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A Winning Non-Boater's Perspective
Story by Rod Yoder

Rod Yoder Wins $25,000 and the ESPN Outdoors Bassmaster Southern Regional Co-Angler Title

ESPN Outdoors Bassmaster Series Southern Regional
November 2-4, 2006
Neely Henry Lake, Alabama

Practice Days

After an 8 hour drive, it was good to get a night's rest, even at an unfamiliar roadside hotel. Sleep went all too quickly as the alarm clock got me out of bed well before dawn to meet my boater practice partner. It was to be my first of four practice days on Lake Neely Henry. And what a beautiful lake it is as the vibrant orange, red and brown colors of the turning leaves in early November in Alabama get doubled in glory by the lake's reflective surface.

After spending the majority of the day without any sign of bass life up shallow, we found a nice main lake point with a roadbed that dropped down into 17 feet of water. Balls of shad clouded across the graph as we worked the point over with cranks and shaky head worms.

My partner missed our first bite on his shakey worm. Based on that mere morsel of a clue, I decided to go with lighter gear than we had been using. I downsized to 8 pound Seaguar CarbonPro fluorocarbon line with an 1/8 oz Little Pek jig head and a pumpkinseed Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw. It was the right move. In minutes, I boated 3 solid keepers. My goal as a non-boater in practice is to learn how to get the fish to bite rather than learning specific locations. So I switched to a Yamamoto Fat Baby Craw on the Little Pek jig head and... Bang! Bang! Two more keepers to make a solid day's limit. I made a lure color change and two more keepers come over the stern of the boat on back to back casts! My boater partner who was using 12 or 15 pound test, was feeling a few soft bite, but never connected. I went to sleep that night feeling I had learned something. I've always thought that so much depends on how you get your first bite. This was definitely true this week on Neely Henry.  Small and slow would catch these Coosa River spotted bass.

Tournament Day One

My boater and I head downstream to his first stop where he proceeded to crank out a limit in the first 90 minutes. A true gentleman, he shares a Bill Norman Deep Little N with me.

Actually, I rarely use crankbaits when money is on the line, but I ain't no dummy. I join in. He changes to a Fat Free Shad and culls. Sheesh! I mutter to myself, "What's a guy gotta do to get a bite here?"

We blaze on to his second spot. He culls again with a Norman DD22! I'm acrankin' right along with him though I have not had a bite. We are on a point with a deep hard edge that parallels the way the wind is blowing, thereby creating a bit of an eddy swirling downwind onto a shallower 6' deep flat.

I've had enough. I decide I will throw what I caught my fish on in during practice. I yank out my spinning rod and throw a Little Pek Jig with the Zoom Speed Craw.

Due to the windy conditions, I opt for a 3/16oz jig head. Still light, but heavier than I used in practice. In just a few minutes I turn the tables. Bang, bang, bang, and again and again. Now I am culling and sharing my jigs and craws with my boater! It's always a good sign when you have your boater partner digging through his tackle box.

I went from being totally disheartened to having ball. I spent the rest of the day amazed that I had ever let those nasty negative feelings get me down. I finished the first day in second place.

Tournament Day Two

I get paired with another main lake cranker. Confidence is high. I know I can catch fish no matter what conditions he puts me in, deep or shallow. I manage to scrape up my 3-fish limit but that's it. All on the same jig/craw. One off the face of the dam, one in the middle of a small pocket, and finally a keeper off a dock. I drop to 4th place.

Oh, I will mention one other thing. I am sold on MegaStrike attractant. The night before a tournament I like to squeeze a gob of that stuff into each bag of soft baits I plan to use the next day. It is sticky yet slippery. I can't speak for the chemistry and what real effect it has on the bass, but I know it has no negative effect and I really like the slick feel it gives the lures.

Okay, where was I? I come out in fourth place. I make the cut for the final day. I am only 1 pound 1 ounce out of first place, which is not hard to overcome.

Tournament Day Three

I get paired with a great kid from Georgia. But he's going over 30 miles in the opposite direction from what I have come to know as Neely Henry so far. He heads up the river to where a small canal enters the river. This canal comes directly out of the Weiss Lake dam. With the field of 146 now cut to 24 boats we have the whole place to ourselves. Apparently the majority of boats headed down down the lake - or at least not this far up.

