Thursday, March 4, 2010

Fishmas Season Eve

It's almost here... I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for southern Missouri and the start of my 2010 fishing season. This will mark the earliest I have ever fished for bass in my life. Hopefully we run into a few fish so I can mark down the earliest I've ever caught a bass too, in open water.

My tournament partner Tyler and I will be fishing Bull Shoals lake on Saturday to kick off the FLW College Central Division qualifiers. The goal is to finish in the top 5 in order to qualify for the regional tournament. Last season we were fortunate enough to hold onto a top 5 spot on Lake of the Ozarks. After getting a taste of the regional event last year, we would reeaaally like to return. It could be tough on us this weekend seeing to the fact that we have never laid eyes on the body of water and will not be able to practice. However, this won't get us down and you can bet we will be giving it our best to try and compete for the top spots.

A cold winter has kept bass still somewhat in their winter patterns from what I've been reading. The forcast is showing a warming trend, so we will have to be open minded on the water to determine if the fish are making a move. We have a game plan set in terms of lure choice, it's more so just a matter of finding the fish (Like always right?!)

After Saturdays college tournament we will travel a few miles up to Branson, Missouri to watch the final day weigh-in for the FLW Tour pro tournament that is taking place on Table Rock Lake. That should be very fun and exciting, I'm looking forward to it.

Once the FLW Tour weigh-in wraps up we will be traveling a few more hours north to Lake of the Ozarks. In a few weeks we have our second FLW College event on Lake Oz, so we will be stopping there on the way home to spend a little time on the water on Sunday. I'll be towing my boat down to Bull Shoals so we will be able to use it on Lake Oz.

It should be a jammed pack weekend full of nothing but fishing, fishing, fishing. My reels are all spooled with fresh new line, the boat is ready to go, and I've got a terrible case of cabin fever. It should be an awesome weekend to kick off the season and scratch the itch!!

2 comments:

Carl Spande said...

Good Luck you lucky kid! I might be out on the Mississippi at the Ford Dam in St. Paul this weekend getting the boat warmed up. There has been a bunch of boats walleye fishing already. Screw top five....just win the tourney... Looking forward to competing with you again this year and I hope you will take me out on your new boat this season for some fun fishing. Have a safe trip!

Carl

Bob Downey said...

Thanks Carl, hopefully it will be a fun trip.

I fished pool two last year during the summer below a dam where minnehaha flows in the river, is that the ford dam? If so, I was talking to some guys at the launch that evening that said they catch huge smallies below that dam reeeaal early in the year, like in march and april. Definitely worth a shot.