B.B.S. Cedar Lake

  

If I never see Cedar Lake again it will be too soon. We started out with a slow-motion start in heavy fog that was lifting by the time we arrived at our starting spot in Sunrise Bay. The fish were inactive.  So we started covering water. I got a couple pike. I think Nate connected with his first fish around 10:30AM in some pads on a swim jig with a Kalin's Mogambo Grub, He missed a bite and then caught one off a dock. We then tried the North end of Sunrise and he missed a couple there. We briefly tried the Slop Hole. That wasn't happening so we quickly left. Just outside of the Slop Hole Nate got a nice keeper and had a couple other good ones boil on his jig. He gave me a Mombo and I got my keeper that was 12.25". We then left Sunrise and worked in the mid-section of the Lake. We were fishing pads with reeds and about to leave when Nate caught a good fish. That bite clued us into a pattern, but we couldn't land out bites and I got a pike.  I did lose a small keeper that hung me up on the pads. We went back to the place in Sunrise where Nate had the boils. I had a feeling one of us was going to get smoked and it was me first. I got too excited and jerked the jig out of the fishes mouth. Nate caught his limit shortly after that. We went back to our starting spot and didn't get anything. Then we went and worked the area across from where I missed the blow-up. I missed a blow-up in the reeds there as well. We went back to where Nate got his first fish and I got a pike. We spent the last 15-minutes by the access. Nate got his biggest fish of the day there and I got another pike. Fricken Cedar Lake.

Results: My fish weighed 1lb and put me in 12th Place. Nate won the tournament with 16/3. Tim Benson caught the 3/12 Lunker and Placed 3rd making him the 2020 Bass Snatcher Mr. Bass. Theo won the final Co-Angler Challenge of the Year out of Tim's boat.

My Thoughts: It was a tough bite and even if I had caught that other bass I had on I don't think it would have moved me up any. Who knows if my other bites were even bass or not. I finished in the Club Super 6, so I do get Wood for this year. I set new personal bests for Total Points, One Out Points, and Average place of finish. I wasn't because I fished that great, I didn't. We just didn't have our full complement of guys this year.  

B.B.S. Rabbit Lake

Typical Rabbit 2lber caught Pre-fishing in the Pads

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

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

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

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

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

  

Whitefish Chain BBS

I didn't take any pictures.
7:45AM-3:50PM Lower Whitefish, Big Trout, Lower Hay
Conditions: Low 60's, Cloudy with light drizzle in the morning, Wind to Very Windy ESE

The Day:
I missed the only bite right at the boat on Mark's starting spot on a Piranha with a Chigger Craw trailer.  I don't think Mark got anything.  Next we went somewhere on lower Whitefish where a point comes out.  I got a 14.66" bass there on the Piranha and had multiple claws get bit off as well.  Next we went to a close by protected shoreline.  I got 3 pike pretty quickly on a white Booyah Spinnerbait, but the 3rd fish stole the lure. I think Mark got a rock bass off of a dock.

We next went to Big Trout to fish docks.  Mark finally got his first keeper.  I managed to get two keepers on a Yum Dinger.  My lunker (2/1) came off of a pontoon boat lift with a pontoon on it.  That was my last keeper of the day.  I also missed a fish that felt good when it hung me up on a wave runner lift on a craw tube.  I also got a pike on a weedline on the Craw Tube.  Shortly after I got the pike Mark had a nice bass get off as it dove into the weeds.

We went back to Mark's starting spot and got nothing again.  We spent the rest of the day in Lower Hay.   Mark also caught a dink off of dock then had another good fish get off in the weeds on the same dock.  Then the docks went dead.  I caught a 10" dink out over the weeds and Mark caught his 5th and last keeper with about 10 minutes left over shallow weeds.

Results:
My 3 fish weighed 5lbs 4ozs which put me in 14th Place out of 18 anglers.  Mark had 5 fish for 8/13 which put him in 11th Place.  The winner was Mick Ziebell with 17/1.  Lunker was a 3/9 caught by Swannie.  Whitefish fished tough and only 7 limits were caught.

I ended up finishing in 12th Place for the year, behind two guys that didn't fish in two tournaments. smh

Thoughts:
 Not catching fish sucks. For some reason the fish were tucked up well under the docks and the wind made making good presentations difficult even with Mark putting down the Power-Pole.  The day seemed to fly by as well.  Only caught two limits out of the six tournaments and weighed 26 fish out of a possible 36.  By far the worst fishing I've done as a Snatcher.  I didn't reach a single one of my goals for 2016 as a Snatcher.  But I did have a good time despite the poor fishing I encountered.

