B.B.S. Leech Lake

2/11 Evergreen Soft Shell Frog

Sarah getting prepared to teach Chuck Steinbauer how it's done

Beau Wins 4th Co-Angler Challenge of the Year.

Tuma Wins and Got Lunker As Well

Conditions: 37-57℉, Sunny turning mostly Cloudy around 2PM, 0-4mph NE

The Day:
I forgot to bring my sunglasses. Fortunately, my boater had an extra pair in his glove box.  Also, it was nice to draw a partner with dual consoles so I didn't freeze on the ride to Boy Bay.  We started in the reeds on the North end of Bear Island.  I got the first bite of the day on a junebug Craw Tube, but it got off.  I thought it was a bass, but my line was frayed so maybe it was a pike.  I got two other bites in the reeds.  The first one dropped it immediately and the second had me into a reed before I could even set the hook.  Wasn't able to get either fish to hit again.  After an hour of that, we headed for some rice.

We started shallow working our way along the rice line to deeper rice.  Ruff had a couple fish strike at his frog, but not hook up.  The second fish was 2/3lb bass that jumped completely out of the water but didn't get the frog.  Once we got to the deeper rice Paul but the first small keeper in the boat on a craw tube.  I think slightly before that Dennis showed up and started fishing about 50 yards up or so in the direction we were heading. I took that as a positive sign.  Paul got the second fish of the day as well.  He only got one more non-keeper for the rest of the day.  He had about the same number of bites as me.  Over the next couple of hours, I managed to get 4 keepers in the boat on the junebug Craw Tube.  I missed a couple of bites on a frog and a few on the Craw Tube.  By noon my upper back was sore.

At About 1:30PM we left the rice for the northern Shoreline of Boy where we fished a couple of docks, some rushes which transitioned into rice.  We didn't get anything.  So we went in search of reed beds on that northern shore.  Ruff got his short there. With an hour of fishing time left, we headed back to the rice and Dennis was there again.  We put into the rice about 50 yards away.  Paul missed a fish and then I got a keeper on a Green Pumpkin/Brown craw tube.  Shortly after that Dennis motored in much closer to us and informed us we came right in on the juice.  He also reported his non-boater Snatcher rookie Jon Notsch was kicking his ass.  I asked Dennis what size weight they were using.  He was using 1oz and said Jon used a 1/2oz, but Jon said he was now using a 1oz as well.  I ended up getting bit off so I switched back to the junebug Craw Tube and upgraded to a 1/2oz weight: I had been using 5/16th.  We motored back on the other side of Dennis and I quickly got my limit fish in the boat.  I got a fish that wouldn't help and got bit off two more times.  With 20-minutes left I got two culls on an Evergreen Frog including my big fish of the day.

The Results: My bass weighed 11/04 which put me in 10th Place out of 20 anglers. 1st Place and Lunker were caught by Keith Tuma (20/02) (4/01).  The Co-Angler Challenge was won by Beau Bacon for 4th time this year with a 3rd Place finish out of Tim Benson's boat.  Three anglers blanked and only 8 limits were caught.  Tough bite.

I ended up in 9th Place for the year

My Thoughts: I didn't fish particularly efficiently because I struggled with casting accuracy all day long thanks to a poor night's rest coming in and the really long day I spent on the water on Thursday. Other than that I thought I fished pretty well.  We spent at least half the day where there were no fish.   Once again a kicker fish eluded me.

B.B.S. Gull/Crow Wing River

Checkbook Won the Co-angler Challenge with 15/4 

Conditions: 81-65℉, Mostly Sunny, 5-15mph South

The Day:
We started at the rice island at the confluence of the two rivers where Bruce got the two bites prefishing.  There was notably no activity going on here while there was plenty of it when we pre-fished.  We didn't get a bite.  There was some activity to the South of us just off of the rice.  When we got down there I had a fish hit my Piranha Chatterjig, but not hook up.  It jolted the rod like a pike.  That was the only bite we got along the rice.  We then headed across to the slop matt which wasn't nearly as well-formed as when we pre-fished; It shrunk significantly.  I saw a fish come out of the water.  I had bruce get me in casting range and I got a hit on the Spro Sprinker Frog but it didn't hook up.  It was a small fish.  Couldn't get a follow-up hit on a swim jig, Piranha, or craw tube.  We worked our way to the South end of the mat.  There was activity there and I was just about to say expect to get a bite when Bruce had a hit on his swim jig.  It got off.  Bruce is pretty sure it was a bass.  A couple of minutes later I had the grub tail get bit off the Piranha.  I replaced it with a Zoom Speed Craw.  We worked back over the point and I directed Bruce to take us into a cut slop.  I got my first bass there.  I was so relieved not to be skunked.  We worked up the East side of the slop mat without any luck.

