When the Women’s Bassmaster Tour 2007 schedule came out and I saw we were fishing Amistad I immediately started doing my homework. Having never been there before and with 6 days of official practice I decided I better do some serious research. Visiting different websites I studied archives of previous tournaments that were held that time of year and regularly checked fishing forums and reports, printing and logging every tidbit of information I could find and had a small book to study on the trip out. I e-mailed several folks who have fished there before and they were generous to share some fishing tips as well.

We arrived at the Air Force Base Campground where we were staying, a day before official practice was to begin. I had never seen such a strange place. Not quite what I had in mind but still kind of pretty in a rugged sort of way. Every bush, shrub and plant had a thorn or sticker on it.

The place is teaming with wildlife, deer, hawk, quail, and huge jackrabbits. Even saw a roadrunner. Thankfully the snakes, tarantulas and scorpions that a friend warned me about were still in hibernation and I didn’t run into any of them.

I took the extra day to get licenses, permits and familiarize myself with the boat ramps I’d be using. Having decided to not fish Mexico waters, too much extra expense and not enough time, it narrowed the practice area down quite a bit. I formulated a plan on where to start my practice by listening to the local weather report. I soon found out why the prediction was always 50% chance of this and 50% chance of that. They just don’t have a clue. It changes hourly.

The next morning I launched my boat for the first day of practice. It was cold and overcast but the winds were calm. From my notes I knew I had to find some shallow fish and deep fish. Wasn’t sure exactly why but after a few days had that figured out as well. Amistad, more so than any other lake I have ever fished, I found you have to fish the conditions. There’s basically 4 patterns and they all have to do with the wind and amount of sun. Low light and wind, go shallow and cast at anything, low light and no wind, go shallow and fish tight. High skies and wind, fish a little deeper and high skies with no wind, go to the basement. I’m not sure if this is right or wrong but it’s what seemed to work for me.

Having dissected the lake to maximize my practice time, I headed for the back of a major creek. I’m basically a shallow water fisherperson so decided to start there first. I found an area where the creek swings close to the bank on an outside bend. By this time the wind had picked up some. I started practice by throwing a LC jerkbait and caught two keepers on back to back casts. My practice partner (husband) caught a good one on a tube. I picked up a spinnerbait and started slow rolling it, ticking the deep grass and picked up another good one. Wow, everything I heard about Amistad is true. Five keeper fish in the first 30 minutes, perfect. I switched to a V&M stickbait called a Chopstick. I wanted to feel the fish without setting the hook and checked out different depths in the same area. I gave my husband strict orders ( he doesn’t listen very well ) to not stick anymore fish in that area and we move further back into the creek. By this time the wind is blowing a gale. We didn’t get bit in the very back so left to fish the secondary points coming into the same creek. I wanted to check the outside point as well that lead into the creek but there was a boat sitting on it. I made a mental note to check it at a later time. There was a flat near by in another creek so decided to check it out. The wind was howling and it was getting late so just idled around checking water depth. Decided it needed a closer look and would be the starting place for the next days practice. While heading back, noticed a point with three boats sitting on it, made another one of those mental notes for later. The wind was hurricane force by now so I put the boat on the trailer and headed back to camp. When we got there our $600.00 Ranger boat cover, that we had left on the picnic table had blown out into the wilderness and was stuck tight to a Yucca plant. I made another mental note to put it under the picnic table the next day.

The next practice day was high skies, no wind and warm. I couldn’t find a shallow bite. Could be I just didn’t have confidence fishing water so clear you could see a dime on the bottom at 30 feet. I decided this would be a good day to check out some deep places. I found a secondary point that I caught two small keepers on using a Carolina Rig in about 32 feet. Good, now I had a deep place to fish as well.

The rest of my practice days went alternating shallow and deep depending on the weather. I didn’t have an incredible practice but I did have confidence in the places that I had found fish.

