We had another good turnout for the fall bass league with 11 teams showing up to compete on Lake Johanna. The weather was very nice with mild temperatures and just a little wind. Lake Johanna has been off the past couple years in my opinion and last Saturday was no different. Overall the fishing was pretty tough and while there were a few decent bags it was nothing like it had been in the past. 1st place had 5 fish for 16.69 lbs, 2nd was my dad and I with 14.94 lbs and 3rd had 13.73 lbs. The big fish for the day was 4.23 lbs.
My dad and I started in our usually spot which is a bay lined with reeds. We flipped jigs and tubes in the reeds and our fishing started off really well. We had 2 of our weigh fish in the boat within about 10 minutes. We filled out our 5 fish bag after about an hour just staying in the same area. After that though the fishing got a lot tougher. We ran around the lake hitting a few more areas we like but weren't able to find any other fish. Eventually we went back to where we started and just ground it out the rest of the day pretty much. We ended up catching 5 more keepers the rest of the day with all of those fish coming on a Strike King Flippin Tube in green pumpkin. The real key for us was fishing the areas in the reeds where there were matted up reeds or eelgrass laying next to the standing reeds. It was a sunny day and it seemed like the fish wanted to get underneath that horizontal cover. The fish weren't everywhere on that stuff but when you saw something that really looked right you could pretty much call it and the fish would be there.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
Kandi Lakes Fall Bass League - Lake Andrew
Despite the terrible conditions we had 9 boats show up to fish Lake Andrew on Saturday morning. The day started off misty for a couple hours and then for about the last 3 hours of the day it rained non stop. At least it wasn't too cold to make it really miserable. Even though the conditions weren't great for the anglers they should have been perfect for the fish, but unfortunately they were not very cooperative. Most everyone said the fishing was pretty tough except for the winning team. 1st place weighed 5 fish for just over 15 lbs. 2nd was my dad and myself with just over 12 lbs for 5 and 3rd place had just over 11 lbs. Pretty much the weights to expect on Lake Andrew although usually my dad and I could come up with more than 12 lbs for 5 fish but like i said it was pretty tough out there.
We started fishing our traditional deep weedline areas with jigs and worms but just couldn't get anything going on that. My dad started throwing a spinnerbait up on top of the flat and finally picked up a small keeper. The next couple stops didn't produce anything at all. Our 4th stop was another deep weedline where I threw a jig and my dad threw the spinnerbait. I didn't get any bites but he found another keeper up on top of the flat. It was starting to dawn on us that the fish just weren't out there. Or maybe they were but just not on the bottom so we started running around covering the flats with spinnerbaits and Strike King Red Eye Shads. I keept the boat in 10-12 feet of water and we just cruised around throwing up on top and eventually started putting some fish in the boat. Nothing was huge but we were able to put our limit together after about 3 1/2 hours of fishing. With about an hour to go we went back to one of our weedlines we had check twice already and for whatever reason they wanted the jig this time. My dad put 3 nice keepers in the boat in about 15 minutes including our big fish of the day which weighed in at 3.60 lbs. We stuck around that area the rest of the day but besides that quick flurry we didn't manage to upgrade again in the last 45 minutes.
I'm not sure why the fishin was so tough out there on Saturday. For one thing the lake has just been kind of off all year. It's not a great lake to begin with but you can catch a lot of fish if you do the right thing but this year it just wasn't like that. I also think the turnover was happening as we were fishing. I'm not exactly sure how to tell but it seemed like there were a lot of decaying particles floating around in the water. When the water mixes it stirs up the bottom and I'm pretty sure that's what was happening. Needless to say we all know the turnover isn't a great time to fish but when theres a tournament you just deal with the conditions you have at the time.
We started fishing our traditional deep weedline areas with jigs and worms but just couldn't get anything going on that. My dad started throwing a spinnerbait up on top of the flat and finally picked up a small keeper. The next couple stops didn't produce anything at all. Our 4th stop was another deep weedline where I threw a jig and my dad threw the spinnerbait. I didn't get any bites but he found another keeper up on top of the flat. It was starting to dawn on us that the fish just weren't out there. Or maybe they were but just not on the bottom so we started running around covering the flats with spinnerbaits and Strike King Red Eye Shads. I keept the boat in 10-12 feet of water and we just cruised around throwing up on top and eventually started putting some fish in the boat. Nothing was huge but we were able to put our limit together after about 3 1/2 hours of fishing. With about an hour to go we went back to one of our weedlines we had check twice already and for whatever reason they wanted the jig this time. My dad put 3 nice keepers in the boat in about 15 minutes including our big fish of the day which weighed in at 3.60 lbs. We stuck around that area the rest of the day but besides that quick flurry we didn't manage to upgrade again in the last 45 minutes.