Next, we went to re-work our starting spot coming up from the NW along the shoreline.  I got my second bass along the shoreline on the Piranha.  Didn't get anything on the second pass.  I think we then went a little way up the Crow Wing to where Bruce got a bass the first day he pre-fished. Bruce got a pike and I got a pike in the rice slop on a 1oz Jig/Craw.  I was so ticked it wasn't a bass.

We then tried a spot in the confluence we hadn't pre-fished and didn't get a bit.  We then ran up the Gull River to a narrow section.  I got my third bass there at the entrance to the narrow section on a white double willow white Strike King Spinnerbait.  We fished a few more spots without any luck in the Gull River.  We went back to the starting spot.  Nothing doing.

We then ran up the river.  Bruce thought he missed a bite.  I got an 11-inch short largemouth.  I thought I missed a bass, immediately threw back to the spot and got a pike that stole my spinnerbait when it came off the Power Clip.  Was not to happy about that.  We ended the day where I got my second fish.
  

Results: My fish officially weighed 6/01 which put me in 14th Place out of 18 anglers. Bruce got skunked and came in last.  The winner was Keith Tuma who set a new all-time record bag for the club with 24/8.  Lunker went to Ruff with a 6/03 mega pig.  Checkbook took the Co-Angler Challenge with 15/4.

My Thoughts:  I got a tough break when I drew Bruce for a boater.  He s an outstanding guy, but he is a novice when it comes to bass fishing.  I think Bruce probably would have preferred if I would have taken charge and run the boat.  If I ever get partnered with him again I'll see if he wants me to do that.  The thing is I enjoy the challenge of fishing from the back end of the boat without having to worry about controlling the boat.  I did do some boat control coaching, which I think Bruce found helpful.  If I would have taken control of the boat I would have thrown a frog a lot more than I did.  A frog was a key bait for Tuma and Ruff.

Thanks to the number of guys that elected not to fish this tournament I am basically guaranteed to reach my goal of being in the Top 10 at the end of the year.

B.B.S. Rabbit Lake

Typical Rabbit 2lber caught Pre-fishing in the Pads

Conditions: 83-65℉, Partly Cloudy, 3-12mph WNW
WT: High 70's

The Day:
We blasted off 4th right behind Chuck Fields and wouldn't you know it he went right to our starting spot as well which was off of the big point on the North of the pit side of the lake.  Darren set us down to the West of Fields and we started working towards him.  I had a 1.91lb bass jump on my 3/8 black/blue jig pretty much immediately.  I got it in the box and it was a repeat performance with a slightly smaller fish.  The fished seemed to shut down on the jig after that. I threw out a Neko rigged Yum Dinger and got a 1.30lber on that immediately.  I think Darren got his first fish shortly after that and I got a short.  We worked back over where I got the fish to start and didn't get anything, Fields worked to the East so we went to where he started and I got 1.70lb fish that hit my jig on the fall.  After maybe an hour and a half we went to our second spot which was in the NE section of the pit lake.  I made the mistake of checking our fish while we were running and I shut the livewell on one of my rod tips breaking it, doh!  I got a 1.19  and my 2/8 lunker to fill out my limit on the jig.  I then culled up with 1.71lb fish on the jig.  Darrin was getting a little better quality of fish on a blue/black craw tube, so I started throwing that and I got a  1.63lb fish on that;  I thought the fish was a weed at first.  We were just about to leave to go fish the pads when I got a 2.05lb fish on the jig next to a dock.

The pads didn't even yield a blow-up for me, but Darren got a couple of fish there and missed some solid blow-ups.  Next, we went out and worked the roadbed.  I think I got a 2.13lb out there along with a couple that didn't help.  We went back to our second spot and I got my last fish of the day there on the craw tube (2.20).

