Fishers of Men - Horseshoe Chain

My partner Shawn and I pre-fished a week ago and found the fishing tough, but did manage enough bites to feel confident. We pre-fished again on Friday and located an area holding a lot of fish that hopefully would still be biting the next day.
Our plan was to hit some of my 1-2 fish spots along the way to our larger fish holding area we found Friday.
Tournament morning started out a cool 65 degrees with 10-15 mph SW winds. We drew boat #17 and when our number was called we raced to our first spot, a tree overhanging the shore on a point. We shook off a bite here pre-fishing and hoped we could pick up a quick fish. After about 10 minutes and no bites it was time to go. Our next stop was a shoreline with a mix of docks and wood. On about the third dock I caught a 13 incher on a Mister Twister Comida in watermelon candy. After fishing the rest of the shore with no success we left.
The next spot was a small bay rimmed with lily pads and wood, and a "magical" tree which always produces a good fish. We started on a shoreline pitching B-A-Hawgs and FlaMinn Lures Jigs to the pads and wood. About half way down I connected with another 13 incher. We next headed over to the "Magic" tree where I stuck a 17 incher on the B-A-Hawg. We continued down the shoreline and were rewarded with two 14 inchers from pads - giving us a limit.
With our plan working and having a limit at 9:30 it was time to go to our best spot. This was a large bay filled with lily pads but only one particular area was holding fish. On about my 3rd cast with a white Snag Proof frog I hauled in a 16 incher which culled a 13. We took our time working the area but didn't get another bite so we decided to work through it again. About half way down the shore in the pads was a long dock which I skipped the first time through with no success. This time I was walking the frog parallel to the dock when the frog just disappeared. After a short battle about a 15 1/2 incher was netted, culling another 13 incher. We continued working the area for quite a while but the bite had slowed so we made a call to go to another shoreline that looked similar.
We flipped and frogged the pads and wood with no takers until we reached an open pocket behind the pads and between two trees. After casting the frog to the pocket and twitching it a couple times a fish boiled but missed the frog. After a couple more twitches the fish came back and ate it. When the nerve wracked fight was over, Shawn netted about a 4 1/2 pounder which made about a three pound cull.
At this point I figured we had about 12 lbs but we knew we had to cull our last 14 incher to have a chance for the money. We figured our best bet would be the pad area that had the most fish, so we spent the last hour there where Shawn was able to cull up a couple ounces with a fish a little over 14 inches.
A few teams had already weighed when our fish were put on the scale. We took the lead and although we had a couple scares we never relinquished it. We ended up in first place with 12.73lbs and second big bass at 4.49lbs for a healthy payday.

Fishing again!

After about three weeks of being busy, lousy weather and not feeling well, I finally managed to get out fishing a couple times this week.
On Sunday I went to The Horseshoe Chain to do some pre-fishing for an upcoming tournament. The Chain is fishing tough right now but we caught a few fish with my biggest being about three pounds and found some potential water for tournament day.
On Wednesday I just wanted to whack some fish, so my brother Scott and I decided to head to Rush lake. Again it was tough fishing, mainly due to the strong winds. The bite was pretty slow but we still caught plenty of fish, most were in the 14 - 16 inch range but I did manage one 17 incher.
It felt good to get out fishing again and I'm looking forward to this weekend. I'll be pre-fishing again Friday and fishing the tournament Saturday.
Watch for a blog next week about the tournament.