My 2009 Baxter Bass Snatcher Tournament Schedule

Today we had our first Baxter Bass Snatcher club meeting of the year, and the big item on the agenda was dates and lakes. Here is the schedule we came up with: Saturday, May 30th Gull Lake Sunday, June 21st South Long Lake Saturday, July 18th Birch (Hackensack) Saturday, August 8th Pelican Saturday, August 22nd Leech Saturday, September 19th Cullen Chain (I am not sure if we can fish 3 lakes or 2) Date Analysis: Basically, any thought I had of doing some Minnesota Federation of Bass Angler Series tournaments is out the window. I was really leaning towards entering the MFBA on E&W Rush to try the Series out, but we put a Bass Snatcher tournament the same day, June 21st. The Snatcher July 18th tournament at Birch is a day before the MFBA Series Tournament at Osakis. I don't think I can physically handle back-to-back tournaments in July if the weather turns out to be hot, which it most likely will be. This Birch tournament also conflicts with the day my Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities will be at Lake Koronis. I caught my biggest tournament limit ever in July on Koronis, and I was looking forward to getting back there to try and tie into some of those summo smallies. I guess I am going to have to make a decision, but I will probably go with the Snatchers to Birch. The August 8th Pelican tournament is a day before the MFBA Series at North Long, so there is another no-go due to my physical limitations in hot weather. The last Snatcher tournament may conflict with the Fishers of Men Fall Outing, but I don't think the dates we have listed on the Fishers of Men website are correct. Lake Analysis: Gull- I have only fished Gull one time, and that was a tournament on June 6th, 2004 which is just a weekend later than our Snatcher tournament on May 30. I got into a lot of fish at that June 6th tournament, so I should be able to contribute a spot. In fact, I have a place in mind that I think could be a good gamble on where to start the day. South Long: South Long is about 15 minutes away from me between here and Brainerd. I have never fished South Long other than for a few minutes from shore one time where the Nokasippi river flows out on the SW end. I have wanted to fish in this lake, and now is my chance. With it being so close, I may actually pre-fish this one on my own, possibly multiple times if I like the lake. I think it is supposed to be a pretty decent bass lake. The DNR lake survey is from 2007, and it shows a lot of 15-24 inch Pike and a respectable population of good-sized Bowfin. I may have to hit up this lake before the bass opener. According to the DNR electrofishing, there were many little bass in 2