Congratulations to Chuck Steinbauer on his 12th Baxter Bass Snatchers Mr. Bass title.

Snatchers Rabbit Lakes

17.33" Craw Tube Grn pumpkin/brown

7:45AM-3:55PM
Conditons: 65-59 degrees, Cloudy to mostly cloudy, Windy to very windy N, Light to heavy rain

Pre-tournament thoughts:  Rabbit Lake has always given me fish and my boater Dennis' confidence had me pretty confident I would get a limit.  Turned out getting there was more difficult than we thought.

The Day:
The last two boats waited until 7:30 to put in, which annoyed Dennis and me as well.  Conditions were perfect and we easily could have been fishing by 7:30, but as it was we blasted off at about 7:45.  We went straight to one of Guy's spots with Dwight right behind us.  We fished it for about 20 minutes and didn't get anything.  Dwight caught a nice one, but we didn't see it.

Next we went to a spot that was protected from the wind where Dennis got some good fish pre-fishing.  I put on the small Plopper and immediately had a 11.75" bass on.  I think Dennis first fish was a pike. He then got a couple small keepers.  I had a couple fish not get the Plopper, unfortunately all I have is the one color.

Next we  headed to the wood and Dennis got a little better keeper, but that was it.  We got to the spot where I got my best fish in pre-fish and I got an even bigger one (17.66) on a Lake Fork Craw Tube.  Unfortunately that was all we got.  We followed the road out and I got a 15.33" by where I got one in pre-fish.  I also got a pike on the Craw Tube as well and Dennis got a walleye.

I think we then went to the island and didn't get anything there.  We went back to our starting spot and Dennis got a quality fish that came off just as I got the net under it.  Dennis was quite thankful.  We spent quite a while there and Dennis got one more keeper.  I just couldn't buy a bite there except a pike that bit me off.

We left to go to the numbers spot.  Dennis forgot to put the trolling motor up and we got drenched.  We had a good laugh.  I missed a hit right away on the Craw tube and Dennis had a fish on pretty quickly as well.  I think it might have been a pike.  Dennis got a keeper and then he got his big fish.  I got bit off.  I started throwing a white spinnerbait and got a pike. Then I got a 14" and 12.75" pretty quickly as we worked back over the area.  I think Dennis got a couple more keepers and missed some bites as well getting a nice walleye.

We went back to the island and I got a big dogfish.  It put up a great fight.  Unfortunately my attempt at a selfie with it failed.

Dennis got himself a cull.  A rain storm was moving in on us, so we went to our second spot.  I missed a fish on the Craw Tube right away.  Then it started raining.  I had a bass hit the Craw Tube as I was reeling it back to the boat and I landed it (14").  It started pouring.  Dennis missed a few more bites. We got out in the wind and I cast out the Craw Tube and had an over run.  When I picked the bait back up I thought I felt a fish, so I set the hook.  My line cracked as my line broke just above the rod.

We headed back to where Dennis got his big fish.  I got a nice pike on the black blue Piranha and I got a dink on the jerk shad that was only a couple inches longer than the bait.  We got up by the pads and I got 15.5" on the white spinnerbait; the fish really thumped it.  I got my limit with about 2 hours left

We went back to our starting spot and I discovered I didn't have enough line to fish on the craw tube rod.  We didn't get anything.  We went back and tried to expand on our numbers spot, but came up empty.  We finished expanding on our second spot.  Dennis had a fish that would have culled get off just before I could reach it.  My last hit didn't get the spinnerbait and the day was over.

Results:
My limit weighed 11lbs 4ozs and put me in 12th Place out of a field of 16.  Dennis was one more big fish short of contending for the win.  His 15/11 put him in 5th Place.  Dwight "Hammer" Hammermeister took his very first Bass Snatcher victory with a 16/8 limit.  Paul Ruff had a 4lb 3oz smallmouth that took Lunker.

My Thoughts:
I wish I could have gotten rid of the 12 incher.  I would have moved up 1 spot for sure and possibly 2.  I tried a number of lures that came up empty: Super Fluke, Swim Jig, Rattlin' Rap, Baby Minus One, Fat Free Shad, Chigger Craw, Jig and Chigger Craw, KVD Sexy Dog, and RI Vixen.  For whatever reason I just cannot get in sync with the fish, it's frustrating.  I should have been able to catch more than 6 keepers.

