Thursday night marked the end of another year of the Kandi Lakes Bass League. The final Thursday was originally going to be a championship but since we only had 8 boats fish the standings we decided to invite everyone to fish this final night. The team of the year, which was determined last week was allowed to choose the lake they wanted to fish, and the pick was Long. They had done well out there all year and most of the other teams really struggled so it was a good choice for them at the time. Unfortunately for them it didn't work out so well but a couple other teams did very well. My dad and I were one of those teams. We ended up winning the night with 3 fish weighing 16.34 lbs. That's right 16.34 lbs for 3 fish!!! That is a huge weight. There have been higher weights in the past, but as far as I know that was the 3rd heaviest weight ever weighed in league. 2nd place also had a huge bag with 3 fish weighing in at 14.50 lbs. To anchor our bag my dad caught the biggest fish of the year on Thursday nights with a bass weighing in at 6.44 lbs. I believe this is in the top 5 biggest fish ever weighed on a league night, and league has been run for 20 years if not more.
It was certainly an amazing night for us but it sure didn't start that way. We went the first 2 hours of the night without even a bite. I've talked about Long Lake on this blog in the past and we did the same things we usually do which is flipping reeds and fishing on the rocks. For the first 2 hours none of that panned out. I guess in the last hour we were in the right place at the right time and the fish just turned on. We ended up catching 7 fish in that hour by flipping tubes and jigs into the reeds. The first fish was way back inside and ended up weighing about 4 lbs. The next fish i caught weighed 5.68 lbs and was also way up inside the reeds. We then filled out our limit with a small fish as well as catching several more smaller fish. That 6.44 my dad caught came on the very last cast of the night when it was almost pitch dark outside. After catching that fish I knew we had done good but I didn't know just how good. In my mind we had two 5 pounders and a 3 pounder but when they hit the scales our jaws just dropped along with everyone elses. Long has been fished pretty hard the last few years and no one really thought that kind of weight was possible out there but I guess it was. Hopefully we can do it again next year.
After a mediocre year of leauge it was really nice to go out on a high note like that. We won the night and had big fish for the night as well as big fish for the year and caught one of the heaviest weights ever and one of the biggest bass ever. Theres not much more you can do than that. Hopefully we can do something similar down here on the Mississippi River during the state tournament.
Like I said in the previous post we don't have good internet access down here. I had planned on updating during practice and the tournament but that won't be possible. I will write up a full report of the tournament when I get back.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
KLBL - Foot Lake
Sorry for the delay in posting the last couple nights of league but I've been down in Wabasha for the MN Federation State Tournament and we don't have good internet access down here.
Foot Lake right outside of Willmar is a brand new lake for the bass league. Even though it is close no one in our area really fishes it at all. When my dad and I took over the bass league I decided to put it in the mix for the last Wednesday night of the year. I knew there were bass in there but all summer long we heard a lot of grumbling about the choice. Nobody thought there was a catchable population of bass. While the fishing wasn’t great, I think many people were surprised at the fish brought in. I know I sure was. 1st place weighed in about 9.3 lbs, 2nd had about 8.3 lbs and 3rd had about 5.7 lbs. The big bass for the night was 3.44 lbs. Out of the 13 boats there were quite a few zeros but the majority of the boats at least caught 1 fish. Most people thought that everyone would zero for the night. Unfortunately my dad and I were one of the boats who caught no fish. We just were not able to figure anything out on the night. I have only fished the lake a couple times and we hit all the spots I’ve caught fish before but nothing worked for us. I know we were in the right areas though because we saw people catching fish.
This was the last Wednesday night of bass league for 2008. Catching no fish is not the ideal way to end the season but that’s how it goes sometimes. There is still one more night though on Thursday and I know it was good so check the next post to see the results of the final Thursday night league of 2008.
