2020 Challenge Cup Borden Lake

 It was a windy cloudy cool day on Borden Lake for the 2020 Challenge Cup. The Snatchers were a lost cause without Chuck Steinbauer to lead the team. We came in Last. Tim Benson did leave with 2nd Place Money though. All of the Snatcher Co's only caught 2 keepers apiece. My fish being the lightest of the bunch. The fishing was more difficult than it should have been. I expected the fish to really be snapping, but they weren't. Which led me to become discouraged, disinterested, and bored. After a long dry stretch, my boater finally started getting some fish and I perked up for the final couple of hours.  I caught my second keeper with about 5 minutes left to go. My boater Jason Schmitt ended up being just shy of the money. He got his fish on the chatter and swim jig with a swimbait trailer. His boat was sweet.

 

Challenge Cup South Long Lake

The View from the Public Access this morning

The Challenge Cup is a tournament that pits the three Brainerd lakes area bass clubs against one another.  Each team gets 3 Boaters and 3 Non-Boaters
8:00-4:00PM Lower South Long Lake
Conditions: 50-62℉, Partly Cloudy to Mostly Sunny,  Pretty calm in the morning turning breezy out of the NNW by 11AM.  Water Level High and rising
Water Temp: Low 60's I think

3.17lb/3lbs 7ozs Piranha/Craw Fatty

Before the Tournament:
When I was putting stuff in the car somehow my sunglasses fell off my head.  I didn't realize it until I was half way to South Long.  I had an extra pair in the car, so there was no need to go back.  I found out when I got home that I had backed over the pair that fell off my head; My favorite pair of Fitovers.

Daggum it!

I was kind of surprised that most boats were in the water when I arrived.  Range Bassmasters Bill Bongs, who was my boater, boat was parked just to the left of the ramp (first boat in the picture).  Bill Bongs is really good fisherman and even better guy.

The Day:
I think we were the 8th boat of 9 to launch.  We headed to weedline just off of the reeds/cane in the North middle section of the lake.  About 5 minutes into the day Bill put the first keeper in the boat on a spinnerbait.  We both had several fish bump our lures and not hook up.  I think we had just started to work our way back over the water we had just fished when I got my big bass of the day (3.17lb) on the junebug colored D & M Baits Piranha with blue/black Craw Fatty trailer. I think we both then caught a pike.  Bill got himself another keeper just after I had a bass flash at the Piranha and not get it.  I threw back to the area with a junebug Lake Fork Craw Tube and had 2.04lber get it.  I think Bill got one more pike and we got out of there.

We headed up to the NE end of the lake.  I'm pretty sure we were fishing the same spot Chuck and I fished on Tuesday where I caught one on the Piranha.  I elected to start out throwing the craw tube and that was a good call because almost immediately it was fish on for me (2.05).  I then lost a really good one on the way to the boat.  I was just thinking in my head it could be a 4lber when it came off.  I then got a 2.46lber, before Bill finally got in on the action.  He had himself a little flurry and I got my limit fish (2.49lb).  Bill noticed a guy fishing in a white Nitro, not one of tournament guys, down the way a hundred yards or so pull in several bass including a really nice one.  I caught a couple more bass that didn't help me and I think Bill filled out his limit and maybe culled a time or two before we left.  But  I could be wrong on that.  The wind came up before we left.

We next headed to the South side of the large reed island in the middle South of the lake.  Bill got the first fish and I got one that didn't help on the Piranha.  I got one that didn't help on the Craw Tube.  Bill started whacking them on a jig.  I couldn't get bit for the longest time.  When I finally did it didn't help.  We finally got out of that wind and Bill headed us to the SW end right to the area where Chuck and I got into them on Tuesday.  Nothing was home.  We moved in closer to the reeds and Bill caught one on a spinnerbait.  I had us go in and try the pads.  We spooked a pretty good size fish that didn't seem to be relating to anything.  Maybe it was a fish that followed one of our baits into the open, who knows.

We then headed back towards our starting spot, but there were boats in the area so we just headed up to our second spot.  We put down off to the South of the point.  We had just started fishing when Snatcher Chuck showed up and started fishing right on the point.  But nobody was home.  We worked our way North along the weedline toward the spot where the Nitro was.  Chuck left.  I don't remember who got the first fish, but we found a pod of them.  I culled twice with a 1.86lber then a 2.66lber on the Craw Tube.  Bill got himself a really good cull or two as well.  I think I caught a dink for my final fish of the day.

