Entry 206-4

Mike Wurm Turns on Clear-Water Bass Fishing

Part 4: Tournament – Day 3

Question: What did you do at first light the day of the cut?

Wurm: I decided to change areas to fish for my top-water bite. I’d only caught one bass there the morning before, and several other competitors were fishing this same area. So, I felt if I changed water and went to a new place, I might have a better chance of catching more bass on that early-morning bite. But I guessed wrong. I really struggled on the third day of the tournament, early in the morning. Since this lake had a lot of recreational fishing pressure, by 9:00 am, not only were there a large number of fishermen on the lake, but the jet skiers and water skiers were out. This was Saturday, and Saturday meant to go to the lake and fish, swim, run your boat and have a good time. So, the boat traffic was tremendous. I realized that because there was so much boat pressure on the lake, the bass would be repositioned. I probably wouldn’t find them in the same place as I had previously. I knew the bass would be harder to catch, too. I really believe the bass knew when Saturday and Sunday were coming, and they just got harder to catch on those two days.

Question: When the top-water bite failed to produce a bass, what did you do?

Wurm: I picked up my spinning rod with my shaky-head finesse worm and decided I’d live or die with this tactic. I caught one bass off my underwater point, and I had another little section I wanted to fish. I caught a bass there. I ran to a third point and caught a bass. Finally, I went to the little bay that I’d discovered the day before and finished out my limit. Luckily, I had a couple of 3-pound bass in that limit, and I didn’t cull any bass. I only caught five keeper bass, and I was extremely proud to have those five. Fishing was tough. Instead of catching the big 16- to 18-inch bass, I was only catching 12- to 13-inch fish. So, when I got those two 3 pounders, I was really feeling good.

My string for that day only weighed 11-1/2 pounds, and I was really nervous going to the scales. I really didn’t know if I had enough bass to make the top-12 cut. When I reached the scales, I had 1 ounce more than the competitor who finished in 13th place. So, I qualified for the top 12 to fish on the final day. I knew it would be a close tournament. You could see the weights drop at the weigh-in every day, and ounces were determining who would be in the money, and who wouldn’t. A lost bass or a dead one, and you could drop several places in the tournament. But when I finally got that fifth fish in the boat, I breathed a sigh of relief. That fifth fish was just barely a keeper. He only weighed about 1-3/4-pounds. At the weigh in, one competitor was way back in 39th place, but he caught 15 pounds and jumped into the top 12.

Question: At the end of the third day, what did you think you would have to do to win the tournament?

Wurm: I knew that on Sunday there would be a lot of people out on the lake, and that the boat traffic would really be heavy. So, I knew that the bite would be harder to get, and I would have to fish a lot slower. But I knew I wouldn’t have a co-angler in the boat. I’d just have a cameraman, so it would help not having any competition for the fish I was finding. I told myself I’d have to be patient, concentrate, focus and not miss any bites. I had to catch every bass that took my finesse worm.

Next: Last Day of the Tournament

Contents:

• Part 1: What I Learned in Practice
• Part 2: Tournament – Day 1
• Part 3: Tournament – Day 2
• Part 4: Tournament – Day 3
• Part 5: Last Day of the Tournament