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Subject: "Motherlode ABA year in review" Previous topic | Next topic
swimbaitFri Jun-03-11 08:56 AM
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#18169, "Motherlode ABA year in review"


  

          

ABA Motherlode – The Year in Review

December - New Melones:
There’s something I like about New Melones. Just a feel of being less pressured than the other Motherlode lakes. A little newer, a little more structure and variety. Nico and I both practiced for this event.

The tournaments prior had terrible weights so we didn’t expect much and we practiced in what we considered deep water. 30 to 50’. Nico caught a few keepers in practice, spotted bass, on drop shot. I caught one 2 and a half pound largemouth on a spinnerbait, and some trout.

It’s interesting fishing these big lakes when you essentially know nothing. In the not so distant past you could just roll out with swimbaits, start firing and probably get some feedback. Now a swimbait bite is like finding a quarter in the return slot of a video game machine. You keep hitting the button but it probably ain’t coming out.

So game day we went straight to some stuff Nico had found in deep water. One of my problems with worm fishing and 6lb test is that I have an expectation of getting bit about every 3 casts. And if that’s not happening I’m thinking that fishing sucks and we should be moving or trying something else.

Nonetheless we stuck it out in the deeps for quite a long time this day. On our second spot we pulled up and I caught a barely keeper spot in about 50’. Its stomach turned inside out like a rock cod. Guys next to us on the next break out caught several fish. In hindsight that was our clue about what to do, but it’s hard to stay motivated catching micro bass in the abyss.

Nico calls these small bass sardines, and that’s definitely what was biting this day. We caught several more sardines and watched other guys catch some 2lbers right next to us. Again fishing the next break out in ridic deep water. I snagged a spot on a spoon in 50 feet. It barfed up a sculpin. Yay.

We weighed 1 bass and came in dead last place (37th). 7.4lbs got paid. We didn’t fish deep enough. Lesson learned.

January – Lake McClure:
Our relationship with McClure is love hate. Mostly on the hate side of the spectrum. This year the fishing was good at McClure. You could go out and get bit on just about any spot and the quality was much better than the last few years.

We practiced one day and caught fish after fish on darterheads. I caught my personal best McClure spotted bass in practice. 2.0lbs!!! Almost had it mounted but decided to catch-and-release since there’s not enough spotted bass in McClure and I didn’t want to hurt the population. We had about 11lbs in practice and felt happy. Most years in winter 11lbs will outright win the event.

This year was not most years. We headed out on the day of the tournament and raced to our secret spot that Nico had found in practice. There was no one there. Bad sign. I caught a crappie on a crankbait. We filled our limit quickly which probably went all of 6 pounds.

Mid-morning we moved and culled out most of our fish. Double hookup even. We were feeling like the kings of spotted bass, catching fish in front of other people and culling our way up to 9 or 10lbs.
Weigh in told a different story. Apparently catching 2 to 3lb fish at McClure this January was super easy. We came in 37th place again. I think our problem in this event was fishing the wrong parts of the lake. We were probably on the right pattern, but the fish size in our areas was not good. We just thought it was good because other years … it would have been good.

February – Don Pedro:
Sweet home Don Pedro. All the rumors we heard were that fishing was great this year. We didn’t practice this go-round. Practicing for us at Don Pedro is kind of pointless since we wind up fishing all the same spots every tournament.

The lake looked nice and no one was on our spots this day. 3rd stop of the morning Nico ropes up a 5 pounder. Well ok then  A bit later I get mush bit on a super long cast and farm it. Dammit. We ground it out. Then I farm a 5 pound spotted bass.

We finish up with some rock cod fishing on an underwater island and Nico gets a 2 pounder. Probably should have done regular fishing like that for more than 15 minutes to try to get a limit. Oh well.
The prediction of good fishing was correct. People just slayed the regular size fish in this one. We came in 43rd place but got 2nd big fish with Nico’s 5 pounder. It took 12lbs to get a check. If I didn’t sabanero those nice bites we would have been in the mix. These are the breaks of tournament fishing.

March – New Melones:
With the bad weather all spring and the thought of rock-cod fishing still fresh in our minds, we elected to skip this event.

April – McClure:
Spring time! Yes, we’ve had at least 4 days of spring like weather this year and mercifully some of it happened in this event. We didn’t practice. The lake level was changing like crazy, as was the weather so practicing seemed pointless.

