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10/29/2011
Ehrler: TTBC Day 2 Pre-Blast off
10/29/2011
Meyer: TTBC Day 2 Pre-Blast off
10/28/2011
Cody Meyer TTBC Day 1 Preview
6/9/2011
Cody Meyer - Red River Report - Kentucky Update
So the Red River was far different from the last time I saw. I was there in February of last year and it was much different than last year, much lower. The water level was still six feet above normal pool, but the last time I was there it was so high the event was cancelled so my previous practice didn’t really mean anything. The Red River definitely lives up to its name. The river is muddy and it really forces you to fish in the backwaters that are filtered out a bit and have clearer water. The river itself is a jungle. Snakes, gators, stumps just something out of the show swamp people. I was flipping a mat when out of nowhere a moccasin came after my bait and it was a struggle to get it away from that thing. Out of all the awful creatures I’ve caught fishing for bass, that is one I didn’t want to tangle with.
Before the tournament even started I spent hours on Google Earth looking at possible backwater opportunities. Despite the large playing field the Red River fishes small, everyone finds the same stuff and the spots are very specific little areas that are not conducive to being shared. My practice was fairly tough. I caught two fish the first day, a limit the second day, and the last day I only got twofish. The majority of the time I was throwing a Jackall MC 60 and a Phenix vibrating jig just to cover water and when the opportunity presented itself I’d flip a small creature bait as well. I had the majority of my bites and good water in pool 4, which was really crowded, but I decided it was my best shot at doing well.
The first day of the tournament I locked down to pool 4. The locks are really a nightmare because it’s something we don’t learn out west and timing is very important. Once I got into pool 4 I was pleasantly surprised to catch a limit within an hour, it was amazing. Unfortunately the rest of the day was spent catching shorts or just barely culling up. The first day made up my mind for me that I would stick to pool 4. I burned up only a bit of my good water and figured that with an entire day focused on only five bites I could get out of there and salvage a check.
Day two wasn’t nearly as good as the first day. I fished the same way, a 1/4oz white/chartreuse Phenix Brett hite vibrator jig with a zoom speedvibe trailer and a Jackall Sasuteki Craw, but I didn’t get but four bites the entire day and those fish were good enough for only four pounds. Man it was tough.
Looking back I think there were several things I could have done differently. I learned so much about river systems and fishing dirty water and I feel lucky to get out of there without ruining my boat like several other anglers did.
Over the entire tournament I found the vibrating jig to be the best producer, but the flipping bite was off and on. I was using a Berkeley Chigger Craw and Jackall Sasuteki Craw on a 775 Powell Endurance rod and 17lb Berkeley 100% Fluorocarbon with a 1/4oz weight. When I punched I just switched to 1oz weight and 65lb braidedline. My reel for both was an Abu Garcia Revo Premier Reel.
After fishing the new Phenix Brett Hite vibrating jig I am really impressed with the way that bait swims. Such an awesome bait. Phenix remodeled the bait a bit from their original design, but it doesn’t seem to have changed the way it catches fish. I also threw the new spinnerbait they came out with designed by Tim Klinger. It’s a bass catching bait too, but this tournament the vibrating jig was a far better choice.
Looking ahead to Kentucky Lake I’m really excited for the possibilities of catching some giant bass. You hear all the stories about schooling fish, but until you actually graph a large concentration and get them fired up you really don’t understand what people mean. During pre-practice I went out and fished a school for 20 minutes before I finally got one to go. After that it was a fish almost every cast, they were all jacked up and ready to eat. It makes my Lowrance that much more important in this tournament because I need to eliminate a lot of water before I even make a cast and with the new Structure Scan technology it makes that process so much quicker and more efficient. I think this one could be a slugfest if we get the current we are supposed to have so we’ll see.
3/10/2011
Meyer Blog: Beaver Lake Wrap Up
I just got home from a decent showing at Beaver Lake. From my pre-fish, I was more than happy with the way it turned out. Let’s just say my pre-fish – “Sucked!”
It’s a decent sized lake. On the first day I stayed local and put only 1 keeper in the boat, a small twelve inch spotted bass.
On day 2 I ran up the river and fished the stained water with spinnerbaits. I caught one small keeper in the river. After about half of a day I ran down towards the dam and caught a nice 4 pounder on the Jackall Squirrel jerk bait. That was pretty cool.
On the final day of pre-fishing I returned to the dam area and caught a couple of small keepers. Once came on the jerk bait and the other on a Jackall MC-60 crankbait. I did find some pretty cool areas , some steep bluffs with deep trees.
