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♦ FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2006
2B
Turning cold weather into hot fishing
Ilf it’s not snow or freezing rain, it’s
Bbone-chilling air temperatures and
I icy winds that make a day on the
water nearly insufferable. But just because
you’re uncomfortable, it doesn’t mean that
the bass are. Sure, it’s December, it’s cold
outside and I’m sure you still have some
holiday shopping to do, but bass are still in
the lake. If they want to make it through
the winter they will have to eat.
As the water temperature drops, bass
follow the migrating shad out to deeper
water (deep being anywhere from 30 to 40
feet in clear, deep lakes or six to eight feet
in murky, shallow ones).
Use your electronics and find the balls
of shad. There’s sure to be some bass
nearby, holding up in vertical, deep cover.
Typically, bass will be easier to find down
lake on outside channel swings, bluff faces
and points with vertical drops.
Since bass are cold blooded, the colder
water has slowed them down - so you
IShST
Contributed
Ken Cook.
SWEEP
From page iB
boys went 6-3 in the non
region portion of their
schedule.
DEMONETTIS 49. LADY IRISH 36
Warner Robins High’s
girls basketball coach
Tom Mobley referred to
Wednesday’s game as being
“in the middle of nowhere”
in terms of the overall
schedule.
TEAM
From page iB
of what he felt when first
competing at the All-Air
Force level.
“At first I felt an over
whelming dislike and want
ed to crush every team out
there,” he said. “But by the
end there was definitely a
sense of respect among all
of the players. Don’t get
me wrong we all wanted
BROWN
From page iB
the National Football
League overtime, does play
like a regulation game, but
all you might need to win
is good luck with the coin
toss.
I might need another year
to straighten out all these
points and give you one
definitive answer.
What I want to get to now
is another GHSA rule that
did take effect last year. It’s
the basketball version of the
mercy rule.
I saw it applied twice dur
ing the recent Chick-Fil-
A Bear Brawl at Houston
County High. Basically, one
team had a lead of more
than 30 points after the
third quarter, so the fourth
quarter started with only
six minutes on the clock
and followed normal timing
rules.
Now if a team is down
40 or more at the half, the
trailing coach can choose to
have the third quarter last
just six minutes.
(The 30 or more after
three quarters thing means
an automatic six-minute
fourth.)
I won’t say who it was,
but during the tournament
one basketball coach stated
a disagreement with this
j||||& out our NASCAR page each week for the latest news|B
FISHING ON EDGE
By champion fisherman Ken Cook
should slow down, too.
This ties in directly to your bait selec
tion, the most important aspect to catch
ing bass in the cold. Just because the bass
are following migrating shad that doesn’t
mean that’s all they will eat. Fish biolo
gists have discovered that a bass prefers a
bait about three inches long and about an
inch in diameter. That jig that you spent
all summer pitching into the bushes will
do just fine. But instead of relying on the
oldest known fishing lure by itself, I like to
dress mine up with the newest technologi
cal advancement in fishing bait.
On a 3/8-ounce jig, I trim the skirt just
past the hook to keep it from having too
large a profile since I want to put a large
trailer on it. I rig a Berkley Gulp! Bat Wing
Frog as the trailer.
These two baits are meant to be fished
slow - the perfect presentation for a cold
blooded bass in wintertime. I cut the front
of the bait off just behind the eye and
thread it onto the jig hook. The legs on the
Bat Wing Frog flutter like crazy on the fall
and with the slightest movements.
The Gulp! trailer isn’t made of plastic so
it actually breathes underwater and dis
perses scent like no other bait ever made.
And the slower you fish it, the more scent
builds up in an area, expanding the strike
zone by drawing in sluggish fish in search
of an easy meal that might have not been
interested otherwise.
There’s no secret to catching bass in the
middle of winter. Just like any other time
of year, you have to figure out the right
pattern.
And once you figure out where they are,
slow down your presentation. The fishing
can be good enough to make you forget all
about the plummeting temperatures.
Ken Cook is the 1991 Bassmaster Classic
champion and a 14-time Classic qualifier.
