BP Story Time: MN Fishing Opener

Picture Fish, Not The One In Story

 My memory is foggy about when this story happened. It was when I was in high school, but it may have been when I was in college. It may have happened the weekend between Fishing Opener and Bass Opener. 

I was fishing in the channel between West Sylvia and Sylvia for pike with spinnerbaits. I was catching pike and bass, minding my own business, when some guy came out on his dock and chewed me out for fishing for bass out of season. I told him I was fishing for pike, but he wasn't having any of it. I was like, what an A-hole. Later that night, I caught a pike that maybe went 7 or 8 lbs and was the biggest of my life at that point on a different spot. A few years later, I caught a 10lb pike almost right where he chewed me out on Opener, setting a new personal best, and I got a 12lber there sometime in the Fall during the mid-1990s.

#TBT: My First Bass Jig

#TBT stands for Throwback Thursday.

One of my earliest memories of catching a bass was from when I was probably 4 or 5 years old and my dad gave me a little yellow hair jig that he called a "Crappie Killer" to use.  I went down to the "back bay," our cabin on West Sylvia had water we could fish on the front and back of the property, hoping to catch a crappie.  Instead of a crappie I got a largemouth instead.  Puzzled I went up and showed dad the bass I had caught.  He explained to me that just because it was called a "Crappie Killer" didn't mean that it would only catch crappies.  Satisfied with that explanation I threw back the bass, which weren't in season yet, and went back to try and get me crappie.   All I could ever seem to catch on these "Crappie Killers" were bass. No matter how much I tried, I don't think I ever caught a crappie on these jigs. As you can see from the picture, I still have a few of them. Judging from the pound test still tied on to the one jig I can see why I didn't get any crappies with them.

FOM Club E&W Sylvia Bass Tounament July 9th

I couldn't resist the call of the lake that taught me to fish, so I signed up to fish the Fishers of Men Fishing Club (Twin Cities) Bass Tournament on East & West Sylvia in Wright County. My partner for the day would be Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson. I found out at the landing on tournament morning that Cyb hadn't paid his Club dues, so would be ineligible in the Club Tournament. Cyberfish didn't really care and was there to fish for fun anyway.

Tournament Rules: 3 biggest bass measured by half inches, with most total length winning. The Fishers of Men Club does "paper tournaments" so all fish are immediately released.

Conditions: Light Rain for the first 20 minutes or so with a pretty good breeze all day starting from the S SE switching to the S SW. It obviously was overcast early turning mostly cloudy around 10:30PM. It was a warm morning in the 70's and it got up to about 80 and it was pretty humid. The water on these lakes is very clear and the water was about as high as I've ever seen.

With the forecast calling for that South wind to be blowing by the time the tournament was underway I decided to start on a shallow rock reef on the back side of the island in West Sylvia. We ended up fishing West Sylvia all day. Mike caught a small bass right away, maybe on his first cast, on a slug. I think he got another small one and then I got a small one on a Herb's Dilly buzzbait. Mike caught 1 or 2 more smaller fish before we made a 2nd pass. The second pass was pretty much fruitless so we started drifting across the weed flat. Mike picked up a 15 on the slug. I was throwing a white Death Shimmer 2 spinnerbait and getting a few hits but nothing was hooking up. I know at least one of those bites was from a small pike as it came all the way to the boat. We drifted to a bullrush point and fished down the West side of that. I got a small pike on the Death Shimmer. Eventually we got into some pads and I got a 12.75" Larry on a bubblegum Berkley Havoc Lane's Grass Pig. We ended up fishing West along the shoreline where there were docks and some wood in the water. It looked awesome but all I got was a Sylvia Special (12") next to a dock. We rounded "Dink Point" and I got a 15.5" on the Grass Pig where there was trees overhanging and into the water. As you work the shoreline to the North a small point comes out before the lake opens to the main/biggest bay on West Sylvia. With the South wind this point was getting hit pretty good with the wind. I cast a black/blue Crawtube along the dropoff on the South side of the point (it drops pretty quick and I think there is a little zone of weeds there). I got hit and brought up a 15". I immediately checked the boat back into the wind to keep from blowing over the point as I thought there was a real possibility the fish might be stacked up here. Mike asked me what I was using and I showed him I was fishing a weighted Texas Rig, so he switched up to a green pumpkin jig. I think I just got done telling Mike all I needed was 1 really good fish and I would win the tournament, when Mike swung on that fish. Here it is:

