ABA CT River Recap 7/29/17
A lot of things have been happening for me lately and life has become extremely busy. But sometimes, it’s better to be busy then not at all. The tournament season is winding down and regional/national season is just around the corner. This past weekend, I fished the last regular season event at the CT River for the ABA which was my third weekend in a row fishing the river; starting all the way up north in the Hartford area, to all the way south out of Haddam.
I love to river fishing, not sure why exactly but I have always done well on rivers. Mostly because I feel they are shallow water fisheries which is my prime strength and what I feel most comfortable doing. However like i’ve said countless times in the past, CT bodies of water are not like most around the country. The CT river is certainly not a place you want to wake up at 3am and be excited to go fish. A good bag there is 10lbs. Anything over that you had a great day. The two weekends prior to this event, I fished near Hartford as I had a TBF event out of there. Hartford is a pretty terrible fishery unless you have a jet boat and can run all the way up north past the rapids and fish for the big Smallmouth over there. I ended up pre-fishing one day down south and realized this was my best chance at getting a decent bag. However, the distance between Hartford and Haddam is around 25-28 miles by boat. Now that’s nothing when you take into account most bass boats go 70+mph. It actually takes 1hr 35mins one way to get down there due to all the ridiculously long no wake zones; like the two mile one about halfway down. Too me, it makes zero sense as you never see one no wake zone at the Potomac or other large rivers but that’s good old CT for you. I just could not justify making that run for a one day TBF event and killing myself so I decided to stay up north, did terrible, and watched weigh-in to find the guy who won, ran all the way south. It is what it is.
Anyway back to the ABA event. This time, I was out of Salmon River which was great. However my practice on Friday, was the furthest thing from great. I have not personally been a guy to fish inside Salmon River itself much at all but everybody wins events out of there and does really well. So I started there Friday. Had one fish hooked and it came off on topwater; that was it. Around 5:30pm before heading in for the day, I saw the tide was incoming again and I was like you know what, let me get back in there and see if there is enough water on this one area where I had a few bites. Low and behold, 3 casts, I had 3 blowups and decided this is what I was gonna do on Saturday; just go fishing in Salmon River and see where the chips fall.
Tournament day brought me high tide in the morning and I was able to get back into my spot as it had enough water in there. When I say enough water, I needed it to be at least 2ft in this area in order for the fish to hold in there. Otherwise once it’s low tide or halfway low, you can’t get in there and there’s maybe 6”-1ft of water. The key to fishing this area was the Eelgrass being flooded and having at least 6” overtop of it. This allowed me to get my topwater baits over the grass without getting hung up and allow them to come rushing out from inside it. It was just such an expansive area, flipping it would have taken days and it was more efficient to just cover water with a topwater.
The morning started out strong and I had my first keeper within the first 5 mins of the event. By the time I got to the end of my little area, I had 2 fish in the boat. I had a 3rd, which was a 3 ½ lber that hit my topwater at the side of the boat and in the moment I tried to swing him in, it hit my GoPro, and fell back into the water. That’s the biggest fish I had seen there in 3 weeks personally. This was all caught on tape but let’s just say the things I was saying were far from PG13 rated.
So a small back story...At this point, almost all of you anglers have heard of the infamous Whopper Plopper. My friends throw it, some co-anglers, heck seems like everyone except me. 2 weeks ago I bought my first one after hearing all these stories. I threw it some but couldn’t get bit on it. This event, it’s the only bait I threw and could get bit on. The weather was pretty terrible as well - high winds, rainy, and provided some chop on the water. I have no idea how the main lake was as I never left Salmon River all day but it wasn’t pleasant. I must have made 6,000 casts with this Whopper Plopper on Saturday and covered a tremendous amount of water. I almost started losing confidence in it given the conditions but everyone says just keep throwing it all day and you will get bit.
Well low and behold, I did get bit and I ended up catching my limit on Saturday as well as culling, all on topwater leading to a 3rd place finish. The one I tried to flip into the boat that morning really cost me but I can’t complain at all with a 3rd place finish and basically solidifying my Angler Of The Year title. However this won’t officially be determined until after next weekend two day regional. I did end up catching my biggest fish on a frog which was a lot of fun. The wind though just wasn't conducive to me throwing that all day. It was very strange though that I couldn’t buy a bite on anything else except topwater whereas a lot of the others guys were the total opposite. It’s never a bad day when you end up catching fish on topwater all day. Below will be the lures/equipment I used to propel me to my 3rd place finish:
Whopper Plopper:
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Color - Perch
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Equipment - 7ft MH Micro Guide Big Bear Rod, Lew’s Tournament Pro G Speed Spool (6.8:1), Hi-Seas 12lb Quattro
Spro Bronzeye Frog:
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Color - White
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Equipment - 7’3” 3/4H Micro Guide Big Bear Rod, Lew’s Tournament Pro G Speed Spool (7.1:1), Hi-Seas 50lb Grand Slam Braid
This is the second or third time this year where I stayed in one area for my entire event and each time it has paid off. So many anglers tend to overthink things these days. Between technology today, the internet, and the tens of thousands of fishing products out there, it can spin you out and half the time you’re out on the water you are doing more thinking than actually fishing. Sometimes you just have to say “screw it”, go with your gut and just grind it out. People think it’s so easy to go out and catch 5 fish. It has to be one of the hardest things at times i’ve ever had to do in my life.
Tomorrow I leave to go practice for the last TBF tournament of the year before the regional at Lake Lillinonah. A lake that has treated me extremely well this year. Hopefully i can put my head down and get it done to solidify my spot on the state team. Until next time guys, tight lines!!
