By James Hill
With all my fishing gear packed tightly inside my truck, I hit the highway! Destination: Grove, Oklahoma, the site of the first stop in the central division of the FLW Rayovac bass tour. After battling white-out blizzards that turned into torrential rains in Minnesota, I crossed the Iowa border to be greeted by thick fog followed by thunder storms and hail. Thinking my luck was bound to change in Missouri, I arrived to find myself in the middle of a tornado warning… at least the 18 hour drive wasn’t boring!
First order of business was to catch some bass. Before I left Thunder Bay, Ontario, a friend of mine had tipped me off about some small ponds in a residential area in a nearby city that were jacked full of bass. So I headed there first. Since the water was on the dirtier side with low visibility, I tied on a white and chartreuse chatterbait, which is jig equipped with a pulsating skirt and a blade on the front which gives off an intense vibration so the bass could locate my bait easier in the murky water. This bait would also make it easier for me to make long casts and cover water quickly as I walk around the pond. In just a few short hours I was able to jack a dozen or so quality largemouth to boost my confidence before the tournament started.
Next assignment was to find a grocery store to pick up some essentials like bread, peanut butter, pop tarts and Gatorade! Then, somewhere I could park my truck overnight since that’s where I was sleeping. I found casino parking lots were ideal… well lit, security cameras, restrooms and free wifi! I was living the dream on a budget!
Day 1 of the tournament was finally here. I was paired up with a pro from Missouri who decided we’d be fishing docks all day. He first picked up a spinnerbait and started chucking and winding so I decided I would take a more finesse approach and skip a Shakey Head under the docks. I used a 3/8 ounce shakey head jig with a 7” black with red flake finesse worm, with hopes of trying to land some bass that my pro missed with his faster moving bait. After quickly boating the first three bass of the day including one 3 pounder and two that were too small, my pro decided that maybe the slower finesse approach would be more appropriate and he was able to boat 4 keepers throughout the day. Unfortunately that was pretty much all the action I would see on day 1 except for one more small fish that was just shy of the 14” minimum. With the weight of my one fish I found myself 72nd out of 173 anglers.
On day 2 I got to fish with Arkansas pro Kerry Milner who has won tournaments across the country, catches them everywhere he goes and someone I have looked up to in past few years… I was excited to get the day underway! We raced to our first spot and began to go to work and hopefully hook up with some big green fish. That was when Kerry remembered that he forgot to add oil to his motor… so back to the boat launch for us! With that small hiccup out of the way we were back to fishing after striking out at our next few stops it was clear that the cold overnight temps (-2 degrees Celsius) had pushed the fish from the shallows back out to deeper water. It was now time to adjust and try to figure them out, we buckled everything down to make a run across the lake… life jackets on, here we go… full throttle… Uh Oh… next thing I knew we got showered with freezing water… forgot to pull the trolling motor up! Kerry turned to me and said “Well it just got colder, now when you go home just tell everyone Kerry tried to drown you!” unfortunately despite all our efforts including me throwing an entire dinner menu of baits we could never adjust and Kerry zeroed on day two… even pros have off days. I was able to catch one squeaker on a drop shot rig in 3 feet of water late in the day to weigh in and try to salvage a few positions. I slipped to 104th place, still I had a great experience fishing with Kerry he is clearly someone who has a passion for the sport and answered every question I had with enthusiasm and detail a true teacher of the sport!
I’ll be heading south of the border again next month to test my skills against some of the best anglers in the Midwest. I`m Hoping to get lucky in Kentucky for the second stop of the FLW Rayovac bass tour on Kentucky Lake.
About James Hill
Residing in Thunder Bay, Ontario and fishing throughout Northwest Ontario, it’s only natural to love the outdoors… and now chashing smallmouth has become more than just a pastime for FLW, BFL pro, James Hill. Sponsored by Crestliner Boats, Smith’s RV Centre, Big Ed’s, D&R Sporting Goods & Chronicle Journal, James will be fishing 3 FLW Everstart central events as a co-angler in 2014, and sharing his bass fishing knowledge with FHQ readers. You can find James on the airwaves as host of internet’s Fishin’ Outdoors Radio, and on the web at jameshillfishing.com
