Date: Jan 26, 2008
Tournament: NTBC 2008 January Tournament
Location: Lake Marion
Weather Conditions: Low 46, High 65, Winds 5 - 10 mph
Water Conditions: Water temp 62 degrees

We were supposed to be fishing the Jan tournament at the Winter Haven Chain, but low water levels and a large fish kill forced us to move to our backup lake - Lake Marion.

The first tournament of the year at Lake Marion was pretty tough. We only had 8 out of 16 people bring a fish in to the weigh-in and there were very few fish weighed in - only 11 total. The weather has been making things very difficult lately. With multiple cold fronts moving through and the temps going up and down, the fish are not able to get into the pre-spawn mode yet. There were only a handfull of beds and none of those held any fish.

In fifth place with 1 fish for 2.09 was John McAllister. In fourth place with 1 fish for 2.12 was Kevin Hayton. In third place with 1 nice fish for 3.02 was Joe Krafcheck. In second place with 2 fish for 4.04 was myself (John Scott). I was able to get 3 bites all day - and only 2 fish in the boat. There was no pattern - I was pretty much throwing everything in the boat to get those 2 fish, a very LONG day. John Gorham ended up in first place with 2 fish for 7.08. This was anchored by a nice 5.01 that got John the big bass honors for the tournament. John caught his fish on the same stretch of bank by working a lizard.

Hopefully the February tournament at John's Lake will see some limits, some better quality fish, and bigger numbers!

-- John