It wasn't the fattest fish in the world, but it was 19" long which is an extremely good fish for Sylvia. I think I pulled a 12.75" on the Crawtube and Mike had a fish rip off the jig skirt and trailer on the hookset. That was all we would get so we headed North to the shoreline where my family's lake place used to be. Basically we worked an inside turn and then off the end of the point which was windblown. I caught a sunfish on the Death Shimmer 2 spinnerbait and had another bump or two. Eventually we worked ourselves in around the point where it was calm and there is a bunch of pads. This is an area I call the "Back Bay" as there is a man made boat channel that was on the back side of our old lake place. It was interesting to see that there is no longer an open boat lane and the Back Bay is overgrown with pads as nobody keeps a boat back there anymore. While fishing the mouth of the Back Bay I got a small bass on the Horny Toad and had another really good swirl close to the boat, but it didn't get the Toad. We worked a little ways into the Back Bay before it got too weed choked, but nothing was in there.

Next we headed to the NE corner of West Sylvia. It was interesting to see that a reedbed there had shrunk in size but cattails had grown close to shore. We fished the wind blown reeds/cattails and I missed a good hit on the Grass Pig, but it got into the reeds immediately. We got to "My Island" which used to feature an open spot behind reeds and rice. The rice is almost all gone and it's just reeds and cattails. I got a bite there from what was most likely a sunfish on a bed (I saw the sunny on the bed as we passed by). I pulled a Sylvia Special on a craw tube off the end of My Island point. We then fished into Turtle Bay. I told Mike that sometimes as you get here is "peanuts"/Sylvia Specials but sometimes there can be good fish too. We did get several peanuts, me on the Horny Toad, but I also did get a 15.5" on the Toad. It used to be that by late June Turtle Bay would be to weed choked so you couldn't fish into it very far, but now there are two docks with boats at the far back of the bay and there is a pretty good boat channel there. Combine that with the high water and I figured fish could be anywhere in the bay. The slop looked beautiful, but all we got were peanuts close to the boat channels, couldn't get anything deeper into the pads. As we worked our way back out it was dead and I got a bit frustrated as this water tends to be pretty good as you come back out of the Bay on the North side. We were almost out of the slop when I got a Sylvia Special out of the Cattails up by shore on the Grass Pig. We went out and worked a cabbage bed that was as in the wind as you can get and we didn't get a bite. We worked down "McGregor's" shore to the 2 docks. I missed a small bass in between 2 docks.

Next we moved to the "Sunkin Island" but we didn't get anything there, so we headed to "Lighthouse Point" with would be another wind blown point with a good drop off and weeds. I'm not sure I even had the trolling motor in the water yet and Mike was hooked up with a big fish and we knew it was a big bass because it jumped. He got it in and it was this nice 19.5" fish.

Needless to say we worked the point pretty good after that and we caught some fish but they were all Sylvia specials.

Next we moved into Flannery's Bay to the hump that I never knew existed until I got my Lakemaster Map. I pulled this 14.25" from there on a Crawtube, but that is all we would get.


Next we worked an inside turn and weedline in Flannery's and I picked up a few more fish on the Crawtube. I also missed several bites. There was about an hour left so we headed back to fish slop/pads in the Public Access Bay. By this time it was partly cloudy so there was quite a bit of sun. Right away I scored a 15.25" on the black Horny Toad. I caught several more Sylvia Specials including this one.

The tournament ended at 2PM. Mike's 53.5" destroyed everybody, but as that he was ineligible my 46" won the tournament. It was typical Sylvia in that everybody reported catching quite a few fish, but everything was small.

Analysis: What can I say but I love Sylvia/Twin and I know spots that have the potential to kick out better than your cookie cutter Sylvia Specials. I am a little surprised that I never made it to the channel between the lakes, but with the way the slop was going in Turtle Bay, I made the call to hit Lighthouse Point first and after that I didn't want to make the run across the big water in that wind. If you want to catch bigger than average fish in Sylvia, you might want to consider using a green/pumpkin bass jig.

