Story by Todd Goade | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
Coming into NPFL Stop 2 at Lake Norman, I knew it would be a grinder, that the weights would be tight, and that every fish would matter. If you go back and look at the weights in the final standings, you’ll see what I mean. Two pounds meant the difference in at least 25 places on the leaderboard.
Having fished Norman several times I had a general idea of what to do. I’d look for bedding fish, check isolated docks that I had fished before, and look offshore for post-spawn fish.
I’ll be the first to admit that I am not a good sight fisherman, and when I started practice the first morning in Davidson Creek and saw so many empty beds, I got excited because I thought I would get to fish my strengths. I stood on my Lowrance Ghost trolling motor for hours only to see four or five bass that I knew would be gone by tournament day.
I caught several 2 1/2-pound spotted bass off docks that had several other bass with them that same size. They were definitely post-spawn fish. I probably had 30 of these docks marked that I thought I could produce decent fish. I figured I could catch 12-13 pounds a day and then look for a big bite.
I checked a marina the second day of practice and lost a big one in there. I left thinking the warming weather might produce a shad spawn by tournament time. I also spent a lot of time offshore the second day, catching my biggest fish of the week, a spot that weighed 4.22 pounds in 25 feet of water. There were at least 20 bass in that school. I was fired up because nobody was fishing this way. I thought that as the week went on this would get better and more post-spawn fish would be coming to these places. I marked about 25 brush piles that were 20-30 foot deep. All had fish on them.
Day 1 of the event went as planned except for the big bite. I had 11 pounds and was less than a pound out of 25th place. I probably caught 75 fish that day on a Zoom Fluke Stick, a Zoom Beatdown on a Ned rig, and a shaky head.
On Day 2, I went straight to that marina, and after fishing about 10 slips I skipped a swim jig under a pontoon and a 4 1/2-pound largemouth got it. I fought it out to the boat, then the fish came straight out of the water. The fish went one way, the swim jig the other.
Dang it!
That one hurt. I regained my composure and about three slips later I skipped it under another boat. The bait sank about a foot and doink! I set the hook, and a 3 1/2-pound spot came out and jumped straight up like the largemouth did … with the same result. The swim jig went one way, the fish went the other. Zero for two in the marina area since I didn’t get another bite in there. I left knowing what a huge opportunity I just had and didn’t capitalize. I don’t think I did anything wrong; it just happens sometimes. I still had a lot of the day left to fish my other stuff. Sadly, the deep fish were there but not the right size. Same thing with the docks. I ended the day with 10-8 and was still within striking distance of check range as the weights again were super tight.
On Day 3, I started on my best dock. The first cast I threw a wacky rig beside a post, and it got heavy. I leaned back on a 3 1/2-pound spot, fought it all the way to the boat, and the bait just popped loose. I really couldn’t believe it. I had never believed in first cast jinxes but from now on my first cast will be behind the boat.
I fished all my stuff catching nothing but small fish. With 30 minutes left to go, I managed to catch a 2 3/4-pound spot that gave me 10-6 and a disappointing 61st place finish.
I left Blythe Landing that Friday afternoon knowing I let a top 20 finish slip away with those three lost fish. I thought I had a good game plan but just didn’t execute. That’s fishing sometimes! I’ll regroup for our next stop at my home lake of Douglas in Tennessee and see if we can right the ship. No doubt this will be another grinder where the weights will be tight, and every fish will matter. Hopefully I’ll execute better and land them.
Tight Lines!
Todd Goade – Angler Profile
