Opening Weekend Sunday

I decided to go out to Long Lake today since our first bass club state qualifier was suppose to be there next Saturday (more on that later). I don't really need to prefish since I already know where I'll be starting and all the spots I want to fish throughout the day but it's still a fun lake. I slept in a little bit today since I was so beat from battling the wind yesterday. I got out to the lake about noon and remembered this can be a really tough lake in the afternoon, even in the early spring. It's a much better morning and evening bite. Oh well it was too late now and sure enough the fishing was slow. I only ended up catching 7 bass in about 6 hours. But if it was a tournament day I think I would have done pretty well. My best 5 would have went a little over 20 lbs. I had 3 in the 4 1/2 lb range and the rest were between 2 1/2 lbs and 3 1/2 lbs. Most of my fish came on the new Berkley Hollow Belly swimbait including my biggest one that weighed in at 4.61 lbs. I'm really starting to like those things. One of my other big ones was actually a bed fish. The water was really stained from all the wind but I found that one good one in a little bit clearer area. As soon as I saw it I knew I could catch it. It wouldn't move no matter how close I got. After flipping a Strike King Craw Tube at it for almost 15 minutes it still wouldn't move but it showed no interest in my bait either. I switched to a smaller chartreuse Strike King tube and she was in the boat less than 5 minutes later. What a blast! Then later in the afternoon I found out the club tournament had been moved to Nest Lake due to a conflict with another tournament on Long the same day. That kinda sucks because I never really touched my best water and still ended up with 20 lbs. But I love Nest too so it's alright.

That change makes a busy week even busier though. The plan right now is to prefish Lake Ida on Monday and Tuesday for the Big Bass Bonanza tournament. Then my dad has a business conference Wednesday and Thursday up near Mille Lacs. Since I have never been on the lake and my dad has only been there once I figured it would be a good time to tag along with him and check out the waters. We don't fish Mille Lacs until September for Big Bass Bonanza but I just want to see what it looks like and what it has to offer. Friday was going to be a free day but now I'll have to get out to Nest for at least a few hours to check it out. Then Saturday is our club tournament and Sunday is the Lake Ida BBB tournament. Jam packed schedule but it's all fishing so I'm not complaining one bit!