The water temperature was 55.7' and the lake level around 303 ft., putting enough water around the sweet gums and bushes to hold fish. These conditions were perfect for my favorite type of fishing, pitching a jig
into shallow water. 

Besides the usual springtime crowd, Ranger was having a major tournament that totaled 365 boats and I knew this would put tremendous pressure on the creeks in the morning. With all the pounding the obvious cover had been taking I decided to look for small, isolated places close to the main channel. As it turned out one fish came from a sweet gum point and the rest from bushes. The outside edge of the bush farthest from the bank in a group of cover that had some wind on it was the only place I would get a bite.

I went into the creeks several times throughout the day but they were too crowded for me. Finally around one PM, with the water temperature rising and the crowds thinning I hoped that some fish would move up into that beat-up water. The pattern did hold and I was able to catch fish until weigh in time.  In spite of finding a boat in every pocket, cove and hundred yard stretch of bank, it turned out to be a good tournament for the club with our best weight so far this year.