One thing that happens to me at McClure almost every trip is that I catch a barely keeper spot in the first few casts. It happens so often it feels like some kind of jinx. This trip was no different, and this little spot and his buddies couldn’t wait to get in the livewell. We had a limit of sardines in about 20 minutes.

The nice thing when fish are biting in shallow water is that we occasionally look like we know what we’re doing. We culled some fish and looked for beds. I tied my personal best McClure spot with a 2.0lber on the spinnerbait. Yes!!!

Mid-morning we found megatron on her bed. This story you may have already read so I won’t bore with the details but damn that was a horse bass. She took 2 hours to catch and weighed 13.67lbs. If the fight lasted more than 15 seconds I would be shocked. Adrenaline was pumping. Fishing was so good I was worried that we needed more big ones to back it up so we fished hard the rest of the day.

Nico put two 3lb largemouth in the boat and we weighed a 25lb bag. After coming in basically last place the first 3 events it was a great feeling to win one.

Have I mentioned the tacos yet? The real reason we get up at 2:30 in the morning and drive 200 miles round trip to fish these events is the tacos. You can get 3 tacos or 2 tacos. Nico usually gets 3 and I get 2. The tacos are what keep you coming back when you come in last place because you fished in 50’ and that wasn’t deep enough.

May – Don Pedro:
I wanted this tournament bad. Last year in the Nor-cal bass I farmed a 13lber and it cost us the win. The next event Nico fished solo in the ABA and lost an 11 at the boat and that cost him the win.

We fished the Nor-cal bass the weekend before and did terrible. Last place type showing again. There was nothing on beds for us and the winds made finding stuff during the event hard.

I drove up and practiced the day before the ABA and got after it. There were some fish on beds and I cringed because catching 25lbs would not have been a problem. 30 was in the realm of possibility and 20 would have been a bad day.

The reality of that deal is that if you find 25 on beds in practice you’ll probably get a shot at 12lbs in the tournament.

Not surprisingly the weather was cloudy and windy for the event so seeing beds was tough. The fish I had found were all basically gone except one 4lb male. Regular fishing with reaction was not as good in the morning and we limped along, putting a 9lb limit in the boat early and culling with that 4lb male later (Nico demonstrated amazing skill on that one, no joke). But it was 4lber so…

By the end of the day we were out of ideas and decided to channel the randomness. People were all over “our” spots so we started fishing stuff that we never fish. This worked for some reason and we caught 2 nice reaction bait fish,.

With 5 minutes to go in the event I watch a big headed post spawn fish chomp my bait right at the boat. Nico dives for the net and his brand new Loomis/Calcutta 400TE goes bouncing overboard. The fish was pushing 5lbs but Nico’s rod sank out of sight just as he reached for it. Total chaos. If you drag up this combo over by Fleming Creek, send Nico a PM. He's feeling a little sad.

I thought we were in the game with an 18lb limit but there were three 10lbers caught and we came in 7th place. An interesting end to the season.

The horse bass from McClure won a nice power tool set for big bass of the season. AOY got barbeques, although I don’t know how they split them since there was a tie for 1st. This is a super competitive team region, the most competitive I’ve ever fished. You think you brought your A game in these deals sometimes and it turns out you got a B-. The nice thing is that even a B- earns you a taco.

Our vacillating finishes put us in 26th place for the year and since ABA qualifies just about everyone for the TOC we get to go to Clear Lake and try our skills in the fall TOC again. I’m looking forward to it already. Even though there won't be tacos, there also won't be any 6lb test pink worm fishing in 50 feet :)

  

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dockboySat Jun-04-11 07:00 PM
Member since Jun 09th 2005
205 posts
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#18170, "RE: Motherlode ABA year in review"
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Fished New Melones for my first tournament with the Bassbusters in January. Same bite, marking fish at 90ft. and fishing at 50-70ft. wasn't deep enough. Got 1 fish on a darter, and we weighed 5 for 3.61. Humbling experience to be sure, though I really liked how the lake might fish if I wasn't deflating spots at 10 fathoms lol.
I fish Don Pedro for the first time next Saturday, hopefully the weather works out, though I doubt it lol

Bass + Fisherman= BAASS ADDICTT!!!

  

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NicoSun Jun-05-11 12:15 PM
Member since Nov 03rd 2001
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#18171, "RE: Motherlode ABA year in review"
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It's funny that Rob likes Melones and hates McClure and I feel the exact opposite. At least the stupid spots at McClure love biting :)

This has been two years in a row with no spring. If we ever have a normal spring.. watch out.

  

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