I'm not sure why the fishin was so tough out there on Saturday. For one thing the lake has just been kind of off all year. It's not a great lake to begin with but you can catch a lot of fish if you do the right thing but this year it just wasn't like that. I also think the turnover was happening as we were fishing. I'm not exactly sure how to tell but it seemed like there were a lot of decaying particles floating around in the water. When the water mixes it stirs up the bottom and I'm pretty sure that's what was happening. Needless to say we all know the turnover isn't a great time to fish but when theres a tournament you just deal with the conditions you have at the time.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Big Bass Bonanza - Mille Lacs
Mille Lacs marked the last tournament on the Big Bass Bonanza circuit for 2008 and our last tournament of the year besides the fall bass league. It had been a few weeks since we were up there for some practice fishing and the conditions had changed a little bit. By now the days are getting cooler so we weren't sure exactly what to expect. The weather was also suppose to get pretty nasty during the day and it did.
We launched out of Cove Bay on the south side of the lake and our starting area was actually a long stretch of reeds right in Cove. The lake is huge so it felt kind of weird to travel less than half a mile to get to where we wanted to go. Within the first 5 minutes I caught a keeper fish that was about 13 inches long. Mille Lacs has a no cull rule though so just like down on the Mississippi if you put a fish in the livewell you must keep it and weigh it in. I know theres bigger fish so I decided to throw that 13 incher back. A short while later I caught one that was about 4 lbs. Now things were looking up, but then we went almost an hour without catching another fish. We did lose 2 during that time but weren't able to put any in the box. I started working the boat up shallower inside the reeds trying to get to the thickest stuff I could find and in one little area I had a nice 20 minute flurry of action. I boated another fish that was about 4 lbs and then our big fish of the day that went 5.22 lbs. A short while later I put a 2 1/2 pounder in the livewell. Now we had 4 really good fish and it wasn't even 9:00 am. All of those fish came on a black/blue Strike King Flippin Tube. After that the bite just died. We finally decided to make a move and head over to Wahkon Bay. The ride over wasn't too bad but as soon as we got there the winds started getting really strong from the northwest. We fished around in Wahkon for awhile but weren't able to catch anything so we headed back to Cove Bay. By this time the winds were really howling and it was some of the nastiest waves I've ever been in. It felt like the boat was going to tip over backwards going over some of those waves. I just took it easy though and went slow and we were able to make it back safely. The boat wasn't in as good of shape though. The head of the trolling motor had busted completly apart and later on we realized out onboard battery charger also got beat up pretty good. Once we were safely back in Cove Bay we still couldn't catch anything. Finally with about 10 minutes to go I picked up one more small one on a Strike King spinnerbait in the exact same spot that I caught our first keeper of the day.
We headed back to the weigh in with only 5 fish out of a possible 8 we can weigh in. The 5 we had were good ones though and ended up weighing 17.57 lbs. This was good enough for 12th place out of the 49 teams competing. We actually had the heaviest bag of any of the teams who didn't weigh in a limit. I really hate not coming in with a limit but the fishing was so tough only 11 teams managed to catch one so I guess I don't feel too bad.
With finishes of 13th, 23rd, 5th, 19th, and 12th through the five events on the circuit my dad and I were able to take the 6th place spot on the team of the year leaderboard. We didn't really have any great tournaments throughout the year but we also didn't have any really bad ones. Consistancy is the name of the game when it comes to point standings like that. Having said that though I had gotten used to having several higher finishes the past couple seasons so it was disappointing not to come away with a win or several more cashes at least.