Results:

Snatcher Keith Tuma 1st Place & The Challenge Cup Trophy

       

1st Place Bass Snatchers & Keith Tuma
2nd Place Range Bassmasters & Bill Bongs
3rd Brainerd Lakes & Snatcher Chuck

I heard that the Range Team was given to much weight and the Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters not enough.  I don't know of that is the case or not.  What I do know is that the Snatchers Won and Snatcher Keith Tuma caught a heck of a bag for that lake (20/10) and Big Bass (4/7).  I came in 5th Place out of 18 anglers.  

My Thoughts:

I reached my goal of being the top non-boater in the field with 15/12.  That is in no small part due to the unselfish nature of Bill Bongs who seemed perfectly delighted I was catching good fish.  Who knows if that one  I lost was a big as I thought it might be, I had shot at big bass and placing in the Top 3.  A great way to end my tournament season. 

Bass Snatcher Win!!! The 2011 Challenge Cup@ Fishtrap Lake

(Bill Ludenia, Mark Munson, Dennis Lothspeich, Charles Steinbauer, and me. (Missing is Tony Bauer)

Well Team Baxter Bass Snatchers has done it again and won the Challenge Cup Tournament that pits the Brainerd area bass fishing clubs against one another. I fished the Challenge Cup Tournament in 2009 on Mission Lakes and 2010 on Sylvan Lake, and we won the Cup those years as well. Previously when I fished it was only the Snatchers and Range Bassmasters fishing against one another, but this year the Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters showed up to fish. The Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters had the Challenge Cup Trophy so I had never seen it before; As you can see in the picture, it's quite large.

Here is how it went down:
Baxter Bass Snatchers 66-5
Range Bassmasters 60-8
Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters 53-12

Normally each club provides 6 anglers to fish and the Challenge Cup winner is decided by the the best total team weight, but one of the other clubs was a person short; Because of that only the 5 best weights for a team counted towards each teams weight total this year. We went by the Range Bassmaster Club's rules this year and that meant a 5 fish limit. I had the Bass Snatchers worst bag, so my limit didn't count towards our winning total.

1st Place was taken by Snatcher Chuck Steinbauer with 14-14
2nd Place was Ranger Kevin Tengwall with 14-12
3rd Place was Snatcher Dennis Lothspeich with 14-8

Big Bass was 4-9.5 and caught by Ranger Mandy Uhrich who was in Brainerd Lakes Jim Eide's boat. She caught the fish around 9:30am on these Chompers Tubes:Mandy bought the tubes the day before at Gander Mountain just for this tournament. She had never used these tubes before but thought they looked good. I don't know if it was her instincts or training as a biologist but she obviously made the right call.

My Day:
The forecast was for clouds, showers and possible thunderstorms with 10-15mph winds out of the SE and temps starting in the mid-50's and getting above 70. Temps were on the money, and we had showers and clouds in the morning but around 11:30am the sun came out and never left. Wind speeds were about right, but out of the NE for most of the day.

I was suppose to be paired with Ranger Boater Brian Smude, but he dropped out so I fished with Ranger Jeremy Bjorgaard in his boat. While his boat wasn't much to look at it was actually really nice to fish out of as a non-boater. Jeremy was a really good guy and he went out of his way to try and make sure I caught fish. Still he kicked my butt pretty good with a black/blue Lake Fork Crawtube.

Jeremy had pre-fished and was pretty confident we would be on quality and numbers. Our first spot, actually the very same first spot I fished the only other time I had been on Fishtrap Lake in the Fall of 2007, was a bullrush Island on the South end of the lake. We went around the whole thing keeping our distance and Jeremy got the first keeper in the boat on a spinnerbait. After we got around the whole thing once we moved in closer so we could pitch with a vertical presentation. Jeremy confessed that he thought we would both have a limit after one pass. I started throwing a green pumpkin jig with a orange crawdad Yum Wooly Bug trailer and was rewarded with a nice 15.25 fish. That was the last fish we got on the bullrush Island. Next we went to a reed bed off the end of a point. Jeremy caught a small keeper on a blue/black crawtube which he immediately threw back. I had my green pumpkin crawtube get bit off by a pike.

Next we went to some reeds that were around an Island. I got a 14.5" bass on the jig with Wooly Bug. I missed a hit on a Herb's Dilly Buzzbait and Jeremy got a nice bass on the back side of the Island on a spinnerbait.

