What a great few days. I got the news Thursday of the mercury sponsorship and have been waiting until I talked with Steve before I passed it on to everybody. Bull shoals boat dock and Steve have been great to me. Today I officially order my new basscat pantera ll today. lt is a different color combo for me, but it looks sweet. Will be ready by my February central pro-am. Christmas has came early for me. .
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The cat has sold, it went southwest to a NEW basscat family. A shout out to Impactfishing WOW Phil lays out a pretty spread. Now on to order my new basscat everybody knows the colors I had. Me and the girls have been toying around with another color combo. It's not new, but to me it is and of course we have tweaked it some what. I got to make a trip over to the plant when this snow and ice gets off and talk the the man that's helped me along. Basscat truely is family and I think you all know what I mean. Its amazing how many calls I got on this boat that were from people wanting to join "our family". We truely are blessed to have "people" who care about us as a "family" not just as a statistic or a number on a chart. A huge THANK YOU to Rick and all the family at basscat for all the help past and future.
Also I have to mention we have been having baby calves on the farm. I know its not the best time to have them, but after a bad last couple of years 10" if snow aint nothing. We are feeding hay and having fun. For those who hadn't heard the Central Proam Kick off at Lake of the Ozarks December 7/8th got postponed until the middle of January. Thanks again to Rick and all the Basscat employees also to Steve at Bull Shoals Lake Boat Dock. My new addition to the FrenchFishn family. Thanks to Fin to Fur in Thayer, Mo.. Stop by and look at what they have got for you! Okay the 2nd stop for the B.A.S.S. Central OPENS will be here soon. Heading out with ole Micha to Muskogee, OK and then catch up with Jan and Charles, they are a hoot. Some day the ladder in this fishing gig wont be so tall. I did well out there 2 years ago so maybe the good lord will shine on me or Micha, heck both would be okay.
I would like to give a shout out to my buddy from Mo. Adam Caldwell he won the Co-Angler side of the PAA on Table Rock. Way to go that makes a guy feel good to do that even when it is hot outside!!! I had a blast at this Event. Fin to Fur is a great sponsor to work with and we had a great time doing this last year. This year was planned bigger and it was that. I worked a booth for kids fishing. They had a chance for a rod and reel combo. The Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery provided some tagged BlueGill and kids under 12 could try their luck at fishing for a tagged fish. If you caught a tagged fish you won a rod and reel combo donated by FIN to FUR. My family and myself worked the booth and gave away a total of 200 combos. We had some happy kids and even got to autograph a couple the kids brought back by. We were very busy both days and had a crowd almost the whole time. Now with celebrities like Troy & Jacob Landry (Swamp People), Mark Chestnut, Willie Robertson (Duck Dynasty), Wally Marshall, Jimmy Houston, and not to mention a couple of the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders. You can see why there was a load of people in the Thayer & Mammoth Spring area. A great concert by Mark Chestnut on Friday night and some good BBQ at the cook-off on Saturday. The fishing in the tank was great and the similes from the kids were as they say "priceless". I'm working on some pictures to get uploaded and I will post them soon. We took the purple cat and shined her up for the show as well. Like normal she got a lot of attention and picture taking. Check back soon! Fishing is good for the soul!!
Well it is finally time to cut hay on the farm so that has to mean it is HOT weather. When the days get hot enough to bale hay the day after you cut it thats HOT!!! With that being said the topwater bite it on in the area lakes. It seems to be working better early then again right before dark. With most fish caught before the sun gets up. Zara Spooks and Red Fins are taking the most topwater fish. When the sun starts to peek over the tree tops and hit the waters surface thats when the bite starts to leave. Our lakes are in great shape this year and spawns should also be good this year. With higher water levels there is more cover for the small fry to hide. Several other baits are begin to pickup fish. The Football Jig, Big worms, and the Drop Shot are beginning to take fish durning the day.