Foot Lake right outside of Willmar is a brand new lake for the bass league. Even though it is close no one in our area really fishes it at all. When my dad and I took over the bass league I decided to put it in the mix for the last Wednesday night of the year. I knew there were bass in there but all summer long we heard a lot of grumbling about the choice. Nobody thought there was a catchable population of bass. While the fishing wasn’t great, I think many people were surprised at the fish brought in. I know I sure was. 1st place weighed in about 9.3 lbs, 2nd had about 8.3 lbs and 3rd had about 5.7 lbs. The big bass for the night was 3.44 lbs. Out of the 13 boats there were quite a few zeros but the majority of the boats at least caught 1 fish. Most people thought that everyone would zero for the night. Unfortunately my dad and I were one of the boats who caught no fish. We just were not able to figure anything out on the night. I have only fished the lake a couple times and we hit all the spots I’ve caught fish before but nothing worked for us. I know we were in the right areas though because we saw people catching fish.
This was the last Wednesday night of bass league for 2008. Catching no fish is not the ideal way to end the season but that’s how it goes sometimes. There is still one more night though on Thursday and I know it was good so check the next post to see the results of the final Thursday night league of 2008.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Quick Update
Just had a few items to discuss since the last post.
After the last Big Bass Bonanza tournament on the Horseshoe Chain I posted that we finished in 19th place and probably dropped out of the top 10 in the standings. Those were unofficial. The official results are now in and we did indeed take 19th place but instead of dropping in the standings we actually moved up. Instead of being in 9th place we are now tied for 7th place with 1 event to go.
The final event on the BBB trail is on Mille Lacs. My dad and I just got back from fishing 2 days up there and while the fishing wasn't spectacular it was solid. We have our plan for now and hopefully we will be able to stay in the top 10. The tournament is still 2 weeks away though so a lot can change. We won't be able to get anymore practice in though because we will be heading down to Wabasha for the Minnesota State Bass Federation tournament on the Mississippi River all next week.
The highlight of the 2 days on Mille Lacs was actually an unexpected fish. Since the tournament only allows one smallmouth over 21 inches to be weighed in we fished exclusively for largemouths. I did run into one smallie though and it was the biggest smallie of my life. I caught it flipping a tube in the reeds. It went 20 3/4 inches. We put it on the scale and it bounced around between 5.98 - 6.00 lbs so I'm going to call it 6 lbs even. Man what a fish! I've never seen a smallmouth bass like that and it beat my previous best by over a pound.
After the last Big Bass Bonanza tournament on the Horseshoe Chain I posted that we finished in 19th place and probably dropped out of the top 10 in the standings. Those were unofficial. The official results are now in and we did indeed take 19th place but instead of dropping in the standings we actually moved up. Instead of being in 9th place we are now tied for 7th place with 1 event to go.
The final event on the BBB trail is on Mille Lacs. My dad and I just got back from fishing 2 days up there and while the fishing wasn't spectacular it was solid. We have our plan for now and hopefully we will be able to stay in the top 10. The tournament is still 2 weeks away though so a lot can change. We won't be able to get anymore practice in though because we will be heading down to Wabasha for the Minnesota State Bass Federation tournament on the Mississippi River all next week.
The highlight of the 2 days on Mille Lacs was actually an unexpected fish. Since the tournament only allows one smallmouth over 21 inches to be weighed in we fished exclusively for largemouths. I did run into one smallie though and it was the biggest smallie of my life. I caught it flipping a tube in the reeds. It went 20 3/4 inches. We put it on the scale and it bounced around between 5.98 - 6.00 lbs so I'm going to call it 6 lbs even. Man what a fish! I've never seen a smallmouth bass like that and it beat my previous best by over a pound.
Friday, August 22, 2008
KLBL - Lake Calhoun
Well last night was the final night in determining the team of the year on Thursday nights. We have one more night to fish but that is the championship and no points are awarded. Going into the night my dad and I had a 1 point lead over 2nd place, however 2nd place had the tiebreaker so all they needed to do was finish 1 spot better than us to win team of the year. All we needed to do was beat them for the night to secure 1st place for the season. We knew what we needed to do but unfortunately we couldn't get it done. I think we made a bad decision about where to start but in the end it wouldn't have mattered. They smoked em by catching 3 fish weighing over 12 lbs to take first for the night and for the year. 2nd had 11.66 lbs and 3rd had almost 10 lbs so the fish were biting good for some people. My dad and I weighed in 8.23 lbs to take 4th place for the night and also 2nd place in the team of the year standings.
