Birch Lake Bass Snatcher Tournament Sept.15th Full Report

I drove up to Snatcher Darren's Place and rode up with him.  When we arrived at Leech it was blowing to beat the band out of the NNE when we arrived at 6:30AM.  Not a good thing when we were launching out of Horseshoe Bay.  The wind didn't die down and the tournament director switched us to the alternate lake at about ten to 8:00AM.  So off we went to Birch Lake.  My boater Alan had only fished the lake twice when the club fished here for the first tournament of the year in 2016.  I fished the lake twice in 2016 and twice in 2011 when we fished there on Oct 1st.

The Day:
I think we blasted off by 8:40AM.  Alan and I were boat number 1.  Alan made the decision that we would run to the farthest west bay in the lake; It's a pad lined slop bay.  Al got two quick small bass in the boat; One kept, one short.  I missed a bite in the pads and had a pike hook up on the frog over open water where I saw a fish bust.  We got into the open area in the bay.  I hooked up with a bass near a pad patch that was out in the open on a black/red Terminator Frog.  Immediately after I set the hook so did Al so we got a double.  My bass was my biggest of the day (2/10) and Al's was just a keeper.  I think Al got 2 more keepers in there.  We then went across to an adjacent point and didn't get anything.  So we headed a little farther East and tried some docks and wood on the north shoreline.  I got a pike on a dock.  We worked our way out on a point and I got a 2lber there on a green pumpkin Jackhammer.  Other than a couple pike that was all we got.  Next, we headed to the south end of the western basin and started working the weed flat.  I put on a junebug Jackhammer and was quickly rewarded with a small keeper.  We went up and worked the pads for a little bit and tried some reeds to the west not getting anything but a few pike.  I then suggested we try the channel between the lake.  I got a very small keeper out of the reeds on the southeast shoreline.  We didn't get anything in the channel.

Next, we headed to where the river goes to Ten Mile Lake.  I had a fish hit, hook up, hang me in some cabbage and get off.  As I was reeling in I saw a 2lber following my Jackhammer so I killed it and the fish smashed it.  I didn't get another bite until we were across the other side of the bay when a 14-incher hit my bone Sprinker Frog in some reeds.  That was my last landed bass of the day.  We went back to the bay we started in and Al got his biggest bass off the day in the pads.  We worked around the southside pads of the little island. I had a couple of fish hit my Terminator Frog, but I didn't hook up.  Probably just small bass like Al was catching.   Then we tried the south side of the big island and all I could get was pike.  And just like that, the day was over.

Results: 
My fish weighed 10lbs 1oz which put me in 14th Place out of 18 anglers.  Al had 2 more ounces than me and finished 13th.  Keith Tuma won it 19/3 and had a 4/04 for the tournament "Lunker".  Dwight Hammermeister, who was in Tuma's boat, came in 2nd and won the Co-Angler Challenge.

This finish makes me finishing in the club Super 6 highly unlikely, but I'm pretty much guaranteed I will reach my goal of finishing in the Top 10

My Thoughts:
My mental state wasn't optimal.  I hadn't fished since Monday and I was 100% sure we were going to be fishing Leech Lake and had prepared myself for a tough bite there.  My head just wasn't in the game like it needed to be.  It didn't help that the fish never really clued us in.  It didn't help that I didn't have rods and tackle along that would have diversified my fishing options.  I think we probably should have tried a few more docks and definitely fished the eastern basin.

   

Snatcher Birch Lake Quick Report

To much dismay and consternation the weather report at Leech Lake this morning was wrong.  When we arrived at Horseshoe Bay Resort this morning the wind was blowing about 15mph out of the NE.  The worst possible direction.  We ended up going to the alternate lake, Birch in Hackensack.  This move was totally unexpected.  Both Al and I managed to scratch out a ten pound limit and finish somewhere in the back half of the 18 angler field. 

My Snatcher Leech Lake Preview

What will Leech Lake give us?  Looks like fairly East light winds, but with the possibility of thunderstorms to start the day.  I don't know whether or not we are on anything from our pre-fish.  The size we caught was OK, but we didn't get a lot of bites.  That may be do to fishing under unfavorable conditions.  I think the bite should be better tournament day.  I haven't gone fishing since Monday due to the all wind we've been having.  Hopefully, I'll be able to get some sleep tonight and will be well rested for my 3AM wake up.