Next tournament is at Whitefish Chain on Sept. 24th.

B.B.S. Whitefish Chain July 15th

We fished from about 7AM to 3PM.   It was sunny for the first couple of hours, then got cloudy until about the last hour when the sun came out again.

My boater Dave Branum and I were second boat out and we headed to the North East corner of Big Trout Lake.  I decided to start throwing a Paycheck Baits Repo Man and was rewarded on about my 3rd cast with a bass, but it jumped off just before it got to the net.  A few casts later I had another one on that got off half way back to the boat.  Dave then landed the first fish of the day.  Shortly after that I got a 12" squeaker and then I got another 12" squeaker.  About 15 minutes later I landed a quality 15.5" fish also on the Repo Man.  After that the topwater bite died and Dave was getting a few on a jig, so I switched up to a Strike King Ocho on a mushroom head jig.  I got a 13.25" and 12.75" on that.  


We moved to a sunken hump in the middle North part of Big Trout were I missed a good feeling bite on the Ocho.  We then moved to a close by weedline and I got 14.75", 13.25", and another 14.75"on a Blue Bruiser Crawtube and a couple that didn't help. We moved West to another weedline spot where we found rock bass.  Eventually we headed back to our starting spot as it sprinkled a bit.  I got a couple of shorts on the Repo Man, so I switched up to a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper and got a couple that didn't help, then I landed 16".  We moved back to the weedline in the middle North and I got a 16.25" and a 14 on the Frenzy Popper.  Caught a few more that didn't help on the Frenzy and Crawtube.  With an hour left, we headed into Middle Whitefish, then to Upper Whirefish where I caught a rock bass and a pike.  Then it was time to head in.


I ended up with 12/8 but one of my fish died so I dropped to 12/6 which put me in 12th Place.  My boater Dave only got 9/10, which put him in 25th out of 30.  The weights were up again this tournament with 12lb bags to 15th Place and 10lb bags to 24th place.  Last time we were on Whitefish two years ago in early June, my bag would have been good for 5th Place and the time before that in 2006 also in early June it would have been good for 6th Place.  Guys are catch them this year.   The winner was Dennis Lothspeich with 16/15 with an ounce more than Chuck Steinbauer.


My Thoughts:  I was a bit disappointed we didn't get any smallmouth, which I would have thought would have happened with those topwater fish up in Big Trout.  I think we might have actually seen a lake trout that came up to the surface and then swim right by us.   

B.B.S. Fish Hook Lake August 27th

If this sounds like whining it is: It really bites when your best bag of the year is only good enough to be equal with your worst finish place wise of the season. The boys caught em' good in this one. New Baxter Bass Snatcher Club tournament record for average size of bags weighed (13.20lbs).

Here's how the day went.

Conditions: Mix of sun and clouds with overcast for the last couple of hours. Light winds. Cool in the morning warming up to the mid to high 70's.

Play by Play: The plan to start the day was to hit some docks that I pulled a 3+lber off of one of them in pre-fish. These docks had reeds around them that were sometimes thick and sometimes sparse. In one of the sparse area's I made a cast up by some weeds that were in the reeds and I had a pick up on my bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke, which turned out to be a 15.5" largie. In another thick area of reeds I had a fish which I'm 90% sure was a pike smack a white Berkley Havoc Grass Pig. The docks were a bust and we soon headed off to a weedline spot.

Right away at the weedline I brought in a nice 15.25" bass on a rusty Craw Tonka Tackle Halo Craw Tube. I was off to a pretty good start. As we were working our way down my boater Chuck got his first fish, which was in the same general size range of my two. I got bit off by a pike and decided to try a little lighter weight on my Texas rig Craw Tube. I got a 13.25" on that. Chuck also got another fish. With the calm to light ripple I decided to try a Berkley Frenzy Popper. That wasn't happening and while I was fooling around with that, Chuck caught his best fish of the day. Pretty soon Chuck was encouraging me, mocking me really, to keep throwing the topwater. Eventually I put down the topwater and tried a crankbait, as Chuck brought in a couple more fish. Eventually I did get back to the Crawtube but didn't get any more bites in this area.

