West Central Fall Bass Leauge Tournament - Big Birch Lake

This past Saturday is what we call the Fall Bass League Tournament. For the tournament there is a higher entry fee and a longer fishing day, otherwise all other league rules apply. We usually get a higher turnout for the Fall Tournament but this year the weather was very cold and rainy which I think kept many teams from showing up. With only 4 boats fishing it was a winner take all event and my dad and I were just able to squeak into 1st place with 11.10 lbs for our 5 fish limit. We edged out the 2nd place team of Brian & Mark who weighed in 10.90 lbs. The big fish for the day weighed in at 2.75 lbs.

With only 4 boats fishing a relatively good sized lake you would think there would be a lot of room to roam but as it turns out we ended up sharing our starting spot with another team in the event. The spot did not turn out to be nearly as good as I expected and after about an hour of fishing each boat only had 1 fish apiece. The fish I caught did end up being our largest of the day at just over 2 1/2 lbs. I caught that fish on my usual watermelon jig. After that we moved around at hit similar areas throughout the day. Our main pattern was keeping the boat in 15-20 feet of water and casting shallower to coontail beds. Our best area turned out to be one that we hadn't even fished in practice but it did fit the pattern and there seemed to be a lot of fish on it. I stuck with the jig most of the day and caught a fair number of fish but my dad threw a watermelon Brush Hog most of the day and that really seemed to be the ticket. He probably ended up outfishing me 2 to 1 from the back of the boat on the Brush Hog. He also ended up weighing probably all of our fish except for the first one I caught. In a team tournament though it doesn't matter who catches them as long as they get in the boat.