Nanticoke River

Hey all Josh Wich here. Fishing has been really good the last few weeks! I just finished up a tournament with my club the Eastern Shore Bassmasters on Saturday the March 24th.

The tournament was held on the Nanticoke River. I have had some of my worst tournaments on the Nanticoke that I can think of! Its not the River Its ME! The Nanticoke is a really awesome river with tons of great areas! But for whatever reason I just haven't got the timing down on that place in the past. That would all change at least for this day! It was a cool rainy day with air temps in the low to mid 50s and water temps at 67.

We launched from the Seaford, DE ramp at 7am and I ran to my first spot which was a well known spawning hole. Its the kind of spot that if they have moved in you get bit pretty quick! Well to keep it short I was gone and onto spot number two after about 20 casts.

My second area was also a well known spawning area known as the "Hospital Gut". I started out throwing a red rattle trap around the pad field flats since the tide was high. After about 15 minutes I put my first keeper in the boat a good solid keeper of around 2.75lbs.

I continued fishing the area covering water with the trap and a Molix Water Slash 1/2oz in White Chartreuse and over the next few hours caught a couple more that were in the 2.5 to 2.75lb range. About 11am the tide was really starting to get low so I had to change up my game. The flats I was fishing were now high and dry so I had to find out were the fish would go. I knew they would funnel into several deeper holes in the area so I moved to them and started to work them with a drop shot. Sure enough my first cast I made to the depression resulted in my best keeper of the day a 2.89lb. I began to hop from one hole to the next which were all pretty close only 50 yards or so apart. The one really cool thing about this tournament compared to my last on the Potomac is that I had zero pressure form other boats in the area!

This was a welcome surprise but I won't get to use to it! Finally at about noon I put my limit fish in the boat on the drop shot rig. With 2 hours left in the tournament day I caught 5 more keepers doing this with 2 helping to cull out maybe a few ounces or so. I new I had a good bag put together for this body of water. It typically takes 8 to 10 lbs here and I was pretty sure I had more then 10. So with having felt like I finally may have beat the river this day I headed to the weigh in! I put the fish on the scales and broke my personal best day on the river with a bag of 12.64lbs! It ended up being good enough for the win!

I know its not much because its a small club tournament but those are all of my buds and there is something special about competing with those guys! I felt really good after that tournament because I felt like I caught one of the better bags the river will give out! That's when you know your doing it right when you can maximize what the body of water offers!

Hopefully I can do this the next time I'm on the Nanticoke in May!

Potomac Tournament

Hey guys It's Josh Wich (wick) here from the US. I'll tell you a little about my self first. I work with Professional Angler Mike Iaconelli. I help Mike out with a lot of his business task that he has at hand.

They range from His new TV show we are working on (Going Ike), The Bass University to his fishing. It works out for both of us really well because I'm a fish head just like him! Well other then meeting everyone in the sport and checking out the best body's of water in the country Mike also has been teaching me all the ins and outs of the sport.

My goal is to also fish the Elite series for a living very soon! We will talk about this another time but for now lets talk about my most recent tournament. My first tournament of 2012 was with the Bassmaster Weekend Series scheduled on the Potomac River (tidal river) on 3/17/12.

I arrived to Smallwood State park to launch my boat on the Wednesday before the event. I got there about 12:30 in the afternoon and I had a poor practice day with my best 5 maybe weighing about 8lbs which is what 1 lunker weighs this time of year so I had to figure something out.Thursday would be a better day.

I found the right fish in a few creeks (Chicamuxen and Aquia) to the tune of about 17lbs. But the only problem is these are well known community spots that would have lots of pressure. I knew before the tournament half of the field would be in both areas. Friday would be a short day on the water but I knew I needed to find some fish out of the way that I could have just to myself.

The plan went okay as I did catch about 15lbs in 30 minuted in one of my favorite creeks called Pomonkey . Going in to the tournament I was not really that excited as far as what I found. I really didn't think I had found enough "out of the way spots" so I would hunker down in the Chic (Chicamuxen) and fight it out! Tournament time! 7am I was boat number 28 out of 119! I got the Chic and there was already about 15 boats there so I found a opening and squeezed in.

One of the key baits I was going to use was a 1/2 oz Molix DC WaterSlash in Louisiana Craw. Its side to side sway was a key action in these heavy pressured waters! It took a little bit to get things going but my fish a 3lber came at about 830am and that's always a key deal to my start to settle in! About 5 minutes after that I got the big bite of the day it was a 6.16lb Largemouth! My confidence was starting to build now! I knew I had made the right choice to grind it out in this area.

If you can picture this by now there are over 30 (yes it looked like a mall parking lot!) boats fishing a sand flat with sparse grass about the size of a football field. So its pretty close quarters to say the least. I caught 1 more keepers a 3lber then the bite got stagnant when the tide stopped moving. It was dead low and I decided to run to my other area in Pomonkey Creek that I knew I could have to myself at least long enough till the tide started moving again! I got to the area and It was dead! the wind had turned the once beautiful water into chocolate milk which is never good! Since I had made a 25 minute run there I figured I better fish a few minutes and see if I could get a strike or two.

I did! It was another 3lber and I was 1 fish away from my limit! by now I new I had about 15lbs and 1 really good bite away form a $5000. check!! I wasn't able to get anymore bites here so I went back to The Chic. I new I had to grind it out for the rest of the day. It was about 12.30pm now with my check in time at 3pm. Within a few minutes I finished my limit with a 2lber. I don't know how to fish like this before hand but once my limit is full I fish so relaxed and unpressured (is that a word? If not it should be!) which I feel takes me to another level. I wish I could learn to start a tournament like this! I ended up culling about 5 more times over the next few hours. So I headed to the weigh in and ended up taking the lead with 18.10lbs! It only lasted a little while before I got bumped out which I new inevitable at the Potomac this time of year.

I ended up 14th of 119 boats and in good points position to make a run at AOY. 22.67lbs ended up winning. You can find the results at: My main lures end up being the 1/2 oz Molix DC WaterSlash in Louisiana Craw and a vibrating jig that my good friend makes!

I will write next week about a local tournament I will have on the Nanticoke river with the club I fish with. you results at for my Potomac tournament at: http://www.americanbassanglers.com/BWS/bws_results012.php?District=21&Date=03/17/2012