After we fished through the area 3 times, we headed off to try some more docks, which was a bust. Eventually we got into some reeds where I think Chuck picked up his limit fish and one that went back and I got a 14.5" bass on a "big sexy" Mad Maxx Frog.

I think our next stop was Chuck's honey hole from the last club tournament on Fish Hook. I think Chuck got a rock bass. Next we headed to another weedline where I think got bit off so I changed to a black/red fleck Lake Fork Crawtube with which I had gotten some good fish in pre-fish. I stayed with the lighter bullet sinker. I got a 13.5" bass and a pike. We headed back to the first weedline we hit and I got a pike and maybe Chuck picked up a bass or two. We talked to one of the club boats, which was up working the reeds and Mark said it was slow, but he had a limit.

Next thing we did was go to the reeds. I threw a frog while Chuck threw a jig and maybe a Crawtube as well. We worked the reeds for quite a while and I don't remember if Chuck got a fish or not. I think he might have missed a bite or two. We got to an area where there was an open pocket back in the reeds and Chuck asked me if I wanted to go back in there. I said why not and so we did. I made a cast toward the far end of the pocket and a fish just lit up Mad Maxx. It jumped and we saw it was a big fish. I got it in and it had choked the frog. Here she is:
Chuck thought it might go 5. I measured it and it was something over 19 inches, but I'm not sure how long as the measuring board ended at 18inches. Turns out the fish only went 4-5, but this fish was huge for me and probably bumped me 5-7 places in the standings. That was it in those reeds.

It was sunny out so we went and re-tried the 2nd set of docks, but that was a bust again. We went back and re-hit a weedline spot that we had trouble getting on the first time because of another tournament boat. I pulled up a pike on the Crawtube and then Chuck landed several bass most of which didn't help him, but would have helped me. I think I got a 13" that didn't help me. Eventually we got up on this point and pitched into the holes in the grass that we could see, Chuck got a couple more that didn't help him.

It started to cloud up and we headed to either a marina or resort of something where there were 2 docks with lots of boats. On the very last boat on the 1st dock Chuck pulled a fish and I got a 14" on the bubblegum Super Fluke which culled the 13.25". I don't think we got anything on the 2nd dock.

Chuck remembered a reed and slop spot so we headed there next. We worked ourselves into the inside edge of the reeds and then there was a little open area before a big field of pads started. As we worked along Chuck fished the reeds with a jig or a frog and I threw my frog to the pads. Chuck pulled a fish out of the reeds, so I started working them too. I made a cast and something moved, so I just worked the frog in place for about a minute. Just as I was about to reel it in, a fish sucked in the frog and it was a 14.5". I couldn't remember if I wrote down my last cull or not, so I wasn't sure which was my smallest fish. I pulled out the two proper colored ropes and looked at the fish. They looked to be about the same size, so I threw back the one on the yellow cull tag thinking I had indeed forgotten to write down my last cull. I put the new fish in the box, then measured the fish on the orange cull tag, so I could write down the length. I was shocked to discover this fish was only 13.5" and was the one I should have culled out. It's hard to say if this error cost me because I needed 3 more ozs to move up and when I compared the 2 fish, they looked pretty even to me. Should have used Chuck's cull beam to be sure. Anyway Chuck got a good cull out of the reeds on a frog.

I think there was about an hour left and so we headed for the reeds where I had gotten my big one. I had several fish boil on the Mad Maxx, but only 1 took it and that was a small fish that I waterskied on the hookeset and it came off. Unfortunately most of the missed bites couldn't be followed up with another lure as they were at the end of long casts or in reeds to thick for anything but the frog. With about 20 minutes to go we took a 3rd pass on a certain set of docks, but they were worthless again and that was the end of our day.

Results: My 6 fish went 13-7, which put me in 12th place out of 22 anglers, which was actually a bit of a relief when I saw the official standings as I thought I was going to be 13th or 14th. The winning bag was 19-1 and big bass was 5-5. Chuck had 15-7, which only got him 6th Place.

Top 6 Race: In the race for the Top 6 at the end of the year, which was a 3 way race for the final 2 spots going into this tournament (Mark M., Bill L, and I), basically Mark guaranteed he will be there with a 3rd Place finish. I finished 4 spots in front of Bill and both of us tied our worst finishes of the year (we throw the worst tournament out so 5 of 6 count). A surprise was that another guy (Barry M.) moved into the race with his 8th Place Finish. Going into the last tournament I have 5 places on Barry and 6 places on Bill, so my lead more than doubled, but I really blew a chance to effectively close the door.

