Eufaula, Ok – The XFL-Extreme Fishing League presented by Skeeter Boats held its 2nd event of the 2014 season on Lake Eufaula on Sunday, April 6th. 181 teams were greeted with overcast skies, chilly weather and light rains later in the day. Despite the dreary conditions Lake Eufaula showed its quality in the form of 76 5 fish limits brought to the scales. A total of 525 fish were weighed with the average fish being a healthy 3.11 lbs. A total of $36,200 was collected in entry fees and $58,145 was paid out for a 158% payback percentage. Thanks to premier sponsors Brad’s Boat Sales, Nichols Marine- McAlester and H&H Marine for providing such a great payout. In one of the narrowest margins of victory the team of Rob Wadley and Vance Montgomery brought in a limit weighing 23.77 lbs to take home the top cash prize of $20,000. In addition to the 1st place payout, they took home the $5,000 Skeeter Customer Appreciation Bonus, $500 Keystone Chevrolet Customer Appreciation Bonus, $150 Boat US Angler Bonus and the $125 Navionics Bonus for a grand total of $25,775. Coming in a very (and I do mean VERY) close 2nd place with a limit weighing 23.66 lbs was the team of Brandon Mosley and Brad Lankford. Their efforts netted them $10,000. Big Bass of 7.12 lbs and worth $1,000 was weighed in by the team of Anthony Spears and Chris Davis. Congratulations to these teams and all the other teams that cashed checks in this event. In the past I have always had the pleasure of interviewing the winners of the tournament to get some insight on how they prepared for the tournament, how their day transpired and what lures, patterns, etc. they utilized. This time I get to interview myself which seems kind of strange. So, I decided to stick with the format I have established with the past winners.
Vance Montgomery and I have been fishing tournaments together for about the past 10 years. We’ve fished Eufaula a lot during that time under all kinds of water conditions, weather and time of the year. Like everyone that’s played this game called tournament bass fishing we’ve had our good tournaments and our bad tournaments. However, every tournament has been a learning experience. Drawing on that experience we put our heads together and came up with plan for practice. Usually, the two of us practice together. However, Vance was competing in the Rayovac Tournament on Grand Lake and wanted to concentrate on his practice for that event. I had no problem with that and helped him in those efforts the best I could. We spoke on the phone many times regarding Grand and Eufaula and discussed places to fish, lures to try, etc. My practice for this event started on Saturday the week before. I concentrated on the lower end of the lake and managed only 3 keepers for the whole day. But, those 3 keepers went about 17 lbs. including a solid 7 lb. fish. 2 of those fish were caught in less than 3′ of water on my homemade spinnerbaits and 1 came on a jerkbait off a dock in about 10′ of water. Despite all the reports of lots of fish being caught on an A-rig I could just not catch a fish on that contraption. I’ve thrown that damned A-Rig for a solid month and up until tournament day have yet to catch a fish on it. Needless to say, my confidence in the A-Rig was ZERO. I was able to practice by myself on Friday before the tournament and had found the water temps had warmed quite a bit during the week. I concentrated in the backs of the creeks and pockets in the lower end of the lake looking for the warmest water I could find. I put together a pretty good pattern of fishing the back 1/2 of the pockets concentrating on secondary points and cover features that pre-spawn fish would set up on. By the end of the day I managed 6 keepers, the best 5 going about 14 lbs. One area I found seemed to have a good concentration of fish. It was a no-name, nothing cove where we had done well in the past. It has a small stump row sitting in about 5′ of water. I caught a 4 lb. fish on a spinnerbait and shook off a fish on a jig off those stumps. Using my Hummingbird electronics I graphed the stump row and saw multiple fish suspended around the stumps. On Saturday, Vance joined me and we fished the Belle Starr area and ran south into Gaines Creek fishing areas where we had done well in the past. By the end of the day we had amassed a pretty good stringer of fish. So, Saturday night at the hotel we decided to start with the down lake stuff I had found; and if we didn’t do any good there by 11:00, we would run south. We were boat #86 at the tail end of the second flight. Our first stop was shared with several other boats and nobody boated a fish. We decided to go to the stump row which proved to be the wise choice. Vance was throwing an A-Rig with Gene Larew swimbaits when he caught our first keeper, a solid 4 lb. fish. Shortly thereafter another fish came in the boat but he was just a 12 incher. We fished past the stump row and hit another small point nearby with no luck. We then decided to return the stump row. I was running the trolling motor, looked down and noticed my Hydrowave unit was not turned on. I turned on the Hydrowave and less than 2 minutest later Vance nails a 5 lb.