A day on the water with an ABN angler – Lake Martin Regional Tournament

Does an Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation (ABN) tournament angler do it any differently in a State Regional Tournament than the pros do in an Elite Series or BASS Open Tournament? We wanted to find out.

Tomy Gamble prepares to launch his boat in the early morning hours on Lake Martin.

Tomy Gamble prepares to launch his boat in the early morning hours on Lake Martin.

Tomy Gamble, ABN District 7 Director, did not receive a boat partner at the pairing for the April 13, 2013 ABN Regional Tournament on Lake Martin. Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation Director Eddie Plemons gave me the opportunity to spend the day fishing with Tomy. We do it like Bassmaster, “A Day on the Lake with Tomy Gamble.”

The day began in the early morning hours when I arose some 16 miles south of Alexander City and made my way along the deserted (except for the White Tail Deer) country roads to the Huddle House in Alexander City for a delicious country breakfast. Then, a short drive to Wind Creek State Park to park the Tundra and wait for the arrival of my subject for the day. Tomy is one of the “ole heads” in bass fishing dating back to the early days of the B.A.S.S. Federation activity with Ray Scott and his crew. As a commodity broker, Tomy worked out of a cove from his home on Lake Martin and had his employee brokers come to him for their daily duties. The working environment is excellent except the lake tends to make you day dream with so much beautiful water just outside the window beside the patio. And you know all those bass are there for the catching.

Our ABN feature member has been fishing local tournaments for years and until recently, his bass club, Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers, was affiliated with both the FLW and ABN. The club has now elected to be only an ABN chartered club.

Tomy arrived promptly at the appointed time and picked me up in the parking lot of the boatlaunch at Wind Creek State Park and promptly eased his Sprint into the water. The deck of his boatwas covered with ten of the best rods money can buy and rigged with an assortment of lures and baits. The rod box had another forty, did I say forty, assorted rods and reels just in case another one was needed…

We were  the number three boat in the first flight for the start of the tournament. The anglers moved up to the safety buoy for the blast-off which came at 5:45 AM as Tournament Director Ray Wimmer declared “safe light” and let the gate down. Tomy had advised me we were going “down river” which would take about fifteen minutes. However, I was not advised of the particulars of the pace enroute. As the boat number was called and the Sprint cleared the safety buoy, the boat rose up on pad, signaled an “all clear” and took off at flight level 1000. I was able to get my cap up for about five seconds as Tomy cleared the island at the mouth of Wind Creek and headed down river “wide open as a case knife”. When I caught a glimpse of the indicated speed we were running in the mid-70s. My guide for the day pulled his cap real low and grabbed the side rail as he closed his eyes against the wind cutting his cheeks. Where’s my motorcycle helmet when I need it.

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Tony takes a break and does a little re-rigging and re-thinking on his strategy.

6:00 AM – Somewhere north of Tallassee, Alabama or the Florida line Tomy brought the Sprint off pad and slid into place in front of a beautiful home surrounded by a sea wall on a lake point in Perdue Creek. Without skipping a beat, he dropped the Motor Guide over the bow and dropped a jig about a half- inch from the  seawall and began a slow retrieve across the rock covered bottom back to the boat. He continued to cast and work the jig for about five minutes.

6:07 AM – Tomy changes over to a Pop-R and slowly works it back to the boat stating that the bass ate it up on this point three days ago. No strikes today.

6:15 AM – He changes over to creature bait and works a dock around the inside of the point. No strikes. The resident that lives here loves to go fast. Tied to his dock was a 20’ pontoon with a 300 HP strapped to the end which would have given the Sprint a race.

6:20 AM – Tomy changes back to the football jig in light brown with chartreuse threads throughout in a 5/8 oz. size with a craw trailer. He was pitching the jig at a 45 degree angle to the sea wall and working it slowly back to the boat. A spot hit the jig in about 10 feet of water and headed for the deep stuff. Tomy swings to set the hook and has control for about 5 seconds when the spot comes unglued. A nice bass around 3 pounds.

6:30 AM – With no more strikes on the jig, Tomy switches to a top water plug (an old modelVixon) on the head of the point where a bass had just broke the surface. The water temperature is 56 degrees and we have light wind around 4-5 mph.

6:40 AM –Back to the creature bait for about 5 casts and then a change to a Lucky Craft squarebill 145.

6:50 AM – Nothing happening on the Lucky Craft. Tomy movers around the point into 18 feet of water and works the jig out from the sea wall and around some boat docks.

