When I rolled into Lake Roosevelt, I went fishing the 1st day. There was a high of 38 degrees and ice cycles hanging on all the brush and it was still there when I left the lake at 5 pm. The picture to the left is the water coming out of the bilge pump freezing as it hits the cold air. Water temp was 48 degrees, it was a cold miserable day. I caught 3 fish.
Water continued to warm during practice to where it got up to 53 degrees during the tournament when you could catch about 17 fish a day. Fish were in about 20-25' staging on breaks and points. With the cold water it was real important that the retrieve was really slow, a lot of "dead sticking" giving them a lot of time to find the bait. Drop shot, senko, and jigs worked. The reaction bite was nonexistent for me.
On the 2nd day of the WON Bass tournament, I drew Tami Curtis which made for a great day. Tami caught 7 fis.h before I got a bite. At the end of the day she had caught 12 and I had caught 5, but I managed to get some of our bigger bites, raising the limit to 11 1/2 lbs and good enough for 11th place. Thanks Tami!
The following week was the FLW tournament and the water continued to warm. Reaching 55 degrees int the morning. It was noticeable that the fish were moving shallower. We were having a full moon and the bucks were moving into the shallows, coming up out of the deeper water and staging at the edges of the brush. By the end of the 2nd day, they were back in the brush. It seemed that everyone was fishing back in the brush. I had a poor tournament catching small limits each day. Fishing was still good catching 17 fish a day.If I had to buy the tournament back, I would have gone in the brush and pitched jigs, but that is hind sight.
Mike's Tackle:
Spinning: Fuege Rods and Reels with 10 lb test Seaguar line
Bait Casters: Steez Rods and Reels & Zillion Rod and Reels with 10-15 lb Seaguar line
Lures: GYM Senkos, Maverick Jigs with GYM trailers, Roboworms