Cameron Geske and Kyle Randall Win on Pleasant

After a long week of not knowing what was going to happen at Alamo we made the decision to switch the event last minute to Lake Pleasant. It would only make sense that Pleasant wanted to make it hard on us as well. During check in the wind was blowing consistently with some gusts upwards of 30mph. We delayed launch just a small bit but these teams braved the winds and it paid off. We have had a weird winter with some cold snaps and rain coming in much later than usual which has delayed the spawn just a bit. Some guys were catching them on beds and some were going after the pre spawn fish but it worked out for all. Lake Pleasant put out some good bags for the most part with the top 4 teams being separated by less than a pound. We had 18 teams weigh in over 10lbs making it a close race for a lot of teams and our 2nd place team of Sheldon and Wendell came in with a massive Largemouth coming in at 8.7lbs. We paid out 6 teams in cash and down to 20th place in prizes. Our next event will be Alamo Lake on April 8th and our two day event for the Liars Korner Open will be April 22-23rd and Roosevelt Lake. Below is feedback from our top teams in the money! Thanks to everyone that came out and we hope to see you in April.

1st place – Geske and Randall 15.73 lbs

“Our strategy for Pleasant involved no pre-fishing and purely doing the opposite of what we have always traditionally done there. We have historically performed poorly at Pleasant over the years, outside of pure sight fishing events, and we decided it was to zag instead of zig. Kyle and I agreed the night before to target different types of structure than in the past and to keep everything honest though out our day. The day more or less started as planned, getting on our starting spot and boating four keepers in the first hour, with a small limit by 9:00 AM. This alone was an incredible accomplishment for us at this lake. It was followed by a 3 hour dry spell, only to capitalize around noon on a key stretch because we stuck to our guns and executed the strategy aka “keeping them honest.” After a couple of decent culls we worked up to a 12.5lb limit and then we stumbled on a 6 pounder on a bed with 35 min to go. 32 minutes later we had her in the live well and we high-tailed it back to weigh in. To say the victory was a surprise would not do it justice, we are just thankful we learned something and were able to capitalize on our opportunities. We cant say enough about this tournament circuit and their ability to pivot last minute due to concerns at Alamo. It was an excellent move and went flawlessly. The payouts are absolutely second to none and the contingencies and prizes make it all that much better. We can’t wait for the next one at Alamo!

2nd place – Johnson & Murphy 15.31lbs

“We knew sight fishing would come into play but werent convinced it would win it, given the conditions. We decided to start out power fishing in dirtier water and hope to get a bag maybe catch a big one feeding up first thing in a spot we knew had good fish. Our plan was to do that and then upgrade on beds in the afternoon. With in 10 minutes we had 3 fish in the boat and an 8.7lb Largemouth which was my new PB. We grinded the rest of the day and with 10 minutes to go Wendell caught our fifth fish which put us over 15lbs and secured a 2nd place finish. We love fishing the FishIn48 series, Nick runs an awesome event with tons of prizes and fat cash payouts. So awesome to have The Q Bar & Grill cooking burgers for everyone as we pull into weigh ins. Cant wait for the next one at Alamo.

 

 

 

3rd place – Smook & Bayham 15.07 lbs

“So with finding a substantial amount of fishing cruising up shallow, some on bed some not. We decided to start on a big one I found late Friday afternoon. Was lucky to get one of the 3 good ones I saw the day prior. Morning was windy like we expected but I had the fish marked so I blind casted almost all of them and by about 11:30 we had around 13lbs and decided to hit a creek arm and throw a swimbait. Bobby got our final fish of the day at 12:45pm to cull us up to 15lbs. Love fishing the FishIn48 trail not only because Nick is a friend but he cares about the anglers safety and time on the water. Not to mention the payouts!! All around great trail staff and anglers.

4th place – Bryant & Walker 15.03 lbs

“Our game plan was to target the pre spawn areas in 2 of the creek arms that had deep water access close by and water visibility of at least 8-12 inches. We didn’t target any bed fish. We alternated between swimbaits, texas rig plastics and senkos. When we got to our first area tournament day we realized the with in 15 minutes the north wind and drop in tempe hurt our bite. So we swtiched gears and went to a more protected area and slowed way down. It was a grind all day as we only managed 7 bites but they were the right ones. Sticking to the plan, picking apart the ares we did have and not doing a bunch of running around was they key for us.”

5th place – Kruezer & Kereny 14.85 lbs

” With that storm that came in on Wednesday it got the creeks really muddy so we focused on water with 8-12 inches of visibility in the cuts of two creek arms. We caught 9 fish and we used slow moving baits reaction baits. We used a spinnerbait, a small swimbait, rattle trap and an underspin. Rich caught the big one on the trap about 1:30PM”

6th place – The Lamanna’s

“During practice we had seen quite a few on beds, so we knew it was going to be windy at first, then die down. Started throwing jerkbaits and Tony caught one in the first 15 minutes close to three pounds, so we were pretty happy. When the wind died down we were able to jump on a few of our bed fish catching them and then still throwing the jerk bait. We knew where a good one was on a bed but couldnt see her so kept throwing that direction and was able to get her to bite. That was our 4.5 pounder giving us 12lbs plus. After that my trolling motor batteries died around noon so we just drifted points and banks the rest of the tournament with the big motor and that sucked! We always have a great time fishing FishIn48 tournaments, Nick and his staff do an awesome job, the payouts are very good and you cant beat the great food from Q Bar.”

RESULTS