When I arrived at Serpent Lake just after 7AM my partner Mark already has his boat in the water. I loaded up my gear and then we waited for the 8am blast off. When I was at the dock Bill Ludenia told me bass were on the flats biting on jig and pigs. When I was in the boat with Mark he talked about throwing spinnerbaits on the flats. I asked him if he was considering throwing a buzzbait at all and he showed me that he had one tied on. On the West end of the lake by the public access there was just a light breeze blowing and there was a slight haze, but not enough to call it overcast.
At blast off we were boat #11 out of 12 and when it was our turn we headed East down the lake as fast as the boat would go and that was pretty fast. We ended up stopping on the Eastern Edge of a weed flat on the North side of the lake where Mark had gotten a big bass once upon a time, as we were getting into position another Bass Snatcher boat came into the same general area.
I started off throwing a pumpkinseed swim jig with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer and I was quickly rewarded with a fish on. It turned out to be the first of many pike that I would catch this day. Mark started out with a spinnerbait but quickly put that down for a buzzbait in the calm conditions we were in. It didn't take long until Mark was rewarded with a nice bass. I switched to a white single spin Colorado blade spinnerbait and caught a rock bass, then a pike, then a 11 inch bass. As we worked our way west on the flat Mark caught another nice bass on the buzzbait. That was enought to convince me to go to topwater and I put on a Purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. I think Mark got another nice bass and shortly after that I caught my first keeper of the day which was a solid 16" fish. Conditions just seemed to be perfect for topwater and anticipation of a strike was high. Mark caught a couple of more fish on the buzzbait to my nothing, so I was thinking maybe they wanted a more active bait, so I switched to a white spook. The fish did seem to like the spook better than the popper. I had a pike launch itself after the spook and miss it. Then a couple of casts later something hit at the spook and missed, then hit at it again and missed, I paused the bait then started it up again and this time the fish got it and I was rewarded with another 16" bass. Mark caught a couple of more bass on the buzzbait and reached his 6 fish limit. I caught a couple of short bass which was a bit frustrating cause a spook is supposed to be a big fish bait. After much walking the dog I did get a 14" keeper.
The wind came up and the surface bite died. Mark started throwing a white spinnerbait and started getting a few bass and pike. I tried the swim jig and the white spinnerbait. I backlashed and broke my line at the spool sending the white spinnerbait into the distance. Easy come, easy Go! I tied on another white single Colorado blade spinnerbait and got back after it. That was not getting any hits so I decided to tie on a black spinnerbait with a much bigger Colorado blade. I caught a pike very quickly on that.
We headed back across the flat to our starting spot and I nailed a couple more pike on the black spinnerbait and also had a couple of hits that did not hook up. We were working the middle of the flat and I was throwing out to deeper water when I got a solid hook up which turned out to be a nice 16" bass. A little while later doing the same thing I nailed yet another nice 16" largemouth. Things seemed to shut down after that and I was not even getting bit by pike anymore. Still the good fish I got on the black spinnerbait gave me a lot of confidence to keep throwing it and persistance paid off as I landed my limit fish sometime around 11am. My limit fish was just a 13 incher. It was really nice to have a limit since my partner Mark's expectations coming in were quite low.
Things stayed kind of slow on another pass across the flat. Mark switched up to a jig and pig and got a bass on that. I think I landed a pike or two and then switched up to a jig and pig to give my back a break from the relentless casting and retrieving. I had a solid pick up on the jig and landed a 14" inch fish so I culled up a little. Not long after catching that fish Mark suggested that we hit some docks in search of a kicker.
We started off on some of the docks on the flat that we had been fishing all morning. As we were moving along we came to a short wooden single dock that looked like nothing. Mark casted at the dock and got a strike but didn't hook up. I made a cast at the front of the dock and saw the bass that Mark missed swim away from the dock then start to circle back in the direction of my Super Fluke. While I couldn't tell completely it looked like the fish picked up the Fluke and so I set the hook and sure enough the rod doubled up. I didn't realize it when I saw it swimming, but as soon as I hooked up it became apparent this was a bigger fish. It put up a good fight and didn't go into the net easy, but I did land the 4lb 2oz beauty which turned out to be the tournament big bass by an ounce. Sometimes you just get a bit lucky and things go your way. This success motivated us to run the lake and hit docks for a while.
We got a few keepers and several shorts on docks, but nothing that would help. Eventually we moved to the South side of the lake and started hitting docks there. The South side docks were pretty dead and we eventually headed out over a flat. I got a small pike, then tied into a good fish that I was hoping was a bass. It was a bass but not as big a fish as the fight it put up. The fish was 15.25 and I ended up throwing it back, which was a mistake because I still had a 14" fish in the well but I could not find it thanks to the fact that I got mixed up when a couple of my clip on cull tags came off of the fish. Mark has a walleye boat with one main non-divided livewell, so with 11 fish in there it was easy for me to not come up with the 14 incher after a bit of a search. I figured I had just measured wrong but at the end of the day sorting it was pretty obvious I had a 14" fish.
We headed back to the flat we started on and I caught yet another 15" bass that would have helped, but once again I did not find that 14" fish and so I let a bigger fish go. We worked the flat and caught a few more pike. With about 30 minutes left we headed back to the launch area and tried a weedy point but didn't get anything. We headed in about 10 minutes early.
Mark thought I had his bag beat by 2-4lbs, but it turned out that he beat me by 10ozs, so I ended up in 3rd place overall at 14lbs 6ozs. First place was 17lbs 6ozs. I got plaques for Lunker and 3rd Place. It's hard to say whether or not my culling screw up cost me 2nd place or not, Mark figured it probably did. Oh well, one place is no big deal, I am just glad it was me that got the big one.
The other rookie in the club this year did not fish for his second tournament in a row, so I locked up rookie of the year honors by just showing up.
Our last tournament is Oct 4th on Upper and Lower Mission lakes in Crow Wing County. Mark says they are great bass fisheries.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Monday, August 25, 2008
Bass Snatchers Club North Long 8/23/08
Just a bit of frustration is starting to sink in.
It was still pretty dark when I arrived at the public access a little before 6AM. It was cloudy, cool but not cold, and quite windy, which had everyone a bit put off a bit. I brought a raincoat but didn't have a bib. I was surprised that my partner Chuck's boat is one of the smaller tiller model Rangers. I had just assumed being the hardcore bass fisherman that this guy is that he would have a pretty good sized rocket ship. When we got out on the water we discovered his aerator pump wasn't working, so he kept his fish in the bait well and I had to continuously scoop fresh water into the main livewell where my fish were throughout the day. It worked out as all my fish were alive at weigh in. The boat has a non-divided main live well and a bait well, so it is actually more of a walleye rig. The tournament blast off was at 7AM and we headed for the big water in the middle basin of North Long. North Long runs pretty much East to West and has 3 pretty round bays and is not small with almost 6000 acres of water. The way the wind was blowing I thought it would be much rougher once we got into the middle basin but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
We started on a mid-lake hump where my partner had found a school of big fish. Neither of us got a bite. We then moved to another hump close by that already had a boat on it. We saw them land one fish as they were drifting their way slowly with the anchor down. We didn't get anything but weeds.
Next we headed to a fairly protected shoreline to try some reeds. Almost right away I lost a small fish on a swim jig and that was all we got there. Next we moved out to the weedline and on our second stop started getting some action with the noise of Brainerd International Raceway in the background. I got my first fish on a pumpkinseed Monsoor swim jig with Zoom Speed Craw Trailer. I think I next caught one or two shorts. My partner was landing keepers on a texas rigged craw tube and I made the switch to a black/blue JigNpig. I caught two nice keepers on my first two casts. After that the fish seemed to shut off. The wind seemed to increase while we were on that weedline. I would say it was gusting over 30.
We then hit a couple of weedline spots on the North End of the middle basin. My partner filled out his limit and I got two more keepers plus about 4 shorts on the swim jig.
Next we headed out to the humps we started on. The clouds had started to break up and the wind came down to about 15mph instead of 20-30mph. My partner landed his best fish of the day on the first hump, but that was it. Eventually I filled my limit and got my first cull. We then ran back to the weedline where we had caught the bulk of our fish, but didn't get anything except one short for me. I don't remember where we went next, but we got nothing there. We then headed to a cabbage weed bed on the southern part of the middle basin. I caught a couple of shorts on the swim jig and Chuck got his craw tube bit off by a pike.
With about an hour left with the sun completely out and the wind dying down we tried a nice looking steep break on the North end of the middle basin without any luck. Next we headed into Merrifield Bay (the east basin) and went dock fishing. My partner was skipping a jigNpig under the docks with a baitcaster and he was sure good at it with extremely accurate casts. Meanwhile I was struggling to get accustomed to my new St. Croix Avid Spinning rod rigged with bass tube jig. Chuck managed to cull up slightly a couple of times and caught a couple of fish that would have helped me. On one of the docks I made a bad cast got hung up and broke off. This allowed me to switch up to a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke which I am much more comfortable throwing around docks because the hook is not exposed. Chuck let me get first crack at a likely looking spot and I caught yet another short. We kept moving around hitting docks. We came to a spot where there was a boat lift about 35 feet out from the end of a dock. Chuck had a fish pick up his bait and spit it, while I was casting into the shadow made by the lift. After a couple of jerks of the Fluke I had on a 16.5" which was my big fish of the day. It was also the last fish of the day for us.
My partner weighed a respectable 13-7 which was only good enough for 7th. My partner had won the two previous club tournaments at North Long in 2006 and 2004 with weights in the 14's. The winning weight on this day was 15-11 with 2 other bags in the 15's and 2 bags in the high 14's.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear 11lbs 01oz with a big fish of 2lbs 9ozs. I thought I had somewhere just under 10lbs. From past history I figured that 11lbs would get me a solid finish in the middle of the pack, instead on this day it was only good enough for 17th out of 24.
As I said before this is starting to get a little bit frustrating. I am catching fish from the back of the boat, but the size of fish I am catching just isn't cutting it compared to everyone else. This tournament I caught all but 1 fish on a bass jig which is known to be a bigger fish bait, but I caught my big fish of the day on a Super Fluke.
I now have a 15th, 16th, 17th, and 23rd place finishes. This tournament moved me ahead of the other club rookie, who didn't fish North Long. I am currently in 17th place and well back of 16th place and that is out of 22 people that have fished a minimum of 3 out of the 4 tournaments. (Place is figured out with the lowest score thrown out so only 3 tournaments at this point count for a persons points.)
Our 5th tournament is not until September 20th at Serpent Lake and the last tournament of the year is October 4 at Mission.
It was still pretty dark when I arrived at the public access a little before 6AM. It was cloudy, cool but not cold, and quite windy, which had everyone a bit put off a bit. I brought a raincoat but didn't have a bib. I was surprised that my partner Chuck's boat is one of the smaller tiller model Rangers. I had just assumed being the hardcore bass fisherman that this guy is that he would have a pretty good sized rocket ship. When we got out on the water we discovered his aerator pump wasn't working, so he kept his fish in the bait well and I had to continuously scoop fresh water into the main livewell where my fish were throughout the day. It worked out as all my fish were alive at weigh in. The boat has a non-divided main live well and a bait well, so it is actually more of a walleye rig. The tournament blast off was at 7AM and we headed for the big water in the middle basin of North Long. North Long runs pretty much East to West and has 3 pretty round bays and is not small with almost 6000 acres of water. The way the wind was blowing I thought it would be much rougher once we got into the middle basin but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
We started on a mid-lake hump where my partner had found a school of big fish. Neither of us got a bite. We then moved to another hump close by that already had a boat on it. We saw them land one fish as they were drifting their way slowly with the anchor down. We didn't get anything but weeds.
Next we headed to a fairly protected shoreline to try some reeds. Almost right away I lost a small fish on a swim jig and that was all we got there. Next we moved out to the weedline and on our second stop started getting some action with the noise of Brainerd International Raceway in the background. I got my first fish on a pumpkinseed Monsoor swim jig with Zoom Speed Craw Trailer. I think I next caught one or two shorts. My partner was landing keepers on a texas rigged craw tube and I made the switch to a black/blue JigNpig. I caught two nice keepers on my first two casts. After that the fish seemed to shut off. The wind seemed to increase while we were on that weedline. I would say it was gusting over 30.
We then hit a couple of weedline spots on the North End of the middle basin. My partner filled out his limit and I got two more keepers plus about 4 shorts on the swim jig.
Next we headed out to the humps we started on. The clouds had started to break up and the wind came down to about 15mph instead of 20-30mph. My partner landed his best fish of the day on the first hump, but that was it. Eventually I filled my limit and got my first cull. We then ran back to the weedline where we had caught the bulk of our fish, but didn't get anything except one short for me. I don't remember where we went next, but we got nothing there. We then headed to a cabbage weed bed on the southern part of the middle basin. I caught a couple of shorts on the swim jig and Chuck got his craw tube bit off by a pike.
With about an hour left with the sun completely out and the wind dying down we tried a nice looking steep break on the North end of the middle basin without any luck. Next we headed into Merrifield Bay (the east basin) and went dock fishing. My partner was skipping a jigNpig under the docks with a baitcaster and he was sure good at it with extremely accurate casts. Meanwhile I was struggling to get accustomed to my new St. Croix Avid Spinning rod rigged with bass tube jig. Chuck managed to cull up slightly a couple of times and caught a couple of fish that would have helped me. On one of the docks I made a bad cast got hung up and broke off. This allowed me to switch up to a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke which I am much more comfortable throwing around docks because the hook is not exposed. Chuck let me get first crack at a likely looking spot and I caught yet another short. We kept moving around hitting docks. We came to a spot where there was a boat lift about 35 feet out from the end of a dock. Chuck had a fish pick up his bait and spit it, while I was casting into the shadow made by the lift. After a couple of jerks of the Fluke I had on a 16.5" which was my big fish of the day. It was also the last fish of the day for us.
