    Cancellation plagues anglers again as they battle Wheeler Lake
DECATUR, Ala. (April 9, 2009) – It was the second time this year, after only three regular season tournaments, anglers have had to deal with rough weather conditions and canceled tournament days. Day one of the Dixie Duel proved fruitful for some, but as Friday rolled around, rough seas left anglers sitting and waiting once again. |
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“On the first day, I didn’t even know my spot was that good,” Ashley said. “I started somewhere else but then went to my main area and culled everything I had. I caught everything I weighed in the first day in like eight casts on this one bank.”
Ashley was fishing a secondary bluff with a shelf wall in a creek with a Lucky Craft Slender Pointer 97 in Misty Shad. He was not working the bait fast, but he wasn’t letting it sit for 30 seconds either. He was pulling it along rather than giving it short twitches, which seemed to seal the deal for him.
“The fish didn’t want anything real erratic,” Ashley explained. “You couldn’t really twitch it hard; you just had to pull it and the fish would smoke it.”
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After bringing in 12 pounds, 11 ounces on day one, Ashley had to sit back and wait, as did his fellow competitors. BASS decided to cancel day two after checking the water conditions many times and determining it was unsafe for anglers to venture out. So as Saturday, which was the second day of competition, rolled around, the entire field hit the lake again to see how things would shake out.
Ashley was able to head back to his main area, but it looked very different.
“It had rained all night long and trashed the place,” Ashley said. “It got real muddy. I couldn’t catch them on the jerkbait because the water had risen about 2 feet or so. I started flipping a jig on the same banks and I caught a 4 pounder. Everything I caught that day was on a jig.”
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With a 13 pound, 14 ounce bag on Saturday, Ashley moved on to fish Sunday as BASS cut the field to 50 and let them hammer it out for the win. Typically anglers only have 11 other competitors to deal with when fishing the final day, but this was no typical tournament.
“Yesterday [Sunday], I went right back to the same spot,” Ashley said, “and it had cleared up so I brought my Slender Pointer 97 back out. I had 15 pounds by 11 a.m., doing the same thing I had done to catch them on the first day.”
Ashley was fishing the Slender Pointer 97 on a 6-1/2-foot, medium action rod with 15-pound fluorocarbon. After catching 15 pounds, Ashley lost the only jerkbait he had, which had been given to him earlier in practice by fellow teammate Gerald Swindle, so he had to switch to a jig. He moved back into the shallow, muddy water to start flipping, and the first fish he caught weighed 6 pounds, 4 ounces.
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That kicker fish gave Ashley a 19-pound, 11-ounce bag on the final day for a three-day total weight of 46 pounds, 4 ounces. He finished his week in second place and was very pleased.
“I feel really good,” Ashley said. “I never expected to do that well going into Wheeler. I think I was catching fish going and coming, pre-spawn and post-spawn fish. It’s a little early to catch post-spawn fish, but the water temperature was 63 degrees when we got to Wheeler and the weekend before that was a new moon, so it’s possible. But definitely a strange deal.”
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“I caught one big fish in practice, but most of them were 3-pounders,” Omori said. “I was really happy when I caught that first big fish on Thursday.”
The Texas resident was fishing a lipless crankbait mostly and caught a few flipping on day one. He was fishing around spawning areas in the backs of creeks, throwing his two main baits around dead lily pads and riprap. The water in his areas was 3- to 5-feet deep.
With 17 pounds and 8 ounces going into the second day of competition, Omori was in good shape. After the rain came in and day two was canceled, the water level rose and Omori’s area looked completely different on Saturday. The million-dollar question was looming ahead – could Omori adjust to the changing conditions and bring in a big bag again?
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“My area totally changed, and the fish moved to shallower water,” Omori said. “I caught the fish with a spinnerbait on Saturday in the same areas I was fishing the first day, only in water that was deeper. I had to do some major adjusting, and I was able to bring in 16 pounds, 1 ounce.”
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Sunday led to more adjustments for Omori as he had exhausted his main area and had to move around and fish new areas. He was moving from place to place, fishing different creeks with the Lucky Craft RC 2.5 in Chartreuse Perch and a lipless crankbait.