I had a CPAA tournament June 1st and 2nd on Table Rock and caught my fish on Red FIns and Gizits. This was our last tournament before our classic at Lake of the Ozarks at the end of September. I qualified and will be making that trip. My BASS Opens are in September and October so my busy time is here. I don't fish many big events in July and August, but there is always a tournament somewhere. Thanks for reading and remember the Red White and Blue BBQ Blowout July 5th and 6th put on by Fin to Fur in Thayer, Missouri. Until Next time parctice CPR (Catch Photograph and Release) The River was in good shape and as normal the fishing gets tough when you put 185 anglers and 185 co-anglers on the water. This field was stacked with Bassmaster Eilite anglers and FLW tours guys. Wow when 30% of the field is these guys you know your in a up hill battle from the start. I guess the FLW guys are prefishing for the CUP that is to be held and also a classic spot if they fish all 3. One thing for sure i was in tall cotton in this tournament. I see were I rank out now, like I say your not fishing the guys your fishing the fish!! Another side note the pollen down there this time of year was horrible. After Tuesday my head felt like a balloon and it wasn't from catching fish. After Benadryal and Zyrtec i was at least function-able by tournament days Thurs and Friday. I started the tournament with a decent limit on Thurs 13lbs and was as I thought still in it. (You can't win it the first day, but you can lose it). I stayed close and fished an area that I knew would get hit later (and it did). I had my limit by 11 and went searching after that. Friday was a new day and my plan was to make a run the opposite way and get into a small backwater area. I did that and boy was it tough to get in. The water had dropped about 2' since me and Micah had been in there on Tuesday. I didn't even think the ole cat would make it, but she did. I was blessed with a limit by 10:30 and culled up 2 more times. I left that spot a little to early to make my way out and run back, with a little time left to fish were I did the day before. Looking back I should have stayed, because my close spot was loaded up with other anglers. I thought I had enough for a good check. I knew I would need around 15lbs to make a run at the top 12 cut and I only had 10.40lbs according to my scales. I was right in that I would have needed almost 14lbs to make the cut. Were I went wrong was in thinking I had enough for a check. I fell 5oz short and ended up in 46th place. This sport really makes you take a look at the "what ifs" in fishing. I mean 5oz makes the difference in at least some break even money, to nothing!!
I caught all my fish Flipping and used several different brands and kinds. One of my new sponsors sent some baits with me to try and they worked. Jennybugs from Thayer, Mo. sent me down with some "River Bugs" as they call them and they caught fish. Also I tossed a square bill by Macs Custom Crankbaits and the "chicken" by Underbite also was tossed a bunch. Basscat, Mercury, and Motorguide got me to from and into several areas down there. Also I had a good travel partner who put up with my allergies, Thanks Micah. Till next time thanks again for the support and prayers. Whack a few when you get a chance and remember to a kid fishing!! Well my Pro-am at Bull Shoals ended in a little love hate relationship. I love that clear water, but then again I hate it. Being from up here in the Ozarks I'm supposed to know how to fish (gin Clear) water. That's not totally true. I only managed 3 keepers saturday and 4 keepers sunday. The lakes up here are reallly clearing up, with no flows going through the dams. This allows the suspended particles to drop out thus leaving clearer than normal water. Shaky heads and grubs were the main ticket. I was on a decent jerkbait bite prior to the tournament and thats were my plan went astray. Long cast with light line let me have close to 20 fish days, but most were huge White Bass and 14&7/8" Large Mouth. A big thanks goes out to Underbite CEO/Preident Lisndey and Eli Powers for put me and Derek up for the weekend. Nice place hangout, even coffee dog had a goodtime.
Now for the Bassmaster Central OPEN on the Red River April 25-27. Headed down to check it out and maybe get on a pattern for some biguns. This will be a total shift from the Clear waters for Bull Shoals. The Red River does get its name from the clay alongs its banks ie.. no clear water. No light line and long cast here. Flipping and Pitching here we go. What a great day to be out of the water today. I have to cherish these days because they don't come around for me like today on Bull Shoals very often. Me and Micah were fishing the championship for the Get5 winter series. We were the last qualifying spot so we could only go up. Thats what we did, WOW what a day. We had 40 plus fish today with 5 different species, and 25-27 were keeper bass that we culled though for a weight of 15.43lbs and that was good enough for 5th place in the tournament. The Underbite Custom Tackle team of Eli and Trey hung in there with another good limit for 2nd place and that sealed up the Team of the Year honors. Congratulations guys Underbite custom tackle is the way to go. Eli's stuff helped me achieve a goal of mine today. I finally caught a double on the Bama Rig (it happened twice today!!) and I also had a triple late today WOW WOW!!!! Then 1st place was a good friend and cousin Kurt Evans and his partner Paul with almost 17lbs. Its great to see Kurt back out there again. We finished down in the pack for the year standings but had a great end to the year with 2 money finishes when we needed it (money that is)!!