Our initial plan was to start in a matted up weedbed but at the last second we decided to hit docks first. We had our limit in 15 minutes with 1 fish close to 3 lbs. Then we moved to another stretch of docks and caught another fish in the 2 1/2 lb range. After that we moved near where we should have started and watched the guy sitting there catch bass after bass. I got pretty close and caught another solid 2 1/2 lb fish under a tree. That was it for our limit. We did eventually get in the good area but he had cleaned it out already and all that was left were small fish. He was the guy who finished third for the night so even if we had started there in the first place we would have been able to catch about 10 lbs which wouldn't have been enough to hold on to team of the year anyways.
It is really disappointing to finish 2nd on the year but I guess overall it was still pretty solid. After winning last year I really wanted to repeat though. Actually I want to win it every year. That's just my competitive nature when it comes to fishing. I don't feel like we fished very well on the year anyway so maybe we didn't deserve it. We made too many bad decisions and lost too many key fish. Salvaging a 2nd place for the year was probably the best we could have hoped for.
Our initial plan was to start in a matted up weedbed but at the last second we decided to hit docks first. We had our limit in 15 minutes with 1 fish close to 3 lbs. Then we moved to another stretch of docks and caught another fish in the 2 1/2 lb range. After that we moved near where we should have started and watched the guy sitting there catch bass after bass. I got pretty close and caught another solid 2 1/2 lb fish under a tree. That was it for our limit. We did eventually get in the good area but he had cleaned it out already and all that was left were small fish. He was the guy who finished third for the night so even if we had started there in the first place we would have been able to catch about 10 lbs which wouldn't have been enough to hold on to team of the year anyways.
It is really disappointing to finish 2nd on the year but I guess overall it was still pretty solid. After winning last year I really wanted to repeat though. Actually I want to win it every year. That's just my competitive nature when it comes to fishing. I don't feel like we fished very well on the year anyway so maybe we didn't deserve it. We made too many bad decisions and lost too many key fish. Salvaging a 2nd place for the year was probably the best we could have hoped for.
KLBL - Lake Johanna
There really isn't a whole lot to say about Wednesday nights league on Lake Johanna. My dad and I caught 3 fish in the first half hour and that was it for our night. I ended up catching all 3 on a black and blue jig with a black and blue Lake Fork Pig Claw trailer. Our fish came in one small area of reeds and thats all we fished all night but we just didn't get any other bites. Our fish weighed in at 7.87 lbs which was good for 5th place out of 11 teams. The winning weight was 9.10 lbs which is very small for Johanna. The big bass for the night was 3.70 lbs which is also very small for this lake. They just weren't biting good for anyone that night.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Big Bass Bonanza - Horseshoe Chain of Lakes
Sunday marked the 4th out of 5 tournaments on the Big Bass Bonanza schedule. Even though we haven't had what I would consider a good year we were still sitting in 9th place in the overall standings. We have only been in the money once but at least we have avoided major disasters. We have been in the top half of the field every time. Horseshoe was another example of this. We ended up in 19th place out of 49 teams. Our 8 fish weighed in at 13.82 lbs. The winning weight was almost 24 lbs for 8 fish. There were probably close to 20 teams that failed to weigh in a full 8 fish limit. Thats how tough the fishing was out there. After our horrible practice my dad and I were just looking to catch 8 fish and we managed to do that but it wasn't easy.
We started in one of the lakes on the chain that had a lot more vegetation than most of the lakes. There was a bunch of milfoil lining the lake and in places it was matted up pretty thick. It was a grind from the start. We didn't have a bite for over a half hour but I finally put a solid 2 pounder in the boat on a Spro Bronze Eye frog. After fishing another half hour I caught our biggest fish of the day on a tube next to some lily pads. That fish went almost 3 lbs. After that we didn't have any more bites so we ran to our next area.
The next spot we fished was kind of a bay formed by a few islands. There were docks, rocks, pads and a few logs in the water. When we pulled up another boat had already fished many of the docks we were hoping to get on. We started on the end dock and worked towards them. I caught 2 keepers off of the 3 docks we got to fish. Then we turned around and fished some nearby docks that didn't produce at all during practice but I managed to catch a 12 inch smallmouth from under a tree. Now we had 5 keepers in the boat at it was only 10 am. The day was going a lot better than expected even though most of our fish were small. Unfortunately it slowed way down for the rest of the day.
