Art Ferguson III
Lake Wheeler- FLW Tour May 11-14
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Guntersville Lock-That's a lot of boats!

5/13/05

Day 2, FLW Tour: Wheeler Lake, ALABAMA

4 fish 27th place

Day 2 was nice just for the sake I woke up after a good sleep and was feeling 98% better. I was confident and ready to get up to Guntersville and was boat 21 out of the hole. When my Triton TR21X with the new Mercury 225 OptiMax XS got to the locks, we were #2 there. That's half the fun until we got about 3 miles from the lock and there was a heavy fog.
 
I was praying most of the way up, just excited to see what God would bless me with today and when I got to my first spot (an open water hump), I found two older men who had watched me fish for a bit, sitting ON the spot with a marker bouy. They said "How long does it take to get here from Decatur" and I said "Too long I can see". I kinda lost my peace for a moment and had to just realize I could do nothing about it. It wouldn't have been such a big deal, except they had their boat ON the spot, not off the hump casting to it, but the boat was sitting where I needed to cast. BUMMER
 
I looked over to my next area and where there wasn't a boat on day 1, there were 3 maybe 4 of the tournament anglers fishing that hump. (I'm not saying they did because I did the day before, just a lot more guys ran up to Guntersville on day 2). So, headed to another bay and started fishing and BOOM, another local on my #3 spot....I decided to fish next to him and tried to give some room. My partner, Pierre caught the first one quickly off this area.
 
I concentrated on 3 or 4 areas for the remaining day, not making long runs and fished as slow as I could get my now emotional mind to fish. FINALLY, around 9:45, I caught my first keeper and it was a nice 3 1/2lber on a light weight carolina rigged Yamamoto Senko.  This calmed me down.
 
About 1/2 hour later, I MISSED A TOAD! Felt the bite, waited, set the hook and it was like a WHALE was on the other side and my ole' Kistler heavy action 7' LTA bent in half. Reeled about 2 times and the rod bent somemore and the fish came unplugged. It was HEAVY. I couldn't understand why it came unplugged except for I probably just hit the hard part of her mouth. I tried to compose myself and thank GOD another one about 3lbs hit me just minutes later in the same area. I figured I had found a school of post spawners and was hoping to catch a few more. Nothing bit!
 
Moved around, went shallow and saw a bed, which I didn't focus on enough in the tournament. If I could do anything different, I would have gone back and spent more time shallower looking for beds as a back up if nothing else. I found a bed, threw a Senko at it and it bit and I missed it....it never bit again. Now, I decide it's time to look, so I go around a small island and see 2 more beds, catching a 14 1/2 incher (size limit is 15"). This gets me pumped to look for some beds, it's like 12:00 and we have to be back to the locks at 1:00pm....so, I look and find another bed and catch a keeper off of it.
 
Fish a bit more and time runs out....gotta get back to the locks. Run through to Wheeler again and stop on an area close to the take off and have about 25 minutes to fish. I notice the current is moving finally and pull up to an eddie in the current, throw out a Yamamoto twin tail grub and catch another 14 1/2 incher and with 15 minutes to go and only 3 bass in the livewell, I knew I needed one more to get a good finish at this tournament. Throw out the grub and "tick".....about a 2 1/2lber eats it and it's in the boat.....I was excited and still hoping for a limit and knew that one fish earlier on hurt big time. I would have had a top 10 with it.
 
Finished 27th, fell a few places but pleased with the finish.
 
God bless and thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson

 

5/11/05

Day 1, FLW Tour: Wheeler Lake, ALABAMA

5 bass, 17-02 13th

Started off the tournament on Wheeler Lake with much confidence after spending 5 days practicing, 4 of them on Guntersville. 5 days of 85 degrees, 0-5mph winds and sunny. HOT HOT HOT! Water started off at 64-67 last week and is now up to 74 to 77 degrees. Today, HOT SUNNY 85 and NO WIND!
 
Started off the day a little under the weather. I think I wore myself out the 5 days of practice in that heat and not getting enough rest. Sore throat and runny nose and itchy eyes. Did all I could to keep myself focused on what I was doing, while battling this.
 
I am quite surprised how well the fish are biting under the circumstances....some fish on beds but I chose not to fish them and went for post spawn fish. This is when I start to catch fish is early summer fishing. I like it when I know the fish are now looking to feed and not spawn.
 
We made about a 40-45 mile run to the Guntersville Dam....it was a WILD run, a narrow river and boat wakes everywhere!!! 5 days ago, my back was out of whack, but through prayer and stretching, it's better now and thank God it was! Choppy ride is all I can think of to describe it for 40 miles.
 
I had a fuel injector blocked with my new Mercury 225 Optimax XS and it wasn't running well until Danny at the Mercury truck got me running. Switched to a 25 pitch Tempest and I hate to brag, but I was FLYING past the competition up that "choppy" river. I passed about 30-40 boats going up and never got passed. That's always exciting with the addrenalin flowing.
 
We got into Guntersville, about 70 of us I would guess, and I went to my first spot. Fishing about 7-10 feet mainly, I threw out a light carolina rigged Yamamoto Senko and caught two quick keepers and about 3 shorts. My first keeper of the day was about a 4 1/2lber!
 
Moved around, only getting to fish up there from 8:30 til 1:00. Caught 2 more keepers and about 5 more shorts during that time. Didn't miss a fish and fished well and stayed focused even with me not feeling well.
 
While running back to Wheeler with only 4 bass, though I had decent weight (probably 13+lbs.). I knew I needed one more bite. I was thinking back to May of 2000 when I won the BASS 150 on Wheeler at this exact same time.
 
I ran to an area where I caught one keeper in practice which was a mean mouth bass. Cast a carolina rig around and ended up throwing to a pole in the water and actually fished the rig VERTICAL and was BLESSED with a 3 1/2lb spotted bass! It was awesome!! I was excited. Fished some other areas and came in.
 
5 bass, 17-10 but had one dead, so ended up 13th with 5 bass for 17-2.
 
On a personal note, my fiancé, Lori and her children and dad went to Montreal today to get ready for tomorrow as they stand in the U.S. Embassy to receive their Visa to move to the States. We are getting married May 26th....just 2 weeks away!!!!  We are very excited.
 
God bless and thanks for reading,
 
Art Ferguson