Tuesday, August 28, 2012

West Central Bass League - Week 12 & Big Bass Bonanza - Horseshoe Chain

West Central Bass League - Eagle Lake - August 21st

This was the final regular season event on Wednesday nights for the West Central Bass League. The Tournament of Champions will be held next week but that is limited to the top 10 in the points standings at the end of the year. 19 teams showed up to try their hand on Eagle Lake. A few weeks ago the weights were really good and we were all expecting similar weights again. Eagle had a different idea though and while the weights brought to the scales were impressive they didn't quite meet up to a few weeks ago.

1st - Bruce & Bruce Jr. - 3 - 11.20 lbs
2nd - Bill & Brad - 3 - 10.85 lbs
3rd - Ron & Joe - 3 - 10.12 lbs
4th - Ron & Dave - 3 - 9.83 lbs
5th - Tonya & Jared - 3 - 9.80 lbs

Big Bass - Bill & Brad - 5.07 lbs

Our night wasn't nearly as good. We really struggled and only boated a few keepers for the night. Our 3 fish weighing 8.12 lbs was good for 9th place on the night. Not the way we wanted to end the year but at least we were able to hang on to 2nd place in the Team of the Year standings. We actually ended up catching all 3 of the bass we weighed in off of one dock. Our biggest fish, which was a little over 3 lbs came earlier in the evening and though we had 2 other small fish in the box we really couldn't get anything else going. With about 10 minutes left in the night I decided to try that dock one more time and it gave up 2 more fish that actually helped our weight a bunch even though we didn't end up with much. All the fish came on a green pumpkin Berkley HAVOC Pit Boss.

West Central Bass League - Green Lake - August 22nd

The final Thursday night league actually ended up being our lowest turnout of the season with only 14 boats showing up to fish despite beautiful conditions. The fishing turned out to be pretty good too as 4 teams passed the 3 lb average. 3 pounders have been tough to come by on Green Lake this year so it was good to see that despite only having 2 1/2 hours of fishing time. As on Wednesday night there will be a TOC with the top 10 teams in the points invited.

1st - Jared & Tonya - 3 - 9.63 lbs
2nd - Andy & Mike Nitchals - 3 - 9.55 lbs
3rd - Dean & Kyle - 3 - 9.41 lbs
4th - Lee - 3 - 9.16 lbs

Big Bass - Lee - 4.22 lbs

Coming into the night we were in 2nd place for the Team of the Year standings but thanks to our high finish we were able to take the Team of the Year crown. That is no small feat in the West Central Bass League as the competition is extremely tough and the points race is really tight every year. As for our fishing I really can't say too much because as luck of the draw would have it we will be returning to Green Lake for the Wednesday night TOC.

Big Bass Bonanza - Horseshoe Chain - August 26th

This week also marked the final Big Bass Bonanza tournament of the regular season. The Horseshoe Chain is a large series of lakes and river with endless amounts of shallow cover. Unfortunately much of the cover never seems to hold many fish. It can be a very tough fishery, especially in August. This year however the fishing was actually pretty good and of the all the tourneys I have ever fished there the average weight in this one was definitely the best. First place was and 8 fish limit weighing 23.99 lbs and there were many bags in the 19-20 lb range. Our 8 fish weighing 20.57 was good for 6th place out of 25 teams which was just one spot out of the money. The team that took the 5th and final money spot weighed 20.60 lbs to edge us out by just .03 lbs! Our 6th place finish also moved us up to 5th place in the final Team of the Year standings. This was easily inside the cutoff for the TOC which will be held in a few weeks on Clearwater Lake. This year the TOC will be a combined event with the Excel tournament circuit under the Minnesota Pro Team Tour banner. Each trail will send their top 15 teams to compete in the TOC.