My partner weighed a respectable 13-7 which was only good enough for 7th. My partner had won the two previous club tournaments at North Long in 2006 and 2004 with weights in the 14's. The winning weight on this day was 15-11 with 2 other bags in the 15's and 2 bags in the high 14's.
I was pleasantly surprised to hear 11lbs 01oz with a big fish of 2lbs 9ozs. I thought I had somewhere just under 10lbs. From past history I figured that 11lbs would get me a solid finish in the middle of the pack, instead on this day it was only good enough for 17th out of 24.
As I said before this is starting to get a little bit frustrating. I am catching fish from the back of the boat, but the size of fish I am catching just isn't cutting it compared to everyone else. This tournament I caught all but 1 fish on a bass jig which is known to be a bigger fish bait, but I caught my big fish of the day on a Super Fluke.
I now have a 15th, 16th, 17th, and 23rd place finishes. This tournament moved me ahead of the other club rookie, who didn't fish North Long. I am currently in 17th place and well back of 16th place and that is out of 22 people that have fished a minimum of 3 out of the 4 tournaments. (Place is figured out with the lowest score thrown out so only 3 tournaments at this point count for a persons points.)
Our 5th tournament is not until September 20th at Serpent Lake and the last tournament of the year is October 4 at Mission.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Bass Snatchers Pokegama
I had a close call with a deer on the North end of Mille Lacs lake on my way North to Grand Rapids, no harm no foul. I got to Grand Rapids a little quicker than I thought I would but that was OK as my partner Bill and some of the other guys were already out in the motel parking lot. I got my gear into Bill's boat and then spent probably an hour shooting the breeze before we left.
The access we went out of is on the NW end of the lake and we headquartered out of a public beach just North of there that is right by where the Mississippi flows into Pokegama lake. Our plan was to head up the river and try to catch some big fish, but if that wasn't working to go back down into the lake and fish cabbage.
We were boat #2 out of the gate and boat #2 heading into the river. By the time we got to the spot where you can run the river at full speed we were the #1 boat. We ran all the way past the Hwy 6 bridge to a spot Bill calls "Dogfish Corner". We started out pitching jigs and I got messed with by a small pike. I also threw some slop frogs and Zoom Horny Toads having a small pike strike on the toad. We got nothing on this spot and so we headed up river some more to another great looking area with rice, rushes, and wood, but we could not get anything. We then made our way back down the river. The story from all the river boats was slow fishing. A few guys had some small fish. We stopped at the Hwy 6 bridge and I caught a small pike there.
Bill got his first bass in some reeds on Jay Gould Lake (at least I think that is where we were). We then headed into the lake to fish weedline/weedbeds. Bill quickly landed two keepers before I got number 1 on a watermelon tube. I don't remember if I got another keeper bass on the tube before I had a pike break it off. I put on what turned out to be a grey tube, I thought these tubes were watermelon too, but it was just the green packaging. I may have got 1 more bass off of this first spot in the lake.
Next we hit some reeds and I missed a couple of hits on topwater. We then went to another cabbage weedline spot and Bill filled out his limit while I got to fish #4. It started to sprinkle while we were on this spot and it continued to lightly rain until the last half hour of the tournament. We headed in to try some slop and I got #5 on a Snagproof Bobby's Perfect frog. Next we worked some rushes and reeds and I got my limit fish on the Bobby's perfect frog.
Now with two limits in the well it was decision time and we decided that our best shot for kickers was in the river and so we made our way back there. We started working the Power Plant area and I missed a bite that I probably should have caught on the Horny Toad as that I saw the fish wake towards the bait before it hit. It could have been a dogfish though. We turned a corner and started working into the wind. After quite a while of fishing Bill landed a nice dark mid 3lb fish. A little while later he got some pike. Bill was pitching a jig into the weed edge and I was casting out the front of the boat parallel with the weed edge. A fish showed itself and so I was careful to cover the spot and I was rewarded with a 17.5" largemouth. We worked our way down the stretch several hundred more yards, then we turned around to hit it again. Now with the wind at my back I was really able to cover the water. I was distracted by a boat running the river and took my eye off the Horny Toad and I missed a hit. A little while later I got a solid strike and landed another 17.5" in largemouth. That was the last fish of the day. I think if we would have gotten another hour in the river I could have caught some more nice fish.
I ended up with my best weight of the year so far with 6 fish for 12lbs 8ozs. I tied with a guy for weight and big fish and lost the coin flip tie break, so I ended up in 15th out of 25 guys. My partner Bill was 13th with 13lbs 5 ozs. Winning weight was 20lbs 3ozs and he spent the whole day in the river and didn't catch his limit fish until the last 1/2 hour. The guy in 2nd also fished the river all day. Big fish was 5lbs 10oz and there was one other 5lber caught.
Overall I had a really enjoyable time. It was nice that the cool overcast and rain kept the horse and deer flies away, because I hear they can get quite bad in the river.
The access we went out of is on the NW end of the lake and we headquartered out of a public beach just North of there that is right by where the Mississippi flows into Pokegama lake. Our plan was to head up the river and try to catch some big fish, but if that wasn't working to go back down into the lake and fish cabbage.
We were boat #2 out of the gate and boat #2 heading into the river. By the time we got to the spot where you can run the river at full speed we were the #1 boat. We ran all the way past the Hwy 6 bridge to a spot Bill calls "Dogfish Corner". We started out pitching jigs and I got messed with by a small pike. I also threw some slop frogs and Zoom Horny Toads having a small pike strike on the toad. We got nothing on this spot and so we headed up river some more to another great looking area with rice, rushes, and wood, but we could not get anything. We then made our way back down the river. The story from all the river boats was slow fishing. A few guys had some small fish. We stopped at the Hwy 6 bridge and I caught a small pike there.
Bill got his first bass in some reeds on Jay Gould Lake (at least I think that is where we were). We then headed into the lake to fish weedline/weedbeds. Bill quickly landed two keepers before I got number 1 on a watermelon tube. I don't remember if I got another keeper bass on the tube before I had a pike break it off. I put on what turned out to be a grey tube, I thought these tubes were watermelon too, but it was just the green packaging. I may have got 1 more bass off of this first spot in the lake.
Next we hit some reeds and I missed a couple of hits on topwater. We then went to another cabbage weedline spot and Bill filled out his limit while I got to fish #4. It started to sprinkle while we were on this spot and it continued to lightly rain until the last half hour of the tournament. We headed in to try some slop and I got #5 on a Snagproof Bobby's Perfect frog. Next we worked some rushes and reeds and I got my limit fish on the Bobby's perfect frog.
Now with two limits in the well it was decision time and we decided that our best shot for kickers was in the river and so we made our way back there. We started working the Power Plant area and I missed a bite that I probably should have caught on the Horny Toad as that I saw the fish wake towards the bait before it hit. It could have been a dogfish though. We turned a corner and started working into the wind. After quite a while of fishing Bill landed a nice dark mid 3lb fish. A little while later he got some pike. Bill was pitching a jig into the weed edge and I was casting out the front of the boat parallel with the weed edge. A fish showed itself and so I was careful to cover the spot and I was rewarded with a 17.5" largemouth. We worked our way down the stretch several hundred more yards, then we turned around to hit it again. Now with the wind at my back I was really able to cover the water. I was distracted by a boat running the river and took my eye off the Horny Toad and I missed a hit. A little while later I got a solid strike and landed another 17.5" in largemouth. That was the last fish of the day. I think if we would have gotten another hour in the river I could have caught some more nice fish.
I ended up with my best weight of the year so far with 6 fish for 12lbs 8ozs. I tied with a guy for weight and big fish and lost the coin flip tie break, so I ended up in 15th out of 25 guys. My partner Bill was 13th with 13lbs 5 ozs. Winning weight was 20lbs 3ozs and he spent the whole day in the river and didn't catch his limit fish until the last 1/2 hour. The guy in 2nd also fished the river all day. Big fish was 5lbs 10oz and there was one other 5lber caught.
Overall I had a really enjoyable time. It was nice that the cool overcast and rain kept the horse and deer flies away, because I hear they can get quite bad in the river.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Bass Snatchers Big Birch (Grey Eagle)
This tournament had a late start at 8am, but I still was up before 5am and out the door before a quarter after. I drove to Little Falls to meet up with Barry and his Son-in-law Joe to carpool to Big Birch. Conditions were sunny and warm enough with a NW breeze blowin about 7mph. It stayed sunny to partly cloudy throughout the day but the wind kicked up to 15-20mph at times.
We started in the West lake around an Island where Barry had found a bunch of bedding smallmouth a few days ago. I started with topwater and right away had a fish show behind the bait but it never committed. This happened twice in the first 5 minutes. The smallies had vacated the beds in this area and so we moved a little farther North on the Island. Barry caught a nice fish on a crank, but that was all we got. Next we headed to the Upper East lake to Barry's "Honey Hole." It was a weed patch where Barry found a school of good fish pre-fishing. Barry managed to get two smaller fish on a tube.
Next we worked a thickly weeded bullrush island. I went to use my telescoping 7'3" St. Criox Avid Flippen stick, but I had a hard time getting the rod to pull out. As I eventually got it to move a couple of maggots came up with the blank. Apparently a fly got in there and laid some eggs making the two parts of the rod blank stick together. I did get the rod extended but didn't catch a thing.
We moved across the lake to a point with some reeds on the inside turn and I got a 13.25" and a pumpkin Monsoor swim jig with pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw trailer. From there we moved back to the West lake Island where we started and where Barry got his first fish. I got a 13.25" largemouth on a white X-Rap and jumped off a fish that was a bit bigger and also had a follow from a good fish (smallmouth???). We switched to the Island Barry's Son-in-law Joe was fishing and fished around it. We kind of wandered into the other boats hot area where Barry and I both caught a fish. The fish for me was yet another 13.25" on the white X-Rap.
Next we fished the Eastern edge of the Island we started on. This spot featured bullrushes and reeds along a steep drop. Barry had seen lots of fish cruising this run while prefishing. I fished the area with the swim jig and started off by catching a dink and having a few small fish pull on the speed craw. As we were going along Barry got a couple of dinks and a couple of Rock Bass. I saw a largemouth that was at least two pounds pull the speed craw right off the jig, bummer.
Next I think we went back into the East lake and didn't get a thing but one for me that was 11.75." We went back to the West lake and fished around Joe's Island maybe catching a rock bass or two. We then headed to a weedline spot where Barry jerked up 2 keepers and then I got a 12.25" on a white Strike King Zero (Senko) fished on a mushroom head jig. We drifted the spot again with Barry getting another keeper and me landing one that was 14.25" on the Zero. We did another couple of passes but only got Rock Bass. From there we went to fish another similar weedline but another boat was on it. The days big bass, 4lbs 1oz, was caught by that boat on that spot.
Once again we headed to Joe's Island and tried to fish deep. I caught a rock bass. From there we went to the East side of our starting Island where the bullrushes and reeds were. We just about had fished the whole stretch when I got my limit fish, a 14.50" largie on the swim jig by reeds and rocks.
It was getting to be late in the day and we headed back to the East lake to try the "Honey Hole" one last time. We bounced around a couple of new spots then hit the reed patch by the Rock Tavern where we were going to have the weigh in. The reeds were a perfect match for a Horny Toad, so I started throwing it. I had a little fish hit it and managed to resist the urge to set the hook. I was working the toad through the reeds when I had a solid blow up from another 13.25" that culled out my 12 incher. I got one more good blow up on the Toad but failed to hook up and that was the end of our day. I was pleased to have gotten a limit, even if it was small.
I ended up with 7lbs 8ozs with a big fish of 1lb 9ozs which stuck me in 23rd out of 24 anglers. The only guy I beat was my Farm Island partner Herman who only brought in 3 fish. My partner Barry came in 20th, which shows me that our area's were holding below average fish this day.
The winner had a 15lb 6oz bag of smallmouth that he pretty much sight fished near shallow rocks. Our boat didn't land a single smallie all day, but Barry might have jumped one off near the end of the day. A couple of people reported catching dozens and dozens of 12-14 inch largemouth so the fish were schooled up in some places. Unfortunately the schools that were on Barry's spots moved. Overall I had a fun day and the heat didn't get to be to bad.
After the tournament we went to the Rock Tavern where I got to know Joe who grew up in Little Falls and sounds like he is a die hard Mississippi smallmouth angler. He showed me a couple of his smallmouth tricks.
We started in the West lake around an Island where Barry had found a bunch of bedding smallmouth a few days ago. I started with topwater and right away had a fish show behind the bait but it never committed. This happened twice in the first 5 minutes. The smallies had vacated the beds in this area and so we moved a little farther North on the Island. Barry caught a nice fish on a crank, but that was all we got. Next we headed to the Upper East lake to Barry's "Honey Hole." It was a weed patch where Barry found a school of good fish pre-fishing. Barry managed to get two smaller fish on a tube.
Next we worked a thickly weeded bullrush island. I went to use my telescoping 7'3" St. Criox Avid Flippen stick, but I had a hard time getting the rod to pull out. As I eventually got it to move a couple of maggots came up with the blank. Apparently a fly got in there and laid some eggs making the two parts of the rod blank stick together. I did get the rod extended but didn't catch a thing.
We moved across the lake to a point with some reeds on the inside turn and I got a 13.25" and a pumpkin Monsoor swim jig with pumpkin Zoom Speed Craw trailer. From there we moved back to the West lake Island where we started and where Barry got his first fish. I got a 13.25" largemouth on a white X-Rap and jumped off a fish that was a bit bigger and also had a follow from a good fish (smallmouth???). We switched to the Island Barry's Son-in-law Joe was fishing and fished around it. We kind of wandered into the other boats hot area where Barry and I both caught a fish. The fish for me was yet another 13.25" on the white X-Rap.