Sylvia Tournament Quick Report

Before the tournament I find out that my partner for the day Michael Thompson hasn't paid his Fishers of Men Fishing Club dues and won't be eligible win the $ pot or any points. It wasn't a team tournament so this wasn't any big deal. The rules were 3 biggest bass measured by half inches. Mike managed to put two 19"+ largemouth in the boat, which for Sylvia is no small feat and he rounded out his limit with a 15". Basically he would have crushed everyone. Instead I won by default with three 15"+ fish. I caught quite a few fish, which made it fun.

I think we had 6 boats. Full Report later this week.

Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities Bass Tournament at E&W Sylvia Preview

Tomorrow I am going to fish a bass tournament with the Fishers of Men Club out of the Twin Cities. It has been several years since I fished a tournament with them other than at the annual club Fall Outing. The pull of Sylvia was just to much to resist. My family had a cabin on Sylvia/Twin when I was growing up and they are the lakes upon which I learned to fish. I haven't been on the lakes since 2005 when I fished a Team Bass Guy/Gal Tournament; That tournament is kind of infamous because I went fishing before the tournament day started, which was against the club rules. Being the Guy/Gal tournament which I thought was for fun, I didn't think it mattered. Several of the Team Bass teams saw me fishing and didn't say a thing. Later, however, another guy in Team Bass read my blog about the tournament where I admitted I fished before the tournament day and got his panties in a bunch, even though the tournament and that season had long since passed as I didn't blog about that tournament until the following Spring. This dude just couldn't let it go and has told several lies about me and tried unsuccessfully to get the Baxter Bass Snatchers, not to accept me as a member when I first joined that club.

Anyway back to the tournament.

It will be interesting to see if much has changed on the lakes. One thing that is different now is that Lakemaster has a totally accurate lake map, so all the previously unmapped deep structure isn't a secret anymore. The forecast is calling for a pretty stiff South wind from start to finish and for the possibility of rain and thunderstorms, maybe strong storms. A straight South wind isn't what you really want and I am pretty much ruling out some places I would normally consider in East Sylvia. I will definitely start out looking for an active bite. I'm assuming the slop is still where it always has been and I plan to hit my fair share of shallow thick stuff, but if it's clouds and wind and rain reaction baits on the weed flats and in other select areas might be the deal.

I'm fishing with Michael "Cyberfish" Thompson who's new hobby is storm chasing. He is going to bring his storm chasing computer with him, so we might be able to get a heads up if a storm comes barreling towards us. If storms move in, he may very well ditch me and go storm chasing.

Hopefully it will be fun. The two tournaments I've fished on Sylvia both featured storms with lightening and heavy rain. The problem with that is you want to fish as long as you can before the storm hits, because the bite can really be phenomenal pre-storm.

A Fond MN Fishing Opener Memory

(5.5lbs Walleye Caught MN Fishing Opener 1985.)

Pic from Little Jim's Bait Shop Annandale MN

Certainly one of my most memorable MN Fishing Openers was in 1985, when I was 15 years old. Just like pretty much every year the 85' Opener was spent up at the family cabin on Sylvia/Twin Lake, now called East and West Sylvia, in Wright County Minnesota. Keep in mind growing up I was much more into bass, then panfish, and then pike; We were not a family of walleye fishermen. However, this particular Opener we would try our hand at walleye fishing. Dad had just purchased a Hummingbird LCD Fish Finder, which was pretty much the cutting edge technology at that time and so we were prepared to strike out onto Lake Sylvia after walter (Note-The family cabin was actually on Twin).

It was a sunny and fairly warm day with moderate winds. I went out in the old family Alumacraft Fishing Boat with my brother Todd (At least I think it was Todd) and we were accompanied by a boat of my Dad's co-workers. I don't believe Dad went out on this mid morning trip. We drove all the way out to the big sunken island in Sylvia and started fishing in about 30 feet of water with Lindy Rigs and a Leech. At this point I could probably count on one hand the number of times I had fished with a Lindy Rig. I was fishing the Lindy Rig on my prized baitcasting outfit, a Shimano Bantum 250 on a 5'6" Berkley Stinger 100% graphite rod.

I believe we were just doing a controlled drift or maybe back trolling with the trolling motor when my brother had a problem. I put my rod down and went to the front of the boat to help fix whatever was wrong and quickly solved the issue. On my way to the back of the boat I noticed the tip of my rod was bending indicating something was up. I grabbed the rod, felt that there was indeed a fish and set the hook. I knew right away that it was a good fish and I backed my drag off. The fight was on and this fish didn't disappoint.

