Grove, OK – Seems like yesterday we were finishing up the 2013 season on Grand Lake. My how time flies when you are having fun; or like me, are getting old. I guess time is flying because I am getting old. It’s certainly not due to me having fun catching fish, I can assure you that! I’ve fished a total of 5 days on Grand Lake and have yet to have a bite. Most of the people I’ve talked to have experienced the same thing: No bites. The consensus for the poor fishing has been the unusually cold water temps. Oklahoma hasn’t experienced a winter such as this in over 20 years and perhaps even longer. Not many of us have any experience fishing 38-40 degree water. This was never more evident than at the first event of the XFL-Extreme Fishing League presented by Skeeter Boats 2014 season held at Grand Lake on March 9, 2014. The tournament got off to an auspicious beginning with a 1 hr. and 15 min. fog delay. Once the fog lifted enough for safe running conditions 182 teams took off, one by one, into the lifting fog to try their luck for the $20,000 first place prize. At the end of the day only 53 teams managed to weigh a single fish with only 8 limits brought to the scales. Just to show how tough a tournament this was, it only took 1 fish weighing 2.17 lbs to get in the money. As always, one team figured out the puzzle despite the conditions. That team was Charlie Apperson and Dale Andrews. Charlie and Dale brought in a 5 fish limit weighing 18.35 lbs and took home the $20,000 paycheck. Coming in a close second was the team of Scott Fulkerson and Jerry Conley with 18.10 lbs worth $10,000 cash. Big Bass of the event was caught by the third place team of Jason Wilson and Orlean Smith with a 6.06 lb. lunker. The Skeeter Customer Appreciation Bonus of $5,000 went to the team of David Buck and Tommy Furstenberg for being the highest placing team (8th pl.) that competed out of a qualifying Skeeter Boat. Congratulations to these teams and all the other teams that cashed checks in this event. I spoke with Charlie Apperson regarding his team’s victory and he was very gracious in sharing information on how they managed an impressive stringer under such tough conditions.
Two weeks prior to this event Charlie and Dale did well in another tournament fishing in the Elk River. On Thursday before this tournament they pre-fished down lake and, like everyone else, did not get a bite. This made their decision easy for tournament day and they went to the Elk River and committed to staying there all day. They arrived at their spot just above the “old bridge” to find over 10 boats lined up and beating the bank to a froth. Charlie and Dale elected to set up in the main river channel well away from the bank and the other teams. Throwing the A-rig tipped with Gene Larew swimbaits they amassed a limit by 11:30. They keyed on any small channel swings, structure features, submerged logs, etc. that they could find. Despite a total lack of shad in the area and a lot of boat traffic in the main channel the fish bit good enough for them to win. Later in the day Charlie and Dale moved below the Hwy 10 bridge and culled one fish on the A-rig off a main lake point. Congratulations to Charlie and Dale for a well deserved victory.
This event took in $36,800 in entry fees and paid out $57,810 for a 157% payback. Thanks to all the competitors, Brads Boat Sales, H&H Marine and Nichols Marine-McAlester and all the other sponsors for their support. Without them the XFL could not be the best paying tournament circuit.
The next event is scheduled for April 6th on Lake Eufaula. Hopefully, Old Man Winter will quit being such a SOB and release his icy grip by then and we all can catch some fish!
See you on the water,
Capt. Rob