On our way to the cabin Jeremiah called Suggs to see what he was up to. I didn't have anyone to fish with because Suggs was fishing with Frank Divis. I hadn't talked to Morehead yet, so I asked Jeremiah if I could practice with him. Luckily he was only a few miles from where we were staying, and he said it wasn't a problem for him to pick me up each morning. At the very least I would have someone to practice with. I still didn't know if my rods had arrived yet and was hoping that they would be there all in one piece. As luck would have it, my rod tube was waiting for me when I walked in the door of the cabin. Suggs and I unpacked the Suburban and claimed our rooms and spots on the couch. Dan was fishing the Stren on Kentucky Lake and would not be getting in until sometime Saturday. I unpacked my things and started the process that comes with traveling by plane. I had to put my reels back on, redo some line, and unpack and organize the tackle I figured I would need. I shipped my rods, had one carryon with my reels, one checked bag with my tackle, toiletries bag and life jacket, and one checked bag with my clothes. If it sounds like a pain in the butt, that's because it is. I definitely prefer to drive. I walked down to the lake to see what it looked like. Arkansas had gotten record amounts of rain over the past few weeks and the lake had risen over 8 feet in a week and a half. Unlike last year however, the water was still pretty clear. We were staying half way down the lake and I could see down at least 4 feet. Last year we were lucky to see down 4 inches in the same place. I packed my tackle bag accordingly. The water wasn't as dirty, but it was still up in the willows and buck brush so I brought flipping baits (chigger craws and beavers). I decided to change up for the clearer water and went with green pumpkins, and blues instead of last year’s neon black and dark reds and browns. I've also been doing really well with the 4" hollow belly swimbaits and packed a couple of them. I very rarely go fishing without them anymore. I packed my shaky worms of course, some square bill crankbaits, flukes, a Sammy, and some 3" split tail hollowbellys for a dropshot in case I happened to see any on a bed. I travel light when I fish as a Co-angler. I spend less time tying on other baits, and more time fishing with what I have confidence in. My bag was packed and my rods were somewhat ready to go. I had the line tied to the handles, but only 2 rods rigged. I would just do the rest once we got out on the lake. I was tired and it was getting late. I got into bed about 11, and was asleep almost instantaneously. I awoke to Ozzy's "all aboard" alarm ringtone on my phone at 5am. It'll scare the hell out of you when you're awake, let alone when you're in a deep sleep. The weather was supposed to be beautiful for a change and I was happy to be there. Jeremiah picked me up around 6 and we were off. We hit some areas where he caught fish the year before, but they didn't seem to be there. He decided to check up shallow and see if we could find some on beds. The first area we looked in we found 5 or 10. I was casting my worm around while we were looking and caught somewhere between 8 and 10lbs fairly easy. That's a top 10 weight for a Co on Beaver and I was getting excited. When there's fish on beds and the water is up into the bushes like it is, there's lots of ways you can catch fish behind the Pro.

After checking the results of the tournament, I believe Jess placed 28th, but moved into the top 5 for co-angler of the year. Hope I'm correct. Can't wait for the report.

knock em dead Jess.
Hey is that Al gagliardi's Folgers rig?

I wasn't looking forward to fishing up around Prairie Creek. When we took off in the morning, we headed out of Prairie Creek and down the lake a couple of creeks. The water was still a little dirty, but I was happy to be fishing something new. The water looked really good for a soft jerkbait. I threw it a couple of times and noticed a light spot up shallow. The water was dirty enough that I couldn't tell for sure if it was a bed; but it looked suspiciously like one to me. I cast my fluke past it and worked it until I got right over the light spot and killed it. It sank out of sight and suddenly started moving to the left. I set the hook and a good spot came leaping out of the water. I landed the fish and started to feel good about my chances for the rest of the day. We continued into the back of the cove and Scott caught a 3lb largemouth on a floating worm. There seemed to be some fish in the area. We fished for another 30 minutes without a bite and Scott decided he should make a move. Now, he had said we would be fishing close to the ramp all day, so I definitely was not expecting his next move. We ran for almost 30 minutes, as far up the river as I've ever been. Here's a picture of what it looked like up there......

The water was as muddy as it gets; visibility was about 2 inches. The deal with the river is you don't usually catch many, but the ones you do catch are big. It's not a good place for a co-angler. Most fish that bite are in fairly predictable places because of the current and dirty water. The Pro has all the best casts, and that doesn't leave much when he's fishing for 5 bites. I like the ones who are catching lots and weeding through the smaller ones to upgrade their limit. So, anyway, I start throwing a square bill as he's flipping and I catch 3 short fish. We move a little further up the river into one of the pockets off the main channel. He said he had caught a bunch here flipping in practice. I catch a squeaker of a keeper largie flipping a 3" black/red flake chigger craw. Any keeper you can land when fishing is this difficult is welcomed. He catches one about 10 minutes later on a swim jig. We fish a few more hours without any luck and he decides to go back down the lake. We pull back into the creek where we had started the day. With only 30 minutes left I knew I would have to make every cast count. I ended up catching 2 more keeper spots on a shaky worm. It was a tough day and I knew I would be behind with most of the other Co's getting to fish a shaky head down lake. I weighed in 4-10 and ended the day somewhere around 60th. Not bad considering the conditions I was faced with. Canterbury's hot streak had ended in a bad way, with him sitting in 140th after the first day. Just my luck to fish with him in his worst tournament ever. After weighing in I looked at my weigh in ticket and my heart sank; it said I'd be fishing with Andy Morgan the second day. I called my wife and told her I was about to take a sharp drop in the standings. Andy is a friend of mine and one of the best flippers alive. He was in 3rd or 4th and I knew he was catching them flipping. Fishing behind someone who's that good when the fish are positioned like they were is a raw deal. Oh, and did I mention he's planning on fishing all day in Prairie Creek?!

