2010 Auburn Fall Classic: The Power of Versatility and Prayer

On November 20, my partner, Grant Kelly and I were blessed with winning the 2010 Auburn Fall Classic on Lake Logan-Martin, marking the first major win in Georgia College’s history.  It was not an easy win by any means, as the conditions changed drastically as each day progressed.  This tournament win was a true testament to the two most important things in my fishing arsenal: versatility and prayer.

Grant and I almost didn’t fish this event.  It was deer season, and we were both considering trading in our fishing rods and boats for rifles and deer stands for the weekend.  However, after much consideration, we decided to make the long trip west to Pell City, Alabama.  I fished the same tournament on the same lake the previous year, and my partner and fisherman extraordinaire, Matt Henry and I managed a top ten finish, so I figured that I would have somewhat of a speculative idea as to what was going on. 

With Grant and me both being cash-strapped (after all, fishing + college = broke), we packed our gear and hit the road at 3am on Thursday morning.  We thought it would be a good idea to avoid paying an extra night in a hotel room, so we sucked it up and headed for the lake.  After the long drive on I-20, we arrived at the ramp just as the autumn sky was beginning to glow orange.

During that first, very tiresome day of practice, we found an area with the water temperature being roughly four to five degrees cooler than the rest of the lake.  As a result, the largemouth were moved up shallow, and the bigger fish were feeding.  We had a few fish on that morning which exceeded 5 and 6lbs, so we left the area alone and looked for other areas holding spotted bass for a backup plan.  We also tried some of the areas that helped my last year’s partner and me earn a top 10, and they were all dead.  It seemed as if the feeding fish were not as shad-oriented as they were the previous year.

That night, after the pre-tournament meeting, we rigged up all of our rods and went to bed.  The only problem was, I couldn’t sleep.  I found myself exceedingly anxious, as I knew what a gamble we were about to take.  I have found that shallow areas, like the ones we were planning on fishing, are notorious for being hit-or-miss.  It is very possible that the fish could be totally gone.  Instead of furthering my worrisome state of mind, I decided to give it all to God.  We had done everything in our power to optimize our chances for success.  The rest of the uncontrolled variables were up to Him.  I prayed not that we would win, but that He would lead us through the day and allow us to make the right decisions given the conditions.  And that He did. 

The morning of the first day, we went to the same area, and immediately started wearing them out.  Grant caught a nice 4.8lb largemouth almost immediately, which took a lot of pressure off of us.  We had a feeling that the majority of the field would be targeting spots, so we made it an absolute point to do the opposite and target largemouths for the first day.  After we had an early 10lbs in the boat, we had a decision to make; either stay and milk the area, or save it for day 2.  We decided to stay in the area and catch the fish while we knew we could, and hopefully pull ahead of the pack.  We stayed there the entire day, and the Good Lord blessed us with 14.55 pounds.  Not just any 14.55 pounds, though.  14.55 pounds of barely hooked fish.
 

The second day was a much tougher day, and really forced us to adapt and become versatile.  We went back to the same spot yet again, hoping, but not very optimistic, that the fish had replenished.  In about 30 minutes, we had a pathetic 4lb limit.  We immediately just sat down, put our rods down, and started talking and discussing our game plan, because we knew there were a bunch of consistent, great anglers right behind us in the standings.  We knew we had to put, at the very least, 11 or 12lbs in the boat in order to have a chance at retaining the lead, because we had a feeling that it was slow for everyone else as well, due to the cloud cover and a slight warming trend.  We started brainstorming, and, boom, it came to us.  We realized that the water temperature where we were was slowly rising day by day.  As a result, the bigger fish were not there.  They had moved into deeper, cooler water.

By 12:30, we had maybe 5lbs.  We were forced to make the huge, gut wrenching decision to leave our area and move to the main water of the Coosa River and catch some big spotted bass flipping.  We both have grown up doing that, so we were very confident.  We keyed in on certain areas after I boated a 3.5lber, and we were able to replicate the pattern perfectly.  It had been cloudy for most of the day, and we kept seeing most of the anglers glued to docks.  We knew that the bigger fish would not be holding that tight to cover due to the clouds.  We stayed away from docks, and we upgraded to a little over 12lbs from 1:15 to 1:45, with a 2:00 weigh-in.  We attribute it all to the Lord, because we kept praying out loud that He would help us make the right decisions.  He did, and we were blessed to be able to hold on.  We weren't too sure whether or not our almost 27lbs would hold up, especially with the talent that was right behind us.  It did, and we were able to pull it out.



Each year, the bite at any given lake can differ drastically, so it was of the utmost importance that we did not fish "last year".  We simply tried to fish the moment, adapt, and overcome. Versatility and prayer go a long, long way in this sport.  Grant and I went from catching fish in less than three feet of water the first day, to catching fish from almost 30 feet the next day.  If you do everything you can possibly do in order to succeed, you need not worry about the rest.  If you are meant to win, the Big Man Upstairs will take care of the rest.  Trust me.