A former fisheries biologist, Cook lives on a
ranch in Meers, Okla.
Coming off a third-place
finish in the Chick-Fil
-A Bear Brawl at Houston
County High (and the
Christmas holiday), the
Demonettes beat Dublin
High 49-36 to improve to
10-2.
Warner Robins won’t
play again until region play
starts on Jan. 5 at Lowndes
High.
In the girls’ victory,
Cherie White recorded a
near triple-double with 27
to beat the other team
because of bragging rights,
but there was a bond that
we all shared from being in
the military and it was evi
dent in the way each team
played.”
The game has been a part
of the lieutenant’s life since
he was a kid but he still
knows what really matters.
“People ask me all the
time why I didn’t go to a
bigger college or why didn’t
I try to play pro ball over
"You can definitely
feel the emotion
of the loss of all
those people and
the desire to keep
football going."
rule. In fact, this coach, who
was on the good side of a 30-
point lead after three quar
ters, admitted to not know
ing that the fourth period
lasted just six minutes.
This coach presented sev
eral parts to the argument
against this mercy rule. One
was that a team should just
take the big loss like any
other. Other parts had to do
with being on the opposite
side of a huge deficit.
For one thing, the coach
said a full eight minutes
gives the team trailing a
chance to get better. Plus,
they can also have the goal
of trying to win that quar
ter.
All valid points.
Myself, being from the
reporter’s perspective and
our deadline-oriented busi
ness, I believe we like to get
things over with as soon as
possible.
We know that, even if
we see one team scoring a
points, 10 rebounds and
seven steals.
Mobley said White did
most of her damage on the
inside by posting up and
driving to the basket in
addition to scoring off her
steals.
Kitteiy Maine had seven
points.
“We were a little flat,”
said Mobley, whose club led
29-21 at the half. “We had
some players in foul trou
ble. That slowed us down.”
seas, the reason is simple,”
said Pina. “It takes a lot
of want and desire to play
basketball day in and day
out especially at the college
and at the pro level and I
love other things.
“I love flying, I love my
family, I love my fiancee, 1
love the Air Force, I love my
dogs, I love my truck, then
I love basketball and all the
talent in the world couldn’t
overcome putting all those
things ahead of the game.”
whole lot of runs early in a
baseball or softball game,
it’s probably going to end
after five innings. And we
love seeing that clock run
in a blowout football game
when all the important
stuff’s already gone down.
All we need, which is what
I’ve been told most people
look for first in a game story,
is that final score.
Before closing out the last
column of 2006, I must get
in a plug for a good sports
movie, “We are Marshall.”
My parents and I took it in
on Christmas Day.
I was only a little 7-month
old when this tragedy took
place. It’s something I didn’t
hear a whole lot about as
my interest in college foot
ball grew. Most Georgia fans
know Marshall as the place
Jim Donnan came from
after leading that program
to 1-AA national titles.
You can definitely feel the
emotion of the loss of all
those people and the desire
to keep football going (they
had to feel that taking it
away even for one year
would make it almost impos
sible to get back). Mixed in
are some good hard-hitting
football action and 1970 s
fashion sense (yuck!).
Go enjoy the film and
what’s to come in 2007.
SPOUTS
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Play Better Golf with JACK NICKLAUS
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[(c) 2006 Bill Hinds. Dist by Universal Press Syndicate J
THE HOUSTON DAILY JOURNAL
Jingle Jog
The inaugural Downtown Perry
Jingle Jog was held recently.
TOP: Jingle Jog winners ages
10 and under were, from left to
right: Grant Shelton (first place
boys); Carter Shelton (second
place boys); Lanier Shelton
(second place girls); Laura Liz
Bryan (first place girls); and
Mary Claire Kinnas (third place
girls). ABOVE: Jingle Jog win
ners ages 11 to 17 were, left
to right: Kylie Williams (second
place girls); Hunter Wojohn (first
place boys); Spencer Freeman
(second place boys); Drew
Whitehead (third place boys);
and Bethany Loggins (first place
girls). LEFT: Overall winners
were Jacob Parnell (18:53) and
Leigh James (23:39).
Contributed