We launched out of Cove Bay on the south side of the lake and our starting area was actually a long stretch of reeds right in Cove. The lake is huge so it felt kind of weird to travel less than half a mile to get to where we wanted to go. Within the first 5 minutes I caught a keeper fish that was about 13 inches long. Mille Lacs has a no cull rule though so just like down on the Mississippi if you put a fish in the livewell you must keep it and weigh it in. I know theres bigger fish so I decided to throw that 13 incher back. A short while later I caught one that was about 4 lbs. Now things were looking up, but then we went almost an hour without catching another fish. We did lose 2 during that time but weren't able to put any in the box. I started working the boat up shallower inside the reeds trying to get to the thickest stuff I could find and in one little area I had a nice 20 minute flurry of action. I boated another fish that was about 4 lbs and then our big fish of the day that went 5.22 lbs. A short while later I put a 2 1/2 pounder in the livewell. Now we had 4 really good fish and it wasn't even 9:00 am. All of those fish came on a black/blue Strike King Flippin Tube. After that the bite just died. We finally decided to make a move and head over to Wahkon Bay. The ride over wasn't too bad but as soon as we got there the winds started getting really strong from the northwest. We fished around in Wahkon for awhile but weren't able to catch anything so we headed back to Cove Bay. By this time the winds were really howling and it was some of the nastiest waves I've ever been in. It felt like the boat was going to tip over backwards going over some of those waves. I just took it easy though and went slow and we were able to make it back safely. The boat wasn't in as good of shape though. The head of the trolling motor had busted completly apart and later on we realized out onboard battery charger also got beat up pretty good. Once we were safely back in Cove Bay we still couldn't catch anything. Finally with about 10 minutes to go I picked up one more small one on a Strike King spinnerbait in the exact same spot that I caught our first keeper of the day.
We headed back to the weigh in with only 5 fish out of a possible 8 we can weigh in. The 5 we had were good ones though and ended up weighing 17.57 lbs. This was good enough for 12th place out of the 49 teams competing. We actually had the heaviest bag of any of the teams who didn't weigh in a limit. I really hate not coming in with a limit but the fishing was so tough only 11 teams managed to catch one so I guess I don't feel too bad.
With finishes of 13th, 23rd, 5th, 19th, and 12th through the five events on the circuit my dad and I were able to take the 6th place spot on the team of the year leaderboard. We didn't really have any great tournaments throughout the year but we also didn't have any really bad ones. Consistancy is the name of the game when it comes to point standings like that. Having said that though I had gotten used to having several higher finishes the past couple seasons so it was disappointing not to come away with a win or several more cashes at least.
Kandi Lakes Fall Bass League - Green Lake
Last year some of the guys who fish the Wednesday and Thursday night leagues during the summer decided us non-hunters needed something to do during the fall so we came up with the Kandi Lakes Fall Bass League. The nights are too short by this time of year so we hold the fall league on Saturdays for 5 hours and weigh in our best 5 fish. The first event was held last Saturday September 6th on Green Lake. My dad and I were unable to fish because we got home late from the State Tournament and had another tournament to go to the next day. The turnout was pretty good though with 9 teams showing up. 1st place had 17.01 lbs for their 5 fish, 2nd had 16.48 lbs, and third had 15.75 lbs. The big bass for the day was actually a largemouth that weighed in at 4.26 lbs. We will be holding these leagues every Saturday throughout September and October and my dad and I plan to fish all the rest of them.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions - Mississippi River Pools 4 & 5 - Day 2
When we woke up on the morning of day 2 there was heavy fog. I knew right away there would be some kind of fog delay but little did I know how long it was really going to be. Since I was in the 4th flight on day 1 I was in the 1st flight on day 2. This meant I would blast off sooner but I would also have to be back to the weigh in at 3:00 pm. We got the boat launched a little after 6:00 am and waited for the fog to lift. We kept waiting and waiting and waiting some more. This was getting a little bit nerve wracking for me. I had almost 9 hours to fish the previous day and it took me all day just to get 5 keepers. Now with this delay I didn't know what I was going to do. I was already going to have a shorter day and it kept getting shorter and shorter with the fog. The fog delay actually ended up being 3 1/2 hours before they started blasting boats off. With the running time I figured there was pretty much no way I could go back to my fish in pool 5, and even if I did get back to pool 5 would I even have enough time to catch them down there. When we got down to the lock there was a barge sitting there again so now I knew I was stuck in pool 4 the rest of the day. I was just going to have to make due with the little bit I had and just forget about my fish in pool 5. Fortunately for me I again drew a partner who had not practiced at all so he gave control of the boat to me for the whole day, or what little of the day was left anyway.