Rods I'm Bringing:
7'6" MH Mod LTB (Heavy Jig)
7'4" H Zillon (Jig)
7'4" XH Zillion (Frog)
7'4" H Tatula XT  (Frog/Buzzbait)
7'4" H Avid-X (Sprinker Frog)
7'3" MH LTB (Horny Toad)
7'3" MH Lamiglas (Swimbait)
7' H Avid (Crawtube)

Football Season Starts Today

All the experts seem to agree that Vikings have one of the best teams in the NFL.  Hear are my  questions coming into the season.

Will our O-Line hold up?  They could take a half step backward from last year and I think we would still be OK. 

Will the Defense take a step back or step forward? It's going to be tough for the D to improve off of last year.  But I think that could actually be the case.  The D wasn't that great at causing turnovers last year.

Is DeFilippo up to the job?  Hopefully🤞

Will Cousin's be the man to bring us a Super Bowl Title?  Kirk, we would like that!

September Has Arrived

And just like that summer gone.  Football season is about to start and hopefully I will start to figure out where the bass are in Platte Lake.  For the most part I struggled in August especially toward the end of the month as the Melon Patch, 17" Hole/Big Rice Point, and Green Cabin Bay dried up.  Sure I was catching some fish and some good one's, but the fish were going away from me all month and not reloading.  I suppose I don't help myself by being so frog focused.

 Hopefully, the topwater bite will turn on.  On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being the best I would rate this summer's topwater fishing this way:
7 for June
8 for July
6 for August

Snatcher Pelican Lake August 25th Full Report

The sun rises over a surprisingly fogless Pelican Lake 

Conditions: 60-73℉, Cloudy for most of the day, Light Wind WSW
Water Temp: 76℉ maybe

1st Fish of the Day Caught on a Jackhammer

The Day:  The first spot we stopped at was at a hump offshore somewhere where Dwight caught a good one while pre-fishing.  We both started out throwing topwaters, but with there being a bit of a breeze I quickly put the popper I was throwing down in favor of a junebug color Evergreen Jackhammer.  On about my 5th cast, it was fish on.  I could tell it was a good fish, but it wasn't exactly fighting like a bass.  Turns out it was a nice walleye, maybe 23-inches long.  About 5 minutes later I got a pike.  That was it for the starting spot.  We tried briefly aways off of a point, not getting anything.  Then we tried close to some reeds.  No bites there.  Then we headed out to where I had the big bass miss my topwater in pre-fish. 

On my very first cast with the same smoke colored tube I used to catch some fish on my first ever tournament on Pelican Lake in 2009 I got the skunk out of the boat for myself with a 1.75lb bass.  That was the only bite we got out there.  Next, we went to the reeds on the South side of the island.  Dwight had we thought was a 2lb smallmouth hit at his lure, but not get it.  We then briefly fished off a point and on the north side of the island not getting anything.  Next, we headed to the reeds on the south side of the entrance to Breezy Point Bay.  I had a good fish take my Hack Attack Jig, but it came off as I tried to bring him through the reeds.  Pretty quickly after that Dwight got the skunk out of the boat with a nice one.  Dwight then added a small keeper after missing a couple of bites.  I had a fish hit the Jig, but I swung and missed.  I pitched right back to the spot and got a small keeper.

Next, we were gonna fish some other reeds, but another tournament boat was fishing out in front of them, so we fished a sunken island instead.  Pretty sure this was the spot Dennis started us on back in 2009.  It was calm, so I got out the good old bullfrog color Frenzy Popper I used to catch some fish on back in 2009.  Sure enough, I had a fish hit it, but not hook up.  I threw back to spot missing it by several yards.  A bass that was just over a pound and a half was on it.  Not sure if it was the same fish or not, but that was the only bite I got on the popper for the day.  We next went and tried the reeds, but Dwight didn't like them and we quickly left for a cabbage area somewhere on the eastern side of the lake.  There was a bit of a chop and I elected to throw a swimbait and was quickly rewarded with a small keeper.  Next, we went back to the area where I got my first keeper and I got a 2lber there on the swimbait.  We tried running South, then back to the starting spot.  With about an hour left we went back to the reeds where we caught fish.   They now had the wind blowing on them and we didn't get any bites.  With about a half hour left we ran some docks.  Dwight got a small keeper and a short.  He also had a what was probably a small keeper come off.  With 10 minutes left, we were getting over towards a large swimming area when we came to a dock that was right on the break.  Dwight got a good keeper.  I then briefly had a fish on.  A few casts later I got a 2lber on a green pumpkin Jackhammer.  I was pretty pumped.  My last bite of the day was a nice pike that hit the junebug Jackhammer.  And then time was up.     

