Day 2

Club results and current standings

First place, Ed Trevino with 11.88 pounds. Second place, Frank Lebanowski with 8.5 pounds. Third place, Tom Ondras with 8.25 pounds.

The Alabama Rig is a very effective tool for catching largemouth and smallmouth bass, especially if the fish are suspended in the water column in open water. Use your electronics to locate schools of shad and bass to narrow your choices of where you should be throwing your rig. Remember to use a slow steady retrieve after counting it down to the depth that you have located the fish. Erratic retrieves or jigging the rig will more often than not cause your baits and line to entangle. The tackle you will need to throw this rig with should be designed for handling heavyweight baits as these baits tend to weigh 3-4 ounces. My recommendation would be to use a 7 ½’ flippin stick with 6.3:1 ratio baitcaster and at least 65# braid. You might need this kind of power if you have a couple of 5 pound hogs hammer this bait at the same time!

So if you don’t own one yet and you are interested in learning more about it, stop by the Bolingbrook Bass Pro Shops store and pick one up. If you guys have any questions about using this rig just ask! I’ll answer any question you might have. Tight lines and see ya on the water!

~Mel Hedrick

Had a great time fishing a B.A.S.S. Open event the first of the year with a friend of mine Mike Syjud.We drove 17 hours nonstop through the night to make it to the events Check-in. All excited about who we might draw,we sat in a big college gymnasium with 400 others.To my right was Davy Hite and to my left was Gerald Swindle and Arron Martins along with countless others among the crowd.Just like our 6 man events we met our partners and talked strategy for the next day.Day 1-an hour and a half of no wakes and a lock before we began chucking baits.Fishing a 3 mile or so weed and pad flat,my partner quickly began putting fish in the well with a junebug zoom speed-worm.As he finished his limit I switched to a gold trap and began to catch fish and had my 3 fish limit pretty quick.Weigh in I was in 35th and my buddy Mike was 23rd.Day 2-To my surprise my partner was going to the same area I was in as the 1st day.Big fish were starting to move up as we saw countless 6 to 8plus lb fish roaming and chasing our baits.I hooked a huge fish on the trap and thought for sure it would throw the bait but luckily I got it in the boat a 7lb fish!We finished our limits at the same time and caught fish all day ,some were locked on beds. Awesome day for me as I finished in 5th good enough to fish the last days top 12.My buddy Mike was not so lucky as he and his boater never even caught a fish.Last days pairings were set and my boater,once again ,was fishing the same flat I had just spent 2 days on.We fished for 2 hours about a mile away from where I was the 1st 2 days.Only had 1 small fish in the well ,so he asks me where I caught em the last 2 days?As we pull in and start fishing that area its pretty evident that some big fish were now up shallow on the flat and spawning.For the next 3 hours I watched in agony as he boated 19 lbs of bass in that area{all on beds} without being able to cast to a single fish.One of my favorite ways to catch em and didn’t get to flip a single 1!With a ½ hour to go we fan-casted the spawning flat and I was able to catch a couple squeekers to finish my limit.On to the weigh-in! All 12 boats convoyed over to the Bass Pro in Orlando and there was a pretty good crowd. Don’t really remember what I said,but it was still pretty cool being up there.I even had a little kid and his sister ask me to sign there hats,had to be that sharp Maple Bass shirt make me look like a pro!Hope one of you guys take advantage and fish one of these,even though I dropped to 7th I had an awesome time and learned a lot…See you at the next meeting..I think?

~ Tom Ondras

6.6.11