Big bait chunking with Alan Bell

I got lazy on the blog in May, so I have some catching up to do... I got the opportunity to jump on board with Alan Bell last night at the low water crossing on Lake Austin. I was out there monday evening, and saw a giant bass come up and try to eat a dead bass that had gotten sucked through the dam. I told Alan about it,         and he decided to check out the scene. Alan is pretty legendary on Lake Austin for being a big bait/big fish specialist. This spring, he had a 5 fish bag for 46lbs in one morning. I was amused when he made this video and posted it up this morning. (I have gained the nickname of Puma with the locals, because my beard supposedly makes me look like Lance Berkman)

It's not everyday that I get to jump on a boat and throw $250 swimbaits toward a concrete bridge. No giants today, but any opportunity to fish with Alan is a great learning experience.

April Tourney Report

I had a run of good luck this past week, and got in the money twice... The last regular season TTZ tournament was on Travis. Trey and I caught alot of fish, and found one good 6.68lbr in Cypress creek that bumped us up. We finished in 10th out of 118 teams for $500. We ended the year in 19th overall in AOY points.

On Wednesday, Bryan and I fished Lake Austin and got 3rd with only four fish. We caught bed fish early, then had a tough time filling out our limit, so we were surprised and happy to get in the money!

Rachel's Sight Fishing Bass

I took Rachel out on Saturday with the intention doing some sight fishing. She caught one small keeper male right off the bat near Quinlan, then we worked our way south looking for a bigger one. We rolled up on this one locked on a bed with a male in about 3ft. Rachel worked her for about 30 minutes, despite the wakeboard traffic, and finally bumped her in the head enough times with a pink Buggs rabbit fur jig to get her interested. Didn't have my scale on me, but I figure this one was at least 6+lbs, maybe 7+...

Bass Karma on LA

Yesterday was a wild afternoon on Lake Austin. I started off trying to sight fish on the only little slick spot I could find. It was windy and overcast, but I managed to catch a couple of small males on beds. As I was looking for bed fish, I heard a splash toward the middle of the lake, and found these two keeper fish locked up and floating on the surface!

Here's the video of what happened next:

From there, I decided to give up on the sight fishing for a while and get to fishing in the wind. I set up on the same stretch of water that Trey caught his 9lbr on last week, and started throwing the bone Strike Pro Baby Buster. I caught one about 4lbs on it and had a couple of big followers, so I just stuck with it, trying to find the right cadence to make them bite. I was running the bait about 3-4" under the surface when it got blown up in a huge swirl and splash. I set the hook and the fish started jumping. I could tell immediately that it was huge, and I about had a heart attack as it jumped about 4 times completely out of the water. I was pleading with it and sweet talking it and praying as it slowly came up and I was able to get the net under it. My first thought was Sharelunker (13+lbs). It was certainly long enough to be a teener, and it had the head for it, but I wasn't sure if it had enough gut. I weighed it on a fellow angler's Berkley scale and it said 11lbs 15oz. I went back to the ramp and got my new scale out of the truck and it showed 11.75lbs, so that's what I'm calling it. She was 27.5" long and 19" girth. This was the biggest bass I've ever caught blind casting, and my 2nd biggest overall. I guess I got a little lucky karma for saving the two floaters! Here she is:

TTZ Lake Austin

I fished the TTZ tournament with Trey Epich on March 16th. We had a bit of a slow day, and only had 3 keepers in the box by 3:00. We had weigh-in at 3:30. At about 3:10, I caught 2 keepers back to back to fill out our limit, then on the last cast of the day, Trey caught this 9.21 on his favorite bait, the dirty sanchez Kinky Beaver (yes, that's really the name). We finished 19th out of 128 teams, and we were the bubble boys. They paid 18 places. I was just happy to come in with a respectable limit, and bump up in the AOY standings a bit. Next TTZ tournament is on Travis...

Lake Austin Early Spring

I fished the Big Sandy Creek club tournament today on Lake Austin. It was a tough bite for everyone, but I managed to catch a limit for about 10.6 lbs...

Here's some shots of some of the fish I have picked up on LA so far this spring:

Lake Travis Report

Here's a nice 4lb+ bass that Matt Johnson caught while fishing with me on Travis. We were pre-fishing for the TTZ tournament, and it bit a PB&J Santone Texas Finesse jig.

The TTZ tournament was alot of fun, but the big fish didn't show for us. We had a small limit of fish and finished around the middle of the pack of the 127 boat field. Here's a shot of the scene at takeoff:

The next couple tournaments are on LBJ. We have a club event on the 9th, and then TTZ again the weekend after that.