Analysis- Coming into the tournament I really wanted a Top 8 finish as I had a very good partner draw. I thought a 13lb bag would put me right there. As it turned out Fish Hook produced some of the best fishing the club has ever seen. There were four 13lb bags and mine was the lightest of them. I didn't even finish in the top half of the field. I can't be too disappointed as things could have gone far worse had I not caught the big one I did, but then again with the big fish a more competitive bag was well within reach. Chuck out fished me pretty bad in terms of number of bass caught; It was pretty close to 2-1 if not more.

One thing I'm left to wonder about is going lighter on my Texas Rig sinker with the Crawtube. The change produced a smaller grade of fish then what I got in pre-fish and my biggest Crawtube bass of the day came with the heavier weight. There were also several instances where fish picked up the Crawtube and dropped it quickly and wouldn't pick it back up again. The only fish that did that and picked it up again was a pike. The black red fleck Lake Fork Crawtube that gave me 3 nice bass in pre-fish was a bust, even though light conditions were close to the same. I never did throw a Yum Wooly Bug, which is something that produced 14.5-15.5 bass in pre-fish. I also never threw a jig.

Next Bass Snatcher Tournament: October 1st @Birch (Hackensack)

B.B.S Platte/Sullivan Tournament June 4th

The first Baxter Bass Snatcher Club tournament of the year was held on Platte and Sullivan lakes in Central Minnesota. In case you are not aware Platte/Sullivan have been my home lakes since 2003. I lived on Platte Lake from 2003 to 2005. Previous to this event I had fished 4 bass tournaments on the lake, doing terrible in 2 of them. I can't say that I was feeling any pressure, but I definitely wanted to put in a good finish.

We blasted off in Platte at around a quarter to 8AM and my boater Peter and I headed straight to the "Grumpy Old Man Hole"/ the bridge that separates Platte and Sullivan. We were going to start there and actually waved a couple of boats past us so they could head into Sullivan. I was worried someone would be fishing from shore because there was earlier in the morning, but they were gone. However, there was a boat with a couple of young teenage kids fishing in the general vicinity.

Once we got into the area that I consider money, I had a good hit on a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison with black/blue Berkley Havoc Lane's Craw Fatty trailer. I thought the day was starting out fantastic until I saw it was a nice pike. I think it was shortly after this that Pete landed the first bass of the day. Unfortunately the bass were not stacked up. We ran North quite a ways then came back for a 2nd pass on which Pete landed, what I think was his big bass of the day, a 17+ incher. I think I caught another small pike and I was satisfied it wasn't going to happen, so we headed under the bridge and took off for the Platte River Mouth.

As we were heading toward the river mouth another tournament boat was coming up the SW shore and headed straight for the river. This forced us to take the North shore. Both boats arrived at the river mouth around the same time. I think Pete, I, and Darren, the guy in the front of the other boat, all hooked up around the same time. My fish was a keeper at 13" that I think bit a Big Bite Baits Cane Thumper (dipper) and went in the well (12" minimum). At that point Darren made a bit of a mistake by not holding up and milking the spot. Pete and I slowed down and Darren kept moving on right into the river. We went back over where Darren had just come from and I landed a 13" and 14.25 on a black/blue Lake Fork Craw Tube and Pete brought in a fish too and I think he missed one as well. When we were satisfied the river mouth had nothing else to give we headed into the river as Darren was coming back out. I don't think they got a bite in the river.

We worked quite a ways into the river and I think all we had to show for it was one missed swirl on my purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. Once we got through with what I consider the most productive water. We fired her up and headed in closer to the "dam", which really isn't a dam. We worked the stretch leading to the dam and didn't get a thing. However, once we got close to the dam I fired a cast up by the West wall and had a spawned out 16" blow up on the Frenzy Popper. I then got a 13" and 12.75" behind the dam to fill my limit on the popper. I quickly got my first cull with a 13.25" on the Cane Thumper. I think I also caught a couple that didn't help and maybe Pete got a fish as well. Pete had the idea to go downstream beyond the dam. As we were drifting I put a cast up by shore and a good fish blew up on the Frenzy Popper; It was barely hooked, but I landed the spawned out 17.25" largie.