7:00 AM – We move on up in the cove about a half mile to another point and a sea wall. This sea wall also

Tomy works a jig in the clear Lake Martin water.

Tomy works a jig in the clear Lake Martin water.

has chunk rock from about 3 feet of water out to a depth of 15 feet. Tomy is working the jig real slow and feeling every bit of the structure on the ledge. About 60 feet down the sea wall is steps entering the water almost on the point. He pitches the jig about 40 feet almost to the steps and lets it fall. Nothing on the fall and he slowly starts swimming it back toward the boat when the rod doubles and Tomy sets the hook on a nice spot. He fights the bass around to the front of the boat and it surges for depth. I had the net out and waiting for the bass to surface when it came up about 10 feet from the boat and swings its head from left to right just on the surface of the water. A couple of twists later, the jig flies out of 4 pound spots mouth. Tomy re-ties and continues to cast.

7:10 AM – No takers. He switches to the creature bait and works it through the rocks. He changes to the square-billed crank bait and works every inch of the sea wall without a bite. I question Tomy as to how the day is going and he says he has not noted any bait fish working the area as they were earlier in the week. He states that the two areas he has fished have always been producers for him in the past. “The way to catch bass is to keep your line in the water a lot.” Makes sense to me.

7:25 AM – The Motor Guide comes up and is latched down. A move is coming and I secures my life jacket and cap. Tomy grabs a Mountain Dew, swigs about half of it, cranks the Yamaha, the bow rises and falls, and we are airborne again headed south. We skirt some islands and enter the open water above Lake Martin Dam, turn right and head toward Kowaliga Bridge. However, before getting to the bridge, Tomy takes a left to the south bank of the creek and enters a pocket on the wooded bank.

7:40 AM – We arrive at Tomy’s home and he starts fishing the dock area and sea wall with the square-billed crank bait. He says the cove was full of bass feeding the day before. He switches to a jig head tipped with a finesse worm in a light green pumpkin color. He calls the worm a California 420 and is cast on a light spinning outfit. A good size spot follows the bait to the boat but turns away without a strike.

8:10 AM – Tomy has worked the area thoroughly but still has confidence that there is bass in the cove. He lifts the rod tip and lets the jig/worm slide about a foot on the bottom and the line twitches. He side-arms for a hook set and the spot charges for deep water. After a couple of runs, he brings it to the boat and I dip the net under the fish. It weighed-in at 1.5 lbs. A nice Lake Martin Spot. Fish number one in the boat.

8:20 AM – We leave the slough at Tomy’s home and hit four different areas in the creek before heading under the Kowaliga Bridge for a point on the left hand bank before a little island. Fishing the point thoroughly with jigs, creature baits, and the square-billed crank bait, Tomy can’t buy a bite.

9:20 AM – Tomy starts back down Kowaliga Creek and turns right into what is known as Little Kowaliga Creek which seems to run forever in every direction. Due to the Lake Martin layout and all the islands, creeks, and coves, one does not do much night fishing on this lake without a good GPS and excellent knowledge of the lake for navigation.

9:35 AM – Tomy starts working some pockets and docks with a creature bait where he had caught bass earlier in the week. With no strikes, he moves across the creek with the  trolling motor to a shallow area where he tests the water with a red rattle-trap in ¼ oz. size. Nothing on that. Tomy takes time to re-tie one rod and install a Slider Head and another California 420 worm.

11 :00 AM – Tomy pulls up the Motor Guide, grabs another Mountain Dew and drops the Yamaha in gear. I buckled my seat belt and life jacket and wished I had access to the kill switch. But I complimented Tomy, he thinks, by making the statement “ole men can still drive bass boats”. It was about this time that Tomy rounded the island at Kowaliga, flew under the bridge, and set the boat up on the prop. The breeze was quite refreshing because the temperature had moved up to 70 degrees and the water temperature was close to 60 degrees.

11 :10 AM – Tomy sets the Sprint down on the point of an island and works the drop with the jig and the creature bait. We round the point and Tomy switches to the Slider-rigged worm but does not get any strikes. He changes over to the jig again and gets a tap but the bass does not hookup. Down inside the pocket we run upon on the Bass Cat of Joe Dudewicz of Bluff City Bassmastersand partner Lacson Ried of the Rumbling Waters Bass Anglers. Tomy had left his sandwiches in Lacson’s truck at the ramp and now he was lucky to retrieve them. Of course, while getting the sandwiches, Tomy was very observant as to the lures these anglers were using because Lacson indicated their live well was full of spotted bass and they had found them hitting everywhere. Joe topped the day with two bass weighing in at 2.81 lbs. for 112th place and Lacson scored with a full limit of five bass at 8.82 lbs. and a 25th place all on a jig. Lacson was casting shallow and dropping down the banks of the shelf toward deeper water.

