FLW Rayovac Championship - Ohio River

Posted by ken on November 5, 2015

I jokingly posted the "Drum-berland" video when I went up to Kentucky for pre-practice not really thinking what an impact they could have on my tournament. Poor thinking on my part. As I did on my Facebook post I first have to say congrats to Ray Hanselman on a truly remarkable year, winning all three Rayovac events here in Texas and then going to Ohio and finishing the sweep for a perfect 4-0 season. If I learned anything from Ray this year it is that he is fishing in a different league, or more specifically he is making great decisions and he is extremely committed to what he is doing. He said he practiced under the dam at Amistad to get ready to fish the current up there, box unchecked for me. He spent 10 days up on the Ohio, Cumberland and Tennessee rivers before cut-off fishing, I spent 2, partially checked box. But the box he is marking, I think, in big ink is trusting your instincts. He said on stage that he didn't really know based upon practice..continued 

what he was on, meaning what kind of fish he was catching or whether he could win, draw a check or whatever. How can that be you wonder, well I can share that with you. I could get 20-50 bites a day, a day, throwing a 3/4 ounce V&M football jig out on the river ledges, so great offshore stuff, 200 yards from the bank, where you think you are getting winning bites. And you just don't, or I didn't want to pull on those fish. Likewise you could get around any river bank rocks or rockpiles with a crankbait and get multiple, multiple bites, again, 30, 40, 60 bites a day. And if you pulled on those fish some percent, generally a pretty large percent, where big arse drum, 10-25 lbs per. But some of those bites where largemouth and some were big brownies. So you REALLY had to trust that some of the bites you were getting were the right kind. We were all fishing on top of one another (it fishes small) and we all knew that if we started pulling on stuff fishing was going to go from tough to, well awful.  He said he rolled up on his first spot the first morning truly not knowing what he might catch, he got bit on an A-rig and when it came by the boat he had two big smallies on, they dove under the boat and when it came back up he had three on, trusted his instincts and for the 4th time in 4 events it paid big dividends.

I wrote back after the Rayburn tournament that I knew where the winning fish were and was so ticked at myself because I had been mentally and physically lazy, that tournament still haunts me. In Ohio I was very out of my element so I didn't trust my instincts. I had never fished anywhere with 5-8 mph currents. I didn't know it at the time but I fished right next to the guy that had 21 lbs the first day and then faded. In hindsight I was on and around the right fish, but as illustrated above and on Facebook (my link) I was too busy smoking Goo's to catch the big brownies I needed. If I could have a do over I would listen to the little voice in my head that was whispering for me to slow roll a big blade out off those drops, which avoided many of the big Goo bites and which propelled one of the guys in the same area to the top 10, and I would have thrown a big 6th Sense crankbait some, which also the big Goo did not like and propelled another guy in the area to a top 10. My last realization from this tournament, no matter how much I dislike the idea much less the actual work of throwing an A-rig I have to get more comfortable with it. I've caught fish on it, in a BFL I had 4 triples at Toledo a few years ago, I found the 28.68 we caught in the Ice Bowl tournament in January at Rayburn with an A-rig, catching a 6 and a 3 on the same cast. It is obviously extremely effective, but I don't like throwing it. If FLW is going to continue to allow us to use it I've got to get serious about adding it as an integral part of my arsenal, and I have to start listening to the little guy that lives in my head and has been tournament fishing for over 20 years, I really do believe he knows what he's talking about.    

Since that was so negative I will end on one positive note. In practice I planned to fish the first day in the Tennessee river, day 2 in in the Cumberland, then Smithland pool on day 3 and the 4th day on whichever I settled on as my primary area. The first day in the TN I caught a couple of 2+ lb fish, a 3 lb smallie and my co that was practicing with me caught a 5 lb largemouth. We only caught I think 5-6 keepers not pulling on everything. The next day i caught multiple 12-14 inch spots (12" is a keeper there) and largemouths in the Cumberland and felt like I could catch a limit pretty easily, but I thought it was likely an 8 lb limit (which proved out based upon friends that made the decision to fish over there), maybe 10 if I got a little lucky. I knew lots of guys were up in the Smithland pool but I just had a sense that those fish were 10 lb limit fish and that they were going to get pounded (again proved correct). So the third day I spent in the TN, and unfortunately I lost my 4th day with equipment repairs. But in hindsight I made a really good decision to stay in the TN and fish for the win from the start as I know for a fact that at least 6 of the top 10 where in the TN. I didn't go up there to try to cash a check, or try to make a top 10, I went up to try to win and I stuck with that even at the risk of embarrassing myself, which outwardly if you look at the standings I did, but I'm comfortable in my decision and know that I learned some valuable lessons.