Our next stops were several slop areas that we really liked but they had already been fished by other boats. We went in there anyway but struck out on both. After that we decided to go back to our starting spot and my dad picked up a keeper on a white swim jig but that was the only fish we caught there so we headed back to our 2nd spot again. This time I managed 2 more keepers. One on a tube in some shoreline weeds and one on a jig flipped in the pads. We had managed to catch a limit. Even though it was pretty small we felt pretty good since it was only noon and we had 3 more hours to fish.
The afternoon was not kind to us. We ran around hitting different places we got bit on in practice and unfortunately were not able to fish some spots because of other boats but nothing worked. Finally with about 45 minutes to go I caught a 13 incher on a frog so we were able to cull out that tiny smallie. So not only did we catch a limit we even were able to cull once!
I'm not sure what place we are in the standings after this event. I know we have dropped out of the top 10 but hopefully not too far out. The last event is on Mille Lacs and we have very little experience there but I hope we can get on something good to at least bump ourselves back up into the top 10 at the end of the year.
We started in one of the lakes on the chain that had a lot more vegetation than most of the lakes. There was a bunch of milfoil lining the lake and in places it was matted up pretty thick. It was a grind from the start. We didn't have a bite for over a half hour but I finally put a solid 2 pounder in the boat on a Spro Bronze Eye frog. After fishing another half hour I caught our biggest fish of the day on a tube next to some lily pads. That fish went almost 3 lbs. After that we didn't have any more bites so we ran to our next area.
The next spot we fished was kind of a bay formed by a few islands. There were docks, rocks, pads and a few logs in the water. When we pulled up another boat had already fished many of the docks we were hoping to get on. We started on the end dock and worked towards them. I caught 2 keepers off of the 3 docks we got to fish. Then we turned around and fished some nearby docks that didn't produce at all during practice but I managed to catch a 12 inch smallmouth from under a tree. Now we had 5 keepers in the boat at it was only 10 am. The day was going a lot better than expected even though most of our fish were small. Unfortunately it slowed way down for the rest of the day.
Our next stops were several slop areas that we really liked but they had already been fished by other boats. We went in there anyway but struck out on both. After that we decided to go back to our starting spot and my dad picked up a keeper on a white swim jig but that was the only fish we caught there so we headed back to our 2nd spot again. This time I managed 2 more keepers. One on a tube in some shoreline weeds and one on a jig flipped in the pads. We had managed to catch a limit. Even though it was pretty small we felt pretty good since it was only noon and we had 3 more hours to fish.
The afternoon was not kind to us. We ran around hitting different places we got bit on in practice and unfortunately were not able to fish some spots because of other boats but nothing worked. Finally with about 45 minutes to go I caught a 13 incher on a frog so we were able to cull out that tiny smallie. So not only did we catch a limit we even were able to cull once!
I'm not sure what place we are in the standings after this event. I know we have dropped out of the top 10 but hopefully not too far out. The last event is on Mille Lacs and we have very little experience there but I hope we can get on something good to at least bump ourselves back up into the top 10 at the end of the year.
Friday, August 15, 2008
KLBL - Diamond Lake
With 2 nights left in the Standings League time was running out for my dad and I to catch up to the leaders. Going into the night we were 4 points behind first place so we really needed to kick it up a notch the last 2 nights of the season. Fortunately we were able to pull out a first place with 11.45 lbs. 2nd place had 8.43 lbs. We also had the big bass of the night at 3.85 lbs. With our first place finish and a little stumble from the previous standings leaders my dad and I were able to retake first in the standings with one night to go. We now have 69 points and 2nd place has 68 points. It's a lot tighter than I would like but at least we have the lead and know what we need to do on Calhoun next week.
We started our night on our usual Diamond Lake starting area which is a stretch of docks that has produced many big fish for us over the years. We ended up with a limit within 15 minutes. 1 of the fish was very small but the other 2 were both over 3 1/2 lbs so we were off to a great start. All of the dock fish came on a Strike King Bleeding Bait tube. After fishing a few more docks we went to the reeds. There were a couple other boats who had just fished the area we like but we have enough confidence in it that we went in there anyway and started catching fish. The first few were just little ones that didn't help us. Another boat went right along the edge we wanted to get to next so we just followed them even though they had just fished it. There were weeds all matted up next to the reeds and I saw a little pocket so I flipped my tube in there and caught another fish in that 3 1/2 lb class right in view of the other boat. They knew they had messed up that one. At that point we were feeling good with 3 quality fish in the boat. We ran around the rest of the night fishing more docks and a few more reed areas. I did upgrade once more off of a dock but it turned out we didn't need that fish after all. Our winning weight was over 3 lbs ahead of 2nd place.