I would like to thank Basscat Boats, Bull Shoals Boat Dock, French/Hardin farms, Fin to Fur, Macs Custom Crankbaits, Denail Rods, Jennybugs, and Underbite Custom Tackle for a great start to my tournament year. I'm looking forward to a good year on the Central Pro-Ams (14th AOY now), and the Bassmaster Central OPENS start April 25th on the Red River. Here we go time to set the HOOK!!! What a great day for the 3rd annual Children's Home Bass Tournament, We sent out 85 boats at 7am and had rain and sun though out the day. I was thinking it would take 18.5lbs to win and had my eye on 2 teams. After we sent the teams out, we had a great breakfast at the College and North Church of Christ and then got prize packages ready. At noon we started getting the stage, tanks, food, and the supplies ready. Also the rain was a coming . We had kids coming up from Paragould and the time was getting near for the boat check-in. What to do with all this stuff. We setup several pop up covers and then it hit. Just as quick as it hit and got everything totally wet it stopped and the sun came out. Now a Tournament Director don't like major weather changes like this, but hey you play the hand dealt to ya. At 3pm the teams stared checking in and it was quick to see I was wrong. Small limits were crossing the scales and the guys I know were saying that the bite was off all day. I was totally wrong about the weights, but not about the cause that we were there for. The Children's Home does great things and my family along the church has been involved with them for many years. Go check them out at the site http://childrenshomes.org/.
I would like to thank the house parents that brought the children up and the people that worked behind the secne and those there Saturday that helped make it a successful event. It is truly a team effort that makes this go so well. Sponsors really stepped up this year and provided the teams with a great supply of shirts, snacks, grab bags (with tackle and hats) , and ended the day with a feast of hot dogs, chips, and drinks. It took almost 17lbs to win the tournament and the lord blessed us all. Well day # 1 went as good as it could have. I was in the lead after all the fish had been weighed and I was one of the last anglers to weigh-in so I was "happy happy happy" as Phil would say. All fish came on a Jerkbait. I caught 7 keepers and 4 short fish. Day # 2 was a different animal. If you want your weather to change just have a bass tournament at your lake, Wowzers!!! We knew it was going to be about 20 degrees colder with a wind change to the east and a 60% chance of cold rain most of the day. Boy they missed that one. We woke up at 2:30am to loud thunder, lighting, and massive amounts of rain with high winds and a cold 33 degrees (wind chill was COLDER!!!!). Hats off to Mike Webb our TD for delaying us 30 minutes to take off at 7:30 that was a good move. We all needed that extra time to soak up the heat. Let just say if you fish get you a pair of the Woody Max Muck boots. I'm not sponsored by them, but I did get them from Fin to Fur, one of my sponsors. My feet never got cold any they are awesome boot for winter time fishing. When I arrvied at my starting spot I had muddy water that was 5 degrees colder than when I had left Saturday. I started with the jerkbait and had a keeper in the first 10 min then a short and then it happened!!! I lost my bait. I did what you are told not to ever do. I didn't have another jerkbait like that one. I had to adjust so I caught 3 more keepers on a gitzit and my last with 5 minutes to go on a jerkbait. I knew I only had about 9.5 lbs and as I was listen to the others weighin I knew I would need 13.5lbs to pull it off and it just wasn't there. But my family was. They made the 3.5hr drive up in the cold rain and stood there waiting on me to get in with those little green fish. Just to see me weigh them in and settle for 6th. I learned valuable lessons from that, but it was also a win. I weighed a limit in both days, had 2 great co-anglers, and my family was there. I have great sponsors that help and the Lord blessed me with safety on the trip back home. Thanks
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Dewayne French
I'm a professional angler, keep up with me and my partners as we catch fish all over the southern US. Archives
August 2022
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