Next we fished the Eastern edge of the Island we started on. This spot featured bullrushes and reeds along a steep drop. Barry had seen lots of fish cruising this run while prefishing. I fished the area with the swim jig and started off by catching a dink and having a few small fish pull on the speed craw. As we were going along Barry got a couple of dinks and a couple of Rock Bass. I saw a largemouth that was at least two pounds pull the speed craw right off the jig, bummer.
Next I think we went back into the East lake and didn't get a thing but one for me that was 11.75." We went back to the West lake and fished around Joe's Island maybe catching a rock bass or two. We then headed to a weedline spot where Barry jerked up 2 keepers and then I got a 12.25" on a white Strike King Zero (Senko) fished on a mushroom head jig. We drifted the spot again with Barry getting another keeper and me landing one that was 14.25" on the Zero. We did another couple of passes but only got Rock Bass. From there we went to fish another similar weedline but another boat was on it. The days big bass, 4lbs 1oz, was caught by that boat on that spot.
Once again we headed to Joe's Island and tried to fish deep. I caught a rock bass. From there we went to the East side of our starting Island where the bullrushes and reeds were. We just about had fished the whole stretch when I got my limit fish, a 14.50" largie on the swim jig by reeds and rocks.
It was getting to be late in the day and we headed back to the East lake to try the "Honey Hole" one last time. We bounced around a couple of new spots then hit the reed patch by the Rock Tavern where we were going to have the weigh in. The reeds were a perfect match for a Horny Toad, so I started throwing it. I had a little fish hit it and managed to resist the urge to set the hook. I was working the toad through the reeds when I had a solid blow up from another 13.25" that culled out my 12 incher. I got one more good blow up on the Toad but failed to hook up and that was the end of our day. I was pleased to have gotten a limit, even if it was small.
I ended up with 7lbs 8ozs with a big fish of 1lb 9ozs which stuck me in 23rd out of 24 anglers. The only guy I beat was my Farm Island partner Herman who only brought in 3 fish. My partner Barry came in 20th, which shows me that our area's were holding below average fish this day.
The winner had a 15lb 6oz bag of smallmouth that he pretty much sight fished near shallow rocks. Our boat didn't land a single smallie all day, but Barry might have jumped one off near the end of the day. A couple of people reported catching dozens and dozens of 12-14 inch largemouth so the fish were schooled up in some places. Unfortunately the schools that were on Barry's spots moved. Overall I had a fun day and the heat didn't get to be to bad.
After the tournament we went to the Rock Tavern where I got to know Joe who grew up in Little Falls and sounds like he is a die hard Mississippi smallmouth angler. He showed me a couple of his smallmouth tricks.
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
Bass Snatchers Farm Island Lake
Saturday June 7, 2008
I met my partner Herman a little before 5:30PM in Pine Center. Pine Center is only about 10 miles straight North of the house and it was cool that Hermen met me somewhere familiar. We loaded my gear into his 20.5" Ranger Dual Console and were off. I soon learned that Herman was about the nicest guy you would ever want to meet. This is his 27th year as a Bass Snatcher so he told me lots of things about the club. He used to be heavily involved in the Minnesota Federation before it was the Federation Nation and had lot of stories to tell from his involvement. He fishes the club for fun and fun is what we had.
I think we were boat #4 on take off and we were the first one's to head South on Farm Island Lake. We ended up starting on the SE shore of Farm Island. It was a sandy area with some weedgrowth towards shore. It was calm so I went with the Zoom Super Fluke. As we were working the shore line Herman had a good fish take his spinnerbait but throw it half way to the boat. Just after that I had a swirl on the Fluke but my hookset came up empty. This was my first time throwing the Fluke this year and I didn't use it much last summer when I hardly fished at all, so I was a bit rusty. Not long after this the Fluke disappeared and I set into a 11inch fish. We have a 12inch minimum. I caught another 11" off the end of a dock. We worked the whole East shore of Farm Island but didn't have a keeper to show for it.
From Farm Island we headed West a little ways and went to a protected shoreline. I think Herman said there were normally reeds in this area but just like Sullivan Lake, the reeds in Farm Island are almost non-existant this year. The area was sandy bottom with some weeds. Something came to the surface and left some bubbles. Herman had me cast over there with the Fluke. I worked it slow and sure enough my big bass of the day picked it up and I got her in. A little ways down the line Herman got on the board. We eventually worked ourselves out of the weeds so we headed farther West. We were going to fish some emergent weeds at the mouth of a slop bay East to West. As we pulled in another Bass Snatcher boat pulled up to the West thus cutting us off from fishing the shoreline unless we wanted to fish used water. We worked the emergent vegetation which looked perfect for the Horny Toad. Herman got his 2nd keeper here but that was all we got on two passes.
We went somewhere to the North and I lost a Fluke to a Pike.
From there we went back to our starting spot and I started catching some dink bass on the Fluke. There was a 13"-14"keeper up on a bed but I could not get it to go. We then pulled out a little deeper and I got my 2nd keeper on a Blue/Black Monsoor Swim Jig with Junebug Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw trailer. I got the fish jigging the lure, not swimming it. We fished a cabbage bed without any luck. Before we were off to the North end of the lake Herman made me a sandwich.
We headed to the access bay and fished some emergent vegetation where I got my 3rd keeper. We moved off the emergent veg. and onto a flat with docks. I think I got 2 more keepers on this stretch and Herman got his final keeper of the day.
I am not sure where on the lake we went next but it was a good looking area where there were the remnemnts of a pencil reed bed. We had zero luck in the old reeds, but we really were fishing it wrong with horizontal presentations instead of pitching a jigNpig. We worked out way onto a weed flat and I broke a fish off at the knot, so it may not have been a pike.
Next we headed to the best looking water of the day. It is a bay where emergent vegetation lines water with some depth leading to a weed flat with rice and pads. We worked the sweet looking emergent vegetation but only drew fish in one spot. I got my limit fish on the Fluke and Herman caught two shorts. Eventually we got to the flat which had wind blowing in on it and I switched to the Blue swim jig. I got 2 fish to cull and missed one real good fish. We worked our way off the flat to where there was an old ugly orange runabout that had been half sunk in the previous days heavy winds. The motor was fully submerged and the left front of the boat was up on the dock damaging both. The scene was quite a mess.
Time was running short so we ran into the access bay and worked more of the emergent vegetation off which I had got 1 keeper earlier. We got a few dinks on the stretch and I think Herman might of missed a keeper on a jigNpig. At the end of the emergent vegetation there was a pretty good size chunk of wood in the water and I told Herman to try that. He didn't get anything but I noticed a smaller piece of wood quite a bit further in towards shore so I casted my swim jig at it. Sure enough I got my last bass of the day, a fat 12.25" that didn't help me. We worked out way back a little on the emergent vegetation than called it a day.
I caught my 6 Fish limit for 9lbs 8ozs which put me in 16th out of 28 anglers. My big fish was 2lbs 7oz. The winner was our club President with 14lbs15oz and big bass was only 3lbs 8ozs. Herman finished 27th. 20 limits were caught.
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
Fishers of Men Club Beebe Lake 6/2/07
I left for the tournament before 5AM which gave me plenty of time to make it to "Land of Promise" and Beebe Lake by 8am. With the extra time I decided to hit the Crow River outside of St. Michael to see if I could get a little topwater smallie action. I must have hit the rip rap around 6:45 and started working my way down. I thought I got a hit from something small and kept right on going. A little while later I did get a hit from an 8" smallie that managed to get the whole back treble in it's mouth. Without pliars it was tough to get out, but I did, hopefully with no damage done to the fish. A little ways farther down I got a harder hit and the fight was on. The fish got caught up in some debree, but it did not come off. As it turns out the fish was hooked on the front of the dorsal fin. Once again this was a pain to get out without pliars, but I managed to do it and release the fish. Not a bad start to the day, two smallies on the Clown Frenzy Popper.
My 5th fish of the day. Was 15" or 16"
My limit fish and last bass of the day. I think it went 16.5" and tied for my big fish.
Partner Wayne Jacobson staves off the skunk with a 15.5"=2.3lb Keeper.
Thompson scores a Beebe Lake Toad. 20"=5lbs
Mike with a chuncky 18.5=3.9lbs.
My 5th fish of the day. Was 15" or 16"
My limit fish and last bass of the day. I think it went 16.5" and tied for my big fish.
Partner Wayne Jacobson staves off the skunk with a 15.5"=2.3lb Keeper.
Thompson scores a Beebe Lake Toad. 20"=5lbs
Mike with a chuncky 18.5=3.9lbs.The Story: The scheduled start of the tournament was 9am but we got started a little late. The weather went from fairly sunny to increasing clouds. The wind was probably 5-10mph out of the south. I think we had 7 boats with 13 participants. The lake was bursting at the seems with Curly Leaf Pond Weed. I only found millfoil in "telephone pole bay."
The day started quite slow for Wayne and I. First we hit the whole Eastern and Southern Shore of the big island hitting both the inside and outside weed edge. Not a sign of a fish. So then we tried around the reed Islands, I did get something, probably a small pike, to slash at my Zoom Horny Toad. From the reed Islands we progressed to the SW side of the lake just below the Southern notch/bay. While working that weedline we ran into Mike Cummins who told us there were lots of bass that were not biting on the inside weedline in the NE bay by "Land of Promise." After working down the SW weedline quite a ways we elected to pull up and hit the NE bay.
Finally there were signs of life. The inside weedline was full of sunfish and the occasional bass. I switched to a Senko knock off and tried to hit the holes in the weeds and around the docks. I was seeing an occasional bass but wasn't getting anything. I started throwing the white Zoom Horny Toad and got a blow up and caught a 15" largemouth from a hole in the weeds. We kept working our way around the inside weedline and I got another fish on the white Horny Toad. I had a couple of fish either boil on the toad or follow it to the boat. When we got to the Land of Promise East dock, Wayne decided to take a trip to Mcdonald's to get us some lunch. I threw some casts with the Horny Toad off the dock but didn't get anything. I then switched to a purple Frenzy Popper and was rewarded when a 16.5" bass annihilated it. This bass was barely hooked but I managed to fight it through the weeds and land it. After a while Wayne came back with some snack wraps for me to snack on.
We elected to go back and re-trace our steps in the NE bay. I set Wayne up with a Horny Toad. In the general area where I got my 1st fish I had a good take, but I missed it. This tried to hit through the matted weeds and I didn't give it long enough to take the bait down. We kept working our way W and I started mixing in the Frenzy Popper as the weedline would allow. After throwing it for quite a bit and almost giving up on it, I got a hit and landed my 4th bass of the day. We ended up giving the NE bay one more run through but didn't garner any fish.
We then headed to the North Point of the Island and worked our way down the Western side this time. The west side was full of activity and I saw a really nice bass and a few small one's but we just couldn't get anything to go. With about an hour to go we hit the "telephone pole bay." As we worked our way toward the telephone pole in the water I got a hit and missed it. Shortly after that Wayne had a solid strike on the Horny Toad but missed it. A little bit later I got a good blow up on the Horny Toad and landed my 5th fish (pictured). Just a little ways farther down as we were exiting the telephone pole area, I got another blow up and landed my second 16.5" fish (pictured). That fish was my limit fish. We worked our way out of the telephone pole bay onto the sunkin penninsula where I had a good blow up but missed it. Shortly after that Wayne got a 15.5" bass off of the outside weedline of the sunken penninsula. That was to be our last fish of the day and it wasn't long till we had to be in anyways.
When we got to the Western dock at land of Promise everyone was waiting. It had been a rough day on most boats with most of the anglers bringing in Skunks as far as I can tell. Before the weights were calculated I found out Cyberfish jacked a 20incher (pictured) and I knew it was over. Mike ended up winning with 6fish for 19.6lbs. I took 2nd with 14.2lbs. Mike Cummins had 6 fish for 10.4 lbs and 3rd. Wayne's lone fish was good enough for 4th place.
As it turns out Mike got 2 fish in the last half hour including the 20inch Toad. I thought that Mike would have caught the snot out of them, but he only got 6 keepers, but they were all nice fish.
Mike and I headed to Angeno's in Maple Grove after the Tournament for some Pizza. Yum Yum. It stormed something fierce while we were at Angeno's.
A big thanks to my partner Wayne Jacobson for turning us on to Land of Promise and for sharing his day in the boat with me.
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Fishers of Men Mille Lacs 02
This report is an old Basspastor/Annonymous post from FishingMinnesota.com. The tournament was a huge dissappointment, except for the fact that I got back a big tackle bag that blew out of the boat. We had a great area on Mille Lacs all to ourselves yet couldn't convert it into a high finish.
On July 6th
Fishers of Men Mn Division 15boats?
Mille Lacs Partly Cly to clear SE 5-15MPH
I had prefished for this tournament on three separate occasions. All 3 days I located largemouth. Smallies With the 21" minimum and limit of 1 made a limit of largemouth the better gamble.
Size in prefishing was generally 13-16" with a couple in the 3 and 4lb range. I found them in boat channels and heavy cover area's especially if there were multiple types in an area. (reeds, bulrushes, cabbage, pads, etc.) I was fishing the S to SE side of the lake. 1-7ft of water
I was very confident going into tournament day that we would catch fish. The only question is whether we would get some bigger ones. We didn't land any. We dropped several fish. Actually it was mostly my partner as that his gear was probably not quite heavy enough.
We had a good weedless frog/ buzzbait bite in the morning. Fish were very much related to the outside edges early. Unfortunatly we did not work from outside to inside and only figured out that's where they were about the time the sun started getting higher pushing them back in.