Despite ending up with a good bag at the end of the day it was certainly not easy. We were the first boat out so we were able to fish our desired starting spot but things went downhill quickly. I lost a small keeper in a tree and missed what felt like a decent bite in our starting area but that was it. Meanwhile another boat had fished my 2nd and 3rd spots which were within site of where we were. We decided to run a short distance to another area only to find another boat sitting right where I wanted to go. I then moved to another stretch of docks and had a boat pull in front of me so I was only able to fish half the stretch. After about an hour of frustration and no fish it was time to move on to another lake on the chain. Finally I was able to find an area without another boat and was able to put a 2 and 2 1/2 pounder in the box before getting cut off again. Next it was off to a shallow weedy bay and you guessed it there were already 4 boats in there.  I didn't let it faze me though and our first fish in there was nearly 3 lbs. The action was pretty slow though and after a couple hours we had only added 3 more tiny keepers. It may sound like I'm complaining but really I'm not. Everyone out fishing this circuit is a good stick and we often find the same areas and patterns. It's all part of the game but it was just frustrating how it played out on this day. Next it was off to a bank with a brushpile and a few trees. We were able to finish off our limit with a few 2 lb class fish and after the way our morning went it was a relief to just have 8 even though many of them were small. At this point we made our way back to the lake we started in only to find out the trim and tilt had gone out on us. The motor was trimmed up since we were going through a shallow no wake zone and with the motor up like that it was impossible to get back on plane. Just another thing to deal with on an already frustrating day! We idled around for the rest of the afternoon and besides the lost time the afternoon ended up being great for us. We only caught 4 more fish but they were all in the 2 1/2 to 3 lb range and we were able to cull up with each of them. It would have been really easy to have gotten spun out on a day like that and believe me I could feel the wheels coming off the tracks a little bit but I just kept my head down and kept grinding and things turned out pretty good in the end. All you can do as a tournament angler is fight through adversity and keep on going. Eventually good things will happen.

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

West Central Bass League - Week 11 & West Central Tournament Series - Green Lake

West Central Bass League - Nest Lake - August 15th

We had another great turnout as 21 teams showed up to fish Nest Lake despite the strong possibility of thunderstorms. After getting out on the water it was apparent the storms were coming. We ended up fishing for a little over an hour before most of the teams decided they had enough of the lightning and headed back to the ramp. At that point it was decided that the night would be over. The league rules state that an hour of fishing constitutes a full night of fishing so we held the weigh in. Despite fishing for such a short period of time the weights were off the charts as usual for the West Central Bass League this year.

1st - Paul & John - 3 - 11.89 lbs
2nd - Andy & Mike Nitchals - 3 - 11.85 lbs
3rd - Donovan & Mike - 3 - 11.01 lbs
4th - Chris & James - 3 - 10.51 lbs
5th - Kelly & Eric - 3 - 10.17 lbs

Big Bass - Dean & Joey - 4.70 lbs

The weights for league this year have been crazy and even limiting this group to a little over an hour of fishing doesn't seem to hinder us. For our fishing we pulled up to our first and only spot of the night and it was on right from the start. We missed the first couple bites but had 10 lbs in the box within about 10 minutes including a nice kicker smallie weighing 4.45 lbs. From there we continued to upgrade to our final weight. Our weigh fish for the night came on a homemade watermelon/green pumpkin football jig and a green pumpkin Berkley HAVOC Pit Boss.

West Central Bass League - Lake Calhoun - August 16th

The storm that blew through the previous night brought with it the first major cold front of the season and the conditions Thursday night were pretty tough. It was cold, windy and the skies were high. It definitely affected the bite as the weights and numbers of fish were very low for Calhoun which is normally a very productive lake for numbers at a minimum and often it kicks out some very big bags. Because of the conditions we had our lowest turnout of the year as only 15 teams showed up to fish. There was only 1 good bag brought to the scales on this night and fortunately it was by us!

1st - Andy & Mike Nitchals - 3 - 10.96 lbs
2nd - Ron & Joe - 7.76 lbs
3rd - Paul & Troy - 7.43 lbs
4th - Ross & Daryl - 7.26 lbs

Big Bass - Andy Nitchals - 4.38 lbs

Despite the big bag our fishing was not easy at all. We got very few bites on the night but we just happened to get 3 of the right bites. We started on docks and were able to get a few small keepers in the boat pretty quickly. Eventually we came to a dock that had a thick weed mat blown in on it and it just looked right. That dock produced a nice bass in the 3 1/2 lb range but since the other docks were getting fished we didn't really have anywhere else to go. We ended up trying offshore for awhile but that bite never really materialized on Calhoun this year so we went looking for the thickest shallow cover we could find. We found an area of reeds, pads and various other weeds matted up on the surface and started to work it over thoroughly. We only got a few bites from there but they were the right size and allowed us to win handily. Our weigh fish all came on a Okeechobee craw Berkley HAVOC Pit Boss.