Results: My fish weighed 13/02 with 2/8 big fish which beat Hammers 2/06 big thus putting me in 12th Place.  Darren's fish weighed 14lbs with 3/04 big which put him in 10th Place.  The tournament was won by Jim "Smitty" Smith 17/03.  Lunker weighed 3/14 and was caught by Mick Ziebell.

My thoughts: I don't think I lost any fish that hurt me.  I just didn't have a shot at a kicker that would have put me in the top half of the field.

  

B.B.S. Farm Island Lake

Co-Angler Champion for the Day

What my scale says I had.

Thoughts Coming In:  We had a very good pre-fish.  I was a little concerned because it was a deep jig bite.  While I can catch fish that way I know it is an area of weakness as I miss a lot of bites.  My boater Bill Lundenia is a jig master.  I figured I would see if they would hit a craw tube, which I'm much more comfortable with and switch if Bill was catching them on a jig.

Conditions: 83-66℉, Some clouds in the morning turning sunny, 0-4mph WSW
WT: High 70s

The Day: We went South to start where the fish were bigger on average in pre-fish.  I started by throwing a River2Sea Bubble Walker over the calm lake.  A pike jumped about 5-feet in the air and was my first fish in the boat.  After about 10-minutes it was clear that any area fish didn't want it on top, so I switched to the craw tube and pretty quickly got a 2lber.  I got one other 2lber, but it was not happening so we went to the "Smallmouth Hole".  I picked up a quick keeper as did Bill.  Then Bill had a 3lber throw his jig. I got a couple more 2-pounders on the craw tube.  We then went to a hump and I got 2.66lber on the craw tube.  The sun came out.  We tried one more spot in Farm Island then headed for Little Pine.

Bill got a bass in Little Pine on the jig, so I switched to the jig immediately.  I missed 3 or 4 bites.  Bill was missing bites and getting bit off.  It was dead calm and minnows were skittering around above the milfoil, so I thought I would throw a few casts with the Bubble Walker.  On the second cast, a 3lber took it but immediately jumped and threw the bait.  Bill then had a good fish break off at the rod.  He was looking for his line; The fish he lost jumped and immediately my lunker of the day (3lbs) struck the topwater.  I got a bass that didn't keep on my very next cast.  That all happened in the span of about 6 casts for me.

We went back into Farm Island and fished some docks.  I tried out the Neko Rig like I said I was going to do.  I got one that almost helped me breaking my Techna AV rod in the process. I got a couple of dinks as well.  We went back to everywhere we fished in the morning and I had a few fish pick up a brown/green pumpkin craw tube.  We ended the day watching Checkbook snatch a good one.  Bill only got 5 keepers in the boat.

Results: My fish went 14/8 which put me in 4th Place and allowed me to be the Co-Angler Champion.  The tournament was won by Tim Benson with 16/2 and Tim got "Lunker" with a 3/08 fish.

My Thoughts: A good day for me, some though luck kept it from being a good day for Bill as well.  I may not switch a thing up for the next tournament at Rabbit Lake.

B.B.S. Lake Alexander

Conditions: 84-65℉, Sunny to start then partly cloudy to cloudy, 3-6mph SE
Water Temp: Low to mid 70's (just a guess)

The Day:
My boater Tim was confident we would crush them.  The fish had other ideas.

We started outside a small cove along the South shoreline.  Nothing there.  I started topwater, then went to spinnerbait, then to a jerkbait, then back to a smaller topwater.  As we got to a rocky shoal at the cove entrance Tim got his first keeper a small smallmouth.  I'm not even sure what he was fishing with.  We started approaching some docks.  I think Tim caught a fish and needed to re-tie so I went to the front of the boat.  I had a fish hit my Shower Blows when I wasn't paying attention and lost it half way to the boat.  It was just a small keeper, no big deal right?  A little way down the shoreline I got my big bass of the day on the Shower Blows.  It was a smallmouth that went about a pound and 2/3rds.  That was it for me for quite a while.  We jumped to a couple of reefs.  Tim had a good smallie break him off because he had his drag set too tight.

