Muddy Water Bassing At Lake Blackshear

We competed at Lake Blackshear on March 9. 

Blackshear was muddy, with water temperatures in high 50s and climbing into the low 60s as the day went on. During practice we fished north of the train bridge, and my partner fished south of the bridge. The main pattern we found included fishing docks with finesse worms and speed worms on shaky heads. We found two good dock lines from which we caught a couple of fish and knew there should be more.

On tournament day we launched 98th out of 133 boats and went to my partner’s spots first. I caught one fish at the first spot that was about 6 inches long on a shaky head with a finesse worm. We moved to our second spot, and my partner, Adrian Hooper, caught our first fish on a ChatterBait. The fish came off a grass line that was still green and off of an island. After this spot, we moved to the north end of the lake and fished my first dock line with only one short fish, so we moved to my second dock line. Adrian caught our second keeper with a shaky head in the corner of the dock. Adrian skipped it under the dock, but it hit on the outer edge of the dock right where the shade started. We fished the rest of the dock line but only had one bite on an Ol Monster worm from Zoom.

Our next spot was a cove on the north end of the lake where Adrian caught our third fish off a patch of lily pads out in front of a dock with a ChatterBait. We fished the rest of the day but scored no more fish, so we ended the day with 7.05 pounds which put us in 28th for placing. All of our fish came in around 3 to 4 feet of water.

The winners, Brandon Martin and Logan Dean, from North Hall, blew everyone out of the water with a giant 23.51-lb. bag. The next closest bag was in the 14-lb. range. The secret to their success was targeting matted gator grass and water primrose with hyacinth blowing in with 2 to 4 feet of water under the mats with a hard bottom.