I decided to start near the marina where I had caught my 5th keeper the previous day. It is a pretty large area and I thought if I stuck around in there for the 5 hours I had to fish there was a chance I could scrape out my 4 keepers. I went right to where I caught my keeper the previous day but didn't get anything to come up on the frog. Then I noticed a log out in the middle that I somehow didn't see before. I trolled over to it and pitched a Strike King Rage Tail Craw to the wood and caught my first keeper. It was barely over 14 inches, which was the minimum size, but what a relief that fish was. Then I moved to another corner of the area and picked up a good solid keeper in the duckweed on a frog. Now I was feeling really good. I was halfway there and we had only been fishing 45 minutes. Then for the next 2 hours there was nothing. We each caught a couple short fish but the action really died. Again I knew I had to do something but I really didn't have anything else to go to in pool 4.
I did decide to make a move to a spot I didn't really think looked very good but where we had caught a few small fish in practice. That didn't produce a thing so I just started fishing new water. I eventually came across just what I was looking for. There was a point of an island with duckweed and those big giant pads. The water depth seemed about right and there were minnows swimming around. Everything looked just right and sure enough I caught my biggest fish of the day on the frog way up in those giant pads. It was probably close to 3 lbs but it was just awesome catching that fish from a spot I had never even seen before. After fishing around there a little more with no more action there was about 45 minutes of fishing time left to get my last keeper.
I went back to my starting area and worked all the way around it again. This time there were tons of baitfish in there and fish blowing up on the surface and chasing those minnows. The problem was they wouldn't bite our lures. I did have a couple blowups on the frog but they were like a foot away from the bait. The fish weren't even close to it. Now the pressure was really ratcheting up. I knew I was so close if I could just get 1 more fished to actually connect with my frog. I started telling my partner about how my dad had caught 3 fish this year on the very last casts of tournaments and how I needed his luck to rub off on me a little bit. I told him if I did catch one in the last 20 minutes it would be my last cast and we would play it safe and get back to the weigh in early. With about 10 minutes left to fish I saw one bust on some bait near a small duckweed patch out away from the bigger mats. It was too far to cast to so I trolled over to it and fired my frog next to the mat. I twitched it along there and nothing happened until right when I got almost past the mat. That fish just hammered my frog and I yelled "I GOT HIM!!!" My partner netted him for me and it was probably the most pumped up I've ever been in a tournament. I didn't go all Ike but there were plenty of high fives and my heart was racing like crazy. I thought about fishing for a few more minutes, and I could have, but I played it safe like I said and made that fish my last cast of the day.
We got back to the check in boat with about 15 minutes to spare but I knew I had a solid 4 fish limit. Now it was just time to find out if it would be enough. I was actually the 2nd angler to weigh in for the day and my 4 fish limit weighed in at 9.38 lbs to give me a 2 day total of 20.53 lbs. I knew going into the tournament 20 lbs over 2 days would be a good weight but now I just had to wait and see if it would be good enough. As it turns out the fishing was much tougher on day 2. It almost always is but with the fog delay almost cutting the day in half it really made it tough for most of the field. There were very few limits coming in and I noticed most of the guys ahead of me had much worse days and ended up falling behind me. About 3/4 of the way through the weigh in it wasn't just if I would be in the top 12 but whether or not I would actually win the tournament. Finally with about 10 anglers left to weigh in the winner was able to overtake me for the top spot. I really wasn't disappointed at all though because my only real goal was just to be in the top 12. Actually I did better than that even because the top 6 will be boaters at the B.A.S.S. Northern Divisional tournament next summer at the Detroit River in Michigan. That should be my kind of fishing so being able to use my boat out there will really be a big plus. Our West Central Bassmasters team also had another good day to end up with about 67 lbs total for the 2 days. We ended up in 1st place for the team competition by about 9 lbs. John Zvorak from our club finished in 6th place so he will also be a boater at the divisional. Paul Shimek just missed the top 12 by finishing in 15th place.
Well there it is. What an exciting week of fishing down on the river. I've been down there before a few times and really haven't done well at all. Actually I think my fishing was probably slower than most but I got fortunate with that one big bite and I was able to stay in it mentally when I knew I wasn't going to catch a lot of fish. I think what really helped me and our club was the lack of current on the river. Basically there was almost no current at all so it fished much more like a lake which I am much more familiar with. The other big key was staying in the game mentally when I knew I couldn't get back to my water from day 1 and just being able to fish water I had never seen before to catch my biggest fish of day 2.
