2003 Texas Walleye Association Championship Wrap Up Story

Thursday June 26th

Amy and I packed up early Thursday and headed over to Meredith since I thought my chances were better than normal at Meredith considering the success from the previous weekend.

We spent some time boating and checking waypoints and then began to troll some of the same areas with the Copper Orange CD5 Wally Divers that had worked so well last weekend. We spent about 2 hours doing that and then decided we would try jigging some of the humps in the middle of the lake that were holding fish. 

The humps were still holding fish, although not the size I knew we would need.

Friday June 27th

I headed out early to be sure and check some of the small fish spots during tourney hours so we could get our short fish and then troll for the bigger fish. Still confident in the trolling pattern, I hit about 4 spots jigging and was able to produce fish on jigs with worms and leeches.

After picking Amy up later that morning, we began to troll again and this time I tried a few different colors in the CD5s. We were producing fish, but we were not catching the 18 – 20 “ fish I was counting on.

We again, checked a few of the spots that produced jigging and caught fish late also. I had added a few fresh waypoints with some points that were holding fish Friday and we were ready for tourney day.

Saturday June 28th

We were boat 11 in the blastoff and made it to our first spot to begin jigging. Wanting to avoid the mid lake hump crowd I went fairly far up the lake into some of the more stained water and began working our first point. The wind was blowing slightly, we had some cloud cover, and the fish were there according to the Genetron, perfect.

Amy started out with a Flo Orange Walleye Flasher tipped with a leech and I was working a Chart Walleye Flasher with a nightcrawler. Amy had the first fish and it was a great fish, 17”. We had been out 10 minutes and we already had our first fish over 16”, the rest could be 14” if need be and they were the easy ones to catch. I had the next fish after changing to the Flo Orange Flasher and leech combo (still deadsticking a Firetiger Flasher with a worm) and it went just over 16”. Amy was deadsticking a White/Flo Pink with a worm also, nothing. We were able to get another fish, this time 15” and I was feeling very good about our weight and we were only 2 hours into the morning. We caught many fish just under 14 and decided to move on to another spot. 

Looking for points where I had not seen any pressure, we found another point closer to the dam. Pulled up and began working the same depth of water and Amy was able to get another 17” fish on the same rig. Her new Stradic/St. Croix combo spooled with 8/1 Power Pro was doing its fair share of work. We now had four fish in the box and after another hour without anything but cats, we moved off that spot and I decided to hit the humps for a short fish ~14 which had been easy and then get to trolling to upgrade our already good catch. The humps were producing, but the fish must have all been 13 7/8. It was very frustrating and my nerves were getting worse as 3 PM was now closer than I wanted it. 

Our plan thus far had been perfect, but as the minutes passed and 1 PM rolled by I decided we should pack up and troll and not wait out the bite on the humps. They had been pressured heavily all day and were still producing fish, just not the right fish. We packed our jigging rods away and got the lead out.

Wally Divers rigged and ready, we made two passes around the humps without a strike. We then made our way over to the nearest shoreline that produced fish and began working the 25 to 30 foot break with 6 colors of lead, nothing.

It was time and we had not gotten our 5th fish that we needed. We gambled and lost on the trolling bite, something that I knew was an anomaly for Meredith, but we had to give it a fair shake. 

Sunday June 29th

Trolling rods safely stowed away, we went right back to the point that had produced so well for us the previous day. Armed with the same bait we were committed to sticking it out longer than we had on Saturday, another fatal flaw. We jigged that spot and others in close proximity and could only produce one 14. Three hours had now passed and I was thinking we should go back to the humps and spend some time there, Amy agreed and we headed back to the crowd. In the back of my mind I guess weighing five fish was better than not. There was a nasty storm sitting on one side of the lake and I had figured the bite might have been tough for others, it was and it wasn’t.

Some boats seemed to be producing well and others were having trouble like us. After watching many boats in the crowd catch and throw fish back, we decided we would try some bottom bouncing with spinners as we had not tried that yet.

Moving back up the lake away from the lightning, we started to bounce and immediately began catching fish, just nothing long enough. After a couple of hours, we were now down to only 2 hours left. Back to the humps, nothing still, and we were running out of time with only 2 fish in the box. Down to the dam and we were going to try and bottom bounce in front of the dam (right by weigh in) and spend every last second fishing.

Amy noticed some fish right on the break in about 30 FOW and they were walleye, just not big enough. We finished up our time bottom bouncing a variety of spinners and bait with no luck. At the weigh-in, I measured our fish again before taking them up and one was right on the line. I decided it was better safe than sorry, and we kicked it back and weighed our 1 fish for less than a pound.

Not as good a showing as we would have liked, but not living at Meredith, fishing it 3 times this year, and finally being able to catch fish in some good areas, next year will be different. I’m still determined to figure out the trolling bite, but it will take more time and for now the jigging seems to be a lot better with Amy showing me the ropes.

Congratulations to Jeff and Ron Alexander on a win that showed patience and persistence pays off. They fished the humps the whole time culling fish for the right 10 and it worked. They also were the highest placed TX team at the Cabela’s NTC at Milford and they showed it was not a fluke.

Pictures will be up soon at Walleye Central with the final points and standings.

http://www.walleyecentral.com/texas_walleye_assoc.shtml

Tight lines,

Brian

ABQ Sportfishing
www.ABQSportfishing.com
2720 Tramway CR NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87122
Telephone: 505-400-3872
Toll Free: 877-658-2487
Email: brian@hanseaticgroup.com