PA

No jinx LAD! Seems his Arkie exposure/experience might have helped for today at least?Fingers crossed.C.O.D. Jr. III

Im happy for him but those weights show how tough it was today. A big bass of less than 7 pounds is pretty sad. We had bluebird skies and calm winds after several days of rain, wind and cold. Todd Castledine caught one over 12lbs earlier this week. Ill bet he would have liked that one today. Todd Castledine of Nacogdoches , TX caught this 12.60 lb. fish on February 11, 2013 and weighed it in at Toledo Town and Tackle and it was a tagged fish which was previously caught on January 5, 2012 and weighed 10.62 lbs. Congratulations on your catch. This is the first tagged fish caught in 2013. Last edited by toledobasser on February 15th, 2013, 4:44 am, edited 1 time in total.Jim EbarbMany, LA (Toledo Bend Lake)2004 Cougar/ 225 OptimaxHumminbird Helix 12 Chirp SI on BalzOut Mount at bowLowrance HDS 7 at bowHumminbird Helix 12 Mega SI on Ram Mount at ConsoleLowrance HDS 8 in dash at console

Good job Phil! Keep it going!

ward wrote:No jinx LAD! Seems his Arkie exposure/experience might have helped for today at least?Fingers crossed.Jinx? I dont think so. Eventhough I believe in some of that voodoo stuff since my baseball playing days, I dont believe that is what occurred here.Practice was great, but the weather absolutely sucked the entire tournament. For 3 or 4 days straight it rained and rained and rained some more. Then it got cold as heck with blue bird skies and wind. The worst mistake that I might have made was not go north. Theres an area up there that is known to produce big weights especially during the early spring. I spent a day there practicing and caughtem pretty good. But thought about the potential for weather and distance and my aching back and thought that I should figure something out closer. Thats where the Arkie exposure helped. I figured this deal on the main lake using a KVD jerk bait. One day had 5 that would have went well over 20 and another day a best 5 that would have went close to 20.First day of tournament started with a 3 hour fog delay. I caught 7 keepers and the bite was nothing compared to what it had been. Once I got to the weigh in I was very surprised that I was leading after I weighed and more surprised that 15 lbs was good enough for 4th place.The second day of the tournament I knew I needed to catch a few early to maintain what position I had. It started well and had caught two three pounders within the first 30 minutes. The second 3 lber had a 4 or 5 lber right behind it and I thought that I was going to sackem up. Though that was the end of it. I struggled to get 5 and there were two 14 inchers that made the ride. Ended up with 11 lbs and a 15th place overall finish. Cant complain and am happy with the outcome. Just wish I could make better on these second days after strong starts. Jinx, dont think so. Boat traffic, weather, and whatever else did me in. Though, I will say the Arkie exposure to jerk baits and Amistad didnt hurt one bit.By the way, if you dont have one, you might want to go get one or two of those new KVD jerk baits. They are the real deal.As far as the short field as BCB pointed out………………..My thoughts is the tournament location on the south end of the lake didnt help the local draw. The Everstart no championship format isnt helping. However, the biggest issue may be the economy! Gas prices on the rise too!

I fished this one as a Co-angler. I was really expecting everyone to catch a lot of fish, but that wasn’t the case at all. The weather really screwed the fish up. My first day partner stayed South and fished deep all day. He was able to grind out a limit, but took him till the last cast. The fish were biting so subtle, they would barely pick up your jig and spit it right back out before you could get a hookup. My second day partner had fish located up North, but decided to stay South and fish shallow. We struggled all day until about the last two hours when we finally got some fish to bite a trap. On top of the bad fishing, the wind blew out of the North 15-20mph making for a rough ride back. This was my first ride in an L boat, and makes me appreciate the dry ride of a BassCat. The takeoff location was a terrible decision on FLW. Good job Phil, I saw you carrying your fish to weigh in. I’m not a huge fan of black boats, but thats one sharp color scheme and was the best looking boat I saw all week.