My plan for Day 1 of the tournament was to go to the creek bend I found the first day of practice, catch a limit and then go to where I had caught one over 7 lbs. and try to get a kicker. The day started with a few hours fog delay. When I got to my spot it was cold and overcast (good) but no wind (bad). I knew the fish were there so just kept trying different things in hopes of getting them to bite and prayed for a little wind.

About 10:00 AM the wind started to blow and by 10:30 I had my limit. I was throwing a V&M Chopstick with a 3/16 oz. screw in weight. I knew I should leave and try to upgrade my small limit but I wanted my co-angler to catch a few too so gave her some baits and kept fishing. I culled three of my smallest fish, and then started chunking a spinnerbait in hopes of getting a big one. I tried coaching my partner on how I caught my fish. I told her to throw the bait out, let it sit, pull it through the grass or bush and let it sit some more. The trick was working it very slowly. After awhile I realized that it wasn’t going to happen for her and we left and stopped at the big fish spot. I never did get another bite but was satisfied for the day with 14.7, good enough for 7th place. 19.13 lbs. is leading but on Amistad that’s just one good fish.

On Day 2 there was no fog, which was good, and very little wind, which was bad. It didn’t take long for the sun to come out and get nice and warm. I struggled to catch a limit of fish. I switched to a tube and started fishing really tight to the cover. I finally caught three keepers. That little nagging voice, we all have kept telling me to go to my deep spot. I thought it was my husband so ignored it till it was just about too late. My co-angler had two good ones in her live well so I finally told her to pack up, we were going to try something else. We only had about 30 minutes left to fish when we got there. We threw Carolina Rig’s. I was using a creature bait and it didn’t take long to hook up with a small keeper and my partner got one over 3 lbs. Darn it, I should of paid attention to that little voice. We ran out of time but could have probably finished out our limit if we had been there earlier.

On the way back to the ramp I figured maybe everyone else had struggled too with the bright sunshine and no wind. Not! I couldn’t believe the big fish coming in. I was behind my friend at the weigh-in tubs and she had one over 10 lbs. and a sack full of other good ones. I was ashamed to follow her on stage with my puny little 9 lb. sack. When the weigh-in was over I ended up in 14th place, disappointing but still good enough to make the cut for the third day.

After the weigh-in, Lurch, our emcee came over and asked if I was Betty Boop. I grinned and told him that depends on who wants to know. He said that there were some folks over on BFHP congratulating her and wishing her well. I told him in that case, it would be me. I told him thanks for telling me and that it made my day. And now that I know that Lurch lurks here, I’d like to say something to him. Congratulations Lurch on your new little baby girl. She’s beautiful. Also Happy Birthday to you a wee bit early. You’re a wonderful emcee and we’re lucky to have you doing that job for us. I don’t know if the “powers that be” realize it or not but you’re the “best of the best” in that department.

Day 3 arrives with a rainy mist, wind and bitter cold. I’ve got everything on I can find to put on under my cold weather gear. I decide to go back to my first days spot and see if I can pick up a quick limit since it’s windy and then go to another spot where my practice partner had caught a big one. As cold as it was I didn’t want to spend a lot of time running.

The first hour was bearable and I caught two keepers on the V&M Chopstick and my partner catches a nice one on a Carolina Rig. The wind picked up some more, right out of the north and it was getting colder. So much for the weather report, 10 to 15 out of the south. It was 15 to 20 from the opposite direction. I was fishing with gloves on with hand warmers stuffed inside. Everything was wet and it was one of those bone chilling colds. I had two hoods pulled up around my head so couldn’t hear anything. I turned around to check on my co-angler and she was sitting down, her hands were the color of ketchup. I had fished with her before and knew she was no quitter but the bitter cold had got to her hands and her teeth were chattering. Mine, too. I dug in my pockets and found an extra pack of hand warmers. I rummaged around in my boat and found an extra pair of dry gloves. She put them on and was back to fishing in no time.

