Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Tournament of Champions - Whitefish Chain

This tournament was held over two days on September 8-9th on the Whitefish Chain of Lakes north or Brainerd. There is really only one goal for this tournament and that is to make the top 12. Those top 12 anglers then advance to the Divisional tournament that will be held next year in Illinois. Coming into this event I had qualified for the previous three Divisionals and will also be representing Minnesota at the National Championship later this fall so I really wanted to keep my streak going. Unfortunately for me I was not able to accomplish my goal. Over the two days I ended up weighing in 10 bass for 20.72 lbs which put me in 24th place out of 160 anglers. To finish that high against such a large field is a pretty good accomplishment but anything outside of the top 12 is just a huge disappointment. At least my club, the West Central Bassmasters, has continued our hot streak in the event. We placed 2 anglers in the top 12 for the 4th consecutive year and also took 2nd overall in the final team standings. A big congratulations to Joe Patock and Ron Mehr for finishing 3rd and 8th respectively to advance to the Divisional tournament!

Day 1

I had a pretty tough practice which seems to be par for the course for me the last few years in this tournament. That doesn't mean a thing though since I was able to advance each of those years. I actually ended up putting a few things together that I really thought were going to be good enough even though I knew I would get very few bites doing them. It's not about the number of bites though at the end of the day and I really thought the few bites I would get would be the size I needed.

We blasted off at Moonlight Bay and I was fishing within about a minute after that. I started off throwing a Super Spook on a bank with milfoil and cabbage. I really didn't expect much for numbers but this is where I thought I could get a kicker right off the bat in the morning. As it turns out the fish were biting big time and they were keepers but none of them would be the ones I'd want in the box at the end of the day. After boxing a limit and throwing the Spook for about an hour it just didn't feel like a big bite was coming so it was off to the next area.

My next stop was a weedline area that is kind of hard to describe. Let's just say it had some unique turns and points all in one general area with the coontail growing out to about 18-19 feet and some thicker milfoil up shallower. Once again I did not expect a ton of bites but instead they were biting good here too and again they were small. I was able to upgrade though and after fishing this area for awhile I had now had a limit of 14 inchers in the livewell. These fish were caught on jigs, 6" finesse worms and my trusty Berkley HAVOC Pit Boss. At this point I had caught quite a few bass but had not seen even one of the quality fish I had found in practice. I did feel like the bite would be better in the afternoon though so I suggested to my non-boater that we try some of his areas and then return to this spot later in the day.

So it was off to his spots or large area as it were. It turned out to be pretty similar to my primary area with coontail out to around 19 feet adjacent to a large flat. We fished along the edge of the flat for a long time and the action was really slow but once we got to a nice inside corner I was able to put my largest fish of the day into the boat. That one went about 2 3/4 lbs and came on a 6" finesse worm. After fishing that corner for quite awhile it was pretty clear nothing else was going to happen so it was back to my area where we would end up closing out the day.

After returning to my weedline area the fish were still biting and still pretty small but eventually my non-boater was able to put a couple fish in the 2lb range in the boat so I really started thinking the afternoon bite was going to play out after all. For the most part it didn't until right near the end of the day when I hooked a good fish in the 3 lb range only to have it jump off a little ways from the boat. After such a tough day for the quality fish losing that one really stung! I knew I wouldn't be way up in the standings even with it but it was just going to be that much more ground for me to make up the next day. For the day I weighed in 5 for 9.59 lbs which put me in 51st place.

Day 2

Despite being so far back in the pack after day 1 I was by no means out of the game. I've been in these tournaments long enough to know that day 2 is almost always a much tougher day and the weights usually drop off quite a bit. I still knew I had a lot of ground to make up though but based on my practice I knew I was around the fish to make up that ground if I could just get them to bite and get them in the boat.

I decided to skip my Spook pattern in the morning in hopes that my primary weedline area, which I felt would be better in the afternoon, would also be on in the early morning. I hadn't fished it right off the bat in the morning so I didn't know what to expect other than that I knew there were quality fish there. Just like the previous day the fish were there and biting but also all in the 14 inch range. Eventually I was able to boat one on a jig that went about 2 1/4 lbs which was decent but I also knew that would have to be my small fish for the day.

After fishing awhile longer we decided to hit some of my non-boaters docks and hope that the afternoon bite would be better. The dock bite was tough and I was only able to put one keeper in the boat that didn't help me at that point. It was nice to be in the back of the boat for awhile though and recharge a little bit. I knew I would have to be on my game the last couple hours of the day if I had any chance to make the top 12.

We made our way back to my primary weedline area and I continued to catch fish, upgrading by ounces every once in awhile, instead of the pounds I needed. Eventually I came across a little spot on the weedline where the bottom was slimy and the fish were sitting right there. I was able to catch 4 keepers making the exact same cast and each one was bigger than the next, topping out at about 2 1/2 lbs. I just kept thinking please keep getting bigger but then the action just died. Those fish all come on a 6" finesse worm rigged on a drop shot. Eventually after about half an hour casting to the same little spot my non-boater hooked into a 3 lb fish which was the biggest fish in my boat over the two days. I really hoped that fish would fire the school back up and I could pull it out at the end of the day and I thought it had happened. I called last cast and pulled up the trolling motor when I hooked into a giant. I looked down into the clear water and saw a huge white mouth only to be heartbroken when it turned to the side and was way too long to be a bass. Turns out it was about a 6 lb northern. No last second heroics for me. I did end up with better weight than day 1 with 5 bass for 11.13 lbs but I ended up about 1 1/2 lbs short of the top 12 mark. The good one I lost on day 1 would have put me really close to the cut line but I think I would have still ended up just a little short even if I had boated it. At least that's what I'm going to tell myself!