B.B.S. Gull Lake

 

 Conditions: 36-48℉, Cloudy in the morning turning PC around noon, Clouds returned the final couple of hours, 0-4mph

My Boater: Club President Tim Benson (2nd Tournament I've fished with him) 

Oopsie: As I started North on 25 toward Brainerd I remembered I didn't put my cull tags in my bag. 

The Day: Everbody was there early in the belief that there wouldn't be parking spaces due to a big walleye tournament, but that wasn't the case. I was the last guy to arrive. I got my stuff in the boat and Tim had four extra cull tags. We blasted off a little before 7:30AM and we headed right to the reeds on the West side of  Round Lake. It wasn't long and I flipped up my big bass of the day 2/15 on a Texas Rigged junebug craw tube.  Tim got 2 or 3 keepers on our first pass along the outside edge in maybe a 60-yard stretch. We then worked our way back inside the reeds but not too far from the edge. I missed a bite on a Hack Attack Jig and caught a pike around the same area where I got my bass. As we started back on a second pass Tim got a nice one. I think he was culling by the time I got another bass. I did lose a fish that broke me off. Tim threw a chatter jig to a small reed island and had a good one jump all over it. I cast my craw tube to the area and was immediately hit by my second biggest bass of the day. We thought maybe we found a school, but nope. So after checking the area out resumed fishing down the reed line. Not too far down Tim got another good one on the chatterjig. I caught a 12.5" just outside of the reed line on a Hack Attack Jig. Then I got on the reed line on a tilapia craw tube. The sun had come out prompting me to go to a lighter color. I got my fifth fish on a D & M Baits junebug Piranha 2 Swim Jig (chatter). I got my limit fish around noon on the craw tube. We then worked our way back with me missing or losing several bites.

We then tried a small reed bed and Tim got a couple of upgrades. At that point, we decided to leave Round. We went to reed bed on the North end of Gull. I got one upgrade on a junebug craw tube and caught a dink on a LiveTarget Baitball Popper. It wasn't happening. We spent the final hour and a half on the South end not catching anything.

The Results: My fish weighed 12/13oz putting me in 7th Place. Tim had 18/9 putting him in 4th. Keith Tuma won with 20/6 and got Lunker with a 4/7 fish  Second went to Smitty with 19even and Al Steinbauer got third edging Benson by 6ozs. The Co-Angler Challenge was won by Beau again.

My Thoughts: I am satisfied with my day. It took me a couple hours to relax and get comfortable and in tune with pitching the reeds. We were the only boat in Round and because of that fact we probably should have stayed there the whole day.  

This Tournament guaranteed I will finish 5th or 6th in AOY.

B.B.S. Gull Lake

Conditions: 52-76℉, Sunny to partly cloudy, Calm or very light E wind
Water Temp: 72-76℉

The Day:  
Not sure exactly what time we blasted off at.  We didn't run very far.  I started off throwing the Whopper Plopper.  After about 15 minutes my boater Mick got himself a decent bass on a craw tube.  I immediately put down the Plopper because there hadn't been a hint of activity on the surface and picked up the Legend Xtreme with a blue/black Chigger Craw on it.  About 5 minutes later I had my first bass in the boat, a 13.3 incher.  Mick then got another decent one and I got a 13.5".  Mick then caught 17 incher and a couple more good one's in pretty short order.  I got a dink next to a dock as we worked our way back over where we had fished.  My blue/black Chigger Craw was trashed so I put on a breen one.  There started to be some surface activity so I started  throwing the Plopper again.  Mick caught his limit fish about an hour and 20 minutes in.  I put the Plopper back down pretty quickly.  I think Mick culled once and I got my big fish of the day, a 15.25"on the Chigger Craw.  I was throwing both the Chigger Craw and a craw tube as well.  I had several fish pick them up and drop it immediately.  Also plenty of bites from sunfish.  The area seemed to go dead, so we headed North to his big fish area.

There were lots of sunfish swimming around, so tried the LiveTarget Sunfish Wake bait.  I saw some boils on the surface so I also tried a bluegill Shower Blows 105 for a while.  Mick started catching some bass but they didn't help him, maybe he culled once or twice.

Mick gave me a red shad craw tube.  I threw it for about 10 minutes without a hit and went to a black/red fleck Chigger Craw.  Mick caught another bass and asked me why I wasn't throwing the craw tube.  He had a good point.  I switched from a 3/8 to 3/16 weight with the craw tube.  While I was fishing the Chigger Craw and the craw tube once again I was having fish pick it up and drop it.  I tried letting it sit or giggling it in place, but they wouldn't come back for it.

It was now a little after 11AM and we headed South.  I don't know which bay we were in but Bill Bailey and Alan Steinbauer were both fishing really close to where we pulled in.  Mick had a small keeper on before I even had my line in the water.  Alan's boat left pretty quickly and we headed that way.  Mick caught another bass that didn't help him.  We went right into the thick coontail and Mick was showing me how he fishes for them in the Fall.  He pulled in a small keeper on his first or second drop.  He then caught another one pretty quickly.  I think I then missed a hit and Mick caught another one.  I missed a couple more bites, but finally hooked up on won just over 13 inches.  Mick sat down and ate a sandwich.  I think I missed one more hit, before me left for the next spot.

The next spot was reed island.  I had a fish just hammer the craw tube after it landed, but when I set the hook there was nothing there.  Might have been a pike.  We fished the area for about half an hour and didn't get anything, so off we headed to what must be eastern most southern bay and fished off of a point.  I got my last fish of the day (13.75) there and missed a couple of hits as well.

We went in and tried some docks.  Didn't get anything.  With about 40 minutes left we headed back to our starting spot and didn't get anything.

Results:  My 5 fish weighed 7lbs 6ozs, which put me in 18th Place out of 22 anglers. Mick's fished weighed 14/1 and put him in 7th Place.  Keith Tuma won his second in a row with 18/11.  Chuck Steinbauer had a 4/5 big bass.

My Thoughts:  Mick probably caught 4 fish to my one.  He had me around fish all day and even gave me the color that was working.  By the time I figured out I needed to grind with craw tube it was too late.  My mental focus was good all day.  Disappointing to not get a limit, but I had a good time.

   

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.