FLW Collegiate Bass Tournament Sam Rayburn Reservoir, TX - Kayak Fishing Adventures on Big Water’s Edge

fishinkid2010 · 02-14-2011, 02:41 PM

Had some more fun bass fishing this past weekend. Take a look!

Yesterday I fished the FLW Collegiate bass fishing tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, TX. Unfortunately I had to go through a ton of headaches and troubles before fishing this event, swaping out partners, travel issues and crappy weather made things a bit more interesting. I went into this tournament completely blind, I did not get to pre-fish it, and literally planned out my day off of Google maps and fishing forums. Due to issues with fishing partners I was a little uneasy about this tournament. With literally hours to go before calling the tournament director to cancel I found a new partner and was able to make Rayburn.

We got to the lake the evening before and rigged up in the hotel room with intentions to catch some hawg bass. I set up eight of my Rainshadow and Nothfork Composite rods with the best tackle I have with the hope of landing a big one. First off this lake was HUGE! Literally 2/3 of the lake was made out of bounds to us, yet we still managed a 25 minute run across the lake at 65mph to get to a spot. We were fortunate to get a very cool observer who made the day fun to fish.

We started off with a long run to one of the bays in the South-East part of the lake. We started off by throwing Red Rattle Traps along weed lines. I had heard that this produced consistently in the past. Unfortunately I wasn’t familiar with the lake, and combined with the dirty water I was having trouble seeing the weed lines. Even with my polarized Costas I kept getting my crankbaits covered in grass.
We made a quick move to a spot that went from 7’ to 25’ within fifty feet. There was sunken timber all around, rockpiles, and fish on the Humminbird. I was hitting the area up with brush hogs, Stanley Sidewinders, and Mann’s Senkos. Despite the great conditions we only got one bite here that came undone. I got that bite off of a Skinny Bear football jig with a Stanley craw trailer. Green Pumpkin is a good color on that lake.

After fishing this area we made a move to some primary points that looked like they would produce. Sam Rayburn is nothing like Waco, there are big trees that are still green all around the lake. The water level on Rayburn was VERY low, a ton of the brush you’d normally fish was out of the water. Despite this there were still rockpiles and timber to be had. We kept hitting the points with crankbaits and plastics for quite a while. We were getting short bites, but nothing was connecting. For the most part of they day I was fishing my Carolina rig on a Rainshadow ISWB945 with a Calcutta 400 spooled with 20lbs mono. I usually fish this as my swimbait rod, but due to the thick timber I wanted to go with the bigger line. Since this was producing few bites I went down to 12bs flouro. I was worried about getting broken off; but hey, its better to break a fish off than to never get a bite.

Time was ticking as we were boat #5 and had to be back in by 1:00pm. I finally made the call to head back into some shallow coves that had weedlines and timber. They didn’t look like ‘big fish’ spots, but they looked like they might hold something. I started out throwing the crankbait for a while hoping to pick up a quick bite. The week prior the lake had some very cold weather. The reason our tournament was on a Sunday was because the semi-pro Everstart series got pushed a day due to bad weather. Fishing was tough, and it wasn’t easy to get a bite.
I switched over to a straight tail 6” Oxblood Roboworm rigged with a 3/0 EWG Owner hook. I had my partner switch over to a similar rig, but with a little chartreuse in the plastic. We finally managed a solid bite! With a short fight, and a swift net job we had a fish in the boat. It was a rat, but it still measured.

We kept at the spot and I hooked up again. I landed a solid bass that went straight to the livewell. It wasn’t the quality we wanted, but nonetheless it was a fish. A few casts later I hooked another one. This one locked up my rod and felt like a solid fish. Even our observer Allen thought we had a quality fish. We got it up to the boat and in the net, and it was just shy of measuring. Funny how such a small fish can put up such a big fight.