Results: My limit weighed 10lbs 4ozs and put me in 10th Place out of 21 anglers fishing. 
Dennis Lothspeich won with 19/2.  Chuck Steinbauer had "Lunker" with a 4/12 largemouth.  Beau Bacon was the Co-Angler Challenge Winner with a 18/6 bag, which was 2nd Place for the tournament.

My thoughts:  There were only 8 limits caught of which mine was the smallest.  I am pretty darn proud that I managed to catch a limit.  With two tournaments remaining I still have a shot at finishing in the Club Super 6, but it's an outside shot with 4 guys ahead of me right now for the 6th Spot.  One more finish in the Top 8 should pretty much guarantee I reach my goal of finishing in the Top 10 for the year.

Full Results:

Bass Snatcher Pelican Lake Tournament Quick Report

1st Bite of the Day Didn't fight like a bass, wasn't a bass

As predicted the tournament today was indeed a grinder.  I didn't get my limit in the boat until the final 10 minutes.  My boater Dwight only got 4 keepers.  Only 8 limits total out of 21 guys fishing. I finished somewhere in the Top 10. Dennis Lothspeich got his second win in a row.  Full report after I get the official results.

My Snatcher Pelican Lake Preview

Probably gonna be a grinder.  Thankfully it is supposed to stay on the cool side all morning and light winds.  Hopefully, there won't be a fog delay. Just hoping for 6 keeper bites.

Rods I'm bringing:
7'4" H Zillion (Jig)
7'1" MH Tatula (Swimbait/Jigs/Chatterjigs)
7' H Avid (Texas Rigs)
7' MHM Mojo (Chatterjigs/topwater)
6'8" M Legend Xtreme (Light Texas Rig)
6'8" M Avid (Topwater)
6'6" MH 763 GLX (Tubes)

6'6"  762 SJR GLX (Ned Rig)

2018 Fishing Goals Met

My goal was to catch at least 1,000 largemouths in 2018. On August 5th I caught my 1,000th one.

The smallmouth front is looking pretty pathic this year.  I haven't caught one yet.

I also surpassed my goal of 500 pikes for the year sometime late in July.

July Was A Froggy Month

That is 73 bass caught on the Bobby's Perfect for the month.  Thanks to all the fish I caught on the lure in July it has eclipsed the craw tube as my #1 bait for the year.  I've caught 100 plus fish on three different frogs so far this year.

July 9th Platte/Sullivan N.W. Conference H.S. Open (35 Boats/4 Schools)

Congrats to Todd Shatusky Elk River boys on the win.  He told me they got the fish outside of some reeds on jigs.  A bit surprised no 4lbers were weighed, but conditions were less than ideal with high bluebird skies.  They got to see tough Platte/Sullivan.  Congrats to all teams that got a 5 fish limit.

My full blog of that day over at my Fishing Log Blog.

The timing for the porta john cleaning could have been better.
Could have been much worse as it was during the second flights' weigh-in time 

Here is how the Top 10 Teams Finished

The rest of the teams that weighed fish.

Snatchers Lake Edward Tournament Full Report

3/1 Chigger Craw (Sapphire Blue)

Conditions: 67-87℉, Sunny turning partly cloudy, Calm for most of the day.

My Day:
We were the 2nd to the last boat to blast off in a 14 boat field.  Unfortunately, Dennis Lothspeich had found the same school of fish and was landing a fish as we arrived.  Dennis was sitting right on the juice, but there were fish all over the place in this weed bed.  I'm not actually totally sure what we were fishing.  It was quite a ways offshore and had cabbage and some coontail.  Dennis continued to catch fish as did his Co-Beau and my boater Nate over the first 20 minutes or so.  I missed one hit on the craw tube.  I switched to a much smaller sized sinker.  Still no fish.  Then Dennis clued me in me in when he said he switched from his jig and stopped getting bit.  He went back to the jig and got bit right away.  I picked up my rod with a 1/2oz Hack Attack Jig and had my first fish on within a couple of minutes (2.64lber). Unfortunately, the hook got caught in the net and it took me a while to get it free. The fish ended up dying with about 2 hours left in the day, oh well.  I caught a couple more 2lber pretty quick.  Beau had a really good fish come off right beside the boat before Dennis could get a net under it.  Then the action seemed to slow for everyone.  I put on a sapphire blue Chigger Craw and missed a fish on my first cast.  I threw right back to the spot and got my big fish of the day.  I got another fish on the Chigger Craw.  Nate had a really good one just come off.  Dennis and Beau left.  I switched back to the Hack Jig and got my limit fish.  After having fished the spot for a good hour and a half we left.

