My Boater Chuck Johansen, 1991 MN B.A.S.S. Nation T.O.C. Winner |
The Day- Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we blasted off around 6:45AM because we made a long run up to the NE corner of the lake to fish some reed beds, floating bogs, and docks. The reeds hadn't started coming out of the water yet. As we worked our way East I started out throwing a Pure Poison, but in the calm conditions quickly switched to the chart/firetiger Stanley Phantom. I had what I'm 90% sure was a muskie come up and wake behind that. Eventually I switched to a gold Frenzy Popper. I made a long cast out to some reeds. I'm not sure if I had a little over run that I started taking out or what, but a fish hit the Popper. I quickly, set the hook but I couldn't reel in because the line was caught on my reel. It felt like a good fish, but by the time I got my line out of the reel handle it had come off. I managed to catch a 9" dink on the Popper and missed another one that swirled on it. We went into some docks and passed by a decent smallmouth that was on a bed. Next I got a rock bass and another 9" dink on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke. Then Chuck got the first keepers along the dock. We had to be at least an hour into the tournament when Chuck got the first keeper. I finally got a 12" squeaker and we both got some that didn't measure and more rock bass as we worked our way along the bogs and docks. Chuck got a couple of small keepers and I got a 13.5" and a 13" off the docks, then we ran back to approximately where we started. When we got close to the area where we had seen the smallmouth bed I threw my Fluke into the general vicinity and the fish crushed it.
15" |
Next we went a little to the West of the area we started in and headed West. I culled a 13" for a 13" and caught some that didn't help as we worked our way through the reed stubble. We started working some docks and we both got some that didn't help and some rock bass. I had a good smallmouth follow my Fluke out from a dock. I let the fluke drop when I saw her. It turned to swim away. I jigged the Fluke again, the fish whipped around, eyed it for a couple of seconds than took it. I set the hook and landed my biggest fish of the day 16"/ 2lbs 3ozs and final keeper bite. Got several more that didn't help including one on a Gambler Ninja Spin as well as several rock bass on the Craw Tube. I think I missed 1 that would have helped at least a little bit on a Craw Tube. Chuck got one last quality cull off of a dock.
The Results- My 6 fish weighed in at 10lbs 1ozs and put me in 19th Place out of 26 fishing. Chuck's fish went 12lbs 4ozs and put him in 8th place. Jim Smith won easily with 16lbs 5ozs, more than 2lbs over Guy who got 2nd Place. Big Bass only weighed 3-8 and was caught by Dave Branum; I think it was a largemouth. Only 1 guy failed to catch a limit and weights were up an average of around 2lbs per person over the last two tournaments on Alexander (6-25-06, 9-22-12)
My Thoughts- Other than the first hour which was fairly slow, it was a fun day on the water with a lot of setting the hook. Had I got all my bites I guess I would have had around 12lbs as well. For neither of us getting to pre-fish I thought the day went pretty well. Chuck was a great guy to fish with, very considerate, and asking for my input from time to time.
Next Tournament- Serpent Lake June 22nd
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