“I feel good about this tournament,” Omori said. “I’m glad I was able to move up in the points and be inside the cut for the Classic right now. It was a very good tournament for me. I had to make a lot of adjustments and it turned out that the moves I made this time were the right ones.”
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Omori weighed in a three-day total of 45 pounds, 10 ounces to finish in third.
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“When I fell back on day two, I was obviously really disappointed,” Reese said, “but I thought I had most likely dropped out of the top 50 all together. So I was glad that I was able to make the top 50 and have a chance to redeem myself on Sunday.”
To catch his nearly 16-pound bag on day one, Reese was flipping a Crazy Lake Chigger Craw. He started with a limit of around 6 pounds, but a 4-pound bass on a chatterbait started a string of big ones for Reese.
“I spent the last hour and a half of my day on Thursday catching decent size fish in back water areas,” Reese said. “Before the tournament started, I figured I would focus on catching 10 pounds a day and making a check because my practice was horrible. But I was pretty happy with the way day one turned out.”
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With bluebird skies and higher water on day two, Reese tried to locate some new water to fish. He went to an area where he had several bites previously, but lost nearly 20 fish. According to the California native, the fish were eating really weird. Reese didn’t lose any giants on day two, but he was only able to bring in 7 pounds, 3 ounces.
Even with the disappointing bag on Saturday, Reese slipped into the top 50 and fished for a bit of redemption on Sunday.
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“I didn’t have anything to go to on Sunday, and I felt like, with the water levels coming up like they were, the fish should be moving up, too,” Reese said. “I had a lot of bites in the area I fished the second day [where he lost many fish]. A lot of them were small, but I figured I had to go back and try one more time to see if any big fish had moved up with the water.”
And sure enough … Reese went to the same exact stretch and flipped the same bushes as he did on Saturday and was able to bring in a 13-pound, 13-ounce bag. Reese finished his week, finding a bit of redemption, in 24th with a three-day total of 36 pounds, 10 ounces.
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“It just wasn’t a good tournament for me,” Swindle said. “I was going to fish shallow because I had been catching them pretty well in practice on the Lucky Craft Moonsault CB 001. But when the tournament rolled around, I just couldn’t get them to bite it at all. It was very frustrating because I spent most of the first day trying to make it work and was only able to scrounge up 7 pounds.”
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With the day two cancellation, Swindle had some time to think about what he needed to do differently on Saturday.
Swindle decided to fish a Texas-rigged lizard around some backwater areas on Saturday, and also caught a few on a jig and a spinnerbait. He caught a lot of fish, but he wasn’t able to find the big ones he needed to move up in the standings.
With 10 pounds, 10 ounces on Saturday, Swindle did improve from day one, but it wasn’t enough to make the top 50.
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“The first day of this tournament really puzzled me, and it still does,” Swindle said. I look back on it, and I’m not sure why the bite never materialized for me. I just don’t know why they didn’t bite.”
After running from the launch site around the Decatur Flats all the way to the dam and back, running patterns both days he fished, Swindle ended his tournament with 17 pounds, 10 ounces for an 83rd-place finish.
He will have to put this one behind him and is looking forward to his next BASS tournament on Smith Mountain Lake at the end of April.
“I think it’s going to be a good tournament,” Swindle concluded. “There should be a lot of fish caught, and some big ones, too. I’m anticipating a full-blown, sight-fishing tournament, so we’ll see what happens.”
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Jordon threw a spinnerbait to bring in his day one total and decided to change things up and swing for the fences on Saturday.
“I knew the backs of the pockets I was fishing before were going to be messed up after the rain we had on Friday night,” Jordon said. “The place where I caught my 10 pounds was totally blown out, so I decided to leave it alone and fish for the big ones. I stayed around the main flats in Decatur where most of the fish on this lake live; where a lot of tournaments are won. Because the water had risen, I thought the fish would go to the bank, so that’s where I focused all day. I caught nothing but little ones.”
Jordon was disappointed and still doesn’t fully understand what happened.
“I caught a lot of fish and culled multiple times on Saturday,” Jordon added. “I culled and still ended up with a 7-pound limit. I can’t believe that. I was throwing big stuff at them, but it was just a very weird deal.”
Jordon finished 86th, so he too is leaving this one behind and looking forward to Smith Mountain Lake.
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