BFL co experience - my first year has been a challenge

[Hollada]

My first tournament in June I get paired with a boater that had never fished st clair and had not found anything he thought promising in his pre-fishing.  I ended up with 4 fish about 11 lbs. was happy considering we didn't have a lot of spots to try.

My second event out of Erie the weather was rough on Erie and we made a tactical error by staying in the river where we didn't have many spots and not running to st clair as we never really got on any fish in the river.  I ended up with 4 little fish, about 8 lbs

My boater in yesterday's st clair BFL was from Indiana.  He prefished and didn't find anything he thought was going to produce size so on tourney day we ran to the mouth of the Detroit river (Canadian side just a mile or so up from erie) to fish docks for largemouth at a few spots he had from the prior tourney out of Elizabeth park.

He got his 5 and culled a few and I ended up with 1 keeper.  He was getting them all on a weighted texas rig senko fished upriver and under docks..  I tried multiple things and couldn't get a pattern.  Lost 3-5 dropshot rigs and several jigs on the rocks (lots of snags down there).  Around 11:30 we run the 45 minutes back to st clair and fish the weeds in the Lans cruse bay shallows below metro for more largemouth.  6-7 fow.  Then we move in closer and fish to shore in the same area. I got 4-5 more dinks as did my boater.

I don't get why people sign up for 5 tournaments on clair / Erie, drive the distance they do, and don't focus on trying to catch the smallies on the lake.  I guess if you think you can score better on lmb than smb, then that is the choice to make.  Is this unusual for these tournaments - for people to target large mouths instead of smallmouths on st clair?

[dartag]

I think we talked about this when we fished.  As a co-angler you are there to learn whats going on.  Unfortunately you have to take the good with the bad.   Sounds like you are getting the bad ones first.  The good thing is you are learning what not to do if you ever decide to get a boat and move to the front.  It is not only there.  I hear guys a local events talking about there partners in small team tournaments.  Probably why I fish alone so much no one likes me.  My son has to fish with me since he is family.

Don't give up it is all about learning.  Guys find out when they buy a boat and are on there own things are totally different. 

If it was easy everyone would be doing it.

[Hollada]

I am learning. And I don't mean to imply these guys are bad.  They are probably very solid fisherman on the lakes they fish lmb for in Indiana and Ohio.  I would think if you are fishing a series that has 3 events on st clair and 2 on Erie, that you would be fishing the smallmouth. 

I definately learned a bit yesterday.  Especially about being mentally prepared for the unexpected! 

[motocross269]

If you look at the results from July 12th one of the best fisherman and a guide on the Lake caught 6lbs...... I see another guide caught just over 10 and a guy that writes articles and is considered the guy to beat and has written numerous articles for Magazines was under 10lbs....I could go on and on...I won't name names but you can figure it out...Smallmouth fishing can be tough day in and day out...You can go from hero to zero virtually overnight...

I caught 20lbs in a tournament on a Sunday a few years ago and a week later took Dan Oneil out in a BFL and couldn't catch a fish with Dynamite...Luckily he was able to scramble for over 12lbs and stay in the points but it wasn't our day....Stuff happens..

Remember in BFLs these guys have jobs also......All you can do is fish as hard as you can and make the best  out of it.... If the Boater treats you fairly, gives you water to fish and is generally a good guy it is best to be optimistic and give them some slack...Someday you will be in the front of the boat and you will have your chance....

One other point...You didn't really do it here but I have seen Co anglers bad mouth boaters and it is pretty easy to see who you drew that week...The BFLs are a small world and word travels fast...

See that picture in my Profile....I caught over 21lbs that day and won as a Co angler.... My boater's Vehicle blew a transmission on the way up from Indiana, I believe....He didn't prefish and really wasn't very familiar with LSC. He didn't even get up here in time for the meeting so we had to coordinate everything on the phone.. I had an area in the lake that was producing but not really tournament quality fish.. A storm moved in and the lake was swelling to about 3-4 footers so I just basically pointed out the area on his mapping and we spent the day there....The bigger fish had moved in and we had a good day.... My boater was one fish away from cashing a check.. Having an open minded boater and working as a team made all of the difference....

So I guess the point is don't be quick to judge and control what you can contol....It's all about having a good time.....There's more to a successful day on the water than the results....

[Mojo]

I'll give you the short answer: Yes you have drawn some very unusual partners. I fished 4 solid years in the BFL, made regionals all 4 years, cashed checks all 4 years and never once did a guy go for LM . All SM. Maybe I'm the lucky one.

