Art Ferguson III
Lake Norman- BASS Tour March 17-20
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3/14/05
Day 1, BASS Tour practice; Lake Norman:
 
Day 1, much nicer weather than anticipated. Weather is suppose to get real bad this week by tournament time. 20-40's...and rain/sleet. YUK!!
 
Had a good day of practice. Never been here and got some help prior to the 30 day cut off period from a good friend who lives in Charlotte, Tony DaDante. This helped me feel comfortable in some starting areas. Water is down, and much cover is out of the water, but I was suprised at how much rock/wood there was in the water.
 
Caught 11 keepers (14") today. 9 for myself and 2 for a Marathon distributor, Cory Beasley from W. Virginia that I fished with. Caught them on a variety of lures, from a Yamamoto Spider grub to a jerkbait.
 
Water is beautiful color only wish this place was known for good fishing. Weather is going to have an impact on us....mostly mentally and physically.
 
Looking forward to tournament.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson
3/15/05

Day 2, BASS Tour-Lake Norman practice

 
Weather was suprising decent considering they were calling for rain earlier in the week. mid 50's and sunny.
 
Fished with another Marathon distributor, Tim Ramsdell from Virginia and we had a great time though not landing too many bass. I tried many different techniques today and only landed 2 keepers. One was after I had dropped off Tim. Caught a 3 1/2lber in a brush pile in about 10'. Will look for more tomorrow.
 
I had 4 other decent fish on today and lost each fish which was kind of strange. I was hoping to at least see them to see what I was dealing with. Had one on a Bandit 200, other on jig/trailer and Mizmo black/blue tube.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson
3/16/05

day 3, BASS Tour-Lake Norman practice

 
UGH!!!!! COLD, WET....NASTY.....hi's around 40 and windy.....rained most of the day. This is going to be a mental game tomorrow. Suppose to be even colder and possible SNOW.
 
I stayed warm today, and dry, thank God.
 
Caught only 2 fish today. Again, trying different things but then went to my main pattern which is going to be throwing a Yamamoto Spider Grub on a jig head on sharp turns. If things go well, should have a decent limit fairly quickly and then will concentrate on other techniques trying to get a bigger bite.
 
I know of a cove that is loaded with cover and plan on spending sometime in there fishing the brush piles.
 
Man, I hope it goes well tomorrow and the fish cooperate. I hate to say it, but the most important thing is to stay warm. IF you get wet and cold tomorrow, it's a LONG day.
 
I'm rigged and ready. Just have to do my best and let God do the rest!!!
 
Need sleep!
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson

 
3/17/05
Day 1, BASS Tour-Lake Norman, NC
SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!! first tournament in a LONG time that I fished in snow. Everyone thinks because my background is Michigan fishing that I am used to that. I am never THAT STUPID to fish in those conditions in Michigan...and I haven't fished in that type of weather in the past 15 years. I'm down in SUNNY, WARM Florida that time of year.
 
Photo is before take off...we had a quick blizzard blow through and then about an hour into the tournament, it snowed steady for another hour...WILD stuff!
 
Actually, with all the snow and light rain and conditions never hitting more than 40 all day, I was comfortable. I had on 5 layers of pants/bibs/rainsuit and 7 layers of tops....good 1000mg thinsulate Rocky boots and gloves.
 
I was very disappointed in my fishing performance today. I KNEW they would be hitting moving baits such as crank baits, spinner baits and jerk baits, but I was getting the majority of my bites on Yamamoto Spider grubs and Carolina rig. This put me behind from the start trying to change up and I just never did.
 
I did have the opportunities today though. I missed a decent fish early on with a spider grub...set the hook, had it coming and it came off. Then, around 11, I still didn't have a keeper in the boat. I moved into a pocket that had an underwater clay point with wood on it. Threw the grub out and again MISSED a good fish. Through out a Carolina rigged Yamamoto Senko and again, hit and MISS...fish are on and coming and coming off....no idea why???? 5 times in the next 30 minutes, I get bit, have them on and lose them. Meanwhile, putting 2 keepers in the boat.
 
Moved around and landed one more spotted bass for my 3rd keeper and time was running out. Missed one more later. I definetely had the opportunities. God help me!!!  :)
 
Weather should be nicer tomorrow. Amazing day on the water...hmmm...can't understand why I'm tired after fishing in those conditions. Went to our Fellowship of Christian Anglers meeting tonight and was refreshed in the Spirit.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson
 
3/18/05

Day 2, BASS Tour: Lake Norman, NC

6 Fish  11-03 (115th Place)

 
Well, another one in the books. Not a good tournament, but an interesting one at that.
 
Today, cold in morning, low 30's....hi's 60's.
 
I woke up this morning and read out of the bible; Proverbs 3:5 which says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding." It was one of those days. I had to trust God because I dont have a clue what is going on. I was catching fish in practice and even had several missed fish yesterday. Today, I just went fishing, kept an open mind and went practice fishing for 1/2 the day.
 
I caught my first fish in the first 5 minutes of fishing after my partner caught a short on a shad rap, I quickly tied on a Japanese "Lake Police" small crankbait that Kotaro Kiriyama gave me a while back. Caught it on a clay point and went around 2 1/2lbs. I'm thinking, alright Lord, what else today? Went to the area I had several missed fish on day 1 and never put one in the boat off of that area today.
 
Moved around and didn't fair well for 5 or 6 hours, then, moving up river to a rip rap bank, I had 2 good bites on in practice...I flipped a Mizmo greenpumpkin/blue tail tube into a brush pile and pulled out another 2 1/2lber. With 2 minutes to go before making a 25-30 minute run, I flipped up another one just short of the 14" size limit. Threw on the life vest and my Triton TR21X was on it's way back to the ramp.
 
We had literally 3 minutes to fish when we got near the check in area. I stopped on a shoal and threw out a Carolina rigged Senko and WHAM, caught a keeper spotted bass. Very exciting...didn't have time to fish and had to go in at 4:00pm.
 
The thing that was exciting about it is my partner, Robert Pasionek, was sitting well the first day and since I didn't have a chance to do real well, I was trying to get a last bite to help him with the combined weight format. That one fish moved him from a possible 45th position and $700.00 to 30th position and almost $900.00!!
 
Here's the crazy part about it. The spot was very close to the weigh-in site. SO, we decided to go FISHING after the tournament for a few minutes to see what thsi area was I had just found. I pulled up on it AFTER the tournament and WHAM, caught another keeper spotted bass. Robert had a bite and I had another as well. In about FIVE minutes!!! I think this is the first time I ever went fishing after a tournament.
 
Have to put this one behind me. Not fairing real well on the BASS events. Looking forward to getting to Table Rock and Beaver Lake in the next couple weeks. I leave tomorrow to go do the Bassmaster magazine feature "Day on the water with a Pro". I will be fishing a day in central Tennessee, then going to take my boat the the factory and pick up my new 2005 Triton TR21X with Mercury's new 225 Pro XS OptiMax. This motor is suppose to fly!
 
Rest and paperwork tomorrow.
 
Thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson