We had another good turnout on Wednesday night with 18 teams showing up at Diamond Lake. Most people reported the fishing to be slow but most teams also were able to weigh in their 3 fish limits. The weights however were extremely small especially for Diamond. 1st place went to Mike & Greg with 8.26 lbs, 2nd was Dean & JD with 7.99 lbs, 3rd was Paul & Pete with 7.90 lbs and 4th went to my dad & I with 7.68 lbs. The big fish for the night was 3.98 lbs.
Our fishing for the night was pretty slow as I think we only boated 5 keepers on the night and 4 of them were just little fish under 2 lbs. I wanted to start on a certain section of a reed bed but when we got there 3 boats were already in the area so I pulled into the bay and worked the flat with logs on it. We didn't get anything there and when the reed area cleared out we pulled in and were able to get our first two small keepers flipping tubes to pockets in the reeds. After working that area another boat headed to a stretch of docks I wanted to fish so I quickly moved to the other end of the docks and worked towards them hoping to hit as many docks as I could before they did. Right when our boats met I skipped my Strike King Bleeding Bait tube under the last dock and caught our big fish of the night right in front of them. It went about 3 3/4 lbs and was the reason we were able to get into the money. After that we fished a combination of docks and reeds the rest of the night but were only able to manage to catch 2 more small keepers.
Friday, June 12, 2009
Friday, June 5, 2009
West Central Bass League - Lake Andrew
On Thursday night it was time to visit my namesake lake once again. Most people dread coming to this lake for good reason. Years ago it was an excellent lake with a lot of big bass swimming in it but now anything over 2 lbs is a really nice fish. There were 15 teams competing and for the most part the weights reflected the lack of big fish in the lake. The majority of the 3 fish limits brought in weighed under 5 lbs with one limit of 12 inchers weighing in at 2.71 lbs. It's tough to get much smaller than that. As is usually the case though someone finds em and that was Ron & Dave. They weighed in 10.74 lbs for 1st place. My dad & I were 2nd with 8.24 lbs, 3rd place went to Brad & Wayne with 6.73 lbs and 4th was Tim & Grant with 5.68 lbs. The big bass for the night was 5.78 lbs. That fish has a very good chance to be big fish of the year and no one would have expected it to come out of Andrew.
My dad and I started up in the bay on the north end of the lake. We managed to get a small limit pretty quickly by flipping Sweet Beavers into the shallow reeds in the area. We stuck around for what was probably too long but there was alot of fish in the area and we just were hoping to run into a bigger one. That didn't happen though and we left the bay with around 5 lbs. Our next stop was an inside corner along a deep weedline. Almost immediately I had a nice 2 1/2 lb bass in the boat on a watermelon jig. Just minutes later my dad caught a jig fish that went over 3 lbs. The action slowed a bit so I switched to a texas rigged watermelon worm and was able to catch another 2 1/2 lb class fish. Now I figured we were in pretty good shape for the night and the fish seemed to be getting on the weedlines so for the rest of the night we tried other deep areas that have been good to us in the past. Most of the areas had no fish on them at all but we did get into one other little flurry but none of those fish helped us.
My dad and I started up in the bay on the north end of the lake. We managed to get a small limit pretty quickly by flipping Sweet Beavers into the shallow reeds in the area. We stuck around for what was probably too long but there was alot of fish in the area and we just were hoping to run into a bigger one. That didn't happen though and we left the bay with around 5 lbs. Our next stop was an inside corner along a deep weedline. Almost immediately I had a nice 2 1/2 lb bass in the boat on a watermelon jig. Just minutes later my dad caught a jig fish that went over 3 lbs. The action slowed a bit so I switched to a texas rigged watermelon worm and was able to catch another 2 1/2 lb class fish. Now I figured we were in pretty good shape for the night and the fish seemed to be getting on the weedlines so for the rest of the night we tried other deep areas that have been good to us in the past. Most of the areas had no fish on them at all but we did get into one other little flurry but none of those fish helped us.
West Central Bass League - Norway Cup
This past Wednesday was the annual Norway Cup. All the same league rules apply but the entry is increased to $25. There are also two places paid for big bass instead of just one. This year we had an even 20 teams competing and all but one team weighed in their 3 fish limit. The problem for most though was that the limits were extremely small as only 3 bags over 7 lbs were weighed in. 1st place went to Ron & Joe with a very nice for the night bag of 10.85 lbs, 2nd place was Mike & Greg with 8.64 lbs, 3rd was John & Mary with 7.75 lbs and 4th was Troy & Brett with 6.98 lbs. The 1st big bass was 4.25 lbs and the 2nd big bass was 4.17 lbs. My dad and I finished out of the money in 7th place with 6.52 lbs.
