Sometimes you have to do something a little bit different, just to have a little fun.
That’s what pro bass angler Brian Travis did earlier this week. He laid down his casting rod and went jug fishing for catfish on Lake Norman.
“We caught catfish up to 16 pounds and I lost a 25-pounder,” said Travis after spending most of a day filleting catfish from a full 50-quart cooler into 23 bags of frying sized pieces for the freezer. “It breaks the monotony of bass fishing a little bit.”
Travis took a break in between tournaments to relax a little before heading back to Lake Guntersville in Alabama for the final stop before the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Lanier Aug. 5-8.
Travis practiced for the June 23-26 FLW tournament two weeks ago before the official cut-off and he found the lake teeming with bass – and with bass fishermen.
“The lake was getting pounded to death when I was there. I don’t think I was ever in a place where I could not turn around and count 10 boats, sometimes 20-22 boats,” he said. “It was getting fished hard, but it was still producing.”
In fact, he noted, it took 25 pounds to win the BFL on Guntersville two weeks ago.
“That was the weekend off-limits began for us. It is fishing very strong.”
Travis said he had a good practice, catching fish both shallow and deep.
“It was probably one of the better practices I’ve ever had as far as having a couple of things to go on.”
Most anglers this time of year, he said, are fishing deep, working Guntersville’s famous underwater ledges which run from 5 to 10 feet deep, and then drop off into 20 to 30 feet of water.
“You can fish miles and miles of ledges and find one spot the size of a swimming pool and that is where they are going to be. They are hard places to find, but if you fine one you are golden.”
Travis said top lures for fishing the ledges include deep-running crankbaits like the Norman DD22, a big Fat Free Shad, and a Strike King 6XD, jigs and Shakey Heads with 10- and 12-inch worms.
“I custom make a Shakey Head with an 8/0 hook that I use with those big worms,” he said. “That’s all a lot of guys use for ledge fishing in deep water, really big worms.”
One factor that provides an alterative on Guntersville is current. When water is being pulled through the dam, bass school on the surface.
“A couple of days in practice, I daresay I caught 100 to 150 schooling fish a day, but a limit bag would probably only weigh 13 to 14 pounds. There were no big ones, but it was a fun practice,” he said.
“It’s going to be a fun tournament. You will be able to catch them about any way you want, shallow or deep. But I think the winners will come fishing deep.”
Travis has already qualified for the Forrest Wood Cup, having finished 10th in the points in the FLW Series last year. He is sponsored by FrogTape (www.frogtape.com), which will be exhibiting in the Family Fun Zone at Guntersville and also at the Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Lanier.
While he said he has not found a good use so far for the premier painter’s tape on his bass boat, another product of Shurtape Technologies (www.shurtape.com), T-Rex duct tape, has already come in handy. T-Rex is a super strong, long-lasting, weatherproof tape designed to hold things in place even in less than ideal conditions.
“The guy I travel with, Clint Brownlee, busted the transducer bracket on his trolling motor. We T-Rexed it and it lasted for four straight days of tournament fishing,” he said!
FLW Tour
Jun. 23-26, 2010
Lake Guntersville
Huntsville, AL
www.flwoutdoors.com
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