FLW Tour Pro, Ricky D. Scott was introduced
to the sport of Tournament Bass Fishing at an early age. Before Ricky entered his teen years, he and his father competed
in buddy tournaments. Later, his mother was the Women's National Fishing Champion. Ricky entered his first B.A.S.S.
affiliated club tournament two days after his 16th birthday. He won that event and has been drawn to the sport ever
since. Ricky has earned over $330,000.00 in tournament winnings. He has garnered press in FLW Outdoors Magazine,
BASSMASTER Magazine, B.A.S.S. Times, Central Pro-Am Association's Fishin' Magazine, Angler's Choice Magazine, FLW Outdoors.com, BassFan.com, Fishing World .com, and
numerous newspaper and internet
articles. He has also had television appearances on FLW Outdoors
on FSN, The BASSMASTER'S on TNN, Central Pro-Am Association's Fishin'
Magazine Television Series, 5 Outdoors and has also been a guest on Don Berry's Radio Show, and BassBuckandDuck.com Radio
Show. Ricky is sponsored byCASTAWAY Rods,Barling Boat Sales, and Hamby's Protector Beaching Bumpers. Clickhere for info on how to put Ricky to work, advertising for you. (email).
I was planning on updating my blog after each practice day and each
tournament day at the Table Rock event. However, I had some computer problems and was unable to update.
My first two days of practice were pretty tough. The weather was nice and warm. I covered a lot of water with
crankbaits, spinnerbaits and jerkbaits. I caught a few fish in the back end of creeks. I didn't get many bites,
but the ones I did get were big. The water was already clearing up and a cold front was heading our way. So, I
didn't feel that this bite would hold up.
My last two practice days were much more productive.
I fished up the rivers with the same baits. I caught a lot of fish on day 3. On day four, I found an area where
the fish were feeding early in the morning. It was shallow bar that extended out to the river channel. Largemouth,
smallmouth and spots were all coming up and feeding on the shad early in the morning. I felt really good about this
spot!
DAY 1: The weather is perfect for fishing in the Ozarks. Cold, cloudy, windy and spitting
snow! I make the long run up the river to my shallow "breakfast bar". The fish are here and feeding!
I manage to catch six keepers and decide to move to some other areas. I've boated four spotted bass and two
smallmouth. One of the smallmouth weighs 4 - 1/2 pounds. All of these fish ate my jerkbait fished on 12 pound
Berkley 100% Flourocarbon line.
My next stop is in a creek that has been holding a few largemouth.
I work the creek with a crankbait and manage to catch three good largemouth, including another over 4 pounds. My limit
now consists of 2 smallmouth and 3 largemouth. They weigh a little over 18 pounds and I am in 11th place. Not
a bad start!
Day 2: Of course, I make the run back upriver to the "breakfast" bar.
This morning it is still cold, but there are only broken clouds and almost no wind. Not what you want when you are fishing
a jerkbait in clear water. These fish suspend and they are difficult to catch when they aren't active. Wind
really helps keep them active and aggressive. There are still a few fish around the bar this morning. I catch
3 keeper spotted bass and one, 3-pound largemouth. I boat several short fish too. The sun pops out and the
wind goes dead. The bite dies too. I leave the spot with only 4 keepers in the box. I make the run to my
crankbait area. There are a lot of boats upriver today! Many are prefishing for the local tournaments that start
tomorrow (Saturday). My creek has several boats in it. There is a lot of pressure on the fish today. I spend
the rest of the day chunking and winding the crankbait. I finish my limit, but they are much lighter than yesterday.
I weigh in a little over 12 pounds and fall to 18th place. I miss the "Top 10" cut by a couple pounds.
Eighteenth place pays $12,000.00. Not too shabby. I fished a decent tournament and if I had it do over again,
there is very little that I would have changed. There is one spot that I had thought about running to. It was
a long boat ride from where I was fishing and it was a very small spot (actually one lay down tree). I was afraid that
I would make the long run only to find another boat already on it (there were lots of boats everywhere). So, I never
made the run. I decided to just fish the area I was already in. Should I have made the run to check that one laydown?
Maybe..................................................