Our fishing for the night was pretty uneventful. We caught 10 fish at the most and obviously they were all small. We started fishing on some of our deep stuff on Games Lake and had our limit relatively quickly throwing jigs and worms to the deep weedline. After realizing we weren't going to be able to upgrade we headed to some docks and shallow weedbeds but that was totally unproductive. Before leaving Games we tried the deep stuff once more but only upgraded a small amount with another slightly bigger fish. We then spent the last hour of the night in Norway Lake and only managed to catch 1 small fish on a swimbait over a shallow flat and that was it for our night.
Our fishing for the night was pretty uneventful. We caught 10 fish at the most and obviously they were all small. We started fishing on some of our deep stuff on Games Lake and had our limit relatively quickly throwing jigs and worms to the deep weedline. After realizing we weren't going to be able to upgrade we headed to some docks and shallow weedbeds but that was totally unproductive. Before leaving Games we tried the deep stuff once more but only upgraded a small amount with another slightly bigger fish. We then spent the last hour of the night in Norway Lake and only managed to catch 1 small fish on a swimbait over a shallow flat and that was it for our night.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Big Bass Bonanza - Sauk Lake
This past Sunday was the first of four tournaments on the Big Bass Bonanza circuit. It was held on Sauk Lake and after our practice my dad and I did not have the highest expectations coming into the event. We really struggled to get bites but at least when we did get a bite it was a good fish for the most part. We were able to narrow down our game plan to one general area of the lake that had several key spots in it but we were not on anything solid. Our whole goal was just to catch an eight fish limit in our eight hours of fishing time. As is often the case however practice is no indication of how the tournament will go and we were able to catch a solid limit weighing almost 23 lbs which was good for 5th place out of the 37 teams competing. Heres how we did it.
Our general area was a large flat in 5 to 10 feet of water that was almost entirely covered with curly leaf pondweed. This is a type of weed I generally do not like fishing in because it seems very difficult to catch fish out of for some reason. On Sauk though the fish were in there so that is where we fished. For our first stop I pulled up to one of our weighpoints near a shoreline point. Within 5 minutes I had a fish close to 3 lbs in the boat on a chrome sexy shad Strike King Red Eye Shad. After working that area shallow I pulled out deeper to the inside corner of the point and popped another fish close to 3 lbs on a watermelon Picasso Jig. We continued to work around the flat but the fishing slowed for awhile until we made our way to what proved to be our best spot for the day.
This area was still on the same flat but had a different feature that the fish were holding on. It was a ridge that came up to about 5 feet with 8 feet of water on either side of it. There were weeds on either side as well but on the very top of it was a bare area. We just worked back and forth keeping the boat in deeper water and casting up to the top of it. We were able to fill out our 8 fish limit by 9:30 in the morning which was way faster than we ever could have expected. Most of the fish were in the 2 - 2 1/2 lb range but I was able to put 2 in the boat in the 3 3/4 lb range. All of those fish came on the watermelon jig and a black/blue flack Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver dragged slowly across the ridge.
After filling our limit we fished the ridge awhile longer but it really slowed down so we started moving around more. We tried a few docks and trees and were able to get a small upgrade. We also tried another large weedy flat but struck out there. Towards the end of the day we made our way back to the ridge but again it was very slow. I eventually caught another solid fish on the jig and upgraded about a 1/2 lb but it was the only fish we caught there that time and it was time to head in.
Our general area was a large flat in 5 to 10 feet of water that was almost entirely covered with curly leaf pondweed. This is a type of weed I generally do not like fishing in because it seems very difficult to catch fish out of for some reason. On Sauk though the fish were in there so that is where we fished. For our first stop I pulled up to one of our weighpoints near a shoreline point. Within 5 minutes I had a fish close to 3 lbs in the boat on a chrome sexy shad Strike King Red Eye Shad. After working that area shallow I pulled out deeper to the inside corner of the point and popped another fish close to 3 lbs on a watermelon Picasso Jig. We continued to work around the flat but the fishing slowed for awhile until we made our way to what proved to be our best spot for the day.
This area was still on the same flat but had a different feature that the fish were holding on. It was a ridge that came up to about 5 feet with 8 feet of water on either side of it. There were weeds on either side as well but on the very top of it was a bare area. We just worked back and forth keeping the boat in deeper water and casting up to the top of it. We were able to fill out our 8 fish limit by 9:30 in the morning which was way faster than we ever could have expected. Most of the fish were in the 2 - 2 1/2 lb range but I was able to put 2 in the boat in the 3 3/4 lb range. All of those fish came on the watermelon jig and a black/blue flack Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver dragged slowly across the ridge.
