Snowden's Tournament Journal: Lake Eufaula

By Brian Snowden

www.missouriangling.com

What: Citgo Bassmaster Tour

When: March 15-19, 2004

Where: Lake Eufaula, AL

Finish: 102nd

Winnings: $0.00

Lake Eufaula was at normal pool with water clarity being stained to muddy. The
water temperature varied from 57 degrees to 64 degrees. We had a few cloudy
and rainy days for practice, but the tournament days were beautiful with sunny skies and
highs in the 70s. The first day of practice I fished in the Cowikee Creek area
where I caught five keepers and had four other bites. Most of the bites came from
shallow, willow bushes and matted, alligator grass. Most of the fish were caught on a YUM, black neon, four inch tube worked slowly along the bottom in and around the cover. I used a 3/16 and 1/4 oz. Excalibur TG Weight and Excalibur 4/0 hook. Because of the heavy cover I was using a seven foot, medium heavy, St. Croix Rod spooled with twenty pound, SilverThread Fluorocarbon Line . The next day I tried moving up the main river, but the  action was slow. I caught a few keepers on a Texas rigged, black neon tube. I also caught one nice bass on a Booyah, 3/8 oz., black buzzbait and two other keepers on a shad colored Shallow A. For the final day of practice I spent most of my time looking for bedding fish in the dam area. I found a few nice fish ready to bite on the
nest, and I also found several that would be a little more difficult to catch.

The first day of the tournament started out smoothly! I caught three nice
keepers off the beds that I had found the day before. These fish were taken on
a white, YUM Tube, Texas rigged with a 3/16 oz., Excalibur Weight and Excalibur 4/0 Hook. The rest of the day proved to be slow. I lost two nice keepers and caught a nice four pound fish on the Bomber Shallow A. I had four fish that weighed twelve pounds
putting me in 75th place after day one. The next day of the tournament I spent in Cowikee Creek. I caught one keeper in the morning on the Shallow A and one keeper flipping the matted grass with the black neon tube. I spent several more hours flipping, but I was unable to catch any keepers. I then changed to a watermelon, YUM Dinger that produced one morekeeper before weigh-in. With only three fish for the day I fell out of the money to 102nd place.