I think further down the river Pete caught his limit fish and a couple of pike. I got a bass or two that didn't help. We went as far as we could then fired up the big motor to get us back to the dam. There weren't any fish there and we fished our way back up river. As we were fishing water we bypassed the first time down I pulled in a 15.25" and Pete got another good fish that I think was in the 16" class. I think that one might have been the last of our river fish. We fished back out to the mouth were I got a bass that didn't help and I think Pete got bit off. Pete also broke a rod while we were still in the river.

We then started working the flat that I call the PRO. I got a 14.25" on the Cane Thumper and a 14.50" and a few fish that didn't help and maybe a pike or two. Pete was getting an occasional fish as well. We worked our way along the North shore to where the docks start. We had just gone past a dock that was underwater when I saw a fish following the Cane Thumper. I let it drop and a big bass took it, turned and started swimming away. I set the hook and got nothing, my line broke inexplicably. I was more than a little bummed. This was at least a 4lb class fish, if not bigger and I'm 99% sure it was a bass because I got a pretty good look at it.

We worked our way to the East shore, then headed back for a second pass. I think we got a couple fish that didn't help and I broke a rod. Eventually we got to the area where I missed the big one and I threw a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke. The Fluke disappeared I set the hook, a fish was on for a couple of seconds then gone. I blew it again, although it may or may not have been the big fish it was in the same spot. On the next dock down I pulled a 14.5" from under a pontoon. This would be my last cull of the day.

We tried doubling back one more time, but the big fish spot didn't produce any bites with a craw tube.

We headed back into Platte and fished the GOMH without success. There were some shore anglers who said they caught a few small bass and had lost a nice one. Next we hit up a reed point that is a really good spot. I had a very good bite on the Cane Thumper and it was a good fish, but it buried me in the reed stalks and got off. I was quite disappointed I let that happen because I was using a heavy rod. I did get one bass that didn't help on the craw tube.

Next we headed to Loon Sex Point, which had the wind blowing on it. Pete got a small pike and that was it. Very disappointing. Next we tried working along the North shore of Loon Sex Bay and that was a bust except one fish for Pete. We gave Loon Sex Point another pass with nothing to show for it, then we headed North with about an hour to go. To be honest I was physically beat at this point. We worked ourselves into Platte River Inlet Bay. I got a pike on a spinnerbait and the bass were nowhere to be found. We were in the wind and having trouble with junk fouling our lures. I suggested we make a move West and North and that paid off with a couple of last hour culls for Pete. That turned out to be a very good thing for Pete who had been culling the wrong fish. He did get a good cull up when he figured it out.

As that I was beat I suggested we head in about 10 minutes early to get a good shore spot, which we did.

First thing we weigh is our big fish and when I heard the 17.25" only went 2-10; I was not a happy camper. Then my total weight came to 11lbs 8ozs and I was very disappointed. I figured I had made my goal of getting over 12lbs and coming in short of that on fish that should have gone at least 12 sucked. In the final standings I came in 12th. Pete weighed 13-12 which put him in 7th. As a pair we had the 2nd best combined weight.

Analysis- I'm not gonna say I choked, but I sure had some bad luck that kept me from doing much better. Final bag was 17.25", 16", 15.25", 14.5", 14.5" and 14.25" and somehow that wasn't even close to being over 12lbs, that's sad!!! I've kind of noticed this spring that the bass have not been their usual Platte/Sullivan chunky selves. Breaking my line on that big dog was what really killed me, honestly I just don't understand how it happened. A pike must have frayed up the line really good and I didn't notice.

Platte/Sullivan showed out well taking almost 16 to win (15-15), 8 bags over 13lbs, and 21 limits. Big Bass was 4-06 with I think a total of 4 that were over 4 and another 3 that were up close to 4lbs.

Gull Lake Bass Snatchers Sept. 19th

The Weather: It was a sunny day in the low 80's with light wind in the morning picking up to about 10MPH out of the South in the afternoon.

Here is a couple of Snatchers (Darren and Owen) waiting for blast off:

On the phone, my boater Art sounded confident we would get fish but before blast off he informed me that he thought he would be lucky to get a limit under the expected weather conditions.

