Been A While... but hopefully this is a good read

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russ010

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It's been a while since I've been able to get on... work is still crazy, which is a good thing. I'm getting to fish occasionally, but only tournaments.

I did fish in the Georgia state jon boat tourney this weekend. Saturday was 3 regions (2 clubs from each region), the top 6 teams from each club competed against each other, then the top 6 from that event progressed to Day 2 to face off against 12 teams from the other 2 regions...

My partner and I passed day one in 6th place by the skin of our teeth... So we now have 2 teams representing BANG in the state tourney. We didn't do too bad, especially considering we have never fished this lake before. Our other team fished it the prior weekend, but my partner and I went in totally blind with no idea what to do - EXCEPT go for broke!

And that's what we did... I threw a jig alllll day long, except for a few casts with a crankbait. But I put that sucker down after a 15-20 minute fight with a 4' long carp (seriously, it probably weighed closed to 50lbs). I snagged it in the anal fin - not a fun fight.
We were fishing a creek channel that went from about a 7' flat down to 12'. We weren't catching anything, but the guys around us were, only thing was they were all short fish because they were kicking them out of the boat as soon as they got them out of the water. That told me we were doing something wrong, because if they are catching short fish on cranks, I should be killing them on jigs....

Well, at 11am we changed spots. I changed rods/reels, decided if I'm going for broke, I need to step up from the 12# fluoro to 15# fluoro and a little heavier rod and a slower reel so I would leave it in place longer. I tied on a different jig, dipped my trailer in some potent JJs Magic and let the cast rip. I didn't have the reel set right and got a backlash. I told my partner I did that on purpose to give the fish time to smell that wonderful garlic smell and come and get my lure. Well, 20 sec later I got the backlash out, made 2 pops with the jig and tap... tap... I told my parter "watch this" and set the hook! I was NOT expecting the fish to make a run for deep water, I mean I did, but not by pulling the rods nearly out of my hands. I told him to get the net and be ready -- this was not a carp!

7-49lb - 10-10-10 Lake Horton.jpg

7-49lb - 10-10-10 Lake Horton -3.jpg

She ended up weighing 7.49lbs... good enough for a 3rd place finish of total weight at 9.69lbs and 2nd big fish in the tourney.

The other team from BANG ended up placing first - so we took 1st and 3rd, and will be advancing to the Southeast Regionals in April at Lake Robinson in South Carolina to face off against the best from Alabama and North Carolina. I lived 3 miles from Lake Robinson while in college, but I never fished it in a boat, only from the bank... and that was over 8 years ago.
 
That's the SECOND biggest fish caught! Holy Hawg Batman:!:

I'd never leave my boat if I caught one like that. Congrats on a great catch and tourny. I hope my trip this coming weekend proved just as fruitful.
 
it's good to be back... I'm updating the BANG website as we speak.. I've got to get our Classic info up, and update (and congratulate) Jeff Cash & David Baity from BANG with their first place finish at the JBAIT (this is the GA State Championship). Their big fish was 7.67 and mine was 7.49... they always seem to steal my thunder. BUT, I am ecstatic with the outcome, I'll take 3rd place all day long with the fish that we were able to catch.

I'll post a few more pics.... just gimme a min to resize them
 
=D> =D> Hell of a catch =D> =D> Congrats on the tourny and good luck with the upcoming one.
I hear you Fender, I would never leave the pond either!
 
Congrats Russ.

Not sure if you noticed, but HAWGHUNNA put a post up here too. That's a good story about your big LM.
 
The other team from BANG ended up placing first - so we took 1st and 3rd, and will be advancing to the Southeast Regionals in April at Lake Robinson in South Carolina to face off against the best from Alabama and North Carolina.

Jeff and David? They've been giving you some flak these past few weeks. :lol: From what I hear, they are going to get their new boat wrapped with "2010 BANG champions," when I get done with it. :lol:
 
I STILL can't get over the size of that Hawg....and to think it was the 2nd biggest of the day! Dang! I'm dreaming big for my trip this weekend!
 
bassboy1 said:
Jeff and David? They've been giving you some flak these past few weeks. :lol: From what I hear, they are going to get their new boat wrapped with "2010 BANG champions," when I get done with it. :lol:

The one and only... them boys put a hurtin' on us this year! But I'm glad of it - that's the kind of representation we need... I hope they do get their boat wrapped - it will give me a reminder out on the water why I want to keep fishing harder and harder!
 
Looks like if your fish would have been eating like the other one, you would have had big fish. That thing has a monster head.
 
Brine said:
Looks like if your fish would have been eating like the other one, you would have had big fish. That thing has a monster head.

man... If I didn't know any better, I'd say some of those fish had recently spawned again. I saw a few bass fry that were 2-3" long which makes me wonder. If you look at my fish's gut, she looks like she just let go of a sack. Her tail was a little red, but with her being in shallow water and on top of all of those rocks, it's hard to say. But the head on mine was bigger than David's, just a slender body
 
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