We are fishing huge laydowns that angle downstream on the steep rocky bank. Coincidentally, my boater is pitching a Texas-rigged Zoom Speed Craw!

We aren't there but minutes when we hear a loud siren go off in the distance...

As it turns out, that was the dinnerbell! Not three minutes later, a lovely flowing current starts making it's presence known. BAM! my partner nails a 4-14 spotted bass! This fish is the longest bass I have ever seen! Not a bad start to the day!

I do some re-rigging. I am running low on Zoom Speed Craws so I Texas-rig a green pumpkin/watermelon NetBait Baby Paca Craw with a 1/4oz tungsten screw-in sinker. I make a few pitches and drags, letting the weight take the craw to the bottom... tic tic tic... tuning into how the current bounces it along. When the ticking stops, I  set the hook! For the next two hours, all we did was let the current drift us down the bank, maybe holding every once in a while to fish a good looking laydown or eddy. We lost track of how many fish we caught. I do know we had several doubles. At one point my partner sets the hook and as he's reeling in another keeper he says, "I'm getting tired of this." He actually said that! I knew what he meant. Many of the fish were short or were too close in weight to eyeball. He meant it was a pain to have to keep trying to figure out the cull. But still, he really did say it while he reeled in a fish! You know fishing is good when you find yourself saying such a thing as that!

By 10 o'clock, the current had pretty well died down and we spent the rest of the day hoping the main lake bite was lousy for the rest of the competitors. In the livewell, I had two solid keepers but still had one smaller one I wanted to cull. I thought that if  I could get one 3# plus fish I could win.

But we never got another bite after the current stopped at 10:00.

As it turned out, what we wished for the other anglers came true. The main lake bite was off compared to previous days.

After weighing in early, and taking the final day lead by 8 ounces, I was left a nervous wreck with nothing to do but to mill about waiting, wondering, hoping, praying, but still not believing it even possible... that I might win.

But I did!

I owe a lot to my 1st and 3rd day boaters, Mike Helton from Jeffersonville, Indiana and Clint Brownlee from Georgia. They made great decisions and put me in front of the fish needed to win. I also owe a lot to my traveling buddy Carl Wooton from Bloomington, Indiana. I really wish these great guys would also be going to the Nationals at Guntersville in January. They deserve it just as much as anyone.

The Bassmaster Series was a good circuit for me this year. I finished 2nd in the overall co-angler standings and cashed a check in all four tournaments. By far, the majority of my fish were caught on a black blue laminate 5" Senko (color #9-10-904) and watermelon w/black and gold flake (color # 9-10-323).

I fish Senkos Texas-rigged on a 5/0 Yamamoto Sugoi hook and 15 pound test Seaguar CarbonPro line. Early in the year,  I also had success with a 1/4 or 3/8 oz Little Pek jig head rigged with a NetBait Baby Paca Craw with a large rattle jammed inside the craw. I'd attempt to keep the craw in one spot and click the rattle and make the claws kick up dust as though it was digging a hole. While my angler would be picking apart each nook and granny of cover, a bass would meander out to inspect my offering... and often eat it. I enjoy being front-ended that way!

I've fished as a non-boater for 15 years now. I told myself early on that the longer I can go being happy fishing from the back deck, the better off I'll be. Other than a small pond boat and an inflatable pontoon for fishing local flows for smallmouth, I still do not own a "real" boat. I'm still pretty happy! I actually love fishing as a non-boater and I love spreading the gospel about the benefits and rewards of fishing from the back deck. Where else can you get a highly-motivated guide and a boat for the day for $75 to $125? And he takes you to his best spots and shows you his best kung fu!

No matter what kind of character I get paired with, I ALWAYS learn something! Even if it is a less than good experience - it is still experience. I've learned from both the good AND the bad boaters. For instance, one of my little things I've learned to do is to be my boater's biggest cheerleader. Positive mental attitude helps both of us. I make it a point to tell my boater, just before we take off that I've got a good feeling about today. Sometimes I give in and admit that I tell all my boaters that. But it is still a way to make a connection and start the day out positive. It gives your boater an extra boost of confidence he did not already have nor expect! In the last 15 years, I can honestly say there was never one boater that I would not spend a day on the water with again.

Rod Yoder
http://tackle.redshad.com/