I decided to start near the marina where I had caught my 5th keeper the previous day. It is a pretty large area and I thought if I stuck around in there for the 5 hours I had to fish there was a chance I could scrape out my 4 keepers. I went right to where I caught my keeper the previous day but didn't get anything to come up on the frog. Then I noticed a log out in the middle that I somehow didn't see before. I trolled over to it and pitched a Strike King Rage Tail Craw to the wood and caught my first keeper. It was barely over 14 inches, which was the minimum size, but what a relief that fish was. Then I moved to another corner of the area and picked up a good solid keeper in the duckweed on a frog. Now I was feeling really good. I was halfway there and we had only been fishing 45 minutes. Then for the next 2 hours there was nothing. We each caught a couple short fish but the action really died. Again I knew I had to do something but I really didn't have anything else to go to in pool 4.
I did decide to make a move to a spot I didn't really think looked very good but where we had caught a few small fish in practice. That didn't produce a thing so I just started fishing new water. I eventually came across just what I was looking for. There was a point of an island with duckweed and those big giant pads. The water depth seemed about right and there were minnows swimming around. Everything looked just right and sure enough I caught my biggest fish of the day on the frog way up in those giant pads. It was probably close to 3 lbs but it was just awesome catching that fish from a spot I had never even seen before. After fishing around there a little more with no more action there was about 45 minutes of fishing time left to get my last keeper.
I went back to my starting area and worked all the way around it again. This time there were tons of baitfish in there and fish blowing up on the surface and chasing those minnows. The problem was they wouldn't bite our lures. I did have a couple blowups on the frog but they were like a foot away from the bait. The fish weren't even close to it. Now the pressure was really ratcheting up. I knew I was so close if I could just get 1 more fished to actually connect with my frog. I started telling my partner about how my dad had caught 3 fish this year on the very last casts of tournaments and how I needed his luck to rub off on me a little bit. I told him if I did catch one in the last 20 minutes it would be my last cast and we would play it safe and get back to the weigh in early. With about 10 minutes left to fish I saw one bust on some bait near a small duckweed patch out away from the bigger mats. It was too far to cast to so I trolled over to it and fired my frog next to the mat. I twitched it along there and nothing happened until right when I got almost past the mat. That fish just hammered my frog and I yelled "I GOT HIM!!!" My partner netted him for me and it was probably the most pumped up I've ever been in a tournament. I didn't go all Ike but there were plenty of high fives and my heart was racing like crazy. I thought about fishing for a few more minutes, and I could have, but I played it safe like I said and made that fish my last cast of the day.
We got back to the check in boat with about 15 minutes to spare but I knew I had a solid 4 fish limit. Now it was just time to find out if it would be enough. I was actually the 2nd angler to weigh in for the day and my 4 fish limit weighed in at 9.38 lbs to give me a 2 day total of 20.53 lbs. I knew going into the tournament 20 lbs over 2 days would be a good weight but now I just had to wait and see if it would be good enough. As it turns out the fishing was much tougher on day 2. It almost always is but with the fog delay almost cutting the day in half it really made it tough for most of the field. There were very few limits coming in and I noticed most of the guys ahead of me had much worse days and ended up falling behind me. About 3/4 of the way through the weigh in it wasn't just if I would be in the top 12 but whether or not I would actually win the tournament. Finally with about 10 anglers left to weigh in the winner was able to overtake me for the top spot. I really wasn't disappointed at all though because my only real goal was just to be in the top 12. Actually I did better than that even because the top 6 will be boaters at the B.A.S.S. Northern Divisional tournament next summer at the Detroit River in Michigan. That should be my kind of fishing so being able to use my boat out there will really be a big plus. Our West Central Bassmasters team also had another good day to end up with about 67 lbs total for the 2 days. We ended up in 1st place for the team competition by about 9 lbs. John Zvorak from our club finished in 6th place so he will also be a boater at the divisional. Paul Shimek just missed the top 12 by finishing in 15th place.
