Good day for fishing

Official Forrest Wood Cup practice started on Saturday and Eric Schultz and I spent the day together on the water sorting out where and how we could catch a few bass for the upcoming event.  Eric has also qualified to fish this years cup via the Tour.  The fishing has been very tough.  It is a time of year they call the dog days of summer.  It is hot outside, surface temps have crawled as high as 93 degrees and the fish go deep and become very tough to catch.  5 of these 2.5 lb spots would really look nice during the derby.  

Yesterday I caught a bass that spit all these up on the front deck of my boat.  This is the "bait" or shad that they are feeding on....pretty tough to imitate something that small.  They are tough to make out, but I believe they are threadfin shad.  They almost look like baby bluegills.  When they fish came up to jump he threw about 5 more out of his mouth then....needless to say they are choking these little things.  When the fish are that well fed it can be tough to get them to bite artificial lures. 

This is a photo of me on Lanier during pre-fishing a.k.a. practice the other day.  As you can see, I get to spend many hours alone on the front deck of my boat.  It is solitude like none other. 

Ninja Angler!  Just trying to sort out where the bass live in this darn lake.  

Today is the final day of practice before one day off limits tomorrow then we all get underway on Thursday.  I will be carrying my video camera with me to the banquet dinner and the convention center every day to get some short clips to share with you all.  Here goes nothing.  Fish On!