Clear Lake Story ( Lil late)

[Jerry B]

Hey guys just wanted to apoligize for my late posting of my Clear Lake story..soon as I got back I caught the mother of all flu's..seems its going around...

First things first..if anybody gets the chance to fish the Everstart series jump on it..I have fished them all..BASS, Won Bass, Anglers Choice..etc..this was by far the best run tournament that i have ever fished..

I wont bore you with the first couple of days of prefish but the bite was semi tough..It seemed that the mid to southern part of the lake was completely dead for me..I had two bite in the southern portion of the lake in two days..

Each day the weather was getting better and better and it was most importantly getting warmer..every morning the water temp would be a degrre warmer than the first..I seemed to get a bite here and there using both a swimbait and a jerkbait...and once in awhile i would get bit on a brush hog..

The last day of prefish started of right, the water temp was 55 in the morning and my first spot i had two bite on the swimbait, didnt swing, with 172 boats out there it was hard to pratctice anywhere without a bost next to you..next spot again two bites on the swimbait and i finally decide to swing on one...good fish turns out to be a 4pounder..things are looking up...you could just tell that the fish had made a huge move from the day before..I was finally seeing fish crusing and getting a few followers...checked a few more areas anddecided that i was going to start with the swimbait..

Day 1 ,95th boat out.pulled into my first spot and within 10 mins hang a 7#,,nice way to start my tourney..catch a few more and in no time have my four fish limit..decide to leave for my next spot to see if i can upgrade...next spot hang one about 4 1/2.. and it just got better as the day went along..anyways fish seem to be keying on the base of the dead tules with about 4-6 feet around them...most of my bites came as i banged the swimbaits into the base of the tule clumps or as i popped it freee from a clump..
day one total..22.5 pounds..and i'm in the top ten

Day twostarted off a little slower went to my first spot again and only catch a small keeper off it..again go to my second spot and i begin to upgrade a little at a time..Rich Smitth and I were sharing an area about a 100 yards long.just goning back and forth and catching one here and there..second day is a little tougher so i decide to scale down my swimbaits and fish it out a little deeper..bingo the bites start coming again..with all the pressure the fish just moved a little further out and tightned up..
No great big fish but a catch a 5 plus towards the end of the day and it gives me 15.8...
this total give me enough to make the cut in 7th place...

Day 3 weights zeroed and only fishing against 90 other guys...went to my first spot and never got bit...went to my second spot and only caught two 2 1/2 pounders...againg scaled down my swimbait to a 4 inch swimbait and just started to slam them.....the bait birds are pushing the bait into my spot and wvery time the birds and bait come in i woudl catch about 3 or 4 fish...as im working the bank back and forth i have a fun fisherman come into the spot and start fishing behind me..turn the boat around and ask if he could let me have the area...tell him about the tourney and everything..his only reply is "I drove four hundred miles to fish..I'll share it with you ". Well what are you gonaa do...didnt let it bother me tried to stay focused..actually it was fun..he wasnt catching many and i was throwing all around him and catchin good fish...
towards the end of the day another Pro comes in and explains the comman courtesy facts of life to this guy who ends up getting pissed off but finally leaves....great day end up catching about 30 fish all on swimbaits...16.8 end up in 3rd for the day..

Day 4 starts off good again..go to where i was catching them from the days before and begin to slam them again..have my limit in about 15 mins...awesome spot the fish just keep coming in waves it seemed...this day i caught about 25 fish but never got the good bite..my partner ends up with a couple of good fish and a decent bag for the day ..i think i just wore the spot out...go to a few more spots towards the end of the day but cant upgrade...

Final weigh in..they weigh the guy in 10th place first, your not allowed to discuss your catch for the day and they give you black weigh bags so you cant see the fish..
number 10 weighs in..not enough to take over the ...guy in 9th not enough and so on...Jimmy Walker brings his bag to the scale and just keeps bring out big fish after big fish...he weighs around 26..takes over the lead..I finally get to weigh mine but i know that i'm not even close..weigh my 14.8 and end up in 5th for the tourney..

All in all i had a great tourney, i have never caught so many swimbait fish in my life . It was just an awesome swimbait bite..

I just want to thank some you guys out there that gave the calls of support thoughout the tournament...also my sponsors: Skeeter Boats, Yamaha, Bass World West (Jeff & CJ), Osprey Lures (Jim and Larry),Don Iovino Products, AIM Marine and Phenix Rod and Bait Co.

Also thanks to Smitty for sharing the bank with me and helping to keep me focused...
Sorry it was long and late guys...Jerry B

[Guy Williams]

Great story Jerry! Man, that sounded like a hell of a time! Glad to here you feel better.
Guy Williams

[Ron C]

Great story! Congrats Amigo!

You Got 'em REAL Good!

Ron C

[Buck Van Patten]

Greate job Jerry you did real good, you are the man.
Buck

[John Barron]

Excellent job.....keep it up
jb

[Mike MM]

[Ray L.]

[Brian D.]

[Gerry Mahieu]

[Castaic Dave]