It finally feels like we are getting on a little bit of a roll in league with 3 wins and a 2nd in the last 4 nights. Too bad the season is almost over. Hopefully we didn't wait too long to get hot and we can hang on to first place for the season next week. It's going to be really close I think.
We started our night on our usual Diamond Lake starting area which is a stretch of docks that has produced many big fish for us over the years. We ended up with a limit within 15 minutes. 1 of the fish was very small but the other 2 were both over 3 1/2 lbs so we were off to a great start. All of the dock fish came on a Strike King Bleeding Bait tube. After fishing a few more docks we went to the reeds. There were a couple other boats who had just fished the area we like but we have enough confidence in it that we went in there anyway and started catching fish. The first few were just little ones that didn't help us. Another boat went right along the edge we wanted to get to next so we just followed them even though they had just fished it. There were weeds all matted up next to the reeds and I saw a little pocket so I flipped my tube in there and caught another fish in that 3 1/2 lb class right in view of the other boat. They knew they had messed up that one. At that point we were feeling good with 3 quality fish in the boat. We ran around the rest of the night fishing more docks and a few more reed areas. I did upgrade once more off of a dock but it turned out we didn't need that fish after all. Our winning weight was over 3 lbs ahead of 2nd place.
It finally feels like we are getting on a little bit of a roll in league with 3 wins and a 2nd in the last 4 nights. Too bad the season is almost over. Hopefully we didn't wait too long to get hot and we can hang on to first place for the season next week. It's going to be really close I think.
KLBL - Lake Florida
We had 15 boats again on Wednesday night for another good turnout even though the weather to start with was kind of threatening. The weights were pretty typical for Florida although the top several bags were a little above average. My dad and I ended up in 1st place with 9.69 lbs, 2nd was 9.20 lbs, 3rd was about 8.50 lbs and 4th had 8.25 lbs. The big fish for the night was 4.29 lbs.
We started our night in a spot I don't remember ever starting on before. Generally we try to fish a bunch of docks early and try to get a big one before all the docks get beat up. The docks just really haven't been great the past few years though so we started out deep on one of the humps. It's a good thing we did too because right when we pulled up to our spot another boat tried to get right on it too but since we were there they were forced to leave. We threw watermelon Picasso jigs with Lake Fork Pig Claw trailers and had a limit weighing close to 9 lbs within 20 minutes. We kept fishing for awhile longer but instead of catching more 3 lb fish they had shrunk a little so we left to let it rest. As soon as we left another boat pulled up on it and then another one did the same. Those 2 boats sat on the general area the rest of the night. At this point we were kind of kicking ourselves for leaving but what can you do. We then fished about 10 docks with no luck and then tried a few more deep spots. They were unproductive until we got to the other hump on the lake. We found another little school in a clump of coontail and upgraded with a 3.3 lb bass as well as catching several other 3 lb fish that just didn't quite help us. We ended up catching probably 20 bass between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 lbs on the night but never were able to find a kicker. Luckily we didn't need it and ended up winning by a decent margin.
We started our night in a spot I don't remember ever starting on before. Generally we try to fish a bunch of docks early and try to get a big one before all the docks get beat up. The docks just really haven't been great the past few years though so we started out deep on one of the humps. It's a good thing we did too because right when we pulled up to our spot another boat tried to get right on it too but since we were there they were forced to leave. We threw watermelon Picasso jigs with Lake Fork Pig Claw trailers and had a limit weighing close to 9 lbs within 20 minutes. We kept fishing for awhile longer but instead of catching more 3 lb fish they had shrunk a little so we left to let it rest. As soon as we left another boat pulled up on it and then another one did the same. Those 2 boats sat on the general area the rest of the night. At this point we were kind of kicking ourselves for leaving but what can you do. We then fished about 10 docks with no luck and then tried a few more deep spots. They were unproductive until we got to the other hump on the lake. We found another little school in a clump of coontail and upgraded with a 3.3 lb bass as well as catching several other 3 lb fish that just didn't quite help us. We ended up catching probably 20 bass between 2 1/2 and 3 1/2 lbs on the night but never were able to find a kicker. Luckily we didn't need it and ended up winning by a decent margin.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
West Central Bassmasters Summer Classic - Green Lake
After overnight rain showers the weather for tournament day was exactly what we were looking for. It was mostly sunny with just light winds which were the conditions we felt our fish would bite best under. The we on this day was not my dad and I like the rest of our tournaments. My dad was out of town for the weekend so I called on my old fishing buddy Lafe. We used to fish a lot together but we hadn't fished a tournament together for several years. It was actually a lot of fun being back in the boat with him on tournament day.
