Bassmaster Series Championships on Clarks Hill
by Rex Chambers

After a full season of the Bassmaster Weekend Series tournament trail, I found myself sitting in the position for a shot at the National Championship by qualifying through the Alabama North Division and landing in 8th place overall in the points race.

The Championship event took place this past week on Georgia’s Clarks Hill Lake. This tournament would pay the winner $100,000 with an extra $100,000 in bonus money and a spot in the coveted Bassmaster Classic.

I arrived just after 7am on Sunday morning and met up with one of my last season Georgia division co-anglers, Jason Wyle for a day of pre-fishing. We caught fish at just about every stop in areas that I had pre-fished in September. Fishing shallow grass on main lake humps with a 3" Money Minnow swimbait. These baits are great if you haven’t tried them. Frank from Coosa Tackle luckily had a big supply and graciously let me borrow a few. We landed four or five 2-3 lb fish during the day and could have landed more if we had beaten the areas to death, but hey, we were pre-fishing. Stayed at Brian Morris’ old homestead in Augusta where his mom treated me like family and kept me out of all the dock talk and dreaded hotel stay. I appreciate that more than he or she can imagine.

Monday was the second day of practice and was more of the same. Light breeze and sunny. Fished alone looking for new areas that would hold a bite or two on the same pattern. Same as Sunday, get at least one solid fish from each area. Found one hole that held several bites on the swimbait and it was easy just to pull the bait from the visible strike without sticking the fish. So, there are over a dozen holes that are holding a good swimbait bite and other anglers are complaining they couldn’t find quality fish. Needless to say, I’m excited.

Tuesday is the last day or practice. Don’t hit a single area that I’ve found previously. Try and find an area that is holding just keeping fish and more than one. No luck. Same as before, just one maybe two bites from an area. No schooling action to mention. Take out about 2pm and get the electronics updated by Lowrance. Still overly excited as to what the tournament will hold for me. Close to 600 people or better show up for the tournament meeting. Main ramps are closed and it’s explained about which flights will launch from the two surrounding ramps and travel in the dark to Wildwood for the official launch. Low water, running in the dark? Fine for me because I put a trail on the Lowrance just for that reason, but some of the out of state guys didn’t think of that and more than one ended up on dry land the first couple days of the tournament.

Day 1: My co-angler is a 17yr old high schooler from LA. We hit the first stop and I land a solid 2lber on the swimbait. Bonus fish! Simply because my bite isn’t really turned on until after 9am in the grass. He struggles for a bite the first few hours as I do after that first fish. I land a keeper about 11pm and find that the good bite is totally gone on the swimbait! Try not to panic because there are many places left to hit. He lands a small keeper on a worm in the grass. We hit one area that I have the most confidence in for bigger fish. A main lake under water hump with rocks and grass. He gets a solid two pounder on a wacky worm, I get no bite. Move to the last hole of the day with my confidence shot and he whizzes a crankbait in the middle of nowhere and gets a three pounder! Day’s done and my juvenile cajun co-angler has landed over 6lbs from the back and leads for a while, finally landing in the top six after day one, and I’m stuck with three pounds and my confidence is shot! Wife gives me pep talk over the phone after the weigh in and I’m rejuvenated for Thursday since the weights were low and only 11lbs was leading. Many 8 pounds bags brought in, but I’m still not out with a good 2nd day.

Thursday: one word, WOW! Run to first hole in calm water. Nothing there. Hit the main channel from that hole and the wind is hitting about 30mph and waves are rolling hard! Wind gets even worse as the day goes and all my areas are on the main lake. Can’t fish a single one of them. Absolutely impossible. We watch from a protected bank as boats try and move to their second or third stops, only to turn around and go back to where they came from. End the day without boating a single bass. Have to stop and just laugh about the weather before we can make it back to our ramp. Sit in the middle with 6ft waves crashing the boat getting drenched. Hopes and aspirations are completely demolished. Now I’ve got to struggle just to cash a check and I even that’s a long shot.

Friday: Cold and breezy but nothing compared to Thursday. My Georgian co-angler needs about five pounds to make a check and I figure I need about 12. Two quick keepers on the first stop with the swimbait and one on a shakey worm. We head up river for some more swimbait fish and nothing. Find some rare schooling fish in a cove and boat my fourth with the swimbait and partner gets two. After talking with some others on the same pattern, I found I wasn’t alone with the bite changing. I made the mistake of not changing tactics, but I had the swing for the fences mentality in this tournament because a win was the only thing that mattered. South Carolina’s Jeff Coble took home the tournament championship, the Classic spot and a cool $205,000 for a four day weight of just over 40 pounds. I finished in 139th overall and limped back to Alabama with some hurt pride, an empty wallet and the hopes that next season will turn out much better.