My Snatcher Whitefish Tournament Recap

  

Snatcher Chuck Takes 1st Place And Mr. Bass

2/8 Jackhammer/Goat (Junbug/blk/blue)

This walleye Tim hit just a couple seconds before my big struck

Conditions: 60-70℉, Mostly Cloudy, 3-8mph NE

The Day: When I arrived at the access it was quickly apparent that another bass club, The Gopher Bassmasters, were having a tournament as well.  There was plenty of room at the access and they blasted off at 7AM and weighed in at 3PM. Our times were an hour later so it all worked out. 

We were the last boat out, but easily beat Snatcher Al to Arrowhead Lake. We went to the far end of the lake where a duck hunter announced his presence shortly after we sat down by firing a couple of shots. I never saw where he was at way back up in the slop in the NE of the lake. We stayed on the SE end slop. I had what I believe was a pike miss my buzzbait pretty quickly. No bites after repeated casts. Tim put a nice bass in the boat at the start of a boat channel. We went all the way to the back of this boat channel with us both picking up a pike. While we were just getting started down this boat lane a non-Snatcher boat started fishing along the slop to the North. We fished a little ways to the North of the first boat channel then bounced to the West side of Arrowhead. Tim got two good bass, but it was really slow and I didn't get a bite. About 2 hours in we decided to leave Arrowhead.

We fished along a weedline just to the West of Arrowhead. Tim caught his lunker on a Chicken Jig and a couple of pike. We then moved quite a bit farther West and caught a few pike. Next, we went to Bertha and Tim got a keeper bass on his first cast with a blue Chatterbait. We didn't get a bite at "the dock."  Tim got his limit and I caught a dink bass on a spinnnerbait and a couple of pike.  We moved to Clamshell. Tim got a bass there on his very first cast and offered the front of the boat to me. I didn't take him up on the offer right away, like an idiot. Tim caught several bass over the next twenty minutes that didn't help him when I had finally had enough of being skunked and moved to the front of the boat when he did cull. I had the skunk out of the boat within minutes and had my limit in an hour and a half or so. Tim caught bass at about the same rate as me from the back of the boat by fishing much slower and having a lot of experience on Whitefish to know higher percentage casts. I think I culled one time at the front of the boat and then we came up to a Gopher and left to hit a deep weedline. I got a fish there on a Brovarny/Rage Bug that culled.

We went back to Arrowhead for the final couple of hours. I think Tim got a cull on the West end in the wind. I tried working a frog and a rat, but it wasn't happening. We then went East and Tim got a nice upgrade pretty quickly. I switched to a Toadz and missed a good swirl that never hit again. I got a few pike.  I got my final bass and a solid cull right after Tim missed a fish in the rice. We worked some awesome-looking pig water for our final 20 minutes of fishing, but it was dead.

Results: My fish weighed 10/15 putting me in 6th Place. I was the only Co-Angler to catch a limit, so I won my second Co-Angler Challenge in a row. I also clinched a spot on the Club's Super 6.  Snatcher Chuck won with 15/14 and earned his 14th Mr. Bass title. Younger bro Al got Lunker with a 4/9 fish that gave him the tiebreaker over my boater Snatcher Benson who also had 15/01.

My Thoughts: Weird day. I thought for sure everybody would come in with a limit. I was shocked to see just how tough it was. I am so thankful I drew Tim. I doubt I would have gotten a limit in anybody else's boat. Tim discovered what they wanted and had us in an area that was full of fish. The fact that I got to run the trolling motor for a couple of hours was huge. I didn't need to slow my retrieval speed to catch willing biters because they were seeing my lure first. 

I lucked out that neither Al nor Tim were able to fish at Pokegama. If either one would have fished that tournament I don't think I would have made the Super 6. This is the 3rd time I have made the Super 6, in 2011 I lost the tiebreaker to Snatcher Ludenia and finished in 7th.

Tournament Grade: B+
I had the good sense to come to my senses an go to the front of the boat. 

 

 

Snatcher Whitefish Plan and Rods

 The Plan: Hope that Tim's experience pays off; we are going in blind.

Rods' I'm Bringing:

7'4" H Tatula (Buzzbait)

7'4" H Tatula (Swim Worm)

7'4" H Tatula (Frog, Toad,Spinnerbait,Swim Jig)

7'3" MH LTB (Free Rig)

7' Avid (Texas Rig, Jig)

6'10" MH Tatula (Chatter, Jerks,Jigs)

6'9" H Tatula Elite (Jig,Spinnerbait,Topwater,Wake,Chatter)

6'8" M Avid (Topwater,Jerks)

Spin:

6'6" MH Abu Veritas (Senko, Fluke)

Vikes Come Up Empty, Again

Oh, how the fortunes have turned. This team just can't get out of it's own way.  Seeing as how the Pack has injury issues and the Lions are the Lions there is still hope at 0-3. However, if the Vikes lose this week, we done!
 

