The fish bit very well today, I caught quite a few decent fish, several in the three pound class.  I am not going to fall for this, the weather here over the weekend was warm and sunny, so these fish should have bit well. Our tournament weather will be different as a major front is expected.  The overnight temperatures will be in the 30's, I don't know how much this will affect the fish, but I expect to make some adjustments.  I am happy with the areas I fished today, I got my bites on reaction lures. 

Lake Norman has the Blue Back Herring as it's main forage.  The Blue-Back is a fast moving bait fish.  Clarks Hill had Blue Backs in it which is why so many of the guys who caught them well on day one at that tournament, had a tough day two.  Frank Ippoliti is a good friend of mine and that is what happened to him.  I will need to take that into account, where will the bait move to with the expected change in weather this week?  The bass will move with the bait.  Lake Norman in a well developed lake with hundreds of boat docks all over it.  Figuring out which docks are productive will be a puzzle.

Tomorrow, I am going to shake off all of my bites, I will try to expand on what I did today, and get a feeling for where these bass will go when the weather hits system comes.

I am on my to the lake at this moment for my third day of pre fishing.  It is cold and raining, with today's predicted low being only in the 40's and tomorrow's temperature only suppose to reach 38.  Conditions are going to change, and I am not sure what that will do to the fish.

Yesterday, I caught them good, I caught fish on the outside of coves and on the inside.  I caught a limit and than shook off 10 or 12.  The water temperature has been stable, so I think the cold front will drop the water temp to much, I don't expect it to reposition the fish very much, maybe just slow them down a bit.

I haven't caught any spotted bass yet, and Lake Norman is known for it's population of spots.  Today, my plan is to crank main lake points trying to catch spotted bass.  It is possible, that if the weather gets real nasty, the spotted bass could save the tournament, as they tend to be less affected than largemouth.  I want to find out what they are doing as kind of a back up plan.

I am on my way to the lake for the start of the event, and it is cold.  I am trying to block out how uncomfortable I am, the key today will be staying warm.  Yesterday, I welcomed the wind, (which was blowing,) because I wanted to target spotted bass on main lake points.  My first stop, I threw out a rip bait, made two twitches and got slammed.  4 pound stripper.  The rest of the day, I didn't get a single strike until I moved to some docks, where I got bit and shook the fish off, it felt like a good one.

I didn't touch the fish that bit so well for me on day one.  I am sure the cold will have some kind of effect, but I don't expect the fish to move much, maybe slow down a little.  I will throw reaction lures early and then move to the docks when the light comes up.

I sure am due for a good day, it would be a nice lift to get a good limit and to be in contention.

10 Fish / 18-08 / 46th place  $2,325.00

I feel pretty good about this event, I made some good decisions particularly the second day about the water that I fished.  Lake Norman was so much about getting that good bite to go with you eight or nine pound limit.  On day two I had some decent bites, but not the kickers that I would have wanted.  On day one I did get those kicker bites.  I was fishing a line of docks and I caught what I am sure was a big spotted bass, probably in the three pound class.  I was using ten pound monofilament line, and I guess the fish just sawed me off because right in the middle of the fight, the line just popped.  I am sure it wasn't a bad spot in the line because it would have broke on the hook set.  Spotted bass have some rough teeth, a lot like sand paper and this guy must have taken the bait inside the mouth and just grinded on the line until it broke.  The sad thing about that is that about an hour later I had the same thing happen on another big spotted bass, that also came off a dock.  That big fish kept swimming back and forth, and every time he changed directions, I'm sure he was grinding on the line and that line also broke.  

Looking back now, those two fish were both in the 3-4 pound class and would have allowed me to cull up about four or five pounds, (I weighed in a couple of very small keepers,)  the extra four pounds or so would have put me right in the middle of the last couple of spots in the cut, heart breaking.  On day two, I spooled up some braided line for fishing around those docks, and I never lost a fish, although I didn't get the big bites off the docks that I had on day one.  Later in the day, I went to another set of docks, and began flipping a jig.  I stuck my last fish, a 3 pound largemouth which allowed me to weigh a decent bag.

With one event left in the season I sit in 61st place in the race for the Classic.  I am roughly 180 points off of the last Classic spot.  I wouldn't say that I have a good chance to make the Classic, because there are a lot of guys ahead of me who are gunning for the spot, but if I could make the cut, maybe catch some key fish in that championship round, it could happen.  I have to fish like I have a chance.  The other thing to consider is that several of the guys in the Classic position will have qualified via the Open Championship, or will qualify via the E-50's.  I seem to recall that Ben Matsubu made the Classic last year only after the E-50 season, because someone ahead of him on the AOY leader board, made it in via the E-50's.  I won't let that affect my fishing.  I had some good chances at Table Rock last year, and this year, the weather should be better.  I am excited about it, and feel like I could have a good tournament.