10 teams fished, 5 teams weighed in and 2 places were paid.
10 boats participated in the second Tuesday night event of the year. And yes, the wind blew…a lot. With some scattered rain in the forecast, it looked to be another night for the diehards.
The night definitely started off interestingly when we went to check Wayne Orender’s livewell; as he lifted the lid for us, he jumped back three feet like he’d been shot. When we asked him what was wrong, he said one word that will usually get everyone ‘s attention…”Snake!”
We went over for a closer inspection, and sure enough, a foot long banded snake of some sort was writhing around the lip of his livewell. As Wayne went to grab it and toss it out, it flipped behind a small crack behind Wayne’s seat.
“I got my long needle nose to get it out. I ain’t about to fish with a snake in my boat…poisonous or not! I was fishing on Buchanan pretty shallow several days ago, and I guess one of those bass spit it out in my well.”
He was able to grab it by the tail, and as we were bringing it on the dock for a quick pic, it squirmed loose and headed through a small hole to the safety of the lake. Crazy stuff for sure, and enough to scare the crap outta most folks there. But that is nothing compared to the 5 foot rattler that TTZ team member James Roberts saw on Lake Austin the other day. Check this out!
Ok, back to the fishing.
Coming to the scales for the second week in a row with a nice Travis bag and earning back to back first place checks was the team of Chris Ellensohn and James Polkinghorn. With a bag at over 15 pounds last week and one over 11 pounds this week, their pattern is holding for them as they continue to hammer the fish. We talked to Chris about their day.
“We’re still catching ‘em on flukes around bushes. We caught the bigger one, about a four and a half pounder, on a spinnerbait. But it seems like our bites cut off when it starts to get dark, so we have to catch ‘em in a hurry!”
It was family night at the tournament, as the next two spots went to teams made up of brothers. Taking home the check for second place were Jeremiah and Kenneth Woodrum; the team really had no solid pattern to report, but there was one thing that was consistent. Jeremiah explains,
“They were shallow and deep, and near cover and in open water. But we did catch ‘em all on the Senko for sure.”
Taking home the tackle pack provided by Jacky Roberts (owner of Pro’s Choice baits) were our old friends, and also brothers, Wade and Greg Mehaffey. They caught three chunky fish for a total weight of 6.72 pounds. There was more of a pattern to report as we spoke with Wade; and their fish were also caught on Senkos.
“They were shallow – real shallow. And they were definitely relating to submerged bushes.”
By the way, is anybody not throwing Senkos these days? If not, you probably should be. For evidence as to why, just read back through this year and last year’s tourney recap; it’s a pretty incredible bait to say the least.
The biggest fish of the night, Ellensohn and Polkinghorn’s 4.5 pounder, didn’t sniff the eight pound threshold for the River City Grille Rollover. The good news is, the big bass pot just got sweeter! So come out and try your luck. Folks are still reporting big fish up shallow, so they are there. Just a hint, might bring a Senko and a Fluke with you.
See you at Mansfield next Tuesday!