Next we went to another Island to an inside turn that went to a reed point. Jeremy proceeded to whack the fish, while all I could muster was a dink and 12.25" swimmer. It was kind of ugly as Jeremy must have gotten 10 good fish to my 2 and we were both throwing black/blue crawtubes.

Next we went to a weedline where Jeremy had gotten a couple of good fish in pre-fish. We were working our way up the side of a point where I told Jeremy we had caught fish the last time I was on the lake. Just about a minute later I had a hit on my spinnerbait and brought in a 12.5" swimmer. Jeremy said I pretty much called my shot.

Next we went back to our starting spot. I finished off my limit with a 14.5" on a spinnerbait and I had my green pumpkin jig bit off by a pike. I suggested we work the near by weed flat with the wind blowing on it. We were throwing spinnerbaits and I starting catching pike including a nice one we both thought was a bass at first. Jeremy got the first bass and then a couple of minutes later I got a 15.75", which was my big fish of the day. We worked up to another tournament boat and they said they hadn't gotten any bass on blades. At that point the sun came out and we headed to a weedline where Jeremy got quality fish in his pre-fish. It was dead.

We went to another weedline on the North end and that was pretty dead until we got to an inside turn and Jeremy pulled two fish in quick succession, but then that was it.

Next we headed to a saddle with a reed island. The wind was blowing in on it and it just looked prime. I got a 14.75 on a spinnerbait and I was very glad to have the 12 inchers out of the boat. On the back side of the reed island Jeremy pulled his big fish of the day on the crawtube. We worked along the back side of the saddle but nothing was home.

We went to another weedline where I missed a couple of bites on the crawtube.

Our last stop was the inside turn where Jeremy whacked them earlier in the day. I missed a bite that hit almost the second the crawtube hit the water. I decided to throw the Repo Man and I had a fish smack it, but not hook up. I threw back with a crawtube and got bit but I pooched it and that was it for the day. I think I had 9-12 or 9-14, which was on the small side for this day. Jeremy beat me by a little over 3 pounds.

As I said my weight got tossed and we won, so it's all good.

Bass Snatcher Win!!! The 2010 Challenge Cup@ Sylvan Lake

The Challenge Cup is an annual bass tournament that pits 6 guys (3 boater, 3 non-boaters) from my bass club the Baxter Bass Snatchers vs. 6 guys the Range Bassmasters. I think the Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters have also fished in it in years past. Last year was the first time I got to fish it. This year it was held on Sylvan Lake which is just South of Gull Lake West of Brainerd, MN. This year I fished with Emmet Smith who was also my boater last year. Before blast off he was talking up what a great lake Sylvan is, but it really didn't show it on this day.

Conditions were phenomenal for October with air temps in the high 70's and a fairly light wind out of the East. Water temps were in the low to mid 60's.

Here's the run down:
Bass Snatchers 52lbs 3ozs
Range Bassmasters 47lbs 14oz

Tounament Winners
1st In-Fisherman's Steve Quinn with 10lbs ??? Range Bassmasters
2nd Place and 4lb 10oz Big Bass Dennis Lothspeich Bass Snatchers
3rd Chuck Steinbauer Bass Snatchers

Everyone caught a 5 fish limit.

My weight was 6lbs 12ozs and Emmet weighed 7lbs 6ozs, so we were pretty close. Last year he destroyed me. I was actually 11th out of the 12 anglers, but I beat 1 Range guy, so I pulled my weight sort of. I caught at least 9 keepers, culling 4 times and my big fish was a 14.5". It was my last fish of the day and it was caught on a blue shiner Berkley Frenzy Popper. I did catch several small bass at or below 12 inches that I didn't bother to measure.

I caught keepers on:
white single white Colorado blade spinnerbait
Bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke
blue/black jigNpig
blue shiner Berkley Frenzy Popper

We caught fish all day long and almost everywhere we went, Emmet and I just couldn't buy a quality bite, even our pike were small. We fished inside and outside weedlines, flats, and docks. Slop was totally unproductive.

2010 Challenge Cup Sylvan Lake Preview

Tomorrow I will fish in my second Challenge Cup which pits my bass club The Baxter Bass Snatchers vs. The Range Bassmasters. Last year the tournament was on Mission Lake and I didn't fair so hot. This year the tournament is on Lake Sylvan which is just South of Gull Lake. Once again my boater will be Emmet Smith of the Range squad. I have never fished Sylvan and I think the RB's fished it last year. I remember Emmet said they fished Sylvan and I had no clue about where it was located. The lake is only 803 acres and is made up of two basins connected by a fairly wide channel. Apparently one of the lakes is very clear and the other one is stained, not sure about the channel. We have been having warm stable weather this week and that will hold for tomorrow, so the bite should be good. Naturally I will be trying to make topwater happen, but having never seen the lake I don't know what we will be doing. I paired down to 7 rods because if Emmet has the same boat as last year, it really has limited room for a non-boaters rods.