My only comfort going into the second day was that Andy is a phenomenal fisherman. He would be around fish no matter what conditions we faced. If I was lucky enough to get a bite behind him I would have to make it count. They called our number and we turned around through the mass of waiting bass boats and headed up into Prairie Creek. We pulled up to a short pocket and Andy started flipping immediately. I had talked to Aaron McMannaway about his practice in Prairie Creek and he said most of the good ones he caught were on a Bomber Long A. Aaron by the way was sitting in 130th after the first day; things had not gone well for him. While Aaron had not done well in there, about half of the top 30 had and it would eventually be won in there by Ray Scheide. So taking Aaron's advice, I start throwing the long A; no luck. I then switch to a fluke and then a big Pop R. Nothing doing for me or Andy. I'm paying very close attention to what Andy is doing while I'm fishing. I've already decided that I'm probably not going to catch anything behind him, so I'm treating it as a learning experience. I watch how he casts, where he casts, and what he's using. Would you believe that Andy flips a finesse worm 90 percent of the time; I would never have expected that. Andy rears back and sets the hook, dragging a nice largie out of a bush. He swings it in and I'm sure he has his first keeper of the day. It measures 14 7/8. Just shy of the mark, he has to throw it back. By 8:45 Andy realizes something has changed. He says we should have gotten allot more bites than we've been having. "It's time for plan B" he says. I didn't know what plan "B" was, but I was happy he had one. Andy proceeds to tell me that we need to go out onto the lake and fish for some spotted bass. I felt like I had just won the lottery. I now had a chance to catch up with the rest of the field. In the next 4 hours Andy catches 7 keepers and I catch 4. Andy caught all his on a shaky worm. My first and biggest keeper came on a 4" hollow belly and the others came on a shaky worm. I have 2 worms that I fish 99 percent of the time; one is a 6" Berkley Hand Pour worm and the other is a Stalker Baits dropsicle worm. The dropsicle worm is probably my favorite shaky head bait of all time. The Berkley hand pours run a close second though. The action from a hand poured worm is unmatched. So, Andy tells me I better catch a 5th fish quick because he's going back into Prairie Creek to finish the day out. I don't end up catching anything there, but I'm already happy with what I have; it's not much, but it's better than what I thought I would have. Andy goes back to flipping and I start throwing the fluke again. I scare a minnow with the fluke and a 4+ come bolting out from under a log and eats the minnow. He had to pass my fluke to get the minnow. It almost made me throw up. I thought he was going for my fluke. We continue into the back of the cove and into the flooded trees. I cast into an open area with a submerged bush and start working my fluke. Three giants all 3+ come out of the bush fighting over my fluke. The biggest of the three eats it (which never happens); I set the hook and watch the fluke squeeze right out of its lips. I felt sick again. I threw a worm and a square bill by the bush but the fish had moved on. Andy found a keeper on a bed and caught it after 15 minutes. There was only 15 minutes left by now and Andy decided to go back to the small cut he had started in first thing. We roll in and he catches 2 shorts. There's a long point with submerged bushes that runs out from the tree line that he's been flipping. He takes me out onto the point and says "let's see if you can't catch your 5th out here on a worm. My first cast I get bit and land an almost 2lb spot. I get it in, he pulls up the trolling motor and we head back to weigh in. The day turned out much better than I had anticipated. Had everything gone right and I had gotten the big ones in, it could have been spectacular. Still, I was happy with my performance. I had a limit. It turns out that the fishing was difficult that day and my 6-6 was good enough to move me into 24th. Thank God for Andy's plan "B". I can't tell you how many times that day I heard people say the flipping bite was off, but they didn't leave to fish for spots until too late in the day. Andy made the right move at the right time and it paid off for both of us. Andy didn't make the cut, but he still got a $13,000 check. With my 24th place finish I moved into 5th in the Angler of the Year standings. I'm only 11 points out of second. 1st has a pretty hefty lead over the rest of the field, but if things go my way I have a good chance of winning again. Our next event is at Kentucky Lake. The fish will be post spawn and eating. As long as the lake doesn't flood the fishing should be awesome. I'm looking forward to catching some hawgs! And, I'm practicing with Dan Morehead, who you should definitely have on your Fantasy Fishing team.