Well there it is. What an exciting week of fishing down on the river. I've been down there before a few times and really haven't done well at all. Actually I think my fishing was probably slower than most but I got fortunate with that one big bite and I was able to stay in it mentally when I knew I wasn't going to catch a lot of fish. I think what really helped me and our club was the lack of current on the river. Basically there was almost no current at all so it fished much more like a lake which I am much more familiar with. The other big key was staying in the game mentally when I knew I couldn't get back to my water from day 1 and just being able to fish water I had never seen before to catch my biggest fish of day 2.
Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions - Mississippi River Pools 4 & 5 - Day 1
Sorry for the delay in updates but its been a busy couple of weeks with very limited internet access. I've been home for a few days now relaxing so I hope to get everything updated by tomorrow at the latest.
As many who read this blog probably already know I finished 2nd out of 149 anglers in the Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions. I've fished these events for a lot of years now and had been right on the doorstep many times but just could not close the deal. This year I was finally able to break through into the top 12 and almost took 1st place in the process. The TOC is a 2 day format where you are paired with another competitor each day. You are allow to weigh in 4 fish each of the 2 days and no culling is allowed. I was able to weigh in 4 fish each day giving me 8 fish for 20.53 lbs. First place was less than a pound ahead of me with 8 fish weighing 21.17 lbs. I also had 2nd big bass of the tournament with a 4.54 lb beauty. Here's how I did it.
On day 1 I was paired with another angler who had only gotten a day of practice fishing in so he was willing to let me go to my water for pretty much the whole day. My best fishing in practice was in pool 5 so I decided to lock down there first thing in the morning. Locking through the dams is an interesting process. It generally takes about half an hour but barge traffic gets priority over any other watercraft. I ran from takeoff about 10 miles down to the lock and sure enough a barge is sitting right there. I figured that it would take about an hour for the barge to get through so instead of just waiting I pulled over to an island to fish while we waited. The bank was mostly rocky but there was a little opening with slop on one part of the bank. Right when we got to that area my partner caught a short fish in the slop so I slowed down and really worked that area thoroughly. A little while later a good keeper blew up on my frog and I had it halfway to the boat before it just fell off. I don't know how it came off like that but it was not the start I wanted. After fishing for about an hour in that spot my partner says to me the boat is filling up with water. I look back and sure enough the floor of the cockpit was covered in water. I could also see the barge was done and they were ready to let the other boats through the lock. I didn't know what to do now. I got the bilge pumps running and we pumped all the water out pretty quick but I thought the plug might be out of the boat. If the plug was out I didn't know if I wanted to lock through but on the other hand I didn't want to waste time running all the way back to the launch to put the plug back in. I decided to lock through anyway and keep the bilge pumps running much of the day if I had to. When we got in the lock I realized it wasn't the plug but the overflow valves on the livewell were all plugged up with weeds. When I left the fill pump on there was nowhere for the water to go but into the boat. Once I figured that out it calmed me down a bunch and I knew I could just fill the livewells and then turn the pumps to recirculate only and we would be fine.
After getting through the lock I ran another 6-7 miles to my starting area. It was a series of channels inside an island. Most of the water was really shallow but the best area had a 25 foot deep hole in it. The cover was coontail and duckweed mats with giant lily pads mixed in. I pulled in to the channel, turned the corner and was happy to see we were alone in there. On my partners very first cast he had a good blowup but missed it. Less than 5 minutes later I had my first blowup and connected with that 4.54 lb bass. What a way to start the day!!! After that fast action to start I figured it was on in there and we would clean up and go back to the ramp early. Unfortunately it was the exact opposite. After catching that big one it just slowed down. It wasn't completely dead because we were getting blowups on our frogs but nothing would connect. I'm sure most of the fish hitting were pike but I know some of the were bass too but they just wouldn't eat it. After fishing a couple hundred yards my partner finally put his first keeper in the boat. Then I moved to the other side of the channel and we didn't catch a thing. Next I fished some of the adjoining channels and still wasn't able to get anything. I then worked back over the stretch where I caught the big one and my partner was able to get his 2nd keeper but I was still stuck with only 1 fish after almost half the day was gone. I knew I had to do something different so we picked up and moved.