We started off fishing a cabbage bed in about 5-6 feet of water. On tuesday the week before I found a bunch of smallies using those weeds but tournament day they had all disappeared. Our next stop was a shallow rocky flat and that didn't produce at all either. By this time it was about 8:00 am and we had no fish but neither of us was too concerned since our primary pattern didn't really start working until after 8:00.
Our next stop was much more productive and we put 4 smallies in the boat in about half an hour throwing spinnerbaits on the edge of a flat in about 10-12 feet of water. This is actually what we did pretty much the rest of the day. We just ran around the lake hitting different flats in that same depth of water with the spinnerbait. We had our 5 fish limit pretty quickly afterwards and just continued to upgrade little by little throughout the day. We had probably close to 15 lbs when something crazy happened that I don't recall having happened before to me. I saw a giant smallie following my spinnerbait all the way to the boat. Once it got close it kind of started to slide back deeper but instead of just letting it go I stuck my rod in the water and did the figure eight move that musky fishermen use for following fish. That smallie actually came back up and got my spinnerbait with about a foot of line off the tip of the rod. I set the hook and the fish flew out of the water and came off. It was over before it even started. Lafe and I both got a real good look at it and both agree it was an easy 4 pounder. That one really hurt. You just don't get many chances at fish in that class on Green Lake anymore. On the other hand I probably should never have hooked it in the first place. Those fish just don't hit that close to the boat usually. After that we knew at least a few big fish were in our areas so we just kept chucking the spinnerbait. I'd say we spent at least 90% of the day doing that.
After noon the spinnerbait bite really seemed to be tailing off. That is a little strange because mid day is usually best for that bite but for whatever reason it just wasn't working for us. We kept at it a little too long probably but with 45 minutes left in the day we finally decided we had to change it up. We pulled out the drop shot rigs and headed to a hump that tops off about 20 feet deep. We fished around a little bit and got to the south side of it in 25 feet and started seeing fish all over on the graph. Almost immediately when we got into that school Lafe set the hook on what turned out to be our biggest fish of the day. It weighed in at 3.45 lbs. After sorting and culling our fish we got back on the school but time was running out. I was still seeing fish all over the screen but they just wouldn't bite and it was time to head in.
Our 5 smallies ended up weighing in at 15.40 lbs. Quite a bit less than we were expecting based on practice but still a nice weight. It ended up being good enough for 5th place out of the 23 teams. 5th was also the last spot to get a check so at least we made our money back. The winners had a very nice bag with their 5 fish going 17.82 lbs. They also had big fish for the day at 4.17 lbs.
We started off fishing a cabbage bed in about 5-6 feet of water. On tuesday the week before I found a bunch of smallies using those weeds but tournament day they had all disappeared. Our next stop was a shallow rocky flat and that didn't produce at all either. By this time it was about 8:00 am and we had no fish but neither of us was too concerned since our primary pattern didn't really start working until after 8:00.
