Potomac River

Went to the Potomac River for the first North East BFL and it was a tough one went down on 5/6 and prefish for Saturday's Tournament 5/9... caught about 30 bass over 3 days with nothing big but had 2 good spots....... lots of rain and lots of muddy water and alot of trash floating in the water... Saturdays Tournament came and my first run didn't produce any fish so off to my second spot and we started catching fish.. we fish in the same spot from 8 to 12 o'clock between us both we had about 35 bass I had 5 fish for 10-14 and my coangler had 5 fish for 11-8 he was throwing the Famous Senko and I was throwing a Spinnerbait white/chart and a Minus-1 orange and baby brush hog Green-Pumpkin, Fat Ika and caught fish on the chitter craw ......... I placed 50th and he made a check and placed somwhere in the 20's.........

Manasquan........5/16

Bass Caught:
20
Bass Depth:
1 to 6 feet
Best Lure:
brush hog
Air Temperature:
70

Paper Tournament Fished Manasquan 5/16 from 6:30 to 2:30.... caught close to 20 fish .. the fish are done the spawn there ..lots of beds but no fish on them ... sunny's should be moving up soon water temp was 65 and water was clear lots of small fish caught on baby brush hogs up shallow off wood,color didn't matter .. bigger fish came on a sweet beaver in about 4 to 6 feet of water... no fish with bloody tails either.... biggest fish was caught on a spinnerbait ... 16-1/2 inches ... some times you had to just let the bait sit there in 1 spot......

Elmer Lake

Me and my Partner Steve caught 5 fish for 10 pounds even and came in 2nd place in our first TopRod Buddy Tournament ..

I was catching my fish on a tube bait dragging it across the bottom.. Steve caught his fish on a Creature Bait.. air temperature was 30 degrees at start .. My toes and fingers were Frozen... It didn't warm up too about 10:30am. the water was very clear and cold Water Temperature was 45 and could see the bottom 6 feet down..

The shallows water was dead and every fish came in deeper water.......

Mirror Lake

The winter has finally ended. The wait is over. Saturday dawned a chilly morning for our first tournament of the year. Many had high expectations when the morning started. Mirror lake has always been a difficult place to catch fish even in the middle of summer. But this was March and the 12 anglers who braved the cold start found out just how difficult Mirror Lake is to fish this early in the season.
1st Place – 1 fish-1-05
Mike caught one fish back in the pond just one hour before the tournament ended. He stated his fish was caught on a wacky rig senko. (does this surprise anyone) He stated after a tough day of fishing he decided to return to the pond late in the day to see if he could find just that one fish to get on the scoreboard. Mike would like to apologize to the lakeside resident that he left a rather unpleasant surprise on their lawn.

2nd Place- 1 fish-14oz’s
Geoff caught one fish weighing a whole 14 oz’s. Geoff stated that he had one bite all day long. He caught his fish on a drop shot rig in the deeper water in the area of the dam in the front of the lake. Unconfirmed reports have stated that his secret drop shot bait was a piece of pepperoni that fell off the Dominos pizza that he had for lunch.

3rd Place- 1 fish-12 oz’s
Mike caught one fish fairly early in the morning. He stated that he caught his fish on a Carolina rig. He stated that he had prefished the weekend before and had caught his only keeper on a Carolina rig.

Jig Fishing

A Black-n-blue Jig,Black,Green Pumpkin, is a great bait all year round or any Jig....Just take only a Jig out on the Lake,no other baits...... In winter time I keep my bait on the bottom of the lake just crawling it along the bottom 4 to 8 inches... Pay attention to the sky when Jig fishing ... If cloudy out fish outside the cover you are fishing ...When it is sunny out fish tight to the cover ....Looking for the biggest part of the cover.... fish the shady side of the cover.... make several cast to the same spot...
A bass is like a sunny, throw a piece of bread in the water and watch all the Sunny's come up to eat it... they stop and look at it and then they will eat it...Well, think of your Jig the same way.... A bass will come up to see it as it sits on the bottom with the soft plastic moving slightly, then drag it.... If water is warmer then 55 degrees you can hop it....Scent is good to add just for the fish to hang on a little bit longer and it is good for sliding though the grass...
Just remember nothing is writing in stone...Good Luck Tim Fitz

Focus

How important is that word in tournament fishing? How many times have you missed a fish because your mind was somewhere else? If you’re typical, you’ve had both of these types of experiences many times. How many times have you thought after a tournament that you should have done this or that? You hear it all the time in sports and in life: “You’ve got to stay focused.” What does that word focused really mean and how can it help us catch fish? The dictionary explains the word focus as, “the concentration of energy on something.” That makes sense. If I can keep my concentration on fishing and only fishing, I’ll be better off at the end of the day. Focus on the task at hand, whatever it happens to be. Focus on what it is you’re trying to accomplish. This is just a litte list of what makes us lose Focus: Other compertitors, getting a limit of fish, winning the money, Family, Job, dock talk he said this and use this bait or I heard someone was catching them on a yellow worm..casting and reeling in thinking about what you will be doing at work on Monday instead of paying attention on the job you are doing....... Each and every cast you must stay focused on this cast not the next one. just try to picture your bait under the water and what it is doing ...all the way back to the boat.. Have a game plan, get focused and stay there thoughout the day.... Good luck fishing

This was me at the age of 15

Me and my Pals Ralph,Frankie caught this Tarpon off Deerfield peer in Fla ... on 17 pound test line ...
on what bait I think it was pieces of a blue runner .. we fought the fish for almost 1-1/2 hours
Ralph sent this article in to the Fla Sportsmen Magazine and the printed the article.........
Click on This was me at the age of 15 to see the picture.........