11 :45 AM – Tomy moves across a cut to the back side of a pocket in one of the Lake Martin islands and continues to work the jig. Down the inside cut about 60 feet from the point he encounters chunk rock running off the bank into the water. Assuming the rocks continued on out to deeper water he worked the jig out to about 20 feet. On about his 5th cast a spot struck the jig, bent the rod, and headed home. Tomy worked the bass to the boat and I netted his second bass of the day. This one was a nice 2.5 lb. spotted bass. Things were looking up.

12:30 PM – After eating half a sandwich and a pack of chips, downed by another MountainDew, Tomy crossed to the east bank of the pocket and worked a sunken tree with the crea ture bait and California 420 worm. No takers. He switched back to the jig and moving about 20 yards down the bank and casting at a shelf, he picket up another 1.5 lb. spot for the live well. He stated he was staying with the jig for his remaining time in an effort to pick up his remaining two bass.

1:03 PM – Rounding the point of the island and heading toward Chimney Rock, the pollen had made a surface cap just inside the side bathed by the current from the wind. Casting up into the edge of the pollen cover, Tomy had moved the jig about 10 feet when a spot like to have taken the rod out of his hand. He swung hard to set the hook and the spot became airborne. A couple of runs later I netted Tomy’s fourth keeper for the day – a 1.5 lb. spotted bass. Oh, how they do pull those Lake Martin spots.

2:00 PM – Having worked the island drops thoroughly, Tomy weighed anchor and headed up river to the

Our angler has another spot in the boat.

Our angler has another spot in the boat.

first stop of the day against the sea wall point. He worked it for about 15 minutes without a strike on the jig and moved to the other sea wall point up the pocket where he plied the rocks for anything that would bite. No luck.

2:30 PM – The next ten minutes was a high speed run setting above the surface in lake effect. A good boat driver bar none. Rounding the island entering Wind Creek Tomy set the Sprint down on a flat on the left hand bank and worked it for about 10 minutes with the jig and then charged across the creek to an island just outside the Wind Creek launch area for five good casts with the jig to fill his sack. It was not to be and we made the last mile run into the Wind Creek Dock where we were checked in by none other than Director Plemons. It seems that Tomy was charged with that duty for this tournament but was late getting in from bass fishing…

3:00 PM – The Sprint was docked and the ladies brought Tomy a weigh-in bag and he trucked his catch to the scales where his wife was helping the tournament officials. Not a winning bag but not a bad day with four bass weighing 6.53 lbs.

Tomy’s take on the day

“The bait fish were not moving around and were not as active as they had been the earlier part of the week.” His first decision to fish the jig was a correct one but he stayed on his two honey holes too long and probably should have tried more top water early to entice a largemouth bass bite for some weight. The bass could be found on 10 foot ledges on steep drop banks and points and had started moving into the back of pockets where they could have been caught on jerk baits, worms, or any baits around wood. But he was pleased……….he knew where and how to fish and he had a club tournament the next day.

My observations

Tommy exemplifies the character traits and fishing ability of the majority of B.A.S.S. anglers today. If you notice tournament activity in the B.A.S.S. Nation most of these guys are 50 plus years old. They have fished most of the lakes in their state and know where every stump and rock field lies. Some of their bass boats could substitute for a mini-Academy Sports outlet. Many of their baits and lures have not been fished in years and they could fish for the rest of their life and never spend another dime on tackle – but they will do it anyway. Seldom will you find an ABN member that is not a good angler to fish with, and most of the time you learn something from each of them.

Their primary weakness is not trying new lures and baits under different conditions and to think outside the box in tournament activity. They are comfortable to use what worked yesterday and where they caught bass back in 1992. Some are falling behind in the modern equipment the pros use to find bass. Tomy had three sonar units on the Sprint but no GPS, no lookdown and no sidescan. He used one, down the right side of the console, to make his runs and the other two came with the boat about eleven years ago. He never turned them on until the last thirty minutes of the tournament day.

Enjoyed the day with you Tomy.

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Photos and Story by Don Gowen For Southern Fishing News

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