We went to an offshore spot where Nate got a 4lber pre-fishing.  He hooked up with a good one, but it jumped right away and threw the hook.  We then went to what I assume was a weedline spot and I think Nate caught a pike.  We then moved in to try some reeds and cane.  There were a number of Snatcher boats fishing this particular area.  Nate got his limit fish in the reeds, then got a cull on a dock.  We then went to another reed bed where Nate's dad, Snatcher Chuck was just leaving.  Chuck came over to see how we were doing.  He said he had about 11 or 12lbs.  Nate got one fish in the reeds, and we didn't stay long.

We went back to the starting spot.  I think Chuck was there catching a fish as we arrived.  I switched up to a Yum Dinger and started culling up by ozs at a time.  Dave Branum and Al Steinbauer fished through the general area.  Dennis showed up again, caught a couple of fish and then left.

We went back to the spot where the good one jumped Nate off earlier.  I got a small cull on the Dinger right after Nate said this is the spot.

We went back to the starting spot.  I think Nate got a small cull or two and maybe I culled up once on the Dinger. Then Chuck showed up and both he and his Co-Bruce landed good ones right in front of us.  "That no good, low down, spot stealing son of a ...".  I did pick up a tip about a lure to throw at our next tournament at Pelican Lake from Chuck.  I started throwing a breen chigger Craw and made a couple of more small culls as well as getting a few that didn't help.

We gave the spot where the fish jumped Nate off one more quick try, but there was a boat pretty much sitting on it.  And the day was over.

Results:  My limit weighed 15lbs 2ozs minus a 2oz dead fish penalty, which put me in 7th Place.  However, I had the top weight among all non-boaters, so I won the first ever Co-Angler Challenge and $37.  Nate had 16lbs 2ozs, which put him in 4th Place 4ozs back of his dad who came in 3rd.  The tournament was won by Dennis Lothspeich with 17/15.  Lunker weighed 3/11 and was caught by Conrad Bye.

What my scale says I had for the day. 

 My Thoughts:  If I had any idea about how the day would probably play out my rod selection would have been quite different.  I also wish I had thought to throw out the 1oz Hack Jig I had tied up in the boat with me.  I also could have experimented some with swimbaits and football head jigs which I had in the boat with me.  A big thank you to Dennis for letting the bit about how well they were biting on jigs out.  That spot truly did hold a super school.  Thanks to Nate for such a great day on the water.

Final Tournament Standings:

Next tournament is just up the road at Pelican Lake.


       

Snatchers Lake Edward Quick Report

Longtime Snatcher Chuck Fields had the idea to do a non-boater only side pot and call it the Co-Angler Challenge. He made up all little plaque to go with whatever money the winner gets.  Today I was fortunate to be the first ever Co-Angler Challenge Champion thanks to the super school my boater Nate Steinbauer found.  I think I came in 6th or 7th Place overall.  It was such a fun day I hardly noticed the heat.  Full report later this week once I have the official results.

My Snatchers Lake Edward Tournament Preview

Tomorrow I will be fishing a tournament on a lake I've never been on in my life, Lake Edward in Crow Wing County.  My boater Nate Steinbauer has been on the lake many times over the years and had a pretty decent pre-fish.  This will be the third time I've been paired with Nate.  I got a limit in both of the previous two. We have got warm/hot stable weather with light winds, but there isn't supposed to be a cloud in the sky tomorrow.  I'm really hoping there will be a topwater bite going on in the reeds;  I guess the lake is acres upon acres of them.  I'll just have to see how it goes.

The rods I'm bringing:
7'6" H LTB (Heavy Jig)
7'4" H Zillion (Jig)
7'4" XH Zillion (Frog)
7'4" H Tatula (Frog/Spinnerbait/Buzzbait)
7'4" H Avid-X (Sprinker Frog)
7'3" MH Lamiglas (Swimbait/Dinger)
7' H Avid (Texas Rig)
7' MH Mojo (ChatterJig)

6' MH Techna AV (Dock/Fluke)

4th of July With Todd, The Girls, and Flash