With dove season coming up in a little over a month, I’ve been working with my dogs as much as possible to make sure they’re ready. I’m a little behind but if I work with them each a half hour a day, I think we’ll all be ready. I’ll actually miss opening weekend because of the Oneida Lake Elite Series tournament, but I’ll definitely be back for the second weekend.
Like I said last week, I was down at Falcon Lake this past weekend, and it was a little disappointing. Now, catching a 9-pounder is never disappointing, but Falcon just isn’t the same lake that it usually is since it’s been nearly 40 feet low. The key to fishing that lake is finding where wood meets rock, but all the rock is out of the water now! I think the bass are all just suspending in the river channel, which makes them really hard to find and catch. The lake just needs a good, hard rain, or a hurricane — as long as no one gets hurt.
As an interesting note, I caught my 9-pounder off of the exact same piece of wood as the 11-pounder I caught a week ago. That goes to show that when you catch a big fish, it’s always best to go right back to where you caught it; you never know if another big one has moved in. The numbers aren’t what they usually are for Falcon. The size is still there, but rather than catching 100 fish, you’re only going to catch 25 or 30 in a day. Like I said, the lake just needs a good rain that’ll fill the lake up and allow the fish to spread out again. If there are 10 boats on the lake now, that probably means there are only 10 good spots left.
We fished Falcon Thursday but got blown off the lake Friday and went to La Perla Ranch instead. We caught 62 bass on Booyah swim jigs and a mess of bluegill, including one that I believe went 2 pounds. It’s a good thing that bass aren’t as strong as bluegill are pound-for-pound; otherwise, they’d pull you out off the boat! If I’m fishing for something other than bass, it’s most likely going to be bluegill or crappie. And boy, they sure are eat good. Bream fishing reminds me of fishing in east Texas with my grandfather with a cane pole in bare feet on a hot summer day. I have nothing but fond memories of fishing for bream.
Every day that goes by sees my anticipation for the Oneida Lake Elite Series tournament grow. Usually by the end of the season, I’m ready to be done with the season, but now that we’re on the long break, I’m chomping at the bit again and ready to get back out there.
After this event (and dove season), I’ll begin to scout Grand Lake in preparation for the 2013 Classic. It’s relatively close to my house (8 or 9 hours away), and I’d like to get to know it better. There are going to be plenty of local sticks in this one, and the only thing they have over me is time on the lake. Obviously, I’d like to close that gap as best I can with the time given to me.