We made a move, but to a similar spot. We kept at it with the jigs and plastics but got no more bites. With 20 minutes to spare we strapped down the rods, threw on our lifejackets and hit the throttle. A little wind chop made for a fun ride at 60 mph! With about another mile to go an alarm goes off on the console. It was the oil alarm. Luckily our observer was prepared, added some oil to the mix and we made it back in time with no late penalties to worry about. We were the first team to weigh in and got to sit in the hot seat for all of one weigh in. haha
We ended the day with two fish for 3lbs even. It wasn’t a terrible showing as there were 10 teams that came back with empty livewells. We placed 20th over all… kind of annoying since that is exactly where we placed last time. We need to change things up and move up about 19 or 20 spots… or just enough to qualify for nationals.

It was a fun day and fishing with Allen Coleman on his 19’ Ranger Comanche was a lot of fun.

We would like to thank our sponsors very much for their support. Without them fishing on a college budget would be impossible.

Skinny Bear Tackle, Mann’s Bait Co, Culprit Baits, Roboworm, Stanley Jigs, Batson Enterprises, North Fork Composites, Bullard Int., Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Ardent Reels, McCoy Premium Fishing Line, Seaguar Fluorocarbon, Earthsports.com, Bass King clothing, Hodges Capital Management, Diamond Pacific Construction, Owner Hooks, Unibutter, Cablz, Power Tackle, Bloodydecks.com

Here are some pictures from the weigh in, enjoy!
Thanks for reading

mtnbykr2 · 02-14-2011, 07:05 PM

nice report, nice feesh, and as a former BASS and a previous tourny winner, nice rig...

j mo · 02-15-2011, 12:42 PM

Cool Tyler- Make sure to give me a heads up when your in town so we can do some REAL bass fishing....

Siebler · 02-15-2011, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by j mo

Cool Tyler- Make sure to give me a heads up when your in town so we can do some REAL bass fishing....

I think we need to do a Freshwater MBF. Maybe at El Cap or somewhere?

steveooo · 02-15-2011, 01:27 PM

Wonder where I can get that glitter paint for my kayak?

Thx for the write up Tyler!

