I have gone on a few trips though since the last post though. In late November of 2010 my dad and I along with a few friends headed down to Table Rock for some late season fishing. The weather was pretty cold for the most part but the fishing was really good. We caught a lot of fish every day but just weren't able to get a lot of quality. When we got back to MN all the lakes were frozen so that was it for the year. Then in mid March of this year the same group of guys packed up for the long haul to south Texas. We ended up spending two weeks fishing on Amistad and Falcon lakes. What an amazing trip! We had a few tough days but for the most part fishing was really good and my dad and I both picked up our personal best bass. Mine weighed in at 8.63 lbs and his went 8.75 lbs on our scale. Those are not huge fish for south Texas but I'm satisfied for now. Taking these late fall and early spring trips is such a nice way to shorten the winters up here. I don't know if I could survive without it!
Okoboji Open - Okoboji Lake
My first tournament of 2011 ended up being the Okoboji Open held May 1st on Okoboji Lake. I have fished this tournament off and on over the years and after each time fishing it I vow to never fish it again! It is always cold and windy with cold water and tough fishing and to the surprise of no one we had those exact conditions again this year. Blast off temps were right around freezing and the wind blew 30-40 mph all day long. Not what you would call ideal fishing conditions but the weights for the field actually ended up being very good. It took 5 fish for nearly 19 lbs to take first place and there were 2 bass over 6 lbs weighed in. With 48 boats fishing they paid back 8 places and to make a check you needed a limit of right about 15 lbs. My dad and I came up just a little bit short with 5 fish weighing in at 13.73 lbs for 12th place.
We headed down to Okoboji 2 days before the tournament to get some practice time in and the fishing was extremely tough for us. In fact over 2 long days of fishing we only boated 3 or 4 keeper bass. However we did find one small area where I was able to get several good bites that I shook off instead of catching. This is where we decided to start the tournament and where we ended up spending most of our day. Basically all we did was fish docks and a few laydowns all day long. Even though we never boated a fish there in practice we did end up catching 20-25 bass on tournament day with around half of them being over the 15" length limit. They came on a variety of soft plastics but all 5 of our weigh fish bit a green pumpkin Berkley Havoc Pit Boss. This is a brand new lure that I am already gaining a lot of confidence in!
Our downfall in this event was just never getting a big bite. All it would have took was one 4 lb or better fish and we would have been in the money. Part of that was probably our fault because as the day wore on it became apparent that even though there were a lot of quality fish in the area, there did not seem to be any real big ones. On the other hand the weather warmed up pretty nicely in the afternoon and you never know when a few big mamas will move up on a spring day like that. I guess I do wish we had done a little more exploring than we did but all in all it was a decent tournament to start the year with. Now I just have to wait patiently until we can fish for bass here in Minnesota!
2011 Tournament Schedule
May 1st - Okoboji Open: Okoboji Lake
June 5th - Big Bass Bonanza: Horseshoe Chain
June 11th - West Central Bassmasters State Qualifier: Norway Lake & Lake Florida
June 12th - West Central Bassmasters State Qualifier: Lakes Washington & Stella
June 19th - Big Bass Bonanza: Lake Minnewaska
June 25th - Green Mill/West Central Bassmasters Summer Classic: Green Lake Spicer
July 10th - Big Bass Bonanza: Lake Ida
August 7th - Big Bass Bonanza: Green Lake Spicer
August 10th-12th - B.A.S.S. Federation Northern Divisional: Mississippi River, Prairie du Chien
August 21st - Big Bass Bonanza: Lake Le Homme Dieu
September 8th-9th - Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation TOC: Whitefish Chain
September 11th - Green Mill/West Central Bassmasters Fall Classic: Green Lake Spicer
September 18th - Big Bass Bonanza TOC
I'll also be fishing the West Central Bass League every Wednesday and Thursday night in June, July and August as well as the West Central Fall Bass League every Saturday from September until it is too cold to fish.