The next stop was the east side of the island that we had been fishing inside of. The cover was a lot different with much less slop and more trees and eel grass. The first tree we got to I pitched my Strike King Flippin Tube in there and caught a small keeper. Then a little while later I caught a solid keeper pitching the tube in a little line of eel grass. Now things were starting to come together since I only needed one more fish and there was plenty of time to go. A few hundred yards down the bank it got a lot more sloppy and I started throwing the frog again and soon had another quality keeper in the boat to fill my limit. We are allowed to catch five bass and weigh in the four best ones but I was just happy to have four so I told my partner he could have the front of the boat the rest of the day. We kept fishing the same general area but he wasn't able to come up with anything so I told him theres one other spot I wanted to fish and he'd be in front with a good chance to catch one. When I went to start the motor the electronics shut off and the motor barely cranked but it did finally start. This is not good I'm thinking to myself but at least it was running so I told him I didn't want to risk the motor not starting so we would have to head back to the lock. When we were running back there was a barge going the same direction as us so maybe it was a good thing we headed back when we did. The lock was actually open and ready to go when we got there so I went right in and just left the motor running because I didn't want to be stuck in the lock with a dead battery trying to scramble around to get out of there. I guess that half hour of idling recharged the battery pretty well because we never had another problem the rest of the day.
After getting back through the lock there was still about 2 hours of fishing time left. That is the great part of being in the 4th flight. We didn't have to weigh in until 4:30 pm and first flight had to weigh in at 3:00 pm. The problem was like I said earlier I didn't have very good fishing in pool 4 and thats where we would be for the next 2 hours. There was one area near a marina where my dad had caught one over 3 lbs in practice so thats where we went. It was more of the same with duckweed and those big giant pads. Again I let my partner run the trolling motor and we fished pretty slowly and thoroughly in the area but just weren't getting any bites at all. We had fished almost all of it when he got a blowup and missed it and then a little while later I caught my 5th keeper of the day on the frog. After I put 5 fish in the livewell it meant I could no longer make a cast so I sat down and took a little break for the last half hour of the day. I can't say I've ever done that in a tournament before! Unfortuantely for him he was unable to catch anything else in that time and it was time to head back to the weigh in.
When we got to the weigh in I chose the biggest 4 of my 5 fish in the livewell and brought them to the weigh in stage. When I pulled the big one out I was pleseantly surprised to see that it was even bigger than I thought it was when I caught it. That's always a bonus because they usually seem to shrink on you. My 4 fish for day 1 ended up weighing 11.15 lbs which put me in 7th place after everyone had weighed in. That was solidly inside the top 12 cut but there were a lot of good weights and almost anyone within the top 50 had a legitimate chance to move up on the 2nd day. There is also a team competition and our 4 man West Central Bassmasters team held the lead for the day with about 37 lbs.
As many who read this blog probably already know I finished 2nd out of 149 anglers in the Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Tournament of Champions. I've fished these events for a lot of years now and had been right on the doorstep many times but just could not close the deal. This year I was finally able to break through into the top 12 and almost took 1st place in the process. The TOC is a 2 day format where you are paired with another competitor each day. You are allow to weigh in 4 fish each of the 2 days and no culling is allowed. I was able to weigh in 4 fish each day giving me 8 fish for 20.53 lbs. First place was less than a pound ahead of me with 8 fish weighing 21.17 lbs. I also had 2nd big bass of the tournament with a 4.54 lb beauty. Here's how I did it.
On day 1 I was paired with another angler who had only gotten a day of practice fishing in so he was willing to let me go to my water for pretty much the whole day. My best fishing in practice was in pool 5 so I decided to lock down there first thing in the morning. Locking through the dams is an interesting process. It generally takes about half an hour but barge traffic gets priority over any other watercraft. I ran from takeoff about 10 miles down to the lock and sure enough a barge is sitting right there. I figured that it would take about an hour for the barge to get through so instead of just waiting I pulled over to an island to fish while we waited. The bank was mostly rocky but there was a little opening with slop on one part of the bank. Right when we got to that area my partner caught a short fish in the slop so I slowed down and really worked that area thoroughly. A little while later a good keeper blew up on my frog and I had it halfway to the boat before it just fell off. I don't know how it came off like that but it was not the start I wanted. After fishing for about an hour in that spot my partner says to me the boat is filling up with water. I look back and sure enough the floor of the cockpit was covered in water. I could also see the barge was done and they were ready to let the other boats through the lock. I didn't know what to do now. I got the bilge pumps running and we pumped all the water out pretty quick but I thought the plug might be out of the boat. If the plug was out I didn't know if I wanted to lock through but on the other hand I didn't want to waste time running all the way back to the launch to put the plug back in. I decided to lock through anyway and keep the bilge pumps running much of the day if I had to. When we got in the lock I realized it wasn't the plug but the overflow valves on the livewell were all plugged up with weeds. When I left the fill pump on there was nowhere for the water to go but into the boat. Once I figured that out it calmed me down a bunch and I knew I could just fill the livewells and then turn the pumps to recirculate only and we would be fine.