Here's how my rods are rigged.
Zoom Horny Toad
Herb's Dilly Buzzbait
White Spinnerbait
Texas Rigged Crawtube (I only have one crawtube, so if it is demolished I will fish a Yum Wooly Bug next)
Texas Rigged Tube
Dock Rod: Zoom Super Fluke spinning gear
Misc topwater or crank rod (Norman speed clip)

I hope the bite is good and I finish above all of the Range non-boaters.

Bass Snatchers Win The 2009 Challenge Cup Mission Lakes

Today was the Challenge Cup which is a longstanding contest between the Baxter Bass Snatcher Bass Club and the Range Bassmasters. The Cup was held on Upper and Lower Mission Lakes North of Brainerd. By virtue of the fact that other more highly seeded Bass Snatchers didn't want to fish I was allowed to be on this years 6 man team. There were 3 Snatcher boaters with 3 Range non-boaters and vise versa. My boater was Range Bassmaster Emmet Smith.

Going into the tournament the scuttlebutt on Emmet was that he was going to take me into the shallow junk all day and that I should use my allotted 4 hours in the front of the boat to hit weedlines. That isn't how it worked out.

The weather: From the low 40's in the morning to the low 50's in the afternoon. It was cloudy with a couple short rounds of light sprinkles. Wind was out of the North around 10mph.

Emmet started us off on a weedline spot on the West end of the upper lake. In the first hour Emmit managed 2 keeper bass around 2 pounds and a 10lb pike. I had a couple of hits on my black spinnerbait but they didn't hook up. One of those bites felt big. After about 45 minutes with no action we ran to the NE end of Upper Mission to a weedline spot I had fished before. I caught a pike and had my spinnerbait get bumped a couple of more times.

Next we headed to Lower Mission to try some docks, that was a bust, so we tried some reeds and that was a bust so we tried some weedlines and that too was a bust. We headed back to Upper Mission to our starting spot.

We spent a couple of hours flogging our starting spot and Emmet got a 12 incher and a pike, while I had a pike bite off and that was it. Totally perplexed we went right to a spot that I wanted to fish, even though I didn't mention the area to Emmit. We were fishing down a weedline towards Range boater and In-Fisherman Bass Guru Steve Quinn. We watched as Snatcher Bill Ludenia caught a small keeper. They were struggling like we were struggling and word was that the bite was very tough for everybody except Snatcher Chuck Steinbauer. We passed the Quinn boat and I got a bite on my tube, but it was a pike. Shortly after the pike Emmet caught 2 keeper bass on a jigworm off of the used water. We worked the weedline up the side of a point with no action so we decided to head back over the water where Emmit got the last 2 fish.

I was throwing my black spinnerbait and I hooked up, but once again it was a pike. Emmet caught a short, then Emmit got the idea that we should move a bit shallower. He was rewarded with his biggest bass of the day on a spinnerbait in the little reedbed up by shore. We kept working shallow into a slop bay. I thought I might have had a fish on for a second on a Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig when the next thing I knew Emmit was hauling in a 2lb bass. I picked up a Herb's Dilly Buzzbait and finally was rewarded with a bass just a little under 3lbs, at this point there was just an hour and a half left to fish; I was mighty relieved to have the skunk out of the boat with a good fish. We worked from the North side of the slop bay around to the South side of the slop bay where Emmit caught another 2lber on a craw tube pitching into the pads. Emmet had to cull, so I took the front of the boat and worked the rest of the South shore of the slop bay then I headed us quickly back to the North side. On the North side Emmet caught another 3lber on the craw tube and I got a pound and 3 quarter bass on the Herb's Dilly. Those would be our last fish although we would both miss bites in the reeds on our way back to the landing.

I don't and probably won't have the official numbers but I can report that 4 out of the 6 snatchers won in their boats. Chuck Steinbauer won with about 18lbs and Lunker that was right about 5lbs. I think Snatcher Dennis Lothspeich got 2nd and Emmet got 3rd. I think our Snatcher Club won total weight by around 4lbs.