We took a short run to some new water across the way that I had not scouted It looked good but we came up with nothing. We went back to the area that obviously was holding quite a few fish. No hits on frogs so we switched to jignpigs. Managed to cull a couple more and catch a few more that went right back. In the last hour we went despiration Smallie fishing. No luck. We proobably caught 14 to 20 fish that measured, no dinks.
I know we had 10lb's something but am still not sure of our exact place.
Winners;
Scott Bonnema & Paul Newman 17.6lbs
Apparently mostly on jigs
Big Fish was 4.94
for more on this tournament see mnfom.com
Ps You don't have to go into as much detail. But include Lake, date, #0f boats something about conditions and what you did and placed.
On July 6th
Fishers of Men Mn Division 15boats?
Mille Lacs Partly Cly to clear SE 5-15MPH
I had prefished for this tournament on three separate occasions. All 3 days I located largemouth. Smallies With the 21" minimum and limit of 1 made a limit of largemouth the better gamble.
Size in prefishing was generally 13-16" with a couple in the 3 and 4lb range. I found them in boat channels and heavy cover area's especially if there were multiple types in an area. (reeds, bulrushes, cabbage, pads, etc.) I was fishing the S to SE side of the lake. 1-7ft of water
I was very confident going into tournament day that we would catch fish. The only question is whether we would get some bigger ones. We didn't land any. We dropped several fish. Actually it was mostly my partner as that his gear was probably not quite heavy enough.
We had a good weedless frog/ buzzbait bite in the morning. Fish were very much related to the outside edges early. Unfortunatly we did not work from outside to inside and only figured out that's where they were about the time the sun started getting higher pushing them back in.
We took a short run to some new water across the way that I had not scouted It looked good but we came up with nothing. We went back to the area that obviously was holding quite a few fish. No hits on frogs so we switched to jignpigs. Managed to cull a couple more and catch a few more that went right back. In the last hour we went despiration Smallie fishing. No luck. We proobably caught 14 to 20 fish that measured, no dinks.
I know we had 10lb's something but am still not sure of our exact place.
Winners;
Scott Bonnema & Paul Newman 17.6lbs
Apparently mostly on jigs
Big Fish was 4.94
for more on this tournament see mnfom.com
Ps You don't have to go into as much detail. But include Lake, date, #0f boats something about conditions and what you did and placed.
Thursday, June 08, 2006
Pre-Fish Lobster
It was supposed to go like this:
I would check 2 spots bada bing bada bang and that would be that, I'd win the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to plan.
The Lobster Lake of June 8th 2006 is much different than the Lobster Lake of June 25th 2005. As I pulled into my hot spot of last year I immediately noticed the scum was gone, it was thick last year. I was almost in disbelief as no fish were holding in this spot. Last year I caught my limit there in 5 minutes and was able to go to the well several times throughout the day. I checked back later in the day and pike had taken up residence. I'm writing this spot off.
Things were still OK because spot #2 has the potential to be phenomenal. I made my way in to the spot and instead of bass there was carp. Beyond the carp I did get a few pick ups but I don't think it's gonna have the quantity or quality that I thought it might. What a disappointment!
Update:
I didn't do my preparation very well and was short crankbaits and plastics that would have helped me develop back up patterns and areas. The lake is more stained than it was last year and there seems to be a whole lot less weeds. Last year in my pre-fish day I caught a lot more fish and better quality than what I found today. I saw a gazillion sunfish, carp and small bass. As it stands right now I think getting 10lbs will be a challenge. Getting mentally prepared for this one is going to be a challenge.
Update: I had 11lbs-13ozs and finished 5th.
I would check 2 spots bada bing bada bang and that would be that, I'd win the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to plan.
The Lobster Lake of June 8th 2006 is much different than the Lobster Lake of June 25th 2005. As I pulled into my hot spot of last year I immediately noticed the scum was gone, it was thick last year. I was almost in disbelief as no fish were holding in this spot. Last year I caught my limit there in 5 minutes and was able to go to the well several times throughout the day. I checked back later in the day and pike had taken up residence. I'm writing this spot off.
Things were still OK because spot #2 has the potential to be phenomenal. I made my way in to the spot and instead of bass there was carp. Beyond the carp I did get a few pick ups but I don't think it's gonna have the quantity or quality that I thought it might. What a disappointment!
Update:
I didn't do my preparation very well and was short crankbaits and plastics that would have helped me develop back up patterns and areas. The lake is more stained than it was last year and there seems to be a whole lot less weeds. Last year in my pre-fish day I caught a lot more fish and better quality than what I found today. I saw a gazillion sunfish, carp and small bass. As it stands right now I think getting 10lbs will be a challenge. Getting mentally prepared for this one is going to be a challenge.
Update: I had 11lbs-13ozs and finished 5th.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
BP's 2006 Tournament Outlook Part 1
Today was the day Team Bass started it's tournament season at the Apple River Flowage. I elected not to fish the tournament due to gas costs along with WI upping their Non-Resident license cost to $50. Also subsequent to my decision, was the little matter of being DQed for this tournament for my fun fishing at the guy/gal tournament last year. Anyway here is how the season shakes out.
Schedule-
May 20 Team Bass Apple River Flowage
June 3rd Team Bass Lake Osakis
June 10th Team Bass Lobster Lake
June 12-15 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Longville Area Lakes
June 17th Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Buffalo
June 19-22 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Pine City Area Lakes
June 24th Team Bass Jr. Angler Upper Mississippi
June 26-29 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Pine City Area Lakes
July 3-6 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Longville Area Lakes
July 8 Team Bass Horseshoe Chain 1
July 10-13 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Longville Area Lakes
July 22 Team Bass Guy/Gal Upper Mississippi
July 29 Team Bass North and South Center
August 5th Team Bass East & West Rush
August 12 Hillman Lions Platte Sullivan Pike Tournament
August 19th Team Bass Horseshoe Chain 2
August 26th Team Bass Sauk Lake
Sept. 16th Team Bass Big Marine
Sept 23&24 Team Bass Tournament of Champions
Sept. 29&30?? Fishers of Men Club Fall Outing Tournaments and Fally Walleye.
Oct. 7th Team Bass Super Stars (for Top 10 in pts regular season)
Man that's a lot of tournaments.
GEM Tournaments Outlook: Last year Mitch Norman's boat was on fire. He won the lions Share of the Pepsi Challenge Tournaments for his own glory and the kids. This is gonna be my summer I can feel it.
Fishers of Men Tournaments Outlook: If I catch any fish I will be happy. I will look to dominate at the Fall outing.
Lions Pike Tournament Outlook: Looking to improve on last years finish in the money.
Team Bass Tournament Outlook:
I am looking to step up my game from 2005 where my results were usually less than satisfactory. In 2004 I accumulated 272 Pts in my Best 6 Tournaments for an Average 6th place finish per tournament which placed me tied for 11th out of 59 overall; in 2005 I dropped to 265 Pts (Avg 7th Place Finish) for a 14th Place Finish out of 48 overall. Two of the Teams that placed in front of me in 2005 will not be fishing Team Bass this summer and over all there will probably be a couple less teams with maybe a new team or two in the mix. The Team Bass roster for 2006 only has 40 names on it, which means there will probably be about 15-16 boats per tournament instead of around 20. The opportunity is definitely there.
Apparently, the Roster was not finalized so my intel was bad. One of the teams that finished in front of me is out and one is half in and another quality team that I thought was out is in. The roster has 43 people on it which mean 17-19 boats per tournament.
The big question: What do I need to do to improve in 2006?
I want to shoot for 278 Pts in my best 6 tournaments which would averaging slightly better than a 5th-place average place per tournament. To get there I think I need to do these 4 things.
1. Catch Limits- Got to start with the basics and catching a limit is the most basic component of being successful. Last year I failed to get limits at Bone, North South Center, Platte/Sullivan and both days of the TOC. One key to keeping a low average place per tournament is limiting the depth of the basement you must dig yourself out of. In Team Bass we get 3 throw away's; with the DNF at Apple River I am now down to 2. Catching Limits will hopefully allow me to stay away from the basement.
2. Catch Kickers- Last year I only had 1 fish at 4lbs and few fish in the 3lb class. Kickers are the way to lift the Fish Weight Average (FWA) and the FWA is the way to placing high. Not to mention the fact that there is cash for 1st and 2nd place Big Bass. I need to catch some big bass and have that mind set each and every time out.
3. Pre-fish smart- Prefishing in 2005 did me very little favors and hurt me in some cases. I need to turn that around. I probably will not get to pre-fish every tournament but when I do I've got to make it count.
4. Keep my focus- This has many dimensions. Tournament Fishing is very much a mental game and keeping yourself mentally focused is huge. Proper rest, Big Fish mindset, concentration on the task, decisive decision making, Pre-fish scouting with a purpose, endurance for the long haul, dealing with weather conditions, dealing with adversity and more are a part of keeping focus. If I want to do well I will need better focus than I had in 2005.
Part 2 will be a Pre-view of the Team Bass Lakes
Schedule-
May 20 Team Bass Apple River Flowage
June 3rd Team Bass Lake Osakis
June 10th Team Bass Lobster Lake
June 12-15 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Longville Area Lakes
June 17th Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Buffalo
June 19-22 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Pine City Area Lakes
June 24th Team Bass Jr. Angler Upper Mississippi
June 26-29 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Pine City Area Lakes
July 3-6 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Longville Area Lakes
July 8 Team Bass Horseshoe Chain 1
July 10-13 GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournaments Longville Area Lakes
July 22 Team Bass Guy/Gal Upper Mississippi
July 29 Team Bass North and South Center
August 5th Team Bass East & West Rush
August 12 Hillman Lions Platte Sullivan Pike Tournament
August 19th Team Bass Horseshoe Chain 2
August 26th Team Bass Sauk Lake
Sept. 16th Team Bass Big Marine
Sept 23&24 Team Bass Tournament of Champions
Sept. 29&30?? Fishers of Men Club Fall Outing Tournaments and Fally Walleye.
Oct. 7th Team Bass Super Stars (for Top 10 in pts regular season)
Man that's a lot of tournaments.
GEM Tournaments Outlook: Last year Mitch Norman's boat was on fire. He won the lions Share of the Pepsi Challenge Tournaments for his own glory and the kids. This is gonna be my summer I can feel it.
Fishers of Men Tournaments Outlook: If I catch any fish I will be happy. I will look to dominate at the Fall outing.
Lions Pike Tournament Outlook: Looking to improve on last years finish in the money.
Team Bass Tournament Outlook:
I am looking to step up my game from 2005 where my results were usually less than satisfactory. In 2004 I accumulated 272 Pts in my Best 6 Tournaments for an Average 6th place finish per tournament which placed me tied for 11th out of 59 overall; in 2005 I dropped to 265 Pts (Avg 7th Place Finish) for a 14th Place Finish out of 48 overall. Two of the Teams that placed in front of me in 2005 will not be fishing Team Bass this summer and over all there will probably be a couple less teams with maybe a new team or two in the mix. The Team Bass roster for 2006 only has 40 names on it, which means there will probably be about 15-16 boats per tournament instead of around 20. The opportunity is definitely there.
Apparently, the Roster was not finalized so my intel was bad. One of the teams that finished in front of me is out and one is half in and another quality team that I thought was out is in. The roster has 43 people on it which mean 17-19 boats per tournament.
The big question: What do I need to do to improve in 2006?
I want to shoot for 278 Pts in my best 6 tournaments which would averaging slightly better than a 5th-place average place per tournament. To get there I think I need to do these 4 things.
1. Catch Limits- Got to start with the basics and catching a limit is the most basic component of being successful. Last year I failed to get limits at Bone, North South Center, Platte/Sullivan and both days of the TOC. One key to keeping a low average place per tournament is limiting the depth of the basement you must dig yourself out of. In Team Bass we get 3 throw away's; with the DNF at Apple River I am now down to 2. Catching Limits will hopefully allow me to stay away from the basement.
2. Catch Kickers- Last year I only had 1 fish at 4lbs and few fish in the 3lb class. Kickers are the way to lift the Fish Weight Average (FWA) and the FWA is the way to placing high. Not to mention the fact that there is cash for 1st and 2nd place Big Bass. I need to catch some big bass and have that mind set each and every time out.
3. Pre-fish smart- Prefishing in 2005 did me very little favors and hurt me in some cases. I need to turn that around. I probably will not get to pre-fish every tournament but when I do I've got to make it count.
4. Keep my focus- This has many dimensions. Tournament Fishing is very much a mental game and keeping yourself mentally focused is huge. Proper rest, Big Fish mindset, concentration on the task, decisive decision making, Pre-fish scouting with a purpose, endurance for the long haul, dealing with weather conditions, dealing with adversity and more are a part of keeping focus. If I want to do well I will need better focus than I had in 2005.
Part 2 will be a Pre-view of the Team Bass Lakes
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Team Bass 2005 Tournament of Champions Sept. 24-25 2005
The Tournament of Champions lakes are kept secret until the day before the tournament, thus if you want to pre-fish you either have to hit a lot of lakes or guess. I was thinking about hitting Horseshoe and Sauk in addition to Platte/Sullivan but I didn't do either, I ended up regretting my sloth.
Saturday September 24th Sauk Lake
Conditions: It was overcast all day with a slight wind out of the south. Temps were probably in low to mid 60's.
I basically started this tournament on Sauk the way I started the tournament in August. I hit the same shoreline with a fluke. No luck. I then proceeded to hit some wood with jigs, no luck. Then some pads with the jig, no luck. Then weeds and pads, no luck except a bunch of pike on a slow rolled spinnerbait. I tried docks no luck except a couple more pike, one of which broke off a swim jig. Every once and a while I would bring out the storm swim bait trying to catch a monster. It just was not my day.
Finally in the last hour I missed a good fish 3-4lbfish and caught a 2lber. So basically my TOC was over on Day 1.
Saturday September 25th Knife Lake
Conditions: It was cloudy and cool turning into a light breeze and steady rain.