After getting through the lock I ran another 6-7 miles to my starting area. It was a series of channels inside an island. Most of the water was really shallow but the best area had a 25 foot deep hole in it. The cover was coontail and duckweed mats with giant lily pads mixed in. I pulled in to the channel, turned the corner and was happy to see we were alone in there. On my partners very first cast he had a good blowup but missed it. Less than 5 minutes later I had my first blowup and connected with that 4.54 lb bass. What a way to start the day!!! After that fast action to start I figured it was on in there and we would clean up and go back to the ramp early. Unfortunately it was the exact opposite. After catching that big one it just slowed down. It wasn't completely dead because we were getting blowups on our frogs but nothing would connect. I'm sure most of the fish hitting were pike but I know some of the were bass too but they just wouldn't eat it. After fishing a couple hundred yards my partner finally put his first keeper in the boat. Then I moved to the other side of the channel and we didn't catch a thing. Next I fished some of the adjoining channels and still wasn't able to get anything. I then worked back over the stretch where I caught the big one and my partner was able to get his 2nd keeper but I was still stuck with only 1 fish after almost half the day was gone. I knew I had to do something different so we picked up and moved.
The next stop was the east side of the island that we had been fishing inside of. The cover was a lot different with much less slop and more trees and eel grass. The first tree we got to I pitched my Strike King Flippin Tube in there and caught a small keeper. Then a little while later I caught a solid keeper pitching the tube in a little line of eel grass. Now things were starting to come together since I only needed one more fish and there was plenty of time to go. A few hundred yards down the bank it got a lot more sloppy and I started throwing the frog again and soon had another quality keeper in the boat to fill my limit. We are allowed to catch five bass and weigh in the four best ones but I was just happy to have four so I told my partner he could have the front of the boat the rest of the day. We kept fishing the same general area but he wasn't able to come up with anything so I told him theres one other spot I wanted to fish and he'd be in front with a good chance to catch one. When I went to start the motor the electronics shut off and the motor barely cranked but it did finally start. This is not good I'm thinking to myself but at least it was running so I told him I didn't want to risk the motor not starting so we would have to head back to the lock. When we were running back there was a barge going the same direction as us so maybe it was a good thing we headed back when we did. The lock was actually open and ready to go when we got there so I went right in and just left the motor running because I didn't want to be stuck in the lock with a dead battery trying to scramble around to get out of there. I guess that half hour of idling recharged the battery pretty well because we never had another problem the rest of the day.
After getting back through the lock there was still about 2 hours of fishing time left. That is the great part of being in the 4th flight. We didn't have to weigh in until 4:30 pm and first flight had to weigh in at 3:00 pm. The problem was like I said earlier I didn't have very good fishing in pool 4 and thats where we would be for the next 2 hours. There was one area near a marina where my dad had caught one over 3 lbs in practice so thats where we went. It was more of the same with duckweed and those big giant pads. Again I let my partner run the trolling motor and we fished pretty slowly and thoroughly in the area but just weren't getting any bites at all. We had fished almost all of it when he got a blowup and missed it and then a little while later I caught my 5th keeper of the day on the frog. After I put 5 fish in the livewell it meant I could no longer make a cast so I sat down and took a little break for the last half hour of the day. I can't say I've ever done that in a tournament before! Unfortuantely for him he was unable to catch anything else in that time and it was time to head back to the weigh in.
When we got to the weigh in I chose the biggest 4 of my 5 fish in the livewell and brought them to the weigh in stage. When I pulled the big one out I was pleseantly surprised to see that it was even bigger than I thought it was when I caught it. That's always a bonus because they usually seem to shrink on you. My 4 fish for day 1 ended up weighing 11.15 lbs which put me in 7th place after everyone had weighed in. That was solidly inside the top 12 cut but there were a lot of good weights and almost anyone within the top 50 had a legitimate chance to move up on the 2nd day. There is also a team competition and our 4 man West Central Bassmasters team held the lead for the day with about 37 lbs.
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