Story by Hunter Baughman | Photos by Tanner & Travis Lyons
What a week it was at Douglas. The highs and lows of tournament fishing can be extreme. This week I experienced both.
On Day 1, I started on a couple of docks that had a crazy shad spawn the last day of practice. For whatever reason, it wasn’t as good, but I did catch a quality 2-plus pounder and lost one close to 3 trying to get it over the cable. From there I started bouncing around from swimming a Brazalo Swim Jig in the bushes and around docks to flipping a Texas rig in the heart of green bushes to dragging a Brazalo Power Finesse Jig on specific pieces of offshore cover. The offshore targets ranged from old tires to old roadbeds and underwater culverts. Most of that stuff was in 15-25 feet of water.
I caught several fish but only managed one more that was over 2 pounds. Then, late in the day, I ran up the river to a drain in the back of the pocket. This drain had a rocky trench cut through a shallow flat. I had caught one on it in practice that weighed 3 pounds—my biggest bite of practice. When I found it in practice, I was dragging the finesse jig through the rocks. When I got there on tournament day a huge mat of trash covered the ditch. I picked up the Texas rig and started punching the mat. I was getting a few bites, but they were small. After probably 30 minutes of punching the same spot, I caught a fish that was nearly 4 pounds. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. That put me at 12-01 and saved my day. I was tied for 28th.
On Day 2, my shad spawn gave me a couple of small fish, and I went driving around looking for another similar dock that was still in the shade. I found one and caught four fish on it including a couple of 2 pounders and a 2 1/2. Shortly after that, I stopped on an offshore spot and caught a 3 and a 2. I knew I had about what I had weighed the day before and it was only 10 o’clock. This gave me lots of time to look for something new.
There was a farm pond way up the river I had looked at on the first day of practice. The water was close to a foot below the levee. On the last day of practice, the water crested the levee. I knew if it continued to rise, I could get into an area that might be phenomenal. After having a good morning, I headed to that pond. When I got there, I was able to wiggle my boat in. I thought it would be game on, but I only had two small bites in there.
What a let down! I made no more culls that day and ended with 11-15 to move up to 24th.
It felt nice to be having a decent tournament, but on Day 3 that would all change. The bites were fewer and smaller. And several of the bites didn’t eat it good and I missed them. Unfortunately, it seemed everyone else had the opposite experience. I ended the day with 9-11 for a three-day total of 33-11 and fell all the way out of check range to 49th.
What a bummer.
In the end, my check prediction was about spot on, but my winning weight prediction was a little low. Congratulations to Scott Canterbury on a dominant last day and win!
Thanks for taking the time to follow along. I’ll touch base next week.
Hunter Baughman – Angler Profile
