Snowden's Tournament Journal - Clarks Hill

www.missouriangling.com

Event: Elite Series

When: April 16-22

Where: Clarks Hill, GA

Finish: 72nd

Winnings: $0.00

The first day of practice was cool, but it was sunny with the highs in the mid 60s. The water temperature was 58-61 degrees. I headed up the Little River to try and find some colored water. Upon arriving I used a spinnerbait and flipped a Texas rigged tube around shallow laydowns. After several hours of fishing this one with only one keeper I decided to move out of the river and fish some shoals and main lake points with a Carolina rig Baby Brushhog in green pumpkin. This produced six keepers by the end of the day. The second day of practice I looked for some spawning fish since the water was hovering around 60 degrees. I was able to find a few spooky fish on the beds, but I felt that they would be very difficult to catch in the tournament. I decided to work a Zoom Finesse Worm on a 3/16 oz. Shaky Head around shallow, gravel pockets. This produced five small keepers. As the water continued to warm late into the afternoon I caught three good fish working a topwater bait along sha llow shoals. The final day of practice I continued to work the Carolina rig and topwater bait on shallow shoals only to catch three keepers. I felt that going into the tournament if I continued to throw the Carolina rig I would be able to catch a limit.

For both days of the tournament I mainly concentrated on points and shoals with a Carolina rig Baby Brushhog in green pumpkin with chartreuse tails. On the first day this pattern produced a limit that weighed in at eight pounds. The second day of the event I was able to catch a better limit of bass weighing in at twelve pounds. I had the opportunity to weigh-in fourteen or fifteen pounds, but I lost one that was about 4 ½ lbs. on a Pencil Popper right at the boat. The loss of this nice fish left me with a total of 19.5 lbs. of bass to end the tournament in 72nd place.

 

By Brian Snowden