More of this Feature • Part 1: Is This Crazy? • Part 2: More Craziness!  Join the Discussion "What is the craziest thing you have ever rigged up to catch fish?  Was it because someone suggested it, or is there nobody to blame but yourself?" Ronnie

Tournament Report - 7/8/01

How It Worked Out - Flint River Bass Club West Point Lake 6 AM - 1 PM air temp - 80 - 95, partly cloudy water temp 86, clear to light stain on main lake

Related Resources • Glass and Brass

Past Articles One Year Ago -   7/17/00 - The Bassmasters Classic - Close Don't Count Two Years Ago - 07/19/99 - Netting Crappie Three Years Ago - 07/13/98 - Snakes I Have Known - Part 1 Four Years Ago - 07/14/97 - Gar - Jurassic Park Fish

Fishermen are crazy! Or maybe it is just bass fishermen? OK - maybe it is just me! But we all will do some crazy stuff when it comes to our favorite sport.

To get ready for a Flint River Bass Club tournament at West Point today, I called several fishermen I know that fish there often. I hoped to get some hot tips that would help me catch fish and win. Sometimes those tips help, sometimes they don’t, but I almost always try to get some.

The first fisherman I called told me what I wanted to hear because it was what I planned on doing anyway. He said start around the bridges with topwater early then go to a slider and try to catch a limit of spotted bass. We talked a little more and I made a note to get my slider rod ready.

My plans already included stopping at the bridge early then running way up the river to try to find a big fish. This fit right in with what I wanted to do.

I called a fisherman that lives in Alabama and wins a lot of tournaments at West Point. He told me he had seen a good many people fishing the bridges and I could probably catch some keeper spots doing that, but the big largemouth were down deep. He had won the big fish pot in three tournaments during the past three weeks with bass weighing 8 pounds, 6 pounds and 5.5 pounds.

That got me all fired up until he told me he was catching them 18 feet deep in one spot on a Mann’s 30+ plug. I hate to fish that deep and throwing a big crankbait all day will guarantee sore arms and an aching back. We discussed some places to fish and he told me to call him back Saturday night since he was fishing a tournament that day and would have more up-to-date info for me.

I made a note to get my deep cranking rod ready. Maybe I could catch a limit of small keeper spots early then spend the rest of the day looking for a big largemouth with the crankbait.

My last call was to a BASS Chapter Federation director that lives near West Point. He was all fired up when I told him I had a tournament and said he could tell me how to win it. Two friends of his had won a tournament in Yellowjacket Creek two weeks ago using this method and he just knew it would work for me.

What he told me to do was rig a methioliate-colored Trick Worm on a Carolina rig and throw it on these three points in Yellowjacket Creek. So far so good - I have done that often in the past. But what followed had me shaking my head.

He told me to use a small worm hook and run it in through the tail up half way to the head and then rig it. It had to be hooked up backwards and the hook had to be in the middle of the worm. We talked about why that might make a difference - the worm would move differently hooked backwards and also would fall differently with the hook in the middle.

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