Our next stop was much more productive and we put 4 smallies in the boat in about half an hour throwing spinnerbaits on the edge of a flat in about 10-12 feet of water. This is actually what we did pretty much the rest of the day. We just ran around the lake hitting different flats in that same depth of water with the spinnerbait. We had our 5 fish limit pretty quickly afterwards and just continued to upgrade little by little throughout the day. We had probably close to 15 lbs when something crazy happened that I don't recall having happened before to me. I saw a giant smallie following my spinnerbait all the way to the boat. Once it got close it kind of started to slide back deeper but instead of just letting it go I stuck my rod in the water and did the figure eight move that musky fishermen use for following fish. That smallie actually came back up and got my spinnerbait with about a foot of line off the tip of the rod. I set the hook and the fish flew out of the water and came off. It was over before it even started. Lafe and I both got a real good look at it and both agree it was an easy 4 pounder. That one really hurt. You just don't get many chances at fish in that class on Green Lake anymore. On the other hand I probably should never have hooked it in the first place. Those fish just don't hit that close to the boat usually. After that we knew at least a few big fish were in our areas so we just kept chucking the spinnerbait. I'd say we spent at least 90% of the day doing that.
After noon the spinnerbait bite really seemed to be tailing off. That is a little strange because mid day is usually best for that bite but for whatever reason it just wasn't working for us. We kept at it a little too long probably but with 45 minutes left in the day we finally decided we had to change it up. We pulled out the drop shot rigs and headed to a hump that tops off about 20 feet deep. We fished around a little bit and got to the south side of it in 25 feet and started seeing fish all over on the graph. Almost immediately when we got into that school Lafe set the hook on what turned out to be our biggest fish of the day. It weighed in at 3.45 lbs. After sorting and culling our fish we got back on the school but time was running out. I was still seeing fish all over the screen but they just wouldn't bite and it was time to head in.
Our 5 smallies ended up weighing in at 15.40 lbs. Quite a bit less than we were expecting based on practice but still a nice weight. It ended up being good enough for 5th place out of the 23 teams. 5th was also the last spot to get a check so at least we made our money back. The winners had a very nice bag with their 5 fish going 17.82 lbs. They also had big fish for the day at 4.17 lbs.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
KLBL - Eagle Lake
We only had 7 of the 8 teams fishing tonight but on Eagle Lake the fewer boats the better since everyone fishes the same way out there. Everyone knows all the same stretches of docks too so it is interesting fishing. Even with so few boats though the weights were not very good at all. 1st place was 9.30 lbs and 2nd place was my dad and I with 9.29 lbs. 1/100th difference!!!. That hundredth ended up costing us 2 points and is going to make it very difficult to regain the team of the year lead with only 2 night remaining. 1st place team of the year now has 63 points and my dad and I have 59 points. It's not impossible to come back but we will probably need to win the next 2 nights or have the first place team stumble badly which is very unlikely the way they have been fishing. Otherwise there just aren't enough total points per night to make up much ground.
As is always the case on Eagle theres no secret about what we did to catch our fish. We skipped our Strike King Bleeding Bait tubes up under docks and trees. The key is to just keep working hard and knowing that you can still get bit even if 2 other boats have fished the docks before you have. The night started off pretty bad for us once again and we didn't have a fish in the boat until our 3rd stop. That fish was about a 3 pounder though so it was a good start. Then we tried to pull into the most popular spot on the lake but got cut off so we turned back around and went the other direction. It turned out to be good for us though since we caught our biggest fish of the night on one of those docks. Then we went up and fished near where last weeks winners fished and I caught another one about 3 lbs off a dock that had just been fished by another team. That was about it for our fish catches. We had a few other small ones but we just didn't catch very many fish at all. One funny part of the night was when we went back to the most popular area on the lake there were 5 of the 7 teams all on that one stretch. You'd think we could figure something else out but I guess not!
As is always the case on Eagle theres no secret about what we did to catch our fish. We skipped our Strike King Bleeding Bait tubes up under docks and trees. The key is to just keep working hard and knowing that you can still get bit even if 2 other boats have fished the docks before you have. The night started off pretty bad for us once again and we didn't have a fish in the boat until our 3rd stop. That fish was about a 3 pounder though so it was a good start. Then we tried to pull into the most popular spot on the lake but got cut off so we turned back around and went the other direction. It turned out to be good for us though since we caught our biggest fish of the night on one of those docks. Then we went up and fished near where last weeks winners fished and I caught another one about 3 lbs off a dock that had just been fished by another team. That was about it for our fish catches. We had a few other small ones but we just didn't catch very many fish at all. One funny part of the night was when we went back to the most popular area on the lake there were 5 of the 7 teams all on that one stretch. You'd think we could figure something else out but I guess not!
