LAKE MARTIN
October 6-8, 2006
RESULTS
| TEAM | TRASH FISH | BIG FISH | DAY 1 | DAY 2 | DAY 3 | TOTAL |
| Crawford / Granger | 0-12 Saltwater Stripe | 2-4 (1-12 after df penalty) | 9-04 | 9-13 | 8-12 | 27-13 |
| Greene / Fackler | 2-0 (1-8 after df penalty) | 8-06 | 9-00 | 7-08 | 24-14 |
12'' size limit
7 fish creel
STORY
By: Bo Crawford
After taking a year's hiatus away from Lake Martin, TMTanglers returned to beautiful Burke Cove to enjoy the crystal clear water and the spotted bass wolfpacks found on the lake. Unfortunately various unfortunate circumstances (blown outboard cylinder, totaled trucks, weddings, new babies, etc.) caused much of the club to not make the trip. The result was a repeat of TMTangler's first fall tournament ever in 2002 with a two boat tournament of Bo and Lance vs. Bill and Russell. Because both teams planned to practice on the Friday before the tournament, we decided to spice things up by making this a three day tournament instead of our traditional two day tournament. This was an enjoyable change because anglers could stick fish without feeling guilty about burning up their water.
In typical Lake Martin fashion, numbers of fish were plentiful but catching 12'' keepers was difficult. Between both teams fishing three days it is estimated that hundreds of fish were caught...but out of those only a single fish weighed over two pounds. If the big fish were biting none of us could figure out how to catch them. The result was a typical Lake Martin tournament where contestants culled one ounce at a time. In the end Lance and I were able to catch a few extra ounces each day to put us over the top with a three day total of 27-13. This is a major monkey off our backs since Bill and Russell have traditionally dominated tournaments on this lake and have always placed in the money. Basically, the underdogs won this one.
We caught fish shallow and deep. We caught fish on crankbaits, jerkbaits, spinnerbaits, topwater, dropshots and jighead finesse worms. The fish were just biting and you could pick your technique of choice. We spent more time power fishing Triton Mike style than finesse fishing, mostly because I don't have the patience to finesse fish in the wind. All I can say about this lake is that you had better not get too locked in to one pattern during practice because whatever you learn is likely to change during your tournament. The old "fish the moment" cliché that is easy to preach and hard to practice applies to this lake big time.
Since there were only two boats, we weighed in FLW style with a hand scale. Here are the weigh sheets showing the individual fish caught:
