Entry 206-3

Mike Wurm Turns on Clear-Water Bass Fishing

Part 3: Tournament – Day 2

Mike WurmEditor’s Note: Mike Wurm finished 9th in June, 2007, at the B.A.S.S. Elite Smith Mountain Lake tournament in Moneta, Virginia, the highest-finishing Strike King pro. This clear mountain lake had 500 miles of shoreline with no grass, but a large number of boat docks and some rip rap. The key fishing places were the points, the rip rap and the docks. All the competitors knew what the patterns were. A few bass were being taken in the mornings on top water, but that pattern was over quickly as the sun came up. Most of the fish were caught on the points and on the docks. With 107 pros and 107 amateur anglers, Wurm knew this would be a tough tournament.

Mike WurmQuestion: Mike, how did you do on day two?

Wurm: Day two was pretty much a mirror of day one. I started out the same way and went to the same spots where I’d caught the first three fish on the first day of the tournament. I caught a 2-pound keeper on the Spit-N-King right off the bat, and then the bite slowed down. I tried the shaky-head jig in the same area where I’d caught the first bass that morning, but I didn’t get a bite. So, I decided to go upriver and start my milk run on the docks and the hidden points.

The bite didn’t start as quickly as it had begun on the first day of the tournament. I decided to stay with it, until the bass decided to start biting. I knew the pattern was solid and that I could consistently catch bass in that area using the shaky head. I knew the shaky-head bite didn’t start until after the sun had been up for a little while. So, I had to wait out the bass and let the sun position the bass on the boat docks and on the points. I knew that the bass would be on the points because that’s where most of the bass were being caught by most of the leaders. I was lucky that no one found that hidden point I was fishing throughout the entire tournament. I stayed within sight of the point almost all day while fishing, and no one else was fishing the point. The second day of the tournament, I took a 3-1/2- and a 4-1/2-pound bass off that point – two catches that really boosted up my weight.

Question: Did you stay on the point all day on the second day?

Wurm: No, I fished all the way around it. Bass FishingAfter I got my limit, I backed away from the point and looked for other places to catch bass. I didn’t want to catch all the fish on the point during any day of the tournament. Although I knew the other competitors might find this isolated point, I knew we were fishing a four day tournament and I knew I’d need a place to be able to catch bass on the last two days of the tournament. So, since I didn’t see anyone fishing the point during the first two days of competition, I decided to leave the point alone, except when I needed a big fish, or if I needed a fish to fill out my limit. After I got a good limit in the boat, I was using the rest of the day to try and find other places to catch bass. I kept within eyesight of the point just to make sure no other contestant was fishing it.

Question: After you got your limit on the second day, what types of regions did you go fish?

Wurm: My partner hadn’t gotten his limit, and he needed to catch a limit so he could fish on Saturday. So, we started fishing some other boat docks to try and help him get a limit. We found one boat dock sitting on the side of a deep pocket. We went through that pocket, I caught three keepers, and he caught one. When I saw how many bass that pocket was holding, I made a mental note that I might have to return to this pocket to fill out my limit. These bass were weighing 2- to 2-1/2-pounds each and were good keeper bass.

Question: What made this pocket different and caused the fish to be there?

Mike WurmWurm: The pocket was close to the main river channel and just off a bend of it. It was a deep pocket with almost 30 feet of water all the way to the back end of the pocket. There was good spacing between the boat docks. Because there was only five or six docks in this pocket, we could quickly and easily determine the docks the fish were holding on and their positions. There were also two points inside that pocket. I believe the real key as to why the bass were there was because of the position of this slough in relationship to the main river channel and the deep water that was in the slough.

Question: How many pounds of bass did you have at the end of the second day?

Wurm: I had 14 pounds and a few ounces. So, I moved up to 13th place in the tournament. I knew the cut to 12 would happen at the end of the next fishing day. But I was feeling pretty good knowing that I’d really have to stump my toe, not to make the cut on the final day of fishing. I was one slot out of making it to the top 12. I had made the top-50 cut.




 

© 1996-2008 Strike King Lure Company