On the first day of the event, I went out firing the jerk bait. I didn’t have any fish in the boat until I rolled up to this one bluff and put a limit in the boat in about 5 minutes. It was only 7.5 pounds, but it was a limit.
I was looking at the trees on the graph and I could see the fish on my Lowrance unit in the tree tops. They were all spotted bass and they were about 30 feet deep. I started swimming a small grub just above the tree tops and was able to get them to come up and eat it. I lost one 2 plus pounder right at the boat that could have made a big difference. That fish might have helped me make the top 20 after the second day.
On day 2 I went straight to the spot I caught the limit on day 1. I was able to put a limit in the boat really early and I culled a few times. They weren’t big fish, but they were fish. I left the area a couple of times to try to find bigger fish. That never happened, so I kept returning to the spot and catching more fish. I ended up catching over 25 keepers on the spot and culled up to eleven pounds and change.
Overall, it turned out O.K., especially after the tough pre-fish.
The spot ended up being a lot of fun on the third day of the event. I wasn’t in the tournament, but I had the pleasure of taking a soldier fishing for the day in the soldier appreciation tournament. We caught a lot of fish, but it was COLD. He ended up taking 3rd place in the tournament and we had a good time on the water.
Next up is Hartwell in South Carolina. Hartwell is a giant lake and although I have fished it a litle before and its a fun lake with a lot of blue back herrings, which leads them to eating the bigger baits. It should be a lot of fun.
1/15/2011
Cody Meyer Flick Shakin' Shasta Day 2
Cody Meyer Video Blog
January 14, 2011
Click Play Below (download player)
1/13/2011
Cody Meyer Flick Shakin' Lake Shasta
Flick Shakin’ with Cody Meyer
I am literally sitting at the top of the launch ramp on Lake Shasta getting ready for Day 1 of the FLW Everstart event right now. It’s cold and the fishing is tough. The lake is fishing like I have never seen it before. The fish are really hard to find on the graph, they are suspending in the middle of the lake and in the backs of the fingers on the lakes. Usually I can find them on the Lowrance graphs super easy this time of year on Shasta but, this year is completely different.
The good news is I think its only going to take about 9.5 pounds a day to make the top 10 cut after the first two days. The bad news is I have only been catching about 7 pounds a day. With 150 boats out here I am thinking 7.75 a day gets a check. I’ll keep my head down and fish hard and see what happens.
My baits of choice this week are the Rago SKT Swimmer in the new Blue Ghost color. This is a great color for Shasta and the perfect bait for the better sized spotted bass. I will also be throwing the flick shake worm on vertical walls trying to catch those suspended fish. I will be fishing from the bank al the way out to 40 feet deep. For the deeper fishing I will be using my signature series Phenix Football Head Jig in my favorite Brown Sugar color.
It’s going to be a tough tournament but, hopefully I can get a big bite each day to help me get the weight I need to fish on Saturday. I’ll try and check back after day 2 with another blog but, for now wish me luck… I think I am going to need it!
1/5/2011
Cody Meyer: FLW Year 2
Happy New Year to all the bass anglers out there! I know I am excited about 2011 and my sophomore season on Tour, I hope you all have big plans for the new year as well.
For my second year on the FLW Tour I am much more comfortable about what lies ahead and I am exited about the schedule. Currently I am awaiting my boat arrival from Ranger but, I am still getting ready for the Everstart Series event out here on Lake Shasta. I’ll be using Keith Bryan’s boat of Powell Rod Company for the event, Keith is one of my great sponsors and I really appreciate his friendship and support.
This year will be the first season that I do not fish FLW’s tournament offering to the west. The FLW Everstart dates conflict with the tour dates so I will only be fishing the FLW Tour majors and the Shasta Everstart event next week. Other than those events I will pick up a couple local team tournaments and maybe a regional Pro Am if it fits my schedule.
One product that I am really excited about is my new Phenix Pro Series Cody Meyer Football Head Jig. Phenix got together with myself, Brent Ehrler, Brett Hite and Tim Klinger to help make a new line of jigs. One of my favorite baits is a football head jig so naturally I was happy to help build a better one. Currently the jig is available in 4 great colors currently and there will be many more colors in the near future. Check them out at a tackle store near you and if they don’t have them – tell them they need to carry them.
I am proud to have the same sponsors for 2011. They include Jackall, Powell Rods, Monster Fishing Tackle, Eye Surrender, Phenix Jigs, Ranger and Evinrude motors.
Again, happy new year to you all and I look forward to blogging often in 2011 and hopefully sharing a bit of my life on tour and maybe a few fishing tips as well.
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