KLBL - Nest Lake
We had another good turnout on Wednesday night with 15 boats showing up. The bite was off a little bit for Nest but there were still a few good bags brought in. 1st place was my dad and I with 10.21 lbs, 2nd was 9.66 lbs, 3rd had 9.34 lbs, and 4th was 8.61 lbs. The big bass for the night was a 4.58 lb largemouth.
Even though we ended up winning the night started off pretty poorly for us. The first problem was before we even started fishing. A guy we know who usually doesn't fish league showed up and I knew he would go to the spot we wanted to start on if he was ahead of us. Sure enough he drew boat 10 and we pulled number 13. He went straight to that spot so we had to change up and go to one of our deep largemouth holes. When we pulled up on our waypoint the fish were biting like crazy but the next problem was keeping them on the hook. In the first 15 minutes we probably had 8 bites but could only put 2 of them in the boat. I don't know what was wrong. You would set the hook and have the fish on for a split second and then they'd be gone. After that bite died we headed to a rocky area near one of the islands. Almost immediately I hooked a big smallmouth but it jumped and my hand slipped on the reel and it was gone too. Not the start we were looking for. After that we moved to a stretch of docks and rocks and finally settled down and started catching fish. We threw green pumpkin Strike King KVD tubes around the docks and rocks. On that spot we ended up catching 4 nice smallies with 2 of them being over 3 1/2 lbs to get us to our 10 lb weight. After that we bounced around hitting more smallmouth areas and caught a few more. We might have culled 1 more time to gain an ounce or so.
This was our first win on Wednesday nights so far this season and it was a long time coming. The fishing has been so tough for us this year I didn't know if we would end up with a win or not. It feels good to finally get that win and hopefully we can get some momentum going for the final part of the season.
Even though we ended up winning the night started off pretty poorly for us. The first problem was before we even started fishing. A guy we know who usually doesn't fish league showed up and I knew he would go to the spot we wanted to start on if he was ahead of us. Sure enough he drew boat 10 and we pulled number 13. He went straight to that spot so we had to change up and go to one of our deep largemouth holes. When we pulled up on our waypoint the fish were biting like crazy but the next problem was keeping them on the hook. In the first 15 minutes we probably had 8 bites but could only put 2 of them in the boat. I don't know what was wrong. You would set the hook and have the fish on for a split second and then they'd be gone. After that bite died we headed to a rocky area near one of the islands. Almost immediately I hooked a big smallmouth but it jumped and my hand slipped on the reel and it was gone too. Not the start we were looking for. After that we moved to a stretch of docks and rocks and finally settled down and started catching fish. We threw green pumpkin Strike King KVD tubes around the docks and rocks. On that spot we ended up catching 4 nice smallies with 2 of them being over 3 1/2 lbs to get us to our 10 lb weight. After that we bounced around hitting more smallmouth areas and caught a few more. We might have culled 1 more time to gain an ounce or so.
This was our first win on Wednesday nights so far this season and it was a long time coming. The fishing has been so tough for us this year I didn't know if we would end up with a win or not. It feels good to finally get that win and hopefully we can get some momentum going for the final part of the season.
Friday, August 1, 2008
KLBL - Soloman Lake
Only 7 of the 8 teams fished last night but even with that few boats several of the spots got a lot of pressure. A few boats got away from the crowds though and it seemed to pay off for them. 1st place had 12.70 lbs for their 3 and 2nd had 11.09 lbs. My dad and I finished 5th with 6.43 lbs.
Once again we just couldn't get anything good going. It's been a really tough summer for us so far and I'm not sure what to do to fix it. Last night we never caught a fish for almost 2 hours. We mostly flipped reeds and that just wasn't working for us. We finally switched to fishing a rocky point and thats where we caught all 3 of our keepers. My dad got one on a Strike King spinnerbait and I caught 2 on a Strike King Craw Tube. Those were the only 3 fish we caught.
Once again we just couldn't get anything good going. It's been a really tough summer for us so far and I'm not sure what to do to fix it. Last night we never caught a fish for almost 2 hours. We mostly flipped reeds and that just wasn't working for us. We finally switched to fishing a rocky point and thats where we caught all 3 of our keepers. My dad got one on a Strike King spinnerbait and I caught 2 on a Strike King Craw Tube. Those were the only 3 fish we caught.
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