I also come prepared with areas of the lake that I have been out on practicing. I keep my ear to the circle of people out there and learn what I can. When I'm with a fellow BFL boater practicing, I would NEVER EVER give up a spot to the boater I drew, however, if he is even within grasp of the where to be, then I can guide him to similar areas (For example:  my practice buddy and I learned weedbeds with scattered rock in 13 fow in US waters was the ticket Thursday ,..... and on Saturday my drawn BFL partner is struggling in rocks in 10 fow in Canada. I'll recommend either a few of my spots in 12-14 fow nearby in Canada, or shorts runs to weed beds with scattered rock in 10 - 12 fow. But NEVER EVER give up the ghost for the selfish means to fill your bag).

IF I ever ran into a guy that had nothing, I would hope he would try my stuff first, then go for LM. I think one day, someone is going to win a major BFL with a 19 lb greenie bag, and don't be surprised if its sooner than later with the SM bags getting as light as they are lately.

[dartag]

Greg Hackney weighed in LM for 3/days last year in the elite event. He almost made the last day.   It can be done.

[Team houston]

I fished my first BFL(Redman) in 1988 as a co.  It was years (5-7) before I ever caught a limit. Be patient and stick with it. Your time will come. FYI one year in the super tourny out of Elizabeth my boater fished the docks in the lower river. I caught 14+ lbs of LM and made the cut. I wasn't thrilled when I found out we were LM fishing. I just needed one fish to make the Regional so I just went out with an open mind and had fun with it. Good things happened. What are your goals?  Checks? Wins? Making the Regional? Learning? Meeting new friends?  Mine are all of the above. If you are just looking for checks and wins you are gonna have a lot of dissapointment. If I did not win maybe I cashed a check. If not that maybe I cought a couple for Regional points. Caught only one or zeroed maybe I learned something critical and made a new friend. Patience, an old trout guy should already have that.

[Mojo]

Big daddy, you nailed one of the most important things I took from the BFL. You really meet some goooood people. If youre lucky, as a co - you connect and start a friendship with maybe 1 person a year.  And with each club you meet about 2 a year...... And that's the real good stuff about life. You never plan it, and you don't always choose your friends. They like you a lot faster than you like them. And then it's just there. Friends. It's allot harder for men to make a new friend after high school than women or kids.

Now do I tournament fish the BFL for 1 big reason: catch 5 very big fish and win it ! The money for the win is great, 2nd - 5th is good, 6th-16th is meh..... And if a boater decides to go after LM, it's because he couldn't find squat, not even 12 lb in practice. If you take away anything here, it's that you have NO control over who you draw. And only about 10-15 boaters will be around winning fish for the coangler. Half of them will be around big enough fish where the coangler COULD cash a check. That means a full 50% of the time, no matter how much you know the lake, no matter how expensive you're DS n TUBE rods are, no matter how good your "persuasive skills" are,  , you have no chance to cash a check.

But maybe, just maybe, you make a friend..... And that's a good life.

[1javelin]

Sounds like sometimes it just comes to having the money to fish them and being able to tell guys you did it.  Some of us would love that opportunity, but don't have the finances to do it.  I just enjoy every day now.

1jav

[Hollada]

My goals for the BFL this year include:

- Fish out of multiple boats to get a feel for what I might buy next year - Check
- Learn new techniques and refine my skills on the ones I know - Check
- Learn how to consistently catch SMB - work in process
- Meet people with the same addiction and perhaps find a new fishing partner or two - check
- Stretch goals:
     - Catch 5 by mid-day and be able to cull up - Not yet
     - Earn a check - Not yet

When I put it in perspective, its been a good year.  I still have a couple of chances to fill my open goals!

Cheers all and thanks for the responses.

Dan

[spinnerbation]

Dan, I sent you a pm.

Aric

[Hollada]

8/23 BFL update:

All goals achieved.  Had 5 in the well by 9:30 after running from Liz park to st clair.   Culled up several times.  Finished in 11th spot and in the money.

Fished thurs and Friday prior hoping that whoever I drew on sat would go to st clair.   Figured out a DS pattern and caught my first 6 fish on that pattern.   Upgraded by 3 lbs with a zman craw on a c-rig with a 5 ft leader to float over the weeds.

Had a great boater and had a great time on the water.  The fog in the morning was a bit butt puckering as we ran to st clair.  Couldn't see more than a few boat lengths in front of us from the ambassador bridge to the lake.