As that I was basically eliminated from the running, I was fishing for big fish. My heart was not in it. I did catch several fish including a smallie in the rice. The rain got to me so I gave up and released my fish. I went back to the car and listened to the Vikings game while waiting for the weigh in.
Last Place both days.
Saturday September 24th Sauk Lake
Conditions: It was overcast all day with a slight wind out of the south. Temps were probably in low to mid 60's.
I basically started this tournament on Sauk the way I started the tournament in August. I hit the same shoreline with a fluke. No luck. I then proceeded to hit some wood with jigs, no luck. Then some pads with the jig, no luck. Then weeds and pads, no luck except a bunch of pike on a slow rolled spinnerbait. I tried docks no luck except a couple more pike, one of which broke off a swim jig. Every once and a while I would bring out the storm swim bait trying to catch a monster. It just was not my day.
Finally in the last hour I missed a good fish 3-4lbfish and caught a 2lber. So basically my TOC was over on Day 1.
Saturday September 25th Knife Lake
Conditions: It was cloudy and cool turning into a light breeze and steady rain.
As that I was basically eliminated from the running, I was fishing for big fish. My heart was not in it. I did catch several fish including a smallie in the rice. The rain got to me so I gave up and released my fish. I went back to the car and listened to the Vikings game while waiting for the weigh in.
Last Place both days.
Saturday, September 10, 2005
Team Bass Platte/Sullivan Sept.10 2005
Report Done: 5/25/06
I'm not going to report except to say that I quit early because I was so frustrated. It was windy out of the south, my trolling motor was giving me trouble and I was on nothing on my home lake. Can you say Disaster!
Update: Now that time has passed 1 fish for 2lbs 20zs for 17th Place out of 20 boats.
Next Tournament: TOC
I'm not going to report except to say that I quit early because I was so frustrated. It was windy out of the south, my trolling motor was giving me trouble and I was on nothing on my home lake. Can you say Disaster!
Update: Now that time has passed 1 fish for 2lbs 20zs for 17th Place out of 20 boats.
Next Tournament: TOC
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Team Bass Knife Lake August 27th 2005
Report done 5/25/06
Pre-fish: I don't think I pre-fished this one due to having a GEM camp.
Tournament Day Conditions: Morning it was semi cloudy calm around 70. Afternoon the winds picked up out of the west and it was near 80 with sun then thickening cloud cover.
Started in the same spot as last year which is basically right across the lake on the western shore from the blast off point. I think I got one small one in the box right away and missed a good hit as I worked the shore south. I only went so far then headed back north eventually running along the Island as I was working that shore some old timer and his wife passed by me and parked up the shore line about 70 yards and out about a good casts distance. I kept working the shore line and when I got down by this guy he starts talking about how I have no manners even though it was he who parked right in my path but far enough out for there to be plenty of room for me to continue working the shore line. I was like "whatever!" I worked around the North Side of the Island and got nothing into the weeds.
Another tournament boat was just working it's way around a mini-point on to the run of docks just North of the Island. I decided I would hit the first dock and then I would blast out. I immediately got hit by a solid 17"er. I then caught two more small keepers out from that dock. I worked to the next dock and got another solid 16"keeper. The other boat and I passed each other. They were pitching jigs and I was throwing a topwater Zoom Horney Toad. They caught fish behind me and I caught fish behind them with me getting the better of it with a solid 18"er and I think my first cull out. I worked up and back on the run of docks getting one or two that didn't help me.
I then ran to the east shore farther North on the lake. There was a solid algea bloom in this area but it didn't matter because immediately I got another keeper from under a dock. I then proceeded to miss a good hit and then another. I went until the algea just got too thick and headed North a little farther than where I started before. I missed a good hit from a 3 to 4lb fish. That was several quality chances in a row gone. The wind started coming up and the eastern shore turned tough.
I then headed to the river inlet and got nothing. I went under the bridge and tried the far south end of the lake. I missed another solid blow up. The wind was coming in good now. I worked my way north with no luck. I then headed to the run of docks were I had done so well and got 1 more slight cull up. I then headed to the weigh in knowing I had blown a shot for a pretty good bag with missed fish. As it turns out I would probably have had a tough time breaking into the top 4 which all had 18lb bags.
I ended up in 7th place with a 13lb 6oz bag
Stats:Knife
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.23lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 13.37lbs
Mistakes: I was worn out from the week of camp and I struggled to keep my focus. I outright missed fish because I didn't have my A or even B or C game. For the last few hours on this one I was a hurting unit.
After Thoughts: This tournament was very hard on me. I was just wiped out. At the end of the day I went back to the launch and took a nap on the deck of the boat before loading up the boat and going home. This one pretty much sealed my fate into not being able to break into the top 10 for the year but I kind of feel fortunate to have caught what I did. After all I got my best fish behind one of the clubs top boats and I did much better than last year.
Next Touranment: Platte/Sullivan
Pre-fish: I don't think I pre-fished this one due to having a GEM camp.
Tournament Day Conditions: Morning it was semi cloudy calm around 70. Afternoon the winds picked up out of the west and it was near 80 with sun then thickening cloud cover.
Started in the same spot as last year which is basically right across the lake on the western shore from the blast off point. I think I got one small one in the box right away and missed a good hit as I worked the shore south. I only went so far then headed back north eventually running along the Island as I was working that shore some old timer and his wife passed by me and parked up the shore line about 70 yards and out about a good casts distance. I kept working the shore line and when I got down by this guy he starts talking about how I have no manners even though it was he who parked right in my path but far enough out for there to be plenty of room for me to continue working the shore line. I was like "whatever!" I worked around the North Side of the Island and got nothing into the weeds.
Another tournament boat was just working it's way around a mini-point on to the run of docks just North of the Island. I decided I would hit the first dock and then I would blast out. I immediately got hit by a solid 17"er. I then caught two more small keepers out from that dock. I worked to the next dock and got another solid 16"keeper. The other boat and I passed each other. They were pitching jigs and I was throwing a topwater Zoom Horney Toad. They caught fish behind me and I caught fish behind them with me getting the better of it with a solid 18"er and I think my first cull out. I worked up and back on the run of docks getting one or two that didn't help me.
I then ran to the east shore farther North on the lake. There was a solid algea bloom in this area but it didn't matter because immediately I got another keeper from under a dock. I then proceeded to miss a good hit and then another. I went until the algea just got too thick and headed North a little farther than where I started before. I missed a good hit from a 3 to 4lb fish. That was several quality chances in a row gone. The wind started coming up and the eastern shore turned tough.
I then headed to the river inlet and got nothing. I went under the bridge and tried the far south end of the lake. I missed another solid blow up. The wind was coming in good now. I worked my way north with no luck. I then headed to the run of docks were I had done so well and got 1 more slight cull up. I then headed to the weigh in knowing I had blown a shot for a pretty good bag with missed fish. As it turns out I would probably have had a tough time breaking into the top 4 which all had 18lb bags.
I ended up in 7th place with a 13lb 6oz bag
Stats:Knife
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.23lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 13.37lbs
Mistakes: I was worn out from the week of camp and I struggled to keep my focus. I outright missed fish because I didn't have my A or even B or C game. For the last few hours on this one I was a hurting unit.
After Thoughts: This tournament was very hard on me. I was just wiped out. At the end of the day I went back to the launch and took a nap on the deck of the boat before loading up the boat and going home. This one pretty much sealed my fate into not being able to break into the top 10 for the year but I kind of feel fortunate to have caught what I did. After all I got my best fish behind one of the clubs top boats and I did much better than last year.
Next Touranment: Platte/Sullivan
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Team Bass Horseshoe 2 August 20,2005
Report done 5/10/06
Pre-fish: I don't believe I pre-fished for this tournament.
Tournament Day Conditions: Clear to hazy sun, NW wind at 15 mph, Air temp 80, Water temp lower 70's
Tournament Day: It was one of those calm warm and humid tournament mornings. As I was running to "the starting point" I noticed panfish dimpling the surface and I decided to start on the wooded portion of "the starting point". There was a school sitting there on the wood and I think I must have boated 4 fish plus one solid miss and 1 or 2 more misses where I'm not sure of the quality of the fish. I broke my jig off at one point and went scrounging around and got it back. I headed around the point nothing, then I fished fast all the way down to Tracy's Channel getting nothing.
Tah Dah, there was fish in "Tracy's Channel" this time and I filled my limit with the Zoom Horny Toad. I had a blow up miss on the toad, so I pitched back in with the jig. WHACK! I set the hook into a 5lber, Dogfish! Ohh well. I think I caught a couple of other bass, maybe culling up a little.
I then headed over to the other cuts, nothing around to and past "Break off Point". Into the next point I got smacked on that one dock by the biggest bass of the day (Zoom Horny Toad). I think I got a couple of other fish in this cut that may or may not have slightly culled. I worked into the next cut without any success.
I am pretty sure it was getting to be late in the day at this point. I did try some docks on the way to "Kicker Break off Cut" where I think I may have gotten a small cull up. Then to the weigh in.
My bag was 13lbs14ozs, my biggest Horseshoe Bag yet, which was good enough for my best Horseshoe finish so far 6th Place.
After the tournament was over I stayed around and fished some stuff down the river with mixed success.
Stats:
Horseshoe 2
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.31lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 13.87lbs
Mistakes: I had a bad pitch or two that ended up costing me fish. I think one of those lost fish was a good one of at least 3lbs.
After Thoughts: I really enjoy fishing the chain and it's hard to complain with my best performance on the Shoe so far. I just can't seem to find or land the kicker fish that will vault me into the money.
Next Tournament: Knife Lake
Pre-fish: I don't believe I pre-fished for this tournament.
Tournament Day Conditions: Clear to hazy sun, NW wind at 15 mph, Air temp 80, Water temp lower 70's
Tournament Day: It was one of those calm warm and humid tournament mornings. As I was running to "the starting point" I noticed panfish dimpling the surface and I decided to start on the wooded portion of "the starting point". There was a school sitting there on the wood and I think I must have boated 4 fish plus one solid miss and 1 or 2 more misses where I'm not sure of the quality of the fish. I broke my jig off at one point and went scrounging around and got it back. I headed around the point nothing, then I fished fast all the way down to Tracy's Channel getting nothing.
Tah Dah, there was fish in "Tracy's Channel" this time and I filled my limit with the Zoom Horny Toad. I had a blow up miss on the toad, so I pitched back in with the jig. WHACK! I set the hook into a 5lber, Dogfish! Ohh well. I think I caught a couple of other bass, maybe culling up a little.
I then headed over to the other cuts, nothing around to and past "Break off Point". Into the next point I got smacked on that one dock by the biggest bass of the day (Zoom Horny Toad). I think I got a couple of other fish in this cut that may or may not have slightly culled. I worked into the next cut without any success.
I am pretty sure it was getting to be late in the day at this point. I did try some docks on the way to "Kicker Break off Cut" where I think I may have gotten a small cull up. Then to the weigh in.
My bag was 13lbs14ozs, my biggest Horseshoe Bag yet, which was good enough for my best Horseshoe finish so far 6th Place.
After the tournament was over I stayed around and fished some stuff down the river with mixed success.
Stats:
Horseshoe 2
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.31lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 13.87lbs
Mistakes: I had a bad pitch or two that ended up costing me fish. I think one of those lost fish was a good one of at least 3lbs.
After Thoughts: I really enjoy fishing the chain and it's hard to complain with my best performance on the Shoe so far. I just can't seem to find or land the kicker fish that will vault me into the money.
Next Tournament: Knife Lake
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Team Bass @Sauk Lake August 6,2005
Report Done: 5/8/2006
Pre-Fish: Went into this one lake unseen.
About Sauk Lake: This was an all new lake for me and the Team Bass Trail. Coming in Sauk Lake had a reputation for tough fishing, great looking water and big fish; would that hold true or would we find something else?
Sauk is basically a river/lake like the Horseshoe chain. The lake had a pretty good algae bloom and thus stained water.
Tournament Day: Sight unseen my goal was to get a limit and just hope it was big enough or that there was a kicker in there. My basic strategy was to put the trolling motor down and cover water until I figured something out.
Conditions: Warm, the morning with a slight overcast clearing in the afternoon. Wind out of the south 5 to 10mph.
I went under the bridge heading west put my self on the calm south shore and started fishing with a Bubble Gum Zoom Super Fluke. It didn't take long and I landed my first keeper, just under 2lbs. A little farther down I landed another then another and then I missed a solid 3-4lb fish on a poor hookset. These fish were all shallow related to wood. I went through I fairly long dry spell before I caught one and then missed a good fish on the fluke in a tangle of wood. I worked that piece of cover over pretty good and eventually caught that fish I missed on a jig. I then went through another long dry spell. I moved East of the bridge on the North side and started fishing slop with a frog and a jig.
The limit fish was proving elusive as I missed a few blow ups and bites on the jig. I didn't get frustrated, I got mad. With about 10 minutes left I nabbed a good 2lber on the Zoom Horny Toad. I felt really good at that point and headed in.
Stats:
For Sauk Lake
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.11lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 12.69
12lbs 11ozs for 7th Place
After Thoughts: It's a good thing I got that limit fish or I would have been highly frustrated. I must have lost at least 5 bass before I finally filled out. Overall I felt good about getting 7th place as it could have been far worse. I was a ways out of the money but plenty close to falling far had I not caught that last fish.
I don't know if pre-fishing would have helped or hurt me in this one as that I feel I had a fairly productive day. I don't think the fishery has an overwhelming abundance of fish to begin with. Having that attitude that it might be tough helped me to keep my head in the game. My early success was a big bonus.
Mistakes: Missed fish just killed me in this one.
Final Thought: The big fish and big stringers just didn't show up, the tournament was won by wood pitching jigs.
