ABA Two Day Event - Day 1 - Bald Eagle Lake

Day one of the ABA two day event was held on Bald Eagle Lake. I have fished this lake in past for a club tournament so I had a few areas in mind going into the event. In practice I was fortunately able to figure out what I was going to do fairly quickly. All I would need was my 3/8oz All Terrain jig and a 3/4oz texas rig for punching some heavier cover. I had found fish up shallow the day before and knew that I would spend my entire day up near the bank fishing my strengths.

I started the day near some cattails, but a strong wind had muddied this area up pretty good and the fish that were there the day before wanted nothing to do with it. I then went up to another area with pads and quickly began to put together a limit. I put a couple solid 2.5lb-3lb fish in the boat along with a few swimmers. I found the conditions to be a little more difficult that the previous day, but if I stuck with it and put my head down, I found that the bites were coming every so often. With the need of some better fish, I ran back to a patch of pads a mere stones throw away from the launch. In practice I stuck a 4 pound fish there right before I put my boat back on the trailer to go home. I thought it would be a spot that many people overlooked and thankfully I was right. I was protected nicely from the wind and I had it all to myself. I started pitching down the edge of it with my jig and ended up putting a few more solid 2.5-3lb fish in the boat after fishing that stretch a few times.

After getting off the water I discovered that many anglers had a tough day on Bald Eagle. It was a tough bite with fish far and few between. My fish weighed just over 12.5lbs and to my surprise was good enough for the day one lead! I was excited to hear this knowing that we would be on Big Marine the next day. I needed a lead going into that lake. Big Marine has had my number the past few years. So it would come to down to one last day. If I win the 2 day event, I would have a great shot at AOY yet I was faced with a lake that I have struggled on in the past. Check back soon to see if I could overcome my weakness and claim the top AOY spot!