I've made enough money since I've been home to pay for the last tournament. I'll be fishing at Lake Gaston and hopefully making the Championship. Unfortunately it will be a little more difficult getting around. After work the other day I stopped for an ice cream, and during the 3 minutes I was inside someone stole the GPS out of my truck. I didn't realize how much I used the thing until it was gone. Even more unfortunate than it being stolen is that I didn't have the coordinates saved and I've lost all my boat launches, places to stay, and tackle shops. I filed a police report, so if someone tries to pawn it, it will come back stolen and I'll get it back. Looks like I have to dig out my atlas!

Stren Series #4
Lake Gaston
Water Temp: 70 mornings - 80 afternoons
Summer/Fall


You know you're down south when there are soy beans and tobacco as far as the eye can see!


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I ended up finding my way just fine. It’s actually one of the simplest drives I've had all year. The drive took about 8 hours with only one stop for gas.


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I pulled into the cabin at 2:30, stepped out and my foot ripped through the front of my sandals. I knew the time was coming, but I had hoped that I could make it to the end of the year. Thankfully I had brought my sneakers with me; unfortunately i had only brought 1 pair of socks, not figuring on wearing them. I spent the next 4 hours organizing my boat and changing reels and rods. The weather was absolutely beautiful, which was good since I had just realized that I left both of my rain suits at home. Even so, I was excited to be here. 2 years ago when we fished here I placed 13th and had a blast catching some giant fish. My first day of practice was nothing like 2 years ago. In 10 hours of fishing I caught only 2 shorts. Later that night I talked to some of the guys I was staying with and they had caught anywhere from 4 to 6 keepers each. When you can't even get bit, it's almost impossible to establish a pattern. I was a little down, but I knew the next day couldn't be any worse. Thankfully, the second day of practice went a little better. I started out throwing my favorite buzzbait of all time and caught 2 keepers in the first hour. That bite got tough and I decided I wanted to go and spend the rest of the day fishing off-shore. After about 5 hours of nothing I decided not to pursue it any further. I went back to a creek that I had caught some good ones off docks 2 years ago. I fished the docks without success. I kept noticing grass on my depth finder as I was trolling between docks. It was deeper, ending in about 10' of water. I really didn't even want to try fishing it, but I decided I should give it a try. On my first cast I caught one almost 3lbs and it had 4 following it. I casted about 50' further down the grass line and caught another good one. I picked up my trolling motor and went around the corner to another bank like it and caught 10 shorts and 2 more keepers. By this time it was getting dark and I decided to head in. When I got back to the cabin that night I found out that I had had the best day of anyone in the house. I was starting to feel a little better.

The third day of practice managed to be even better than the second. I started out throwing my Stalker Baits buzz bait again, catching a few and getting a few more blow ups. The time frame that I was getting bit this way was getting shorter and shorter every day however and it seemed like it might fizzle out by the time the tournament started. I thought allot about the areas I wanted to look for after finding them in the grass the second day. I looked at my gps and searched out every place I could find that looked similar. The Navionics chips are incredible; and as long as you know what to look for, the map will lead you to it. Sure enough, the first spot I pulled up onto I caught a keeper. The fish were just inside the mouth of smaller main lake creeks. Once I got further back into the creeks, it seemed like I couldn't get bit. I would put the boat just outside the grass edge and cast my Texas rig ahead and toward the shore. It seemed like most of the bites were coming just inside the grass edge in about 4-6 feet of water. I don't think I ever got a bite out at the edge in 10' of water. I decided after searching around and looking at my maps that I would concentrate the rest of my practice in the mid to lower section of the lake. The water was clearer, and it had many more creeks. I ended the day catching 5 keepers, and shaking off 8 that felt pretty good.

The last day of practice would be shorter because we had to be off the water to go to the pairings meeting. I continued searching the dam end of the lake finding a few more good areas. I also fished some docks and caught one good keeper doing that; I wanted to shake the fish off, but I couldn't control myself and set the hook anyway-3lber. I ventured into a creek mid lake toward the end of the day and realized that I had seriously missed out. As soon as I got in there I knew there were fish to be caught. It was too late in the day, and the creek was just too big, so I decided to leave and check out some stuff on the way back. I fished my way out of a pocket and out onto a point. I got a bite and set the hook. A good keeper swam up with a few following. I decided to check out a few more points. I once again turned to my Navionics chip and it led the way to multiple points with multiple fish on them. One point I shook off 8 fish. Things were definitely looking up. I fished a few more points on my way back in and discovered that every laydown on the main lake had a keeper on it. By the end of the day I had found 2 new patterns and had shook off close to 20 fish. The tournament was starting in the morning and I knew if I could get them in the boat I had a good chance of making the cut. When you talk to people you always say there's a chance you won't even catch a fish, especially when conditions are so tuff; but going over it in my head, I was confident I had done well in practice and could catch at least 5 a day.

At the meeting I met my partner who happened to be a local. He said he fished the lake 3 times a week and was on them good. I told him what I was doing and he said it sounded like I had them figured out. I told him if we were struggling, or if I had my fish and he needed one, we could check out a couple of his places. I was excited to go fishing.