West Central Tournament Series - Green Lake - August 19th

We had another great turnout for the final West Central Tournament Series of the 2012 season. 24 teams showed up to fish Green Lake for what turned out to be a pretty tough bite. The reports from the days leading up to the event indicated that Green Lake was really on fire but I don't know why exactly but on Sunday most people reported the fishing to be pretty tough. Tough on Green Lake is relative though. I think most everyone caught a lot of fish but the 3 lb class fish were reluctant to show themselves and the weights at the end of the day reflected that. The winning weight was a modest 18.59 lbs and only 2 other bags eclipsed the 18 lb mark. Our 6 fish limit weighed in at 16.91 lbs which tied us with 2 other teams on total weight but they both had a bigger bass than our to win that tiebreaker and we ended up in 8th place.

Full results of the tournament do not appear to be up as of this writing but they will be posted here. http://www.wcmnbassmasters.org/8.html

Since our final regular season league night will be held on Green Lake this Thursday I'm not going to go into much detail in this report. I will say that we tried a variety of things but only a couple things really worked well for us, but of course it didn't work well enough. As I said before 3 lb bites were tough to come by but we had a couple chances at them that didn't make it to the boat and that really hurt us in the final standings. I don't think we would have been able to win but I think we would have been at least in the money. Even though my results this year haven't been great it hasn't been because of lost fish. This was the first event of the year that lost fish really made a difference but that's just how it goes sometimes.



Tuesday, August 14, 2012

West Central Bass League - Week 10

West Central Bass League - Long Lake - August 8th

As good as the fishing can be on Long Lake in the spring, in the middle of summer it is usually extremely tough. This night was no exception although knowing the fishing would be tough didn't stop 22 teams from competing. Of those 22 boats only 6 limits were brought to the scales and really only 2 of them would be considered a good limit for the lake. For years there didn't seem to be any small fish in the lake but now there seems to be a decent number of smaller fish. Fortunately we had the best weight for the night to get our first win of the season but it was extremely close.

1st - Andy & Mike Nitchals - 3 - 12.32 lbs
2nd - Joe & Greg - 3 - 12.29 lbs
3rd - Tanya & Jared - 3 - 8.65 lbs
4th - Jim & Brad - 3 - 6.44 lbs
5th - Jeff & Kris - 3 - 6.27 lbs

Big Bass - Tanya & Jared - 5.38 lbs

For us the fishing was typical Long Lake fishing and that means flipping reeds for the most part. Almost right off the bat I caught a short fish and then soon after had a small keeper in the boat. For the night we caught around 12 bass which for Long in the summer is a huge number. What really made the difference was getting 2 big bass that weighed nearly 5 lbs each. All our weigh fish came on a green pumpkin Berkley HAVOC Pit Boss.

West Central Bass League - Lake Florida - August 9th

After the weights that showed up to the scales a few weeks earlier on Lake Florida I figured everyone would be ready to get after them again but the 16 boats that showed up to fish was the lowest number we had all year. It seems that many of the teams have unlocked the secret to success on the lake and even though we had less boats the lake still fishes really small. With that said the weights brought to the scales were even more impressive than our first visit.

1st - Donovan & Brad - 3 - 12.06 lbs
2nd - Paul & Troy - 3 - 11.87 lbs
3rd - Ross & Daryl - 3 - 11.60 lbs
4th - Grant & April - 3 - 11.48 lbs

Big Bass - Grant & April - 3 - 5.03 lbs

We weighed 3 for 11.39 lbs. That would have easily won on the previous visit to Lake Florida but on this night it was only good for 5th place which was just out of the money. Normally I would have been thinking we had a chance to do really well with that weight but we were fishing so close to several other boats that it was apparent we would be just hoping for our money back. What was interesting to me about our fishing for the night is I didn't move the boat more than 50 yards the entire evening. I don't remember ever staying so stationary for an entire league night. Partly it was because I was right were I wanted to be but also we were pretty much penned in by the other boats. That is the nature of the beast on Lake Florida these days it seems. Since we sat on one spot for so long we threw a variety of lures at them and our weigh fish came on a watermelon homemade jig, a green pumpkin Berkley HAVOC Pit Boss and a watermelon 10" Power Worm.


