Month: January 2020

2019 Recap From the front deck on my Crestliner PT20

2019 Recap From the front deck on my Crestliner PT20

2019 Recap from the front deck on my 2019 Crestliner PT20

Started the year down a at Lake Guntersville fishing the Big Bass Spash.  Many of us in our local bass club went down and I think we got 8 checks.  It’s a fun time and already have plans to return this year.

Here is some pics from our trip –CBM invades Big Bass Splash Lake Guntersville

May 5th – First club tournament was on Buckeye Lake and I couldn’t get enough bites like I had going mid-week in practice.  I only had one fish for 1.37, so I had dug a hole for beginning of 2019.

June 8th was at Rocky Fork, a rainy day overall and windy.  I only had 4 keepers weigned #7.11 and finished 11th.  A Co-Angler in our club Dale Mattox had a #18 bag from the back of the boat.  He was around the right kind of fish, his boater had #10 bag.

Rocky Fork June 8th

From Rocky Fork I made the drive down to Russell Springs KY near Lake Cumberland.  I was trading in my 2017 Crestliner PT20 for a new 2019 model which was to arrive the following week.  I later found out that my new 4 Stroke from Mercury was on back order.  So it was going to be a waiting game…

August 2nd – Picked up the new Crestliner PT20

Girl friend is back!!

This 2019 Crestliner PT20 handles and seems to ride so much better than my other one.  They also now have installed wedges on end of the transom and no need to run a foil on my engine.  This one has no porposing issues.   This new 4 Stroke engine is a Bad Ass!!  Much quicker performance than the 2 stroke.

August 4th we headed to Delaware Lake.  Tough bite as well with only two limits weighed in.  I finished 2nd place weighing in 4 fish at #7.48 all caught on spinnerbait.

August 24 & 25th we headed to Detroit River.  I found some fish in practice a couple days before and spent rest of my time running new water.  Day 1 of the tourney again I only weighed 4 fish for #9 finishing 8th place.  I lost 3 fish in the last hour that would have culled out what I already had.  But you have to catch them.

Day 1 Detroit River

Day 2 Was a better day for me, lost no fish and brought in a limit weighing in at #11.74 for a 4th place finish.

Day 2 Detroit River

After Detroit River I was able to move into 1st place in the points, but still had 3 tournaments to go.

September 9th – Back to Detroit River to fish a Ohio Bass Federation tournament.  Had #19.79 for two days just couldn’t get the big bites.  Finished 33rd place.  Love fishing up there and starting to learn more about it.

Detroit River – The Bass Federation

September 21st headed back to big water at Lake Erie.  We only have a 3 fish limit up there just to protect the fish.  I took my two sons up a couple of days early and we ran from Kelly Island shoals to Put-in-Bay.  We had a blast catching the smallies.

Always a fun time taking them to Lake Erie for some fishing fun and it helps me find some fish as well.

So day 1 of the tournament weather was great and big water was easy to navigate in I would say 2 feet or less.  So my 3 fish limit weighed in at #8.31 and I had Big Bass at #4.99 smallie for a 2nd place finish.

#4.99 Big Bass

Day 2 was a different day with wave 3 foot or less and building by 10am.  I decided to stay close and just run to Kelly’s Island.  I stayed there until 10:30 with one in the box headed back to fish main lake or East Harbor.  But the first bank I hit I quickly had a limit and then culled them out with two nice smallies.

Lake Erie Day 2 – 1st Place

Our club fishes 8 tournaments and we keep our best 8 in points.  So now after 7 tournaments in the book I am still holding 1st place.

September 29th we headed to Mosquito Lake for a one day event and our last club tournament of the year.  I really like the way this lake fishes in the spring time, but this was late fall for being the end of September and it is 3 hours north east.  In practice I really struggled finding fish.  I drove up on Saturday morning and practiced until 5:30 and really didn’t find much fish.  There was also another tournament having a two day event and they had 50 plus boats so it was fishing small.

On Sunday I hit a couple of my spots and had nothing.  I then decided to drag a carolina rig out a little deeper and soon as did I put 3 fish in the boat.  By the end of the day I had caught 14 keepers all quality fish but no big kicker.  I finished 5th with #11.23.

#11.23 5th place

Gordon Wins CBM Back to Back AOY Championships

But a 5th place finish was enough to win AOY for 2019.  I didn’t make the state team this year which was one of my goals.  Those tournaments fell in the window where I was a boater for one tournament but next was a co-angler and that didn’t help me in points.

Like to Thank a few of my sponsors, Crestliner, Unlimited Marine, Silver Thread, Quantum, Kistler Rods and Swagger Tackle.