We blasted off a little before 8AM from the Government Point Public Access and we headed SW to Wilson Bay where we stopped on a weed flat on the Southside of Hunters Point. There was a light ripple on the water and I started off throwing a buzzbait, but eventually switched to a purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. After about 7 minutes I put a 12.5 incher in the boat. That fish was followed by a 13.5", 12.75", 13.75" that totally went airborne when it hit, and 13.10" that started bleeding pretty good so I threw it back. We got off the flat and as we were making our way back on I threw a smoke tube along the deep weedline and got a 13". I started throwing the Popper again and got a 12.5" and a couple of shorts. At this point, we were about an hour into the tournament. My partner Art had two fish at this point. The wind died and so did the action on top. I think I got a couple of fish that did not help on the tube.

Around 10:30AM we made a move to Green Lake which is a small round bay ringed by slop and docks. I pulled a 15.75" on a black blue jignpig on the edge of pads and slop. I got a couple that didn't help on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke off the docks and slop. Eventually, I started throwing the smoke tube out into deeper water and I culled up to a 13" and got a few more that didn't help. Once we fished around the bay, we made a run to a spot on the South end of Wilson that had rice and pads near deeper water. Art had a fish miss his topwater frog. He had me throw in with a jig and I pulled out another 12.5" that didn't help. As we made our way down the rice I had a good fish swirl on my jignpig as I was swimming it but it didn't get hooked. Eventually, we moved to a weed flat where I had a fish rise to but not hit the Frenzy Popper and Art got a couple of keepers.

We probably spent the last 3 hours back at our starting spot. On the first pass, I threw a black spinnerbait because the wind was blowing pretty good and I got a small pike, a rock bass, a short and a 12.5 plus I lost one that was most likely a 12 incher. On the next pass, I tried a chatter jig without any luck. Art pulled out to the deep weed edge and started catching fish, so I went back to the smoke tube and started catching fish; some short, some keepers that didn't help, and my final cull with a 13.5. I caught quite a few fish in the last 3 hours. Art filled his limit and culled a couple of times fishing with a red jigworm.

At around 20 to 4PM we headed into Ernie's where we would have the weigh-in. We tied the boat up on the dock and Art took this picture of my biggest fish which cut off my head.

Art went to the bar to get a drink and I decided to throw a cast out towards a dock with some boat lifts that were within casting range with the tube. I had a fish nail the tube but I didn't hook up. I couldn't get a re-strike as our tournament boats started coming in.

My 6 fish ended up weighing 8lbs 7ozs which put me in 12th place out of 24 guys. My boater Art had 7lbs 9ozs, so this is the 3rd time out of 12 Bass Snatcher tournaments where I "back seated" my boater. The tournament was won with 13lbs 4ozs caught by 2009 Baxter Bass Snatchers Mr. Bass Dennis Lothspeich which made this his 3rd win of the year. I back seated Dennis at Pelican this year.

Blast from the past.

Back in 2004 with the help of my friend Mike Davis I fished 3 Excel Singles events put on by Joel Stokka. The Picture is from Rabbit Lake where I placed 3rd. Some of the best bass anglers in the Brainerd area fish Excel Singles and at Rabbit I was beat by two good one's in Pro Fisherman and Guide Tom Whitehead (brown shirt) and fellow Baxter Bass Snatcher Chuck Fields (blue shirt). I might have placed higher but my kicker was a really skinny fish that could have weighed a 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound more if it was filled out.

Here are my Excel Singles Results from 2004:

6/6/04 Gull Lake 11.88lbs for 12th out of 36 anglers. I had never been on Gull Lake before that morning and it might have cost me because I didn't find the channel that I wanted to fish first thing in the morning. Mike Davis was actually in the boat with me to observe how I went about my tournament day. I didn't go far from the launch point, in fact I caught most of my fish on Flukes and Senko's on the other side (South) of the point where the HQ Ernie's on Gull is located. I was proud of my finish in this one.

6/27/04 Rabbit Lake 10.92lbs for 3rd out of 34. I caught em on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke shallow and my biggest bass was a fluke that I was very lucky to get in the boat.

7/18/04 Whitefish Chain Skunk! Last out of 30. I had only been on Whitefish once and caught lots of fish that day pre-fishing with Mike Davis; By tournament day they vacated the area and my lack of familiarity with the lake just killed me. The up side is that I won a Fig Rig rod (6'6") in a drawing before the tournament started in the morning. At the dock someone said, "You probably used up your luck for the day when you won that rod." I guess he was a prophet. That rod has served me well, I primarily have used it for Frenzy Poppers, spinnerbaits, and jerkbaits for eye's and bass.

I didn't fish the last two tournaments of the year.