FLW National Guard College Fishing - Vermont Technical College Team2010 Regional Recap.

Whiskey River Bait Company's Outlaw Angler, Justin Brouillard, Checks in with a recap of the 2010 FLW National Guard College Fishing Regional.  Great job last season, guys!

The 2010 FLW National Guard College Fishing Northern Regional did not end the way Ben and I would have liked .for Ben and I at Vermont Technical College.  We traveled down to North Carolina’s Jordan Lake to practice for this tournament and  found some good, productive areas to fish.  When we returned in November  for the  event,  went to some our areas and it was certain that we would be able to catch a few bass over the next 3 days. We decided to leave our fish alone and just hit some areas that looked similar and we had a great day. We landed 5 fish that would have gone over 15 pounds, but this was just practice.

On day one we were absolutely pumped and ready to catch fish on buzzbaits and a big spinnerbait. We arrived at our main spot only to find that there were absolutely no fish to be found.  So we moved on to another spot that we had practiced and once again we could not find a bass. We finally decided to try and fish some of the things that we had done before and catch some of those bass.  After running all over and fishing the points where we had found fish the day before, the day ended and we did not even have a fish to weigh. Not the way we expected to start the event.

Day 2 came bright and early and we were planning on repeating the 15 pounds we had just barley caught a day ago. If we could pull 18 pounds out we thought we might have a chance at making the top 5.  We decided to try a stretch of rip-rap that was really close to our main spot. We made a quick rundown throwing spinner baits and crankbaits. We came up to a log that was half in the water and I made a cast with the ¾ oz spinner bait and nothing.  As normal, I threw back in and placed it gently right up next to the top of where the log enters the water. I made 3 cranks and I thought I got stuck on the log, turns out, it was a bass. No way, I could not believe it! We netted the 2.5 lb bass and we thought we were well on our way. We moved into the nearby creek where we wanted to try a few different things. No luck.

As the morning dragged on, we moved back and decided to hit our main areas again before we went into panic mode. We could not get a single bite. We talked to a few other teams who were slowing down and they were getting bit. We moved south on the lake into the rivers. The water was moving some and we thought we might get into a stable school of fish that might eat. We changed tactics all together and Ben picked up a spinning rod, and I was pitching a jig to the rocks and wood down through the winding banks. We were beginning to catch some fish which was good, but we were not catching those 3-4 lb fish we were looking for.

We ended up weighing in only one fish for the 2 days we fished and had a long ride back to Vermont to think about it. Before we had come down the second time to fish, we were planning on a Plan B, in case our big fish baits were not working, or we could not find fish. We were thinking about throwing smaller baits and fishing slower. But, in our defense we did go out and whack the fish that we were looking for the previous day, so it was mighty difficult to change that pattern, especially when 20 pounds was not out of reach. We made a decision to stick with the big bites and it killed us. We learned a lot about that lake and feel we could do it all over again with different results. It certainly was an experience we will never  forget and qualifying for the Regional Event 2 years in a row is nothing to be ashamed of either. We have done very well in these events and still have a few more season to get where we want to be in the National Championship.