Boat Destruction

Currently I have my boat torn apart AGAIN!  Over this winter I want to finish the restoration and modifications that I started in the spring.  This includes getting the prop reworked, wet standing and re-coating the top, clean and rebuild the carbs, new seats, and MAYBE a GPS!

Lay Lake Club Tournament

Fished a club tournament on Sunday (11/6/2010) out of Beezwax Creek on Lay Lake.  It was miserably cold (29 defreeze) and turned out to be windy most of the day.  Ended up with only four small fish and my partner ended up with 5 small fish.  Together we finished 7th out of 16 boats.  Several people weighed zeros. Needless to say, it was a hard day!

On a more personal note, I had only fished Lay Lake once in the past 15 years before this tournament, so even though it was hard, I still felt good about the day.

Nick

Back on the Water

So, I finally got back out on the water last Saturday morning (10/23/2010).  Had fun fishing with a friend from high school that I don't get to hang out with much these days.  We put in at Howton's Camp on Warrior river.  The fishing was rather slow and most of our bites came on TX rigged worms.  The biggest bite of the day came on a crank bait though.

Overall we had fun, but the fishing was VERY slow.

Me: 2 small bass, 1 large bluegill, 1 small shrub
Kenney: 1 nice bass, 2 small bass, 1 LARGE BUSH

Not only did he get large fish, he also got largest plant!

More Updates Coming

More updates are hopefully coming after this weekend.  Been a while since I have been able to get out on the water due to the heat and other matters.  Hopefully we can all look forward to a post after this weekend.

Nick

Product Review - Diawa Megaforce w/ Twitching Bar

I purchased my first Daiwa reel the other day.  It was a new Megaforce with twitching bar.  It has seven ball bearings and a 71:1 ratio.  I got it for $59 at Simmons Sporting Goods in Bessemer, AL.  I bought the reel for one purpose only - walking-the-dog.  The twitching bar on the Megaforce is great for those folks that are just learning to walk-the-dog or those that are older and  can not move as well as they once could.  (It is also good for when you want to be lazy and sit back and drink a cold frothy beverage.) 

I have mostly used this reel mounted on an AllStar 6'6" medium-heavy fast rod with a Lucky Craft Sammy knock off (Academy H20 Xpress TWS).  The Megaforce has a smooth cast and can chunk this thing a mile, which is perfect for top water.  Overall, not a bad reel for the money, I have been pleased with it so far.

Camp Smile A Mile Charity Tournament

This past weekend was the Birmingham Bassmasters annual Camp Smile A Mile Charity Tournament.  I fished it with a guy I work with, Jeremy Roberson.  The tournament was from 6:30pm Saturday until 6:30am Sunday.  We started the day off well by me boating 2 keepers (small but keepers none the less) and then went on a dry spell till around 11pm.  We stopped off to fish a pier that was well lit and ended up deep in a slew.  I tied into three more and we had a limit before 11:30pm.  As we were fishing our way out of the slew my partner hooked into a good one, but had his drag set WAY to low and the fish took off on him and into a lay down.  Unfortunately he lost the only fish he hooked that night.  We came back and fished that same slew on our way back to weight in and I was able to hook up with a nice sized spot.  I was a bit surprised when I saw it was a spot, because we were focusing on LM and where we were was not a typical place you would find a spot.  So needless to say I thought I was pulling in a nice 8-10# LM and my adrenaline was going. We were able to cull out a small one and increase our weight by a pound or more.  I had been hearing that the fishing was a bit rough and it was not taking much to win, so I thought we might have a chance, with our small bag, or at least placing in the top 10.  I was WRONG.  We weighed in 7.02# and it took 12#+ to get in the top 10.

Either way, it was fun and for a good cause.

Nick

Guntersville Club Tournament

After joining, the first club tournament was on Lake Guntersville.  I drew boat #2 and was partnered with James Massey who had also just joined the club earlier this year.  We fished all day and I only landed 4 fish, sadly James was unable to boat any despite doing everything right.

I finished 7th individually (13.05#) and we placed 17th (13.05#) as a boat.  But I was able to bring in big fish with a nice 5#8oz LM who tried to pull me in the lake.

Nick

Birmingham Bassmasters

Since I only know Lake Guntersville and Warrior River decently, I decided to join a bass club to learn from people that have been fishing the local waterways for longer than I have been alive. I ended up joining the Birmingham Bassmasters. They seemed like good people and I knew with one of their current members.  In order to join I had to fish with two current members.  I was able to do so with Mark Hawkins and another guy, whom I regrettably can not remember his name.  After fishing with these great guys I was voted in and was officially a member.