Tuesday, August 7, 2012

West Central Bass League - Week 9 & West Central Tournament Series - Sauk Lake

West Central Bass League - Lake Andrew - August 1st

After the run of big weights we have been having on the West Central Bass League everyone was pretty much sure that would come to an end on Lake Andrew. That didn't stop 21 teams from showing up though and while it sounds like quite a few fish were caught the weights were certainly about what we all expected. For the first time this year the winning weight was under 9 lbs.

1st - Donovan & Mike - 3 - 8.96 lbs
2nd - Travis & Tristan - 3 - 8.82 lbs
3rd - Dean & Ralph - 3 - 8.60 lbs
4th - Jeff & Kris - 8.18 lbs
5th - Andy & Mike Nitchals - 3 - 7.51 lbs

Big Bass - Travis & Tristan - 4.41 lbs

We were just able to sneak into the money but it was very close. We actually tied with another team for total weight but we just edged them out on the biggest fish to win the tiebreaker. Our fishing was pretty typical for Andrew as we spent much of the night hitting various deep weed line areas in hopes of finding a school of better than average bass. We caught quite a few fish but most of them were really small. Every once in awhile we would catch one that was a little over 2 lbs but with around a half hour left it didn't seem like we were going to find any better quality out deep so we headed to the shallows. Almost immediately my dad caught a 3 pounder on a buzzin frog to give us just enough to get into the money.

West Central Bass League - Eagle Lake - August 2nd

Eagle has become one of the most anticipated lakes by the West Central Bass League anglers in recent years. We have figured out how to target the giant smallies rather than just accidentally catching one every once in awhile. The largemouth in the lake are big too and on this night only a few smallies were brougt to the scales by the 19 boats fishing, but the weights were extremely impressive anyways.

1st - Todd & Jeff - 3 - 13.32 lbs
2nd - Ron & Joe - 3 - 12.48 lbs
3rd - Dean & JD - 3 - 11.73 lbs
4th - Butch & Jeff - 3 - 11.27 lbs
5th - Bill & Brad - 11.13 lbs

Big Bass - Dean & JD - 4.95 lbs

We had a really tough evening but ended up with 3 fish weighing 9.88 lbs. On many lakes 3 bass weighing almost 10 lbs is pretty strong but for Eagle on this night it was only good for 8th place. While I started off fishing docks my dad threw off the other side of the boat to the shallow weeds with a buzzin frog. Right off the bat he put a solid 3 1/2 lb fish in the boat. The docks were not producing much, although we did end up weighing one small dock fish, so we spent most of the night fishing shallow weed flats but the action out there was slow too. Finally with about 15 minutes to go I put a 4 lb plus largemouth in the boat on a Super Spook to salvage what would have otherwise been a total bomb.

West Central Tournament Series - Sauk Lake - August 4th

There were 19 teams fishing on Sauk Lake which was the lowest turnout there has been so far for the West Central Tournament Series. With the way the lake is fishing I'm kind of surprised that there were even that many who did fish. The lake proved to be tough once again as only 6 limits were brought to the scales. The full results can be found here.

http://www.wcmnbassmasters.org/resources/LakeSauk.pdf

Although the fishing was tough for most we actually had a good day on the water. We must have caught around 25 bass but our issue was size. Our 6 fish limit weighed in at 16.36 lbs which was good for 5th place and just out of the money. I'm not sure why others struggled so much because we didn't do anything special to catch our fish. After starting the day fishing shallow weeds for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours and not having a bite we switched our focus to fishing docks and trees. We stuck to it for the rest of the day and it worked out for numbers at least. Our weigh fish were caught on various colors of Berkley HAVOC Pit Bosses and Strike King tubes.