Next Tournament: Horseshoe 2
Pre-Fish: Went into this one lake unseen.
About Sauk Lake: This was an all new lake for me and the Team Bass Trail. Coming in Sauk Lake had a reputation for tough fishing, great looking water and big fish; would that hold true or would we find something else?
Sauk is basically a river/lake like the Horseshoe chain. The lake had a pretty good algae bloom and thus stained water.
Tournament Day: Sight unseen my goal was to get a limit and just hope it was big enough or that there was a kicker in there. My basic strategy was to put the trolling motor down and cover water until I figured something out.
Conditions: Warm, the morning with a slight overcast clearing in the afternoon. Wind out of the south 5 to 10mph.
I went under the bridge heading west put my self on the calm south shore and started fishing with a Bubble Gum Zoom Super Fluke. It didn't take long and I landed my first keeper, just under 2lbs. A little farther down I landed another then another and then I missed a solid 3-4lb fish on a poor hookset. These fish were all shallow related to wood. I went through I fairly long dry spell before I caught one and then missed a good fish on the fluke in a tangle of wood. I worked that piece of cover over pretty good and eventually caught that fish I missed on a jig. I then went through another long dry spell. I moved East of the bridge on the North side and started fishing slop with a frog and a jig.
The limit fish was proving elusive as I missed a few blow ups and bites on the jig. I didn't get frustrated, I got mad. With about 10 minutes left I nabbed a good 2lber on the Zoom Horny Toad. I felt really good at that point and headed in.
Stats:
For Sauk Lake
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.11lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 12.69
12lbs 11ozs for 7th Place
After Thoughts: It's a good thing I got that limit fish or I would have been highly frustrated. I must have lost at least 5 bass before I finally filled out. Overall I felt good about getting 7th place as it could have been far worse. I was a ways out of the money but plenty close to falling far had I not caught that last fish.
I don't know if pre-fishing would have helped or hurt me in this one as that I feel I had a fairly productive day. I don't think the fishery has an overwhelming abundance of fish to begin with. Having that attitude that it might be tough helped me to keep my head in the game. My early success was a big bonus.
Mistakes: Missed fish just killed me in this one.
Final Thought: The big fish and big stringers just didn't show up, the tournament was won by wood pitching jigs.
Next Tournament: Horseshoe 2
Saturday, July 30, 2005
Team Bass @N.& S.Center July 30, 2005
As that this report is written on 5/8/06 I don't remember much about this forgettable tournament.
Pre-fish: The plan was to hit South Center early to mid morning than pre-fish with Dave Smiddle in the later afternoon. I didn't get to the lake until after 5PM and Smiddle got off early and had been fishing out of his boat for most of the afternoon. He took me around to show me his spots then we fished for a little while before he had to leave. I then proceeded to look for some stuff on my own catching a few quality fish. I stayed over night at the access and did pre-fishing for a second day on South Center. I tried all sorts of things and caught fish here and there with nothing great but enough for a good feeling heading into the tournament as I headed home.
Tournament Day: Since the culvert between the two lakes was under construction we had the option of fishing either lake with two separate weigh ins. Naturally I chose South Center as that is where my pre-fishing was concentrated.
Conditions: The weather was partly sunny to overcast with a bit of a southern breeze.
Blast off came and I headed to my starting area, nothing. Secondary spot nothing, Third spot nothing, Fourth area nothing. Tried some docks, nothing. Tried some slop, nothing. It was now late morning and I had nothing to show for it. I then went inside a shallow bay to an isolated spot where I thought I would be able to get at least my first keeper, nothing. Finally some time after noon I got my first keeper in some pads, I worked the area and got a second fish and that was it. I did try and work a couple of Smiddles spots with only a bite off and a couple of crappies on a drop shot to show for it.
As if the day wasn't frustrating enough, at the end of the day I got harassed and threatened by a dock owner for fishing to close to his boat and dock. If my cell phone still worked I would have recorded his every word and took the time to turn the guy in. As it turns out he harassed a couple other of our guys.
All and all a second year in a row with a miserable showing at N&S Center. 2 fish for 2lbs15ozs and 19th place out of 22 Teams.
Stats:
For Sylvia/Twin
TLA: .000
LCP: .000
FWA: 1.47lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 2.94lbs
After Thoughts: Can't believe what I caught was all I caught, tough day and I'm embarrassed on a pretty good bass fishery.
Mistakes: I think I was fishing just too fast. Mike Daloia , 8th place, said he caught lots of fish, plus tied for big fish senko fishing docks and pads slowly.
I didn't stay positive and fish to the best of my abilities. At the end of the day I was just frustrated and going through the motions.
Drop shotting: What was I thinking? In that stained water a texas rig should have been the way to go.
Final Thought: It was just one of those days, N&S Center kicked my butt for the second year in a row. Maybe next year.
Next Tournament: Sauk Lake
Pre-fish: The plan was to hit South Center early to mid morning than pre-fish with Dave Smiddle in the later afternoon. I didn't get to the lake until after 5PM and Smiddle got off early and had been fishing out of his boat for most of the afternoon. He took me around to show me his spots then we fished for a little while before he had to leave. I then proceeded to look for some stuff on my own catching a few quality fish. I stayed over night at the access and did pre-fishing for a second day on South Center. I tried all sorts of things and caught fish here and there with nothing great but enough for a good feeling heading into the tournament as I headed home.
Tournament Day: Since the culvert between the two lakes was under construction we had the option of fishing either lake with two separate weigh ins. Naturally I chose South Center as that is where my pre-fishing was concentrated.
Conditions: The weather was partly sunny to overcast with a bit of a southern breeze.
Blast off came and I headed to my starting area, nothing. Secondary spot nothing, Third spot nothing, Fourth area nothing. Tried some docks, nothing. Tried some slop, nothing. It was now late morning and I had nothing to show for it. I then went inside a shallow bay to an isolated spot where I thought I would be able to get at least my first keeper, nothing. Finally some time after noon I got my first keeper in some pads, I worked the area and got a second fish and that was it. I did try and work a couple of Smiddles spots with only a bite off and a couple of crappies on a drop shot to show for it.
As if the day wasn't frustrating enough, at the end of the day I got harassed and threatened by a dock owner for fishing to close to his boat and dock. If my cell phone still worked I would have recorded his every word and took the time to turn the guy in. As it turns out he harassed a couple other of our guys.
All and all a second year in a row with a miserable showing at N&S Center. 2 fish for 2lbs15ozs and 19th place out of 22 Teams.
Stats:
For Sylvia/Twin
TLA: .000
LCP: .000
FWA: 1.47lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 2.94lbs
After Thoughts: Can't believe what I caught was all I caught, tough day and I'm embarrassed on a pretty good bass fishery.
Mistakes: I think I was fishing just too fast. Mike Daloia , 8th place, said he caught lots of fish, plus tied for big fish senko fishing docks and pads slowly.
I didn't stay positive and fish to the best of my abilities. At the end of the day I was just frustrated and going through the motions.
Drop shotting: What was I thinking? In that stained water a texas rig should have been the way to go.
Final Thought: It was just one of those days, N&S Center kicked my butt for the second year in a row. Maybe next year.
Next Tournament: Sauk Lake
Sunday, July 24, 2005
Team Bass Horseshoe Chain-July 9th 2005
Pre-fish: I just could not get my act together even with leaving GEM Camp directly from Black Water Lake. I slept in and then putzed around getting ready. I was not onto "the chain" until 7:30PM, not much for Pre-Fishing time. I headed to a row of docks and got nothing, I then went to my starting area from last year and popped a couple of fish and figured all the stuff I've had success on in the past was good to go. I then went to GPS the entrance to the "river section" and went to a bay I've wanted to try on Horseshoe where I caught 1 fish but that was it. Went back to the landing and read through the New Bassmasters Magazine and then set up the boat for bed.
The boat was not nearly as comfortable as at Lobster. It was too humid and dank under the boat cover and I could not sleep. When I opened the cover mosquitoes were buzzing me. My alarm clock was ahead by about 2 hours and so at 3am I thought it was 5am and I figured I'd just stay up until the tournament started. Man it took a long time for it to get light as I finished off reading the Bassmaster and waited, I even got a bit of sleep in the truck before people started pulling in.
Pre-fish Analysis: Not enough sleep bad, bad, bad! I wished I hadn't come for pre-fishing at all.
Tournament Day:
I made a morning day decision to start at "the starting point" rather than in "Tracy's Channel." I did get one fat 13incher out from under one little tree on a jig but that was it. I made my way down the way to Tracy's Channel getting nothing. A boat was in the Channel and they said nothing was in there and they were not kidding. I didn't even get a bite and there were no carp or sunnies really and that place is normally full of life and worth a limit. I then headed around to "the carp cut" area around to "Break Off Point." I luckily managed to land a good bass on a fluke off a tree on the point even though I was out of position when it hit.
I went into the next cut and got nothing off the entry docks. I went back further into the cut and found a school of fish holding under slop along a retaining wall. I worked the whole area and filled my limit.
Onto the next cut and it's docks where I got nothing. I went to the other side and flipped trees and culled up just a little bit and missed a couple. All the fish seemed to be about 13-14inches which is weak for the Chain. I then headed to "Kicker Missed Cut" and got my last cull fish. Headed to the cut across the way and the day was over. I had my worst Horseshoe bag yet for a Team Bass tournament and a worse bag than on Lobster for goodness sake. Normally I've had a limit with a nice fish pretty early in the day, but it was tough to get bites on this hot and hazy day. I figured I was headed for a dismal finish in the mid to high teens.
I hung out at the weigh in and the weights were way down this year. My bag of 10lbs15ozs was good enough for an 8th Place finish (tie for my best Horseshoe finish last year when I had a couple of more pounds)
Stats:
For Horseshoe
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.82lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 10.94lbs
For Season
TLA: .750
LCP: .826
FWA: 2.21lbs
BBP: .053
TDWA: 10.52lbs
(TLA-Tournament Limit Average, LCP-Limit Catch Percentage, FWA-Fish Weight Average, BBP-Big Bass Percentage, TDWA-Total Daily Weight Average)
After Thoughts: What's with the shoe? All it took to win was 17-1 which is quite low for Team Bass, but the real story is the low average of weights. My 8th Place weight of last year 13-12 was good enough to make the money this year. I guess I am happy with my finish as that it could have been far far worse. I lucked out in that Craig and Roger, the winners at Koronis, were one short of limit when I was 10oz's in front of them.
Mistakes: I could have used more sleep. Fatigue did become a factor for me in that hot weather and the lack of sleep made focusing a conscious struggle. I did amazingly well at keeping my focus but I would say I fished at about 85% of what I would have done rested.
Otherwise I fished alright and nothing comes to mind.
Parting Thoughts: Even though I was worn out I decided I wanted to check out some more of the chain and so I headed out after the tournament. I ran into this guy, who's name I don't recall, who was pre-fishing for the Midwest Sportsman Bass Tournament and he said he just got out but had been pre-fishing a few days during the week. He bragged about how he had and been catching nice fish left and right in his pre-fish and he went on to brag about how great this Midwest Sportsman Trail is and how good their fisherman are and how it was gonna take 20lbs with a 5 bass limit to win next week; He was off by about 5.5lbs and there is no way their top team would have beaten the Team Bass top team if they could have brought in a 6 fish limit. Sure their average weight per fish was maybe a bit better than what Team Bass as a group had, but we were a week closer to Post Spawn and they fished a different day, a day on which Team Bass guys and gals were whacking 20lb stringers on Maple Lake. My guess is that we fished the tougher day.
I guess there is something in fisherman and tournament fisherman in particular that makes us prone to want to brag and be the one's who are catching the most and biggest. The great thing about the end of the tournament day is that "the scale" don't tell very big lies, if it lies at all.
Next Tournament: Team Bass Guy/Gal on Sylvia/Twin.
The boat was not nearly as comfortable as at Lobster. It was too humid and dank under the boat cover and I could not sleep. When I opened the cover mosquitoes were buzzing me. My alarm clock was ahead by about 2 hours and so at 3am I thought it was 5am and I figured I'd just stay up until the tournament started. Man it took a long time for it to get light as I finished off reading the Bassmaster and waited, I even got a bit of sleep in the truck before people started pulling in.
Pre-fish Analysis: Not enough sleep bad, bad, bad! I wished I hadn't come for pre-fishing at all.
Tournament Day:
I made a morning day decision to start at "the starting point" rather than in "Tracy's Channel." I did get one fat 13incher out from under one little tree on a jig but that was it. I made my way down the way to Tracy's Channel getting nothing. A boat was in the Channel and they said nothing was in there and they were not kidding. I didn't even get a bite and there were no carp or sunnies really and that place is normally full of life and worth a limit. I then headed around to "the carp cut" area around to "Break Off Point." I luckily managed to land a good bass on a fluke off a tree on the point even though I was out of position when it hit.
I went into the next cut and got nothing off the entry docks. I went back further into the cut and found a school of fish holding under slop along a retaining wall. I worked the whole area and filled my limit.
Onto the next cut and it's docks where I got nothing. I went to the other side and flipped trees and culled up just a little bit and missed a couple. All the fish seemed to be about 13-14inches which is weak for the Chain. I then headed to "Kicker Missed Cut" and got my last cull fish. Headed to the cut across the way and the day was over. I had my worst Horseshoe bag yet for a Team Bass tournament and a worse bag than on Lobster for goodness sake. Normally I've had a limit with a nice fish pretty early in the day, but it was tough to get bites on this hot and hazy day. I figured I was headed for a dismal finish in the mid to high teens.