Nick

My Dad & Big G

As is with most people, my dad is the one that introduced me to fishing and has been my main fishing partner over the years.  He and I had fished Warrior River (the river I grew up fishing) a couple of times earlier this year, and the fishing had been good.  We caught about 20-30 1-2# fish when we went and one 5# (mine).  I decided that I would take my old man up to Big G and see if I could get him some decent sized fish. We went up the same weekend that the Bassmasters Elite series was up there.  It was a very windy weekend and we were forced to stay in one area of the lake to hide from the wind (and the pros).  We got to the lake around 6pm on Friday and I decided to show my dad "this one spot".  In an hour and a half we boated about 10 fish.  At one time he hooked into a fish and said something like "Wow I think I have a big one" and as I stopped reeling to grab the net, my rod bowed over and I had a fish on as well. He got his fish to the boat and pulled him in and was very pleased with.  About that time, I reached down and lipped my fish and as I did I expected him to be a bit dis-heartened as I pulled mine out of the water.  Surprisingly he was not, all he could say was "Damn boy, where did you learn to fish?"  In the picture below, the one on the left (his right hand) was my fish and the one on the right (his left hand) was his fish.

The next morning we went back to a spot near that one and caught about 20 more fish with most of them being in the 3# range.

Nick

Lake Guntersville (BigG)

Am I lucky or what?  My wife is originally from Guntersville and her family still lives there.  So that means when we go visit, I get to do a lot of fishing!  Once I got the boat fixed up I hit Guntersville up several times.  The first time the boat had seen water in well over a year I went with a college buddy of mine from Huntsville.  We didnt catch a lot as far as numbers went, but the quality was good when we did.  Within about 20 minutes of one another, we both boated 5#+ fish.  The rest of the day was spend catching a few 2-3# fish at about one an hour or so.  Everytime I went up, it seemed to rain (even if rain was not in the forecast).

Later in the spring for a quick trip to visit family.I did not bring the boat because it was supposed to rain and we were not going to be there for to long, but as always I brought a rod-n-reel.  While my wife went shopping with her mother, I decided to check out one of the local fishing piers.  I took two rods, my wifes zebco 33 and my spinning reel.  I was going to crappie/brim fish with some small minnows on the spinning reel and play around with my wife's zebco.  I did not have so much as a single bite on the minnows, but I did have fun testing out my wifes Zebco. I ended up pulling in a FAT 6# bass off the pier as well as a few smaller ones.  It was a fun 2 hours thats for sure!

Nick

Nearby Ponds

While rebuilding the boat, I found out that the pond in the subdivision where I live has bass in it.  So, I decided to go fish it some.  I went most afternoons that the weather permitted in early spring and could catch upwards of 30 fish in a few hours in the afternoons; but they were all tiny little fish.  Maybe 10"-11" at most.  I had heard from my neighbor that his dad had caught a big one in there and I had to find it myself.  So I rented a canoe and went out one morning.  The fish in the picture weighted 5#12oz.  That morning I also caught two more that went over 5# not to mention all of the small ones that I caught too.  As summer got closer the milfoil (lake grass) got to thick to fish and I had to stop fishing there.

As summer approached I decided I wanted to learn to "walk the dog".  Since the pond near the house was was full of grass, I decided to hit another local pond.  I had fished this pond SEVERAL times last year and a few this year and had decided that there was nothing in there but it would be a great place to learn a new technique.  On the first cast that afternoon I landed a 3# LM who put up a decent fight.

So lucky for me, I have a couple of options for places to fish right near my house.

Nick

Boat Refurbish

After fishing Lake Toho, I decided I wanted to get back into fishing more frequently.  That meant I had to get my boat back in fishing condition.  In order to do that, I did all of the following:

1) Replaced carpet with Grizzly Grip
2) Replaced Electronics (Garmin 160C on bow and Lowrance X52 on Dash)
3) Replaced old OMC Trolling motor with new MinnKota Edge 55 foot controlled trolling motor.
4) Replaced plugs and plug wires in motor
5) Replaced fuel primer bulb
6) New trailer tires
7) Grease the trailer bearings

So now that the boat is ready, it was time to fish.

Nick

March 2010 Trip to Lake Toho, FL

In March of this year (2010), my cousin Matt invited me to go fishing with him for a weekend at Lake Tohopekaliga (Toho) near Orlando, FL.  It was this trip that got me back into fishing.  So we drove ~400 miles (with his boat in tow) to go fishing.  Well, as my luck would have it, a massive cold front moved through FL the week before we got there and screwed the fishing up big time.  The water was in the mid 60s and barely hit 70 the whole time we were there.  We fished everywhere and everything we could find and I only caught five fish the entire weekend (~36hrs on the water).

The nicest one I did get was also my last fish (a trend that you will find happens to me often).  It was only a 3.5# fish, but it was still fun.  It would have been nice had my cousin caught SOMETHING (another trend).

Nick

Introduction and Catching Up

Good morning all!

Let me introduce myself.  My name is Nick and I am a 27 year old Electrical Engineer from Alabama.  I have had many hobbies and interests over the years but the one that has stuck with me the longest has been fishing, for bass mostly.  This blog is my way of commenting on my fishing experience.

I have been fishing since I was about 4 years old.  I fished any chance I got (which was not often) until I started college in 2002.  Since then it has been very difficult for me to find time to fish while working and going to school.  During that time I have received my B.S. Electrical Engineering from UAB and I am about to finish my M.S. Electrical Engineering.  Since I will no longer be in school so much, I have decided to start fishing again.

The next few entries will start in March of this year and catch up till the present.  I hope you all enjoy my blog.

Nick