Fishing the Georgia Top Six

My first day partner was Dan Dupree from Griffin. With the luck of the draw and all those folks, I have been paired with a Potato Creek Bassmasters club fisherman from my hometown three out of the last four years on the first day. Dan said he would be happy to fish my patterns so that was the plan.
Monday morning at daylight there was frost in my boat! Since we were the last boat out in the first flight, number 77, we stopped where I had won the Flint River tournament two weeks earlier. We did not get a bite so we headed to the riprap. Eight hours later we came in, and neither one of us had a fish! Although we had fun and I enjoyed fishing with Dan, it was a frustrating day since my patterns did not pay off. About half the field zeroed that day.
My partner the second day was David Smith from Hampton. He told me of a nearby place he had caught some fish, and it was cold enough that I did not want to ride far - especially after the poor catch on Monday. We were the first boat out in the last of three groups and started fishing his place at about 6:45 AM.
At that spot both of us caught fish on spinnerbaits. Mine weighed about 3.25 pounds and his was about 2.5 pounds. After about two hours of fishing there he suggested another place and we went into a big cove full of shallow grass and bass boats. David said he bet the fish thought it had been raining spinnerbaits in there the past four days.
We tried something more subtle - a Yamamoto Senko plastic bait fished weightless. We would cast it out and let it sink into holes in the grass, and I quickly caught another 3.25 pound bass. A little later I caught one just over 5.5 pounds, and had a great stringer going.
We stuck with that place and late in the day I got another keeper. Just as we started to leave David caught a bass just under six pounds. At weigh-in my four weighed 14.75 pounds and was the second best catch of the tournament, I think, and gave me 18th place overall. David’s two weighed over 8 pounds.
I really appreciate David putting me on fish like that. He works at Big Ernie’s Bait and Tackle just north of Griffin in the Bonanza Mall on Highway 19/41 in Bonanza. He was a great partner and I enjoyed fishing with him, and catching his fish!