I hung out at the weigh in and the weights were way down this year. My bag of 10lbs15ozs was good enough for an 8th Place finish (tie for my best Horseshoe finish last year when I had a couple of more pounds)
Stats:
For Horseshoe
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.82lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 10.94lbs
For Season
TLA: .750
LCP: .826
FWA: 2.21lbs
BBP: .053
TDWA: 10.52lbs
(TLA-Tournament Limit Average, LCP-Limit Catch Percentage, FWA-Fish Weight Average, BBP-Big Bass Percentage, TDWA-Total Daily Weight Average)
After Thoughts: What's with the shoe? All it took to win was 17-1 which is quite low for Team Bass, but the real story is the low average of weights. My 8th Place weight of last year 13-12 was good enough to make the money this year. I guess I am happy with my finish as that it could have been far far worse. I lucked out in that Craig and Roger, the winners at Koronis, were one short of limit when I was 10oz's in front of them.
Mistakes: I could have used more sleep. Fatigue did become a factor for me in that hot weather and the lack of sleep made focusing a conscious struggle. I did amazingly well at keeping my focus but I would say I fished at about 85% of what I would have done rested.
Otherwise I fished alright and nothing comes to mind.
Parting Thoughts: Even though I was worn out I decided I wanted to check out some more of the chain and so I headed out after the tournament. I ran into this guy, who's name I don't recall, who was pre-fishing for the Midwest Sportsman Bass Tournament and he said he just got out but had been pre-fishing a few days during the week. He bragged about how he had and been catching nice fish left and right in his pre-fish and he went on to brag about how great this Midwest Sportsman Trail is and how good their fisherman are and how it was gonna take 20lbs with a 5 bass limit to win next week; He was off by about 5.5lbs and there is no way their top team would have beaten the Team Bass top team if they could have brought in a 6 fish limit. Sure their average weight per fish was maybe a bit better than what Team Bass as a group had, but we were a week closer to Post Spawn and they fished a different day, a day on which Team Bass guys and gals were whacking 20lb stringers on Maple Lake. My guess is that we fished the tougher day.
I guess there is something in fisherman and tournament fisherman in particular that makes us prone to want to brag and be the one's who are catching the most and biggest. The great thing about the end of the tournament day is that "the scale" don't tell very big lies, if it lies at all.
Next Tournament: Team Bass Guy/Gal on Sylvia/Twin.
Team Bass Lobster Lake June 25th
Pre-Fish June 24th- My research indicated that this was a Sylvia/Twin like fishery with clear water, lots of bass, but difficult to catch bass with any size. I got a late start and was not on the water until about 10am. Talked with Jack Kiffe briefly at the ramp.
Started out by running around the whole lake for a quick look at everything. The lake reminded me a lot of Clearwater in Wright County with lots of reed beds and bullrushes along with some good dock runs, and slop, there is also some good wood in the water. The day started out sunny and hot with only a little bit of wind. I started out by putting a tube through matted weeds and getting fish, mostly 12's except for a 4lb dogfish. Was observing lots of sunnies and carp.
I then went to Fluke weed flats and inside weedlines. I got a couple of nicer fish. I threw a topwater popper and got lots of little dudes. Threw in the slop and got a couple of blow ups. Started pitching a jig on rushes, reeds, slop and wood and got more bites mostly small. At some point it started clouding up pretty good. I hit some dock areas and got more dinks mostly. Ran into, Koronis partner, Nick Graupe and John Larson for some small talk as it was sprinkling a little bit. They reported lots of dinks deep or shallow.
A little while after talking with Nick and John, I found a little something by catching 3 quality mid 2 to almost 3lb fish in as many casts and went up to figure out why they were there and there WAS a reason. I just wish I hadn't hooked em to find this out. I decided this would be my starting spot.
I then went to check a similar area and had a muskie or pike steal a topwater frog but there wasn't much here except little bass. As the sun went down I did some fun fishing with the popper and some topwater frogs in the reeds. I had a quality bass jump me off in the reeds. As it got dark I went back to the launch and set up the boat which was my motel room and that worked out great.
Pre-fish Analysis- I like the lake and Sylvia/Twin knowledge experience would be a definite advantage. The key would not be just getting a limit (getting a limit would be easy, I succeeded at catching keepers every way I fished) or needing a BIG limit (getting a 3lb plus average probably is a very long shot), but finding a limit of 2lb fish and finding any fish 3lbs or more would be a big deal.
Tournament Day:
Think I had a take-off number in the low teens. Not that it mattered even with boat 1 my run was long enough that almost any boat was gonna beat me to my starting spot if they wanted. I was happy to see that no one was anywhere near that part of the bay where my "something" was. I started out catching fish immediately on flukes and a popper. Within 15 minutes I had 5 fish in the well but they were all disappointing 12-13.5 inchers. Finally I got a solid hit on a jig but it turned out to be a 2.5lb pike that only fought like a solid bass. I hadn't even seen a pike the day before and so I was disappointed. Left this spot with 5 dinks in the well.
I then headed for quick stab at a reed point, nothing. Then to where I lost the big one in the reeds, nothing. On to the far east side, tried this good looking deal but it didn't have anything. Fluked an inside weedline and filled my limit also had a walleye follow of all things. Decided to keep on the inside weedline in the other direction and I ended up missing a solid fish somehow, but I changed to the "Smoke" fluke and luckily I think I hooked it, a 15"er. I didn't get anymore and headed to the outlet were I got a bunch of little one's.
I then headed back to my morning spot and culled up 2 fish with 1 being another quality fish at or around 2lbs. I stopped by some wood in the slop and missed an opportunity for something that MAY have been a good fish because I wasn't paying attention like I should have been while pitching a tube into holes. I then tried around some docks and wood but didn't get anything there.
I then went to area I pitched mats and tried that but nothing really was going on. I did eventually manage a couple of culls with on 14+ fish off some slop. When into the last 2 hours I headed back to my starting spot and got another quality 14+ fish. I then ran for the NE "Claw" but screwed up and was in NW "Claw" so I decided to run that slop quickly and managed to luck into a 14+ bass. I got another solid strike which turned out to be a 4lb pike, doggone it. I then headed to the NE "Claw" which looked awesome with the wind blowing in stained water and carp playing playing but all I managed was few dinks. I then spotted something that I had not noticed in my lake scouting. Time was running short and I wanted to get back to my starting spot one more time and so I didn't have a chance to explore. I ran to my morning spot and got yet another good cull out of it. I had to quickly head off to the weigh in spot on the East side. I figured I had the 2lb average I wanted and had a solid shot at fishing in the money, I figured I was 1 quality 3lb+ bite out of the win.
I was disappointed that my cookie cutter bag of 14.5 to 15.75" limit was only good for 11lbs 5ozs. I thought I was much closer to 12lbs than that or even over 12lbs, Damn skinny fish! My big bass 15.75inches was only like 2-6. I ended up in 7th Place just 2lbs even out of 1st, 14oz's out of 2nd, and 7oz's out of the money in 4th. Dropping to 7th place was an Ouch! cause I thought my bag was better.
After the tournament I decided to check out that little deal I spotted there at the end. It took a bit of effort on my part to figure it out but when I did immediately I was greeted by my first 3lb Lobster bass and then another and then another within 12 casts. If I had found this in pre-fish, I would have won going away, darn it. I ended up with 4 at least as big as anything I had in the tournament and a shot at a big dogfish too. If only...
I guess one can only hope that Lobster is drawn as a TOC lake and the two things that I have there hold up as that they are not quite the same but similar.
After Thoughts: Frustration! On my starting spot, I burned some of it's better fish in finding it and not thoroughly scouting enough left a gold mine untapped when I really should have found it. I could have had a 15+lb limit, but that's the way it goes.
Looks like Clearwater, fishes like Sylvia Twin.
Mistakes:
#1: Missing what I missed in my pre-tournament and pre-fish scouting.
#2: Lack of concentration and good technique for a moment that may have cost me a good fish.
#3: Catching that 3rd fish in a row in the same spot pre-fishing, two in a row should have told me something was up and I should have checked it out a little closer.
Stats: Lobster Lake
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.89Lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 11.31Lbs
For Season Stats and Next Tournament See Horseshoe Chain Above...
(TLA-Tournament Limit Average, LCP-Limit Catch Percentage, FWA-Fish Weight Average, BBP-Big Bass Percentage, TDWA-Total Daily Weight Average)
Started out by running around the whole lake for a quick look at everything. The lake reminded me a lot of Clearwater in Wright County with lots of reed beds and bullrushes along with some good dock runs, and slop, there is also some good wood in the water. The day started out sunny and hot with only a little bit of wind. I started out by putting a tube through matted weeds and getting fish, mostly 12's except for a 4lb dogfish. Was observing lots of sunnies and carp.
I then went to Fluke weed flats and inside weedlines. I got a couple of nicer fish. I threw a topwater popper and got lots of little dudes. Threw in the slop and got a couple of blow ups. Started pitching a jig on rushes, reeds, slop and wood and got more bites mostly small. At some point it started clouding up pretty good. I hit some dock areas and got more dinks mostly. Ran into, Koronis partner, Nick Graupe and John Larson for some small talk as it was sprinkling a little bit. They reported lots of dinks deep or shallow.
A little while after talking with Nick and John, I found a little something by catching 3 quality mid 2 to almost 3lb fish in as many casts and went up to figure out why they were there and there WAS a reason. I just wish I hadn't hooked em to find this out. I decided this would be my starting spot.
I then went to check a similar area and had a muskie or pike steal a topwater frog but there wasn't much here except little bass. As the sun went down I did some fun fishing with the popper and some topwater frogs in the reeds. I had a quality bass jump me off in the reeds. As it got dark I went back to the launch and set up the boat which was my motel room and that worked out great.
Pre-fish Analysis- I like the lake and Sylvia/Twin knowledge experience would be a definite advantage. The key would not be just getting a limit (getting a limit would be easy, I succeeded at catching keepers every way I fished) or needing a BIG limit (getting a 3lb plus average probably is a very long shot), but finding a limit of 2lb fish and finding any fish 3lbs or more would be a big deal.
Tournament Day:
Think I had a take-off number in the low teens. Not that it mattered even with boat 1 my run was long enough that almost any boat was gonna beat me to my starting spot if they wanted. I was happy to see that no one was anywhere near that part of the bay where my "something" was. I started out catching fish immediately on flukes and a popper. Within 15 minutes I had 5 fish in the well but they were all disappointing 12-13.5 inchers. Finally I got a solid hit on a jig but it turned out to be a 2.5lb pike that only fought like a solid bass. I hadn't even seen a pike the day before and so I was disappointed. Left this spot with 5 dinks in the well.
I then headed for quick stab at a reed point, nothing. Then to where I lost the big one in the reeds, nothing. On to the far east side, tried this good looking deal but it didn't have anything. Fluked an inside weedline and filled my limit also had a walleye follow of all things. Decided to keep on the inside weedline in the other direction and I ended up missing a solid fish somehow, but I changed to the "Smoke" fluke and luckily I think I hooked it, a 15"er. I didn't get anymore and headed to the outlet were I got a bunch of little one's.
I then headed back to my morning spot and culled up 2 fish with 1 being another quality fish at or around 2lbs. I stopped by some wood in the slop and missed an opportunity for something that MAY have been a good fish because I wasn't paying attention like I should have been while pitching a tube into holes. I then tried around some docks and wood but didn't get anything there.
I then went to area I pitched mats and tried that but nothing really was going on. I did eventually manage a couple of culls with on 14+ fish off some slop. When into the last 2 hours I headed back to my starting spot and got another quality 14+ fish. I then ran for the NE "Claw" but screwed up and was in NW "Claw" so I decided to run that slop quickly and managed to luck into a 14+ bass. I got another solid strike which turned out to be a 4lb pike, doggone it. I then headed to the NE "Claw" which looked awesome with the wind blowing in stained water and carp playing playing but all I managed was few dinks. I then spotted something that I had not noticed in my lake scouting. Time was running short and I wanted to get back to my starting spot one more time and so I didn't have a chance to explore. I ran to my morning spot and got yet another good cull out of it. I had to quickly head off to the weigh in spot on the East side. I figured I had the 2lb average I wanted and had a solid shot at fishing in the money, I figured I was 1 quality 3lb+ bite out of the win.
I was disappointed that my cookie cutter bag of 14.5 to 15.75" limit was only good for 11lbs 5ozs. I thought I was much closer to 12lbs than that or even over 12lbs, Damn skinny fish! My big bass 15.75inches was only like 2-6. I ended up in 7th Place just 2lbs even out of 1st, 14oz's out of 2nd, and 7oz's out of the money in 4th. Dropping to 7th place was an Ouch! cause I thought my bag was better.
After the tournament I decided to check out that little deal I spotted there at the end. It took a bit of effort on my part to figure it out but when I did immediately I was greeted by my first 3lb Lobster bass and then another and then another within 12 casts. If I had found this in pre-fish, I would have won going away, darn it. I ended up with 4 at least as big as anything I had in the tournament and a shot at a big dogfish too. If only...
I guess one can only hope that Lobster is drawn as a TOC lake and the two things that I have there hold up as that they are not quite the same but similar.
After Thoughts: Frustration! On my starting spot, I burned some of it's better fish in finding it and not thoroughly scouting enough left a gold mine untapped when I really should have found it. I could have had a 15+lb limit, but that's the way it goes.
Looks like Clearwater, fishes like Sylvia Twin.
Mistakes:
#1: Missing what I missed in my pre-tournament and pre-fish scouting.
#2: Lack of concentration and good technique for a moment that may have cost me a good fish.
#3: Catching that 3rd fish in a row in the same spot pre-fishing, two in a row should have told me something was up and I should have checked it out a little closer.
Stats: Lobster Lake
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.89Lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 11.31Lbs
For Season Stats and Next Tournament See Horseshoe Chain Above...