I found out with my first two fish that day that I needed to “dead stick” the bait. It was near impossible I was shaking so bad. My rod had to be jumping a foot or two out at the end and I decided to give this new method a name, calling it “shiver sticking.”

At about 11:00 AM with no more bites for the past hour, I told my partner I hated to run but that we needed to move. Two fish weren’t going to do it and I didn’t want to settle for 25th place. It took 10 minutes to get to the other place and when I sat down noticed the wind was blowing in on the flat/point. I noticed several boats in the area were sitting out in the deep water throwing up on the point but the big fish we caught in practice was caught in the brush up shallow. I tried to sit out in front of the bushes and cast at them but the wind had other ideas, so I gave up and let the wind blow me into the bushes and started throwing out.

My partner soon stuck a nice one on a senko type bait rigged weightless. I rigged a large creature bait, again with the screw in weight and started throwing and flipping at every bush I could see. I worked it agonizingly slow. As I drug it over a bush and let it fall on the other side I felt that familiar “tick.” I knew I needed to wait a brief second before setting down on him. Whack! Darn it, it’s a bush. Nope, wait a minute, the bush is moving. It feels really big and I tell my partner to get the net. It’s wallowing around down in the bush and when I finally pull it out and get a good look at it, it gets a good look at me and heads under the boat where it wallows around some more. My partner was concerned about my line because I told her earlier I was using 12 lb. test. I told her not to worry that it was Izorline and I hadn’t broke one off yet using it. I went to the 12 lb. test because of the clear water. What I was worried about was the fish pulling off because of the pressure I had to keep on it to keep it from going back into the bush and getting tangled up. Finally I pulled him out from under the boat and led him into the net. I was afraid to guess the weight. Most the big fish I had seen had 10 lb. heads with 7 lb. bodies. This fish has a big head, is fat all the way down to his tail but isn’t really very long. Short, fat with a big head. Kind of like a person I know that’s near and dear to my heart.

After that one I figured the “shiver stick” method might be working after all. The only problem is being able to duplicate it on demand. But now I have three fish in the live well, one being a good one and its 1:00 PM. I have two more hours to get two more fish. About 10 minutes later I feel the tick, wait a second, whack, and its get the net time again. This is another good one about 5 lbs. Another 10 minutes or so goes by and I get another one. This time about 4 lbs. Now all I need to do is cull a 14 incher. I’m sitting on the same spot as I caught the last two and I get bit again. This time the fish is buried deep in the bush. I pull him out and he comes to the top where I can see him. Another good one about 4 lbs. but he pulls off before I can get him in the net. I got to swing at one more but again it was deep in the bush and I didn’t get a good hook set.

It was getting near time to go in and I was getting nervous. What if my motor won’t start or it’s really rough out on the big water. I can’t stand it and tell my partner its time to go. She estimates I have a 20 lb. sack, I figure it’s closer to 18 lbs.

I get back to the ramp and my husband stands watching as I pull my fish out of the live well. I start with the little one. “Got any bigger,” he wants to know. I bring out the three, the four and then the five. “Ya got any more,” he asks and I say, “yeah, I’m saving the best for last and it might be a Kodak moment.” He starts adding it up in his head and estimates about 20 lbs. too.

When I got to the scales, they weighed 21.1 with a total of 44.12 for three days and that puts me right back in 7th place. My big one weighs 7.2, not enough for big fish but it sure helped the bottom line. It takes 56.8 to win the tournament. Not bad for the unstable weather conditions, 53 degree water temperatures and most participants first time on the lake. Juanita Robinson brought in 26 lbs. on the final day giving her 56.8 and enough to win the tournament. Lisa Sternard had big fish for the tournament, a 10lb.1oz. hog. She also had big fish on the first day weighing 7.11. Julie Shiver’s from Texas won the co-anglers side with 15 fish that weighed 42.6.