2001 Johnson Back On The Trophy

Picture From 2019

 I don't know why I didn't have the motivation to get my motors switched once it was clear the the 1993 Johnson was not going to snap out of the loss of speed this time; I came to that realization around the end of last month. 

I didn't get the Trophy out of the lake until Sept. 16th.

I didn't get "My Other Johnson" switched until the 18th and didn't get it back in the lake until a day later.

I hope the 2001 Johnson's run this time is a lot longer than its first one, basically four months of fishing.

We Have Lost The Mojo

 Last year, we got a bunch of good breaks. This year, not so much. We fumble, and the other team recovers. They fumble, and they recover. JJ fumbles just barely into the endzone instead of out of bounds, touchback Eagles. I was impressed with the way the team kept getting up off the mat yesterday.  Without the turnovers, that game would have been a toss-up. The turnovers afforded the Eagles the chance to discover the offensive formula that worked. Now the Vikes are up against it and desperately need to win next week vs. the Chargers; Like a fire needs oxygen.

Has KOC's Luck Run Out?

I really do not like our Head Coach's philosophy on not playing the starts in the pre-season, but last year he had results I can't argue with. Well, now we are 0-1, with a tough game on Thursday night in Philly. I think the short week may be a blessing. I expect the boys to be a little salty after loosing the home opener, and it's possible the Eagles may come into this one a little overconfident. I think it's going to be a good game. Not the usual getting blown out in Philly loss. Even if we start 0-2, it's not time to hit the panic button provided the team comes out of this one healthy. 
 

Snatcher Pokegama Lake Tournament Recap

 

Snatcher Ludenia Gets the W

Conditions: 55-67℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy, 0-7mph SE NE

Water Temp: 66-68℉

The Day:

We got a bit discombobulated on our way to the river. At one point, we lost power on Darren's console GPS. We did eventually find what we were looking for: the Hot Pond Convergence. I suggested we backtrack a bit and fish our way back, seeing how no one followed us into the river. About 20 minutes in, I put a small keeper in the boat that hit a ToadZ. About 10 minutes later, Darren had a pike steal his frog. Darren missed a bite from a good-sized bass along a mat in the rice. I pitched a Turbo FattyZ into the same mat and immediately caught one just shy of 2 lbs. Darren had a pike steal the LiveTarget Frog I gave him with a  huge blow-up. I think Darren had three frogs get bit off in total, along with a couple of jigs and Texas Rigs. I think I got bit off once on a Texas Rig.  Hammer and Jon showed up and fished a bit in the area we were heading for before heading farther upriver. 

Eventually, we got to the Convergence, and I got a nice bass on the ToadZ off of some isolated pads. A couple of minutes later, I lost a similar-sized fish. We then went into the hot, and Darren had his third frog get bit off. It was dead in there other than that. We went back to the convergence to talk to Hammer and Jon. They were catching more fish than us, and Hammer told us what was working for them. We fished back over the area where I had caught my third bass. Darren got bit off a time or two. I started pitching a Turbo FattyZ and got a pike, then a bass over 2 lbs. Darren caught a pike or two more. 

At about 1 PM, we decided to bail on this area just as it was clouding up again.  We fished some slop on our way back to the lake, where I got my final two bass of the day. The first on a swim jig, and my last bass of the day came on a LiveTarget Frog. Darren got a dink that he didn't measure. We got to Tioga Bay with about an hour and a half left. Darren's front mapping wasn't right. Despite that frustration, Darren did put three nice bass in the boat in the final hour. I missed one bite on a jig in Tioga. Turns out it was a tough day.

Results: My fish weighed 11/12, which put me in 5th Place out of 11 Anglers, and I won the Co-Angler Challenge for the first time in a couple of years. Snatcher Ludenia blew the field away with 19/4. Dennis got 2nd with 14/14, and Snatcher Chuck came in 3rd with 14/9. Snatcher Mick had Lunker with a 4/14 brown bass.

My Thoughts: I really thought the largemouth would be on fire, but it seems that was not the case. I also thought there would be multiple fish over 5lbs caught, but it didn't happen. My boater Darren has very little experience on this body of water, and we went in blind, with neither of us getting to pre-fish. That definitely hurt us. I should have fished a swim jig and the Turbo FattyZ more and a Frog less. On the positive side, it was my best finish of the year; I won the Co-Angler Challenge and have a shot at being in the Super 6 going into the last tournament. It could be worse. 

Grade: B 

I was energized and fished hard all day.

The Plan & Rods For Poke

 

The Plan: Snatcher Darren and I are going hawg hunting green fish.

The Rods I'm Bringing:

7'4" H Zillion (Rat/Frog)

7'4" H Tatula (Buzzbait)

7'4" H Tatula (Toadz,Swim Jig,Frog)

7'4" H Tatula (Swim Worm)

7'4" H Tatula (Chatter, Wake, Plopper)

7' H Avid (Craw Tube)

6'10" H Tatula Elite (jig)

6'8" M Avid (Topwater, Chatter)