Tim was drop shotting and hardly getting a bite.  That really played with me mentally because I just was not prepared for the day to go down like that.  Finally, about 3 hours in we headed for some bullrushes.  Tim got a good largemouth on his second cast and then quickly missed one.  I missed hit on my frog in some small pads.  I then got a small keeper off the back side of the rushes.  Tim started culling and I got one that barely went over 12-inches.  I missed a couple more bites in the rushes.

We went and tried some other spots.  I got a couple shorts off of a small point.  We went back to the start spot and Tim got his big bass, a 3lb smallmouth.  It just wasn't happing there so we jumped a couple of offshore spots.  Tim had a smallie get snatched by a muskie when he was bringing it in.  He fought it for a couple of minutes before the muskie let go. Then the smallie got off Tim's line just like that.  It wasn't a very big one and when it got off the muskie was in hot pursuit. We went back to the bullrushes to end the day.  I missed one bite on a frog and I think I missed a couple that hit the craw tube but could have been rock bass.  Who knows.

Three small fish, what a disappointment!

The Results:
My three fish weighed 3/12 and put me in 18th Place out of 20 anglers.  Tim's fish weighed 12/04 and put him in 7th Place.  He was only 9oz out of 3rd Place so breaking off that fish really hurt.  The winner was non-boater Beau Bacon with 16/7.   Lunker went to Chuck Fields with a 3/14.

My Thoughts:  I didn't fish well.  For some reason, I was checked out mentally for most of the day and just couldn't get comfortable with what I was throwing.  I just think I was so unprepared for fishing to be so difficult.  For at least the last two weeks of June catching bass for me became a difficult proposition.  Not sure what it's gonna take for me to get out of this rut.  I better find my mojo quick because the next tournament is less than two weeks out. 

B.B.S. Whitefish Chain

Conditions: 50-66℉, Partly Cloudy, 3-8mph NE
Water Temps: Low to mid 60's

The Day:
Neither of us pre-fished so we went in basically blind hoping Alan's experience on the Chain would carry the day.  We got off to a pretty good start running across Whitefish up into Loon Lake.  My first bass of the day was a line burner caught on a 105 size Shower Blows.  The only topwater bite I got all day, but wind and weeds forced that hand.  I was surprised by the amount of weed growth in a number of areas we fished.  At the end of the first hour my boater Alan was culling as he got into a spinnerbait bite in the wind.  I managed to pull a 1.75lber off a dock on a 5" Yum Dinger while that was going on.

We moved up to the North shore out of the wind.  I caught a 13-incher on the Dinger casting towards some pads.  Alan spotted some beds and we drifted over a fish that was still there and Al caught it.  It was Al's biggest of the day (3/10) and only smallmouth.  I didn't catch any smallies.  I caught my biggest one of the day (2.50) shortly after Al blind casting the Dinger.  We continued fishing docks and pads until I got my limit and culled once which happened by 9:30AM when we left Loon on our way to Cross Lake.  One of the fish I caught had a Senko and hook stuck in its gullet.  I pulled the Senko out and the darn thing went belly up soon after. 

Al decided to give Hidden Lake a quick look and he got three quick small upgrades.  I missed my bites and Al started losing fish as well.  After that, we hit some spots in Cross that yielded only little fish or nothing.  So we then went to Clamshell.  I think Al got one cull there.  I lost a couple of bites that felt like good fish.  We tried Bertha for a little bit getting nothing then headed to Hay to finish the day.  I missed a good fish and got a small upgrade on the bubblegum Super Fluke fishing docks.

I thought I had done OK, but boy was I wrong.

Results:
My limit weighed 11/13 minus 2oz penalty so 11/11 was my official weight which put me in 17th Place out of 20 anglers.  Alan was only 2 places better with 12/11.  The winner was Chuck Fields setting a new all-time record bag for the Bass snatchers at 23lbs.  Tuma tied the previous all-time record with 22-10 getting 2nd Place. The winner of the Co-Angler Challenge was Beau Bacon with 17/4 out of Tuma's boat.

My Thoughts: Not being able to pre-fish this one relegated us to the back of the pack.  We were the only boat without at least a 13lb limit and you had to have 15/8 to crack the top 10.  Neither I or Al anticipated that.  On to Lake Alex.