Almost had a sturgeon jump into the boat on Friday as we ran up the middle channel.  It jumped in front of the boat as we were at full throttle.  A foot difference and a five foot monster would have landed on the front deck.  Driver got a pretty good shower from it.

Cheers

[djkimmel]

I fished my first BFL(Redman) in 1988 as a co.  It was years (5-7) before I ever caught a limit. Be patient and stick with it. Your time will come. FYI one year in the super tourny out of Elizabeth my boater fished the docks in the lower river. I caught 14+ lbs of LM and made the cut. I wasn't thrilled when I found out we were LM fishing. I just needed one fish to make the Regional so I just went out with an open mind and had fun with it. Good things happened.

When I was a boater in various tournaments I sure appreciated drawing a co-angler with this attitude. The boater is also hoping for a 'good' draw - someone thinking like you thing really helps!

A 'good draw' can mean many things to many people but I remember the worst of them and the best of them the most. It was more pronounced for me when I fished the old Everstart Series before they had a Northern division.

It would have been nice to have a Northern division then but it was actually fine with me because I was considering fishing higher level tournament tournaments and was well aware I could be spending more time on waters outside of my Great Lakes 'comfort zone.'

I fished the SE and all of the waters we fished were new to me for all practical purposes. We fished Lake Okeechobee, Lake Martin in Alabama, Santee-Cooper and Cumberland. I got a pretty good taste of the two co-angler extremes at the first two events.

I drew a co-angler from back 'up north' at Okeechobee whose first words to me were, "great, I drove all the way to Florida from Indiana and drew a guy from Michigan!" We got along okay during the day but it took awhile for my co-angler to get drawing someone from as far as way as possible to the Big O instead of concentrating on the fish. I pretty much concentrated on the fish. I did catch more, and I was fishing places where we both had shots at new water. We didn't become life-long friends... no biggie.

At Lake Martin I drew another guy from Indiana. Older gentleman. The fishing started out brutal at that lake. I'd never been there before and conditions were tough to say the least. Water temps were as low as the low 40s and we were sliding down the boat ramp in morning temps below freezing.

The talk among co-anglers about needing the 'right draw' and the odds of getting the few 'right draws' available was easy to hear. I wasn't on much of anything as far as a pattern or even consistent catch and told my co-angler honestly that it would probably be a slow, tough day, but we would fish hard all day. I had zeroed on day 1 and he knew it.

He showed up in the morning with McDonalds breakfast for me! He knew I was staying in the campground and he's a believer in the positive power of starting off with a hot breakfast. Now that's the way to kick of the morning - thinking of someone else and doing them something unexpected and nice!

For the 2nd or 3rd morning in a row my truck slid down the boat ramp, cocking sideways and putting pictures of submarines and underwater dwellings in my mind (I might have said a bad word too...!?!) but Tom, my co-angler, instantly cranked up the outboard as it hit the water and gave me an outboard boost which slowed down my heart-thumping slide!

We had a good morning talking about all kinds of things, not just fishing. I really enjoyed it. I forgot how cold the water was, how cold I was. I caught a little keeper spotted bass early - we started fishing close by because I had caught a few keepers close and it was very foggy each morning. I wasn't going to run until I could see well.

I probably caught that keeper spot because Tom had me thinking about fishing, in a good mood, under a lot less pressure so I wasn't over-thinking things. It took a long pause on a suspended jerkbait to get the bass to bite and I've never been known for my patience... plus you know how it is first thing on the 'big' tournament morning - you want to go after them! I think Tom literally was distracting me so I would fish slower and more methodical, but still I was able to pay enough attention despite the cold and not enough sleep or coffee that I realized something was wrong with my lure before it was too late!

Of course, being cold, murky water, foggy and early in the day (and just being me before enough coffee or whatever...) I wasn't seeing into the water real well and completely missed seeing the top of a stump. Tom waited until I was fishing past it and tossed a jig or something to it. He popped a solid 3-12 largemouth off that stump and ended up getting big bass for co-anglers on day 2.

He mentioned that he didn't think I'd seen it and he didn't want to let it go to waste. Now... there's lots of ways I could have reacted but you know what? I was really happy for him. We had a great day even though we didn't catch another keeper and had very few bites.

That's a way better day on the water than some of the 'good' fishing days I've had with a tiny handful of co-anglers. Overall, most of the people I've ever drawn as a boater or non-boater have been decent to very nice people. I only remember a few I had an unenjoyable day with, but I also realized some time ago that I controlled what 'kind' of a day I had a lot more than the other person in the boat... one of the best lessons any of us can learn. In the boat, and in life.