Those Sylvia lakes are extremely clear and I spotted this monster well below the boat. Much to my delight it actually was a walleye. I got a little nervous, but I was determined not to lose this fish and so I played her as carefully as I could. After what seemed like a long time I got the fish up next to the boat and my brother netted it.

As far as I knew the fish weighed 10lbs. I don't know if I had even caught 10 walleyes total in my life up to this point and all of those that I had caught were 2lbs or under. When all was said and done, I'm pretty sure I was shaking.

We fished for a couple more hours but this was to be the only walleye we caught, which isn't a very big surprise because I had almost no clue about what we were doing. The fish was a total gift from God.

When we got back to the cabin everyone was very excited and we drove into Annandale so I could get my picture taken at Little Jim's and enter the fish in a contest they held. I didn't win the contest, but I was a huge winner anyway. We ate the fish.

Great Memory!!!

No More Secrets

I think it fair to say that it is no secret that with GPS guided lake mapping and GPS guiding lake mapping software that there are now no more secrets in the lakes that are covered by this technology. Just a few years ago lake maps were hit and miss and even the good one's would leave things out in a good structure lake. Those days are over! This may not be news to many, but the truth hit me this week when I ordered and received a Lakemaster paper map of East/West Sylvia lake in Wright County Minnesota.

I do not have a GPS that takes any of the lake mapping chips, therefore I have never bought lake mapping software and thus seen firsthand really how good the mapping now days really is. Last week I happened to go on the Lakemaster website and I discovered they had a paper map for East/West Sylvia; My family had a cabin on the lake and I was fortunate to discover some sunken humps and saddles that were not on any maps at that time. When I saw Lakemaster had the Sylvia paper map I decided to buy it so I could see my hidden gems and discover what I had missed. Well when I got the map on Saturday, I was not disappointed. It was very interesting to see the exact layout of things and yes there were obviously several good fishing locations that somehow had excaped my detection. The sad thing is, now I live a pretty good distance from Sylvia and I really don't know if I'll ever fish there again.

The Cowardly Lie'n

"You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."
Exodus 20:16

This Email about the B.P. was sent to the Baxter Bass Snatchers by a false accuser and coward (I don't know any Jon Beaupre):

-----Original Message-----From: Jon Beaupre [mailto:fishincops@yahoo.com] Sent: Tuesday, March 25, 2008, 7:23 AMTo: Subject: Dave Maas-KNOWN CHEATER

If you have allowed Dave Maas into your club, you better think again!

He has a history of pre-fishing the morning of a tournament, fishing off-limit waters during a tournament, and knowingly fishing for bass out of season.

Here is proof of his pre-fishing on the day of the tournament (cheating) from his own blog:

______________________________________________________
posted by Basspastor 6:49 pm 0 comments
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Proof Positive that BP is a bass tournament cheater: http://basspunditthq.blogspot.com/2006/03/team-bass-guygal-sylviatwin-july-23rd.html

http://basspunditthq.blogspot.com/2006/03/team-bass-guygal-sylviatwin-july-23rd.htmlDoes This make me a Bass "Perp"?????
_____________________________________________________


Now, he says that "he didn't think it mattered," but he took second place, cashed a check, and was subsequently asked to not return to the club.

Here is the quote from his blog: "Technically, I think this was against the rules, but it's the guy/gal tournament, and so I didn't think it mattered. I wasn't pre-fishing. I knew this spot holds the bass in the early morning and that I would not visit the spot in the tourney, and probably nobody else would as well."

The Team Bass club rules specifically stated that there was no pre-fishing the day of the tournament, and just the fact that it helped him pattern a bite makes it cheating in most books. How did he know that no one else would fish that spot? It is just a bad excuse for his cheating.

Read the link and make your own decision!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now I have already once blogged about this "Cheating" accusation here. I also responded to the "Cowardly Lion" in the comments section of a blog post.

In this email sent to members of my new club, there are two outright, bald-faced lies.

I have never fished "off-limit waters during a tournament."

I was not "subsequently asked to not return to the club."

As for the charge of "knowingly fishing for bass out of season," this has been thoroughly vetted on my blogs. It is neither illegal nor unethical to catch bass out of season, provided you are legitimately targeting a fish species in its open season. Do I catch bass trying to catch Dogfish, Crappie, and Pike in the Spring? Yes, but so does everybody else who legally targets those species. The "Cowardly Lion" obviously cannot let a settled issue rest.