02-14-2011, 02:41 PM	#1
fishinkid2010 Senior Member Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: La Mesa Posts: 386	FLW Collegiate Bass Tournament Sam Rayburn Reservoir, TX Had some more fun bass fishing this past weekend. Take a look! Yesterday I fished the FLW Collegiate bass fishing tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir in Jasper, TX. Unfortunately I had to go through a ton of headaches and troubles before fishing this event, swaping out partners, travel issues and crappy weather made things a bit more interesting. I went into this tournament completely blind, I did not get to pre-fish it, and literally planned out my day off of Google maps and fishing forums. Due to issues with fishing partners I was a little uneasy about this tournament. With literally hours to go before calling the tournament director to cancel I found a new partner and was able to make Rayburn. We got to the lake the evening before and rigged up in the hotel room with intentions to catch some hawg bass. I set up eight of my Rainshadow and Nothfork Composite rods with the best tackle I have with the hope of landing a big one. First off this lake was HUGE! Literally 2/3 of the lake was made out of bounds to us, yet we still managed a 25 minute run across the lake at 65mph to get to a spot. We were fortunate to get a very cool observer who made the day fun to fish. We started off with a long run to one of the bays in the South-East part of the lake. We started off by throwing Red Rattle Traps along weed lines. I had heard that this produced consistently in the past. Unfortunately I wasn’t familiar with the lake, and combined with the dirty water I was having trouble seeing the weed lines. Even with my polarized Costas I kept getting my crankbaits covered in grass. We made a quick move to a spot that went from 7’ to 25’ within fifty feet. There was sunken timber all around, rockpiles, and fish on the Humminbird. I was hitting the area up with brush hogs, Stanley Sidewinders, and Mann’s Senkos. Despite the great conditions we only got one bite here that came undone. I got that bite off of a Skinny Bear football jig with a Stanley craw trailer. Green Pumpkin is a good color on that lake. After fishing this area we made a move to some primary points that looked like they would produce. Sam Rayburn is nothing like Waco, there are big trees that are still green all around the lake. The water level on Rayburn was VERY low, a ton of the brush you’d normally fish was out of the water. Despite this there were still rockpiles and timber to be had. We kept hitting the points with crankbaits and plastics for quite a while. We were getting short bites, but nothing was connecting. For the most part of they day I was fishing my Carolina rig on a Rainshadow ISWB945 with a Calcutta 400 spooled with 20lbs mono. I usually fish this as my swimbait rod, but due to the thick timber I wanted to go with the bigger line. Since this was producing few bites I went down to 12bs flouro. I was worried about getting broken off; but hey, its better to break a fish off than to never get a bite. Time was ticking as we were boat #5 and had to be back in by 1:00pm. I finally made the call to head back into some shallow coves that had weedlines and timber. They didn’t look like ‘big fish’ spots, but they looked like they might hold something. I started out throwing the crankbait for a while hoping to pick up a quick bite. The week prior the lake had some very cold weather. The reason our tournament was on a Sunday was because the semi-pro Everstart series got pushed a day due to bad weather. Fishing was tough, and it wasn’t easy to get a bite. I switched over to a straight tail 6” Oxblood Roboworm rigged with a 3/0 EWG Owner hook. I had my partner switch over to a similar rig, but with a little chartreuse in the plastic. We finally managed a solid bite! With a short fight, and a swift net job we had a fish in the boat. It was a rat, but it still measured. We kept at the spot and I hooked up again. I landed a solid bass that went straight to the livewell. It wasn’t the quality we wanted, but nonetheless it was a fish. A few casts later I hooked another one. This one locked up my rod and felt like a solid fish. Even our observer Allen thought we had a quality fish. We got it up to the boat and in the net, and it was just shy of measuring. Funny how such a small fish can put up such a big fight. We made a move, but to a similar spot. We kept at it with the jigs and plastics but got no more bites. With 20 minutes to spare we strapped down the rods, threw on our lifejackets and hit the throttle. A little wind chop made for a fun ride at 60 mph! With about another mile to go an alarm goes off on the console. It was the oil alarm. Luckily our observer was prepared, added some oil to the mix and we made it back in time with no late penalties to worry about. We were the first team to weigh in and got to sit in the hot seat for all of one weigh in. haha We ended the day with two fish for 3lbs even. It wasn’t a terrible showing as there were 10 teams that came back with empty livewells. We placed 20th over all… kind of annoying since that is exactly where we placed last time. We need to change things up and move up about 19 or 20 spots… or just enough to qualify for nationals. It was a fun day and fishing with Allen Coleman on his 19’ Ranger Comanche was a lot of fun. We would like to thank our sponsors very much for their support. Without them fishing on a college budget would be impossible. Skinny Bear Tackle, Mann’s Bait Co, Culprit Baits, Roboworm, Stanley Jigs, Batson Enterprises, North Fork Composites, Bullard Int., Costa Del Mar Sunglasses, Ardent Reels, McCoy Premium Fishing Line, Seaguar Fluorocarbon, Earthsports.com, Bass King clothing, Hodges Capital Management, Diamond Pacific Construction, Owner Hooks, Unibutter, Cablz, Power Tackle, Bloodydecks.com Here are some pictures from the weigh in, enjoy! Thanks for reading __________________ Need a custom rod wrapped? PM me! http://s686.photobucket.com/albums/vv222/fishinkid2010/Sample%20Rod%20Wrapping/?albumview=slideshow

02-14-2011, 07:05 PM	#2
mtnbykr2 Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Location: newbury park ca Posts: 2,323	nice report, nice feesh, and as a former BASS and a previous tourny winner, nice rig...

02-15-2011, 12:42 PM	#3
j mo Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Encinitas Posts: 600	Cool Tyler- Make sure to give me a heads up when your in town so we can do some REAL bass fishing....

02-15-2011, 01:27 PM	#5
steveooo Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Posts: 1,921	Wonder where I can get that glitter paint for my kayak? Thx for the write up Tyler!