+ fish. Despite my lack of confidence in the A-Rig I picked mine up and on the 2nd cast caught a solid 4 lb. fish that literally came out from under the boat and grabbed one of my Gene Larew swimbaits. I only had about 4′ of line out and had to do some fancy footwork and rod control to keep that fish hooked. Vance was quick on the net and fish #3 was in the boat. A-rigs and landing nets do not mix well. After I deposited #3 in the livewell I was trying to get things untangled when Vance sticks another good fish. Saying a few choice words that turned the air a bluish hue around our boat, I pushed the button on my reel and dipped up another solid fish. At this point we have 2 A-rigs and a fish in the net and a fired up school of quality fish on our hands. I plopped fish #4 in the livewell; and of course, Vance’s A-rig isn’t tangled at all. He is back to casting and I am dealing with a hopeless, giant, tangled mess. Uttering more choice words, I finally take the scissors to it and get back in action. Sometime during this Chinese Fire drill I managed to drop the Power Pole and hold the boat in place. Vance’s words of “just calm down and take your time” soothed my frazzled nerves and I was able to compose myself and get back to concentrating on fishing. Then for some reason the fish quit biting. We continued to throw the A-Rigs but no takers. Having experienced this before we decided to slow down and fish some different lures. Vance picked up a battered old black/silver Rogue jerkbait and I tried a jig and various other baits. The jerkbait was the ticket as Vance landed keepers #5 and #6 on it. Keeper #6 was a solid 5 lb. fish and provided a tense moment. When Vance set the hook the fish wrapped up in a stump. Fortunately, the fish swam out and came right at the boat to my waiting landing net. This fish culled out the smallest one of the bunch. We were indeed fortunate that this fish didn’t make a hard run because about 4′ of line was badly frayed. If it had, it surely would have broken the line. I don’t know if we caught all of them, we finally spooked the school or what. But, for whatever reason these fish quit biting. All this fun stuff happened before 9:00 a.m. The rest of our day was largely uneventful. I managed to catch two more quality keepers (on the A-rig, believe it or not) but they were not good enough to cull. A few key things come to mind that allowed us to win this tournament: A great fishing partner, experience and time on the water, Hydrowave (neither of us are sponsored by Hydrowave), Power Poles and a little dose of Lady Luck. Vance and I would like to thank our sponsors for their support, in no particular order: Brad’s Boat Sales, Gene Larew Tackle, Mesu Baits, Power Pole, Elk River Jigs, G-Blank Rods and Hummingbird/Minn Kota.
One last thing. I would be remiss if I did not mention the various Bonus Programs. This is the 4th Skeeter Bonus check we have won. I can remember back when the Skeeter League was the first team circuit to guarantee $5,000 to 1st place. Now, Skeeter boat owners that compete out of a qualifying Skeeter Boat have the chance to win $5,000 and they don’t even have to win the tournament! Just be the highest finisher and compete out of a qualifying Skeeter Boat and you can win $5,000. Also, I want to welcome back Keystone Chevrolet as one of our sponsors. Keystone was a long-time supporter of the Skeeter League and after a brief hiatus is back sponsoring the XFL-Extreme Fishing League. The way the Keystone Bonus works is if you have purchased any vehicle, new or used, from Keystone Chevrolet, still own that vehicle and you win an XFL event, Keystone will write you a check for $500. I picked up my $500 check today. So, if you are in the market for a new car or truck go see Mike “Bones” Bohning at Keystone Chevrolet. Bones will treat you right and give you the best deal around. I speak from experience. I’ve purchased 5 vehicles from Keystone over the years and have been very happy with the car buying experience. Give Keystone a shot. You won’t be disappointed. Tell Bones Capt. Rob sent you. Also, be sure the check out the Bonus Program tab on the main webpage. There are several other great bonus programs. Don’t miss out on extra ways to win some cash.
As always, on behalf of the XFL-Extreme Fishing League Staff I want to thank all of the sponsors and all the participants. Without each and every one of you, the XFL would not be the premier team circuit in the country.
See ya’ll at the next event on May 4th at Lake Eufaula.
Capt. Rob