As for the "Cheating" at the Sylvia/Twin Guy/Gal tournament and the so called getting kicked out of the Team Bass Club. A further apology on my part is in order.

The Team Bass Club 2005 Guy/Gal Tournament was held July 23 at Sylvia/Twin Lake in Wright County, MN. My family had a cabin on Sylvia/Twin until I was 31 years old, and it is the lake I know better than any other and have fished more than any other. On the morning in question, I arrived at the access early and headed to a shallow, rocky point with no pronounced drop-off on a weed flat. I went to this spot because I knew it held lots of little bass that bite on topwater in the morning before the sun gets up to high. I have fished this spot many mornings with buzzbaits and other topwaters, and I can't remember ever catching a fish bigger than 12" off of it. The Guy/Gal tournament got off to a late start at 8 am, or maybe it was 9 am, and by that time, the little bass scatter from the exposed rocks and go onto the weed flat. The notion that I was establishing a pattern is ludicrous; there isn't another spot on the lake like it.

My plan for the day and what we did was fish Slop for 95% of the day. I did catch 1 keeper bass off a point, but that point doesn't have rocks, isn't part of a weed flat, has a very sudden and distinct drop-off, was windblown, and I have caught many bass over 12" off of this particular point. That is 5 distinct differences between the two "points."

The Guy/Gal tournament did not count for any points in the Team Bass Standings and was a tournament I thought the club did for fun and trophies. I only found out the money was on the line when we were at the weigh-in, and they handed out checks to the winners. Had I known the money was on the line and someone would be hyper anal retentive about it, I would not have fished for fun early. There was nothing for me to gain by doing what I did except to enjoy myself, which is what I did. I probably caught a dozen 7-10" bass, just like I thought I would. The spot has been consistent that way, and I am willing to sacrifice size for topwater when I'm fishing for fun. I used a topwater popper to catch all of these little bass. I did not use a topwater popper at any time during the tournament. Yet another gaping hole in the theory I was "pre-fishing" to pattern fish.

How does my "sticking" little bass the morning of a tournament in any way benefit me for the tournament day?

The place I was fishing that morning was directly between the public access and where we headquartered the tournament in an area where the lake narrows down. While fishing, I waved at several club boats as they passed by. I am sure at least 3 tournament boats saw me, and no protest was filed on the tournament day. My sister-in-law Erin and I came in 2nd place and won $100 and two trophies. I believe the "entry fee" to fish the tournament was under $20. In Team Bass, you pay a flat fee at the beginning of the year, and that is divided among all the tournaments.

Apparently, the "Cowardly Lion" learned about what I did because they read my blog about it. This person obviously reads my blogs even though they hold a grudge against me. "Know your enemy," I guess. The "Cowardly Lion" has never addressed me directly but anonymously went to the Tournament Director, Dale Glader, and filed a protest months and months after the fact. I assume the same coward sent the email to my new club. The Team Bass Tournament Director got my side of the story and did not D.Q. me and ask for the money back. I would have paid the money back if that had been the punishment. I was "punished" by not being allowed to fish in the first tournament of the next season in W.I. The Tournament Director knew I had no intention of fishing this tournament, so the actual punishment was less than a slap on the wrist.

As I noted above, it is a bald-faced lie that I was "subsequently asked to not return to the club." I fished two tournaments in 2006 and was headed to my third at the Horseshoe Chain in early July when I hit a deer and totaled my truck. I no longer had my vehicle to get to the tournaments, so I didn't attend any more tournaments that year. In 2007 I elected not to rejoin the Team Bass Club on my own; I was never asked to leave.

Since the "Cowardly Lion" still frequents my blogs, why don't you show a little courage and admit who you are and renounce the lies you have told about me. I want to hear about this incident where I fished on "off-limit waters" during a tournament. I am not gonna hold my breath, but I am gonna say this:

The Guy/Gal tournament is for fun, and money just happened to be on the line. My actions were predicated on the fact that I did not take that particular tournament seriously. I think your attitude and actions make you a Grade A Royal Prick, "lighten up Francis."

BTW "C.L.," the guys who got the email think what you did is bush league, and they have made up their minds and have allowed me to join the club.