I had caught so many fish in grass that I decided to abandon my early morning topwater bite. I went straight to the grassline that I caught the one and it had 4 following and then caught another on my next cast. When we pulled into the pocket my co-angler said "I guess the secret is out". I asked him what he meant and he said that 2 weeks ago there was a tournament and there were 8 boats in it catching fish after fish. He started throwing a Carolina rig and caught a good one on his second cast. We continued down the grass line out to the mouth and then back down it with no luck. We crossed to the other side and headed out toward the mouth. I lifted up and a fish was swimming away with my bait; I set the hook and immediately the line broke. I had run out of the weights I had been using in practice and bought some tru tungsten worm weights. These weights don't have inserts in them, but I've been told by many people that they work anyway and line breakage is not a problem. I picked up my other rod that still had one of my old weights on it and continued down the shore feeling upset about the loss of that fish. We ended up catching 4 shorts that were just short. I ran down the lake to fish the points I had found the schools of fish on. I pulled up onto the point that I got the 8 bites on and not a single fish wanted to play. I ran to the next one and fished it without a bite but decided to go over it again and go a little further into the pocket. I got a bite, set the hook and dragged in a 15" keeper. I figured that that fish would get me into the championship, so if that was the only fish I caught it would serve its purpose. Of course, I want to win every tournament I fish, so in my mind that was one step closer to making the cut. Fishing got really tough after that and my co-angler offered to take me to one of his spots. He told me it was more for him than me, but I was alright with that. We drove down the lake and he pointed to the creek that I was in but didn't have time to fish. It was also the creed that I had caught the 3lber off the dock, so if nothing else I would go fish that dock. We ran way up it and started fishing shallow. The creek had been sprayed and the grass was mostly dead. There was however some new growth in 5' of water that had a dark look to it as you looked into the water. We caught 6 shorts in a matter of minutes. I caught one that I really should have brought in and checked on the courtesy board; it was that close to 14". We moved a little ways to another spot and my co-angler caught another decent keeper. We fished about an hour longer and then ran out onto the main lake to hit the laydowns and fish our way back to takeoff. The first laydown we got to I pitched my Texas rig in and got smoked I set the hook and drug one out. It was literally a 1/16" short, another one I probably should have brought in to measure but I didn't. The next tree I hung up and had to break off my last good weight. I stopped to retie both rods and while I was doing that my co caught another that was just short. We hit 5 more laydowns getting a few bites, but none were keepers. I stopped at one last place before we had to weigh in. I had shaken off a good one on a dock and had a blow up on my buzzbait. No takers where I had the buzzbait bite, but when I got to the dock my line was swimming out. I set the hook, the fish ran about 2 feet, and the hook just pulled out of his mouth. Shaking a fish off had finally paid off and I didn't get a good hook in it. I continued down the shore to a boat ramp that had hydrilla on both sides. I just looked like a fish should be there. I casted in and my line started to swim off. I set the hook and once again immediately broke the line. I put a bobber stop in between the knot and the weight, but even that didn't work. The fish had some serious shoulders to it which made me feel even worse. I dug through my weight box and found a lead sinker. I rigged it up and continued down the bank. My first cast after breaking off I got another bite and landed one close to 2 1/2 lbs with the help of a lead weight. It was time to go to weighin. The thought of the lost fish was making me sick to my stomach. On the positive side, I was assured a spot in the championship with the 2 keepers that I did get in. I didn't even know what to do the next day. I felt like I was so far in the hole that there was no coming back. Even on my best day of practice I figured I only had about 11lbs.

I started the morning by running straight to the place that I had lost the one fish and broke off the other yesterday afternoon. I pulled up to the dock and didn't get bit, so I continued up the shoreline to where I had broken the one off the day before; nothing. I made a cast and told my co that that was the exact cast I had caught a keeper on yesterday, and just then my line jumped. I set the hook and landed one close to 3lbs. Maybe a comeback was possible. I ran and hit the points and grassbeds that I had fished the day before without any luck. I decided to run back up in the creek that my co from the first day had taken me into. It looked really good to me and I thought if I fished it like a practice day I might have some luck. I started fishing on the spot that he took me to and immediately caught a keeper. I saw a point nearby and idled over to it. I could see the dark areas where the grass was beginning to come in again. I casted out and had one pull off; on my next cast I caught another keeper. I continued down the shore throwing at any dark spots. I tried to keep the boat in 7' and cast up into about 3'. I ended up catching 7 keepers and 10 shorts. It turned out to be a good day, moving me all the way up to 29th place; unfortunately, they only paid to 24th in this one. Once again, lost fish had cost me not only a check, but also the cut. I was happy to have had a comeback though, and ended up finishing the year in 18th place. I really believe that all the bad luck I’ve had may have been preparing me for something more. Even though this was one of my worst seasons ever, I think I’ve learned more this year than ever before. I feel like what I’ve learned has prepared me for the next level. I’m hoping that everything will come together and I will get a sponsorship to fish the Tour next year. But hey, that’s next year; there’s still the Stren Championship, maybe I’ll get lucky and win that. I’ve fished Pickwick Lake 3 or 4 times, but never out of my boat. It should be fun. We’ll see what happens!