FLW Lake Hartwell Result:
2nd Brent Ehrler
4th Stacey King
7th Joe Thomas
72nd Anthony Gagliardi
FLW AOY Standing:
2nd Stacey King
14th Joe Tomas
15th Brent Ehrler
88th Anthony Gagliardi
FLW Scores
Pattern on the FLW-Lake Hartwell
I was blown away by the size of the crowd at the final days weigh in at the Coliseum here in Greenville. It was a real grind on the water for me, only getting six bites all day, but my 11-15 limit was enough to move me from 10th to 7th place in the final standing on Lake Hartwell. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t extremely happy!
Joe Thomas Blog
Day 3 – FLW Lake Hartwell
It was a squeaker, but I made the Top Ten Cut! I finished the day in 10th place with 11 pounds 4 ounces. Had it not been for an unfortunate mechanical failure causing Jimmy Houston to be late and ultimately disqualified, I would have finished 11th and sent packing.
Joe Thomas Blog
Made the Cut
I made the 20 cut! It wasn’t pretty, but I hung in there. The cold, bright, calm conditions were really not conducive to the shallow water fishing I’m doing. I got just enough bites on the Chatterbait I’ve been using exclusively to get the job done. I weighed five fish for 11 pounds 4 ounces.
Joe Thomas Blog
My Results and More…
Casey Ashley Blog
Date: 3/23/2011
We just wrapped up the Florida swing of events and I very excited about my results. I ended up in 18th at the Harris Chain and 10th on the St. John’s River. Anytime you can get two top twenty finishes against these anglers you are doing well.
At the St. John’s River I knew it was going to be a sight fishing tournament. So I turned the trolling motor to high and went looking for bed fish. I was 100% committed to sight fishing from the moment I got there. I did cast around a speed worm or Lucky Craft G-Splash or Splash tail just to try to get a bite while I was looking. That didn’t go very well, I just couldn’t get a bite fishing.
On day 1 of the event I fished lake George. In practice I located a couple big fish and knew if I could get on them I could catch them. I just lucked out and got on both of them. I had one about 8 and another one about 7, from then I just kept looking and I found a couple more big ones but couldn’t get them to bite. I was sitting nicely near the top of the standings.
On the second day, I decided not to go to Lake George. I had another area that was closer called Dunns creek. I had some big ones picked out there as well. I went in and some of them were gone and some new ones had moved in. I just couldn’t do anything with them I ended up scratched out 12 pounds.
I returned to Dunns Creek on the third day to try and get some of the fish I didn’t get on day 2, but again I couldn’t get them to go. They wouldn’t lock in or act right.
On the final day, I decided to go somewhere else since Dunns Creek didn’t work out very well. So I went back to Lake George. The fish were everywhere. I had a limit in about 40 minutes. I had a 6-pounder that I tried to catch for about two hours. I nevercould get her to do anything. I found another 7 or 8–pounder and I spent about an hour on her. I did get her to bite, and I stuck her only to have her get off. I blew that one, but that’s part of the game. That’s kind of the way my day went, I never could get a big one.
Overall I finished in 10th and on the heels of a solid finish at the Harris Chain I feel pretty good.
In non-fishing related stuff, I am excited that I finished recording my album. The studio is working on it now and it should be done this week. After that, I’ll be able to check it out and make sure I like how it turned out. After that we’ll be deciding how and where we are going to sell them.
Back to fishing, I start fishing Lake Normantomorrow in the BASS Opens I really like Lake Norman and I expect to do well there. I sure like to win it and qualify for the Classic. We’ll see!
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Stoked!
Oh yeah! Sometimes you get the chicken and sometimes you get the feathers! For me it was definitely chicken today. What the heck! After all my whining about my tough practice, the wind blew hard today and I absolutely whacked them.
Joe Thomas Blog
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Before the Big Day
I slept in ’til 9 A.M. today. I love the FLW off day between practice and competition. It gives me a chance to catch up on emails and phone calls, work out, and prep my tackle.
Joe Thomas Blog
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Good Company
Today I continued to struggle in my practice round for the Lake Hartwell FLW, but at least I wasn’t bored today! Steve, a co-angler in the tournament, fished with me today and kept me company. I caught seven keepers on various baits, but still fairly small fish and I’ve found no area that I feel comfortable fishing the tournament in.
Joe Thomas Blog
Practice on Hartwell
When you have eight rods with eight different baits on the deck of your boat, it is a pretty good sign you are struggling to figure things out! Hartwell was tough on me today. I caught only 10 keepers in my 12 hour practice day. Most of them were only about 13 inches. My plan is to keep moving around and changing things up ’til I figure it out. Water temp is 58 degrees. It should not be that hard!
Joe Thomas Blog
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