After filling our limit we fished the ridge awhile longer but it really slowed down so we started moving around more. We tried a few docks and trees and were able to get a small upgrade. We also tried another large weedy flat but struck out there. Towards the end of the day we made our way back to the ridge but again it was very slow. I eventually caught another solid fish on the jig and upgraded about a 1/2 lb but it was the only fish we caught there that time and it was time to head in.
Friday, May 29, 2009
West Central Bass League - Eagle Lake
Our league lakes are chosen by random draw and the first Thursday night ended up being Eagle Lake. I only point this out because I don't remember ever fishing Eagle for league so early in the season. I was happy it worked out that way because its always fun to fish lakes at different times than normal. The turnout was a little bit lower than the previous night with 14 teams competing. Most reported catching a number of fish although some said it was as tough as they had ever seen the lake. There were some substantial weights brought in though.
My dad and I started on what most people consider to be the best stretch of docks on the lake but right away it just didn't seem right at all. We only ended up staying for about 10 minutes before heading to the extremely shallow water on the south end of the lake. On the 3rd dock we fished down there we put our limit of 3 fish in the boat. One of them was about 3 3/4 lbs but the other 2 were small. We continued down the shoreline fishing every dock and catching a fair number of fish but most were in the 2 lb range. Every once in awhile we would hook into one over 3 lbs but we only ended up catching 3 fish over 3 lbs for the night. All of our fish came on green pumpkin red/green flake Strike King Bleeding Bait tubes. Our limit weighed in at 10.53 lbs which was good for 3rd place. 1st place was again Tim and Grant with a massive 13.44 lb limit, 2nd was Wayne and Brad with 10.92 lbs, and 4th was Scott and Al with 10.07 lbs. The big fish for the night was caught by Tim and Grant and weighed in at 4.95 lbs.
My dad and I started on what most people consider to be the best stretch of docks on the lake but right away it just didn't seem right at all. We only ended up staying for about 10 minutes before heading to the extremely shallow water on the south end of the lake. On the 3rd dock we fished down there we put our limit of 3 fish in the boat. One of them was about 3 3/4 lbs but the other 2 were small. We continued down the shoreline fishing every dock and catching a fair number of fish but most were in the 2 lb range. Every once in awhile we would hook into one over 3 lbs but we only ended up catching 3 fish over 3 lbs for the night. All of our fish came on green pumpkin red/green flake Strike King Bleeding Bait tubes. Our limit weighed in at 10.53 lbs which was good for 3rd place. 1st place was again Tim and Grant with a massive 13.44 lb limit, 2nd was Wayne and Brad with 10.92 lbs, and 4th was Scott and Al with 10.07 lbs. The big fish for the night was caught by Tim and Grant and weighed in at 4.95 lbs.
West Central Bass League - Nest Lake
Welcome back everyone! It's that time of year again. The bass season has officially opened and our competitive bass fishing is underway once again. I wasn't sure if I wanted to continue with the blog but I decided that I will give it a shot this year again and see how it goes. I will try to give updates after each tournament that I fish including weekend money tournaments and our Wednesday and Thursday night leagues. In addition the the nightly leagues my dad and I will be fishing the Big Bass Bonanza tournament circuit and our West Central Bassmasters tournaments. I also qualified for the B.A.S.S. Northern Divisional tournament that will be held on Big and Little Bays de Noc in Michigan later this summer.
Last year our league was called the Kandi Lakes bass league but this year the West Central Bassmasters have officially taken over control of the league so the name has been changed as you can see. There were a few other changes as well. The biggest change was allowing open entries for both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Now anyone can come and fish whenever they like. We hope this will get more people out to enjoy the great fishing we have in the area.
Our first Wednesday night was held on Nest Lake. 19 teams showed up to give it a shot and almost everyone caught alot of fish. My dad and I started on a shallow rock pile that ranges from 2 - 5 feet of water. We were trying to catch smallmouths but our first limit of 3 were all largemouths. 2 of them were just barely keepers but one was a nice 3 lb fish. We continued working the area and got into a few smallies but they were much smaller than average at about 2 1/2 lbs each. After that we bounced around the lake trying different areas for largemouths and smallmouths. We caught a few fish here and there but nothing that would help us. Eventually we went back to our starting area and worked it over again. This time my dad picked up a very nice smallie that weighed in at 3.82 lbs. I also picked up a nice one in the 3 1/2 lb range. Our 3 weigh fish ended up being caught on green pumpkin Strike King KVD tubes and a black/blue Senko. They weighed in at a total of 10.39 lbs which was good enough for 2nd place. 1st place for the night was the team of Tim and Grant with 10.84 lbs, 3rd was Troy and Chad with 9.70 lbs, and 4th was Wayne and Brad with 9.24 lbs. The big fish of the night was caught by Tim and Grant and weighed in at 4.13 lbs.
