10/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Ray Hubbard Place: 7th Weight: 1 fish, 1.90 lbs
Summary: Tournament ends at noon, so fishing time was dramatically reduced. Found some fish that were not eager to take a crankbait but would accept the offering. Managed 1 fish to keep me in the game and had 2 other bites that did not hold.
Date: 7/31/04 Event: Poormans Team Club Lake: Cedar Creek Place: 2nd Weight: 4 fish, 9.22 lbs
Summary: First night tournament I have fished in several years. Partner was out of town so decided to go it alone, and make best of effort. Bite was slow and required flipping docks with brush, with brush on deeper areas.
Date: 8/14/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Lavon Place: 1st Weight: 4 fish, 7.30 lbs
Summary: Tournament ends at noon, so fishing time was dramatically reduced. Struggled during 1st 2 hours of tournament, but after sun came it seemed to start fish moving. All fish came shallow on multiple baits (Spinnerbaits, Cranks, C-Rig, etc.)
Date: 8/28/04 Event: Poormans Team Club Lake: Bob Sandlin Place: 4th Weight: 5 fish, 9.75 lbs
Summary: Another night tournament with slow bite for first few hours, then fish seemed to turn on after wind shifted out of the North. Kept at it all night and came in with a limit despite getting a slow start. Primary pattern was C-rig and flippin docks.
Date: 9/11/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Fork Place: 9th Weight: 4 fish, 3.19 lbs
Summary: Day started off with a dead cranking battery so had to fish nearby launch with just trolling motor. Lake had just turned over, so made fishing even more difficult and had to use finesse tactics to coax 4 into livewell. Not bad considering circumstances.
Date: 10/9/04 Event: 526 Bass Anglers Lake: Cedar Creek Place: 8th Weight: 1 fish, 2.09 lbs
Summary: Rainy, Windy, etc.... is what I found this day. Docks I had located in practice were beat to death previous weekend by large circuit, and could not get to ther areas due to conditions. Finally landed a fish about 11AM and was happy to do so.
Date: 10/23-24/04 Event: Poormans Team Club Lake: Ray Hubbard Place: 7th Weight: 4 fish, 8.41 lbs
Summary: Club Championship and partner had a family engagement and could not fish. 1st day had a weld crack on boat and had to nurse it to various areas to get to fish. 2nd days resulted in fishing at ramp and did pretty well. 1 place out of the money......
Overall: My goal for the year was to catch a fish in each event entered, with no set objective for placement or winning. As a result, I became a more consistent angler in locating fish and had several wins and numerous high finishes.