(TLA-Tournament Limit Average, LCP-Limit Catch Percentage, FWA-Fish Weight Average, BBP-Big Bass Percentage, TDWA-Total Daily Weight Average)
Saturday, July 23, 2005
Team Bass Guy/Gal @ Sylvia/Twin July 23rd
Note: Report done 3-27-2006
Pre-fish: None do to not taking this tournament seriously and my familiarity with the lake. I would have loved to pre-fish but it just wasn't in the offing.
Tournament Day: Note my Gal was sister in-law/sponsor Erin Sutter-Maas
I arrived at the lake far before Erin and I's agreed meeting time. I headed out to do a little early morning fun fishing and did get into a bunch of small bass. Technically I think this was against the rules but it's the guy/gal tournament and so I didn't think it mattered. I wasn't pre-fishing. I knew this spot holds bass in the early morning and that I would not visit the spot in the tourney, and probably nobody else would as well.
Eventually it was time to meet Erin and Jeff. We got squared away and headed to the check in. There were 12 other teams.
Conditions: Warm and becoming more overcast, maybe a slight wind but I don't remember.
At Blast Off we made our way past the starter mansion that sits on the families old property and headed to "My Island" and "Turtle Bay." After a quick lesson on frog fishing in the slop, Erin and I were casting away. The bass were in the area but we were having a hard time hooking up. The size of the fish was OK but not great. We fished the general area for a long time. Getting a blow up ever now and again with a fish every once and a while. Just before the thunderstorm hit, I got the best fish of the day, a solid 2lber, down towards McGregor's towards the end of the rice. Conditions got perfect just before the storm hit and I think I landed our 4th bass at that time.
The Storm hit and we went across to the 1st Dock inside "My Island" to wait it out. It rained, it poured, it blew, and it thundered. We were protected pretty good from the wind, but it rained cats and dogs. The Storm must have lasted a good hour. FYI the guy/gal tournament fishing hours are shortened, so an hour or more off the water is a big deal. Finally the storm slowed a bit and we headed back out covering the same area, I think I missed a couple of opportunities and didn't catch anymore.
We then headed to the channel. It was starting to clear up at this point and we were into post frontal conditions. We started fishing around the Twin Channel entrance and around "Bullhead Bay" At some point I think it was Erin that caught our limit fish and I think she got another that didn't keep, while I caught a few more smallish one. I think she got her fish on a spinnerbait. I had and missed a solid blow up on a frog, through persistance I managed to catch what was another quality 2lber (maybe this was our big fish). At some point the wind started really whipping up out of the South. We fished along the North shore of the channel and across the channel flat over to the camps beach.
We headed over to the Sylvia channel entrance point and braved the waves. I think I manged to catch a cull fish off the wind beaten point. We fished into the lee and then quickly went over and finished up at the pads where the channel turns North towards the camp. Erin had a quality blow up that we just didn't land there. At this point it was time to go and so we headed to the weigh in.
We had a 6 fish limit for 9lbs 13ozs which was good enough for 2nd place. 1st Place went to Jack and Mary Kiffe @ 10-11. Erin got the trophy and I got the $100. I didn't know they paid out in this tournament so that was a nice surprize. Over all Erin and I had a good time and got very wet.
Stats:
For Sylvia/Twin
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.63lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 9.81lbs
After Thoughts: Wish we could have had a full day as that I definitely didn't get to all my spots. Erin kept in good spirits despite the drenching and she was able to contribute at least 1 fish to the bag which is good. I pretty much stuck to my plan and we had an OK day. We were just one solid fish out of first place. Things did get tough after the storm passed.
Next Tournament: North and South Center
Pre-fish: None do to not taking this tournament seriously and my familiarity with the lake. I would have loved to pre-fish but it just wasn't in the offing.
Tournament Day: Note my Gal was sister in-law/sponsor Erin Sutter-Maas
I arrived at the lake far before Erin and I's agreed meeting time. I headed out to do a little early morning fun fishing and did get into a bunch of small bass. Technically I think this was against the rules but it's the guy/gal tournament and so I didn't think it mattered. I wasn't pre-fishing. I knew this spot holds bass in the early morning and that I would not visit the spot in the tourney, and probably nobody else would as well.
Eventually it was time to meet Erin and Jeff. We got squared away and headed to the check in. There were 12 other teams.
Conditions: Warm and becoming more overcast, maybe a slight wind but I don't remember.
At Blast Off we made our way past the starter mansion that sits on the families old property and headed to "My Island" and "Turtle Bay." After a quick lesson on frog fishing in the slop, Erin and I were casting away. The bass were in the area but we were having a hard time hooking up. The size of the fish was OK but not great. We fished the general area for a long time. Getting a blow up ever now and again with a fish every once and a while. Just before the thunderstorm hit, I got the best fish of the day, a solid 2lber, down towards McGregor's towards the end of the rice. Conditions got perfect just before the storm hit and I think I landed our 4th bass at that time.
The Storm hit and we went across to the 1st Dock inside "My Island" to wait it out. It rained, it poured, it blew, and it thundered. We were protected pretty good from the wind, but it rained cats and dogs. The Storm must have lasted a good hour. FYI the guy/gal tournament fishing hours are shortened, so an hour or more off the water is a big deal. Finally the storm slowed a bit and we headed back out covering the same area, I think I missed a couple of opportunities and didn't catch anymore.
We then headed to the channel. It was starting to clear up at this point and we were into post frontal conditions. We started fishing around the Twin Channel entrance and around "Bullhead Bay" At some point I think it was Erin that caught our limit fish and I think she got another that didn't keep, while I caught a few more smallish one. I think she got her fish on a spinnerbait. I had and missed a solid blow up on a frog, through persistance I managed to catch what was another quality 2lber (maybe this was our big fish). At some point the wind started really whipping up out of the South. We fished along the North shore of the channel and across the channel flat over to the camps beach.
We headed over to the Sylvia channel entrance point and braved the waves. I think I manged to catch a cull fish off the wind beaten point. We fished into the lee and then quickly went over and finished up at the pads where the channel turns North towards the camp. Erin had a quality blow up that we just didn't land there. At this point it was time to go and so we headed to the weigh in.
We had a 6 fish limit for 9lbs 13ozs which was good enough for 2nd place. 1st Place went to Jack and Mary Kiffe @ 10-11. Erin got the trophy and I got the $100. I didn't know they paid out in this tournament so that was a nice surprize. Over all Erin and I had a good time and got very wet.
Stats:
For Sylvia/Twin
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.63lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 9.81lbs
After Thoughts: Wish we could have had a full day as that I definitely didn't get to all my spots. Erin kept in good spirits despite the drenching and she was able to contribute at least 1 fish to the bag which is good. I pretty much stuck to my plan and we had an OK day. We were just one solid fish out of first place. Things did get tough after the storm passed.
Next Tournament: North and South Center
Sunday, June 05, 2005
Team Bass Koronis Lake
Pre-Fish:The Plan was to Pre-fish Rice on Thursday and Koronis/Mud on Friday. I just could not get things together Thursday and at 1PM I decided it was too late to go and have a productive day and so I went to Rock lake by me instead which I thought resembled some area's of Rice and the river. I got my Snagproof and HT game on with numerous bass, the biggest being a 19"+. I was hoping for a big doggy , but got none.
Friday: I got out when I wanted but detoured in St. Cloud at the Verizon store and Sportsman Warehouse (Nice Store and Snagproof Pro Tournament Frogs for $5.99). I was on the Lake around 11:30 and proceeded to eliminate lots of water and find some potential spots. I caught a couple of nice 5lb Pike, several 2-3lb and smaller bass and had a couple of hints of possibly some bigger fish. It rained but not really hard enough for me to put the rain gear on. For the most part I was trying not to hook fish. Lots of Milfoil and CurlyLeafPond Crap in Rice. Towards the end of the day I took a river tour down to Mud within sight of the Koronis Bridge. I managed to get a few biters in the river and then ran up the river in the dark. Headed into Paynesville to get my gear set up and slept at a Way side Rest.
Tournament Day:
Dropped the boat at Camp Koronis and headed to the Koronis Access to meet my partner for this one Nick Graupe. He spent Fri. pre-fishing but wasn't sure he found anything. His best area didn't have the smallies yet and he found only a few fish on beds. We cruised out to flat and started with topwater. I landed about a 12" right away that I didn't even bother to measure and threw back. Dale and Roger had also pulled onto the same flat and Roger nailed a nice smallie on topwater right away. After about 45min with neither us or them getting anything we headed to Island 3 where there were some beds. Nick had a blow up and I followed with a wacky Senko and got a pick up; I set the hook, and got back a hook because it must have only taken one end. A little ways down I got an 11" smallie. Of all the smallies on the lake I had to catch two dinks.
We then headed to the river to the area that I had found that happened to also be what Nick found. Nick missed the first few hits but then put a 14" in the boat. We worked around the whole area and caught a few more. Nick on topwater and me on my secret bait. I had a good one smash it out of a hole in the grass that I'd gotten a smaller one out of the day before. We then ran a long run of unproductive water, it started to rain and headed back into Koronis.
Nick started getting bit by some nice largemouth but they kept flipping us off. He lost a solid 3lber about 1 foot before it was in the net. Nick was getting quite frustrated. He lost one fish when the hook or split ring broke off. I think Nick landed our limit fish and then I got our first culling on a Lucky Craft Sammy. A short time later I had a large Smallie come up under the Sammy but it didn't take it; It was a big dude. We may have gotten one or two more on the stretch before it got slow.
We headed to a stretch of water across the bay which was similar and where I had found some smaller smallies pre-fishing a couple of years back. Nick got a rock bass. It started pouring hard and I decided to put on that bright colored Bullfrog Frenzy Pop and work the flat by casting out towards the lake. Almost immediately I hooked into that Smallie in the Picks. I didn't know it was a good one until it jumped cause it took it fairly light and was swimming at the boat, but there was little doubt after that first jump what kind of fish it was. It went airborne 2 or 3 more times and we landed the bronze beauty that went 4lbs even (Last year I had two 4-2's and lost a bigger one). I was surprised it went 4 cause it was only a little over 18" inches long, can you say "CHUNK." We didn't get another strike in that area.
We then went back to the stretch where Nick missed those fish and I saw the Smallie. We managed to cull out our 3 bass that were 14.25inches. With about 1/2hour left we headed to our starting spot. I had a good blow up on Spook but it didn't hook up and was probably only slapping at it. Time was up and we headed in.
Nick and I both guessed we had 15 something and Nick thought it would be good enough for 6th. As it turns out we were just shy of 17 with 16lbs13oz. We came in 6th Place.
Here's our two Best.
Congratulations to Craig Sanders and Roger Ellwein
for their win and Craig for getting Big Bass.
BP's Note: This was Craig's 1st Team Bass Win and probably Rogers as well. At my very first Team Bass tournament I teamed up with Craig and we had a fun time even though our results were not great. Craig is a really nice guy and loves to fish tournaments and it was great to see him come out on top. At the dock I watched him pulling fish some nice fish out of the well. I asked him if he thought they 20 and he said more like 15-16 and I guarantee he wasn't sandbagging me, he was truly shocked they had what they had. That a Boy Craig!
Stats:
For Koronis
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.80Lbs
BBP: .166
TDWA: 16.81Lbs
For Season
TLA: .500
LCP: .500
FWA: 2.83lbs
BBP: .143
TDWA: 9.91Lbs
After Thoughts: Had a good day on the water with Nick and it's hard to be disappointed with a nearly 17lb bag when not everything was going our way. It's interesting to see how different fishing styles work out as that I would have fished the day probably much differently than we did as a team.
Mistakes: Most of what we did worked or could have worked to a great degree, so it's really hard to find anything glaring like at Bone. Probably one of my bigger ones was not throwing that bright colored bullfrog Frenzy Pop sooner. Maybe that smallie that looked at the Sammy would have crushed the Frenzy. Who knows.
The only thing I can really come up with was that after we got a limit we could have spent more time trying to dig up big smallies, but as it was we culled up several largemouth and probably gained more than a pound on those last 3 keeper Largemouth, would we have tied into a couple of smallies is an unknown and what we did worked.
Parting Thoughts: 6th place points should be good for help in the end of the year standings. I love the rain, baby. Man did catching that Smallie make my day! It was a leaper.
Next Tournament:See below Range Bassmasters
Next Team Bass June 25th @ Lobster.
Range Bassmasters @ Platte/Sullivan
Today the Range Bassmasters MN BASS Federation club had a tournament at Platte/Sullivan and of coarse I had to make it to the weigh in to see how they faired. Originally I was gonna "mock" fish against them but I was too tired from Koronis and slept in.
The Range Bassmasters is a Brainerd Area Club and has Steve Quinn of In-Fisherman as member. Other notables in the club are Bill Bongs, Brian Brown and I recognized a couple of other guys, but don't know their names. It was nice to see a few teens in the club and even a woman or two. It looked like there were about 10-12 boats.
The tournament was won by Emmet Smith who had a 5fish 16lb+ bag and many of the bags were 12lb+.
This was Big Bass:
caught by Tyler Malloy. I believe the bass was 4lb13oz???
Brandon Jedlenski with another 4lber.
Here's a couple of more Platte/Sullivan Specials:
Perry Alfords with a fish that had to be a 4lber. 
A typical P/S 3lber. Lots of those were weighed in.
BP's Notes: Surprizingly, not a single 5lber came in and I've yet to catch one since openner. Where are the Super Toads? I did get a couple before the bass openner and some guys reported losing large fish in the thick stuff. Maybe it's post-spawn and the fish just didn't have the feedbag on yet. All in all lots of 17-18inch Platte/Sullivan specials. The post weigh-in environment reflected a tournament where people caught fish and had a lot of fun on the water. The top sack of 16lbs is very impressive when you consider it is 2 people fishing out of the same boat for 5 fish limit separate weights.
I didn't hear much talk about "the rice," which is a bit of a surprize because their are some good beds forming this year. But then again I haven't found em there either.
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