Last year our league was called the Kandi Lakes bass league but this year the West Central Bassmasters have officially taken over control of the league so the name has been changed as you can see. There were a few other changes as well. The biggest change was allowing open entries for both Wednesday and Thursday nights. Now anyone can come and fish whenever they like. We hope this will get more people out to enjoy the great fishing we have in the area.
Our first Wednesday night was held on Nest Lake. 19 teams showed up to give it a shot and almost everyone caught alot of fish. My dad and I started on a shallow rock pile that ranges from 2 - 5 feet of water. We were trying to catch smallmouths but our first limit of 3 were all largemouths. 2 of them were just barely keepers but one was a nice 3 lb fish. We continued working the area and got into a few smallies but they were much smaller than average at about 2 1/2 lbs each. After that we bounced around the lake trying different areas for largemouths and smallmouths. We caught a few fish here and there but nothing that would help us. Eventually we went back to our starting area and worked it over again. This time my dad picked up a very nice smallie that weighed in at 3.82 lbs. I also picked up a nice one in the 3 1/2 lb range. Our 3 weigh fish ended up being caught on green pumpkin Strike King KVD tubes and a black/blue Senko. They weighed in at a total of 10.39 lbs which was good enough for 2nd place. 1st place for the night was the team of Tim and Grant with 10.84 lbs, 3rd was Troy and Chad with 9.70 lbs, and 4th was Wayne and Brad with 9.24 lbs. The big fish of the night was caught by Tim and Grant and weighed in at 4.13 lbs.
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
Kandi Lakes Fall Bass League - Nest Lake
Last week's event on Long Lake was the last scheduled league for this fall, but since the weather has been so warm we decided to extend the schedule with a winner's choice format. Last weeks winners chose to fish again on Nest Lake. This was fine by my dad and I since the last time on Nest a few weeks ago we were able to win with about 18 1/2 lbs. This time the fishing was much more difficult though. We were still able to take 1st place with 15.24 lbs for our 5 fish while 2nd place weighed in 13.61 lbs. My dad weighed the big bass of the day at 4.44 lbs.
Like I said earlier the fishing was much more difficult than it was a few weeks ago on Nest. When we won then we caught close to 30 bass in the 5 hours but this week we caught a total of 6 keepers. It just worked out for us that we got the right bites for the day. We started on the same place as last time which is a big flat with clumps of milfoil on it in 3-6 feet of water. Within 10 minutes of fishing it I could tell there wouldn't be a repeat of the last time. The first fish I caught came on a Strike King Red Eye Shad and was a short fish. Shortly after that my dad popped our big fish of the day on a watermelon jig but the bite was still much slower than before. We stuck around for awhile more and I ended up catching a solid keeper on a jig but after over an hour we only had 2 fish in the livewell.
After that we moved to another bank where we have caught fish in the past. The weeds were not nearly as nice but they were still pretty thick and green. I wanted to cover some water so I was throwing the Red Eye Shad and mananged to pick up 3 more keepers between 2 1/2 and 3 lbs on 2 passes through the area. Now we had a solid limit of 5 in the first 2 hours of fishing. After that things really slowed down. We bounced around the lake the rest of the time but were never able to catch anything. Finally we went back to the area where we finished our limit but only caught a small keeper that didn't help. So overall it was a very slow day but the fish we did boat ended up being enough to win on a very tough day of fishing.
Like I said earlier the fishing was much more difficult than it was a few weeks ago on Nest. When we won then we caught close to 30 bass in the 5 hours but this week we caught a total of 6 keepers. It just worked out for us that we got the right bites for the day. We started on the same place as last time which is a big flat with clumps of milfoil on it in 3-6 feet of water. Within 10 minutes of fishing it I could tell there wouldn't be a repeat of the last time. The first fish I caught came on a Strike King Red Eye Shad and was a short fish. Shortly after that my dad popped our big fish of the day on a watermelon jig but the bite was still much slower than before. We stuck around for awhile more and I ended up catching a solid keeper on a jig but after over an hour we only had 2 fish in the livewell.
After that we moved to another bank where we have caught fish in the past. The weeds were not nearly as nice but they were still pretty thick and green. I wanted to cover some water so I was throwing the Red Eye Shad and mananged to pick up 3 more keepers between 2 1/2 and 3 lbs on 2 passes through the area. Now we had a solid limit of 5 in the first 2 hours of fishing. After that things really slowed down. We bounced around the lake the rest of the time but were never able to catch anything. Finally we went back to the area where we finished our limit but only caught a small keeper that didn't help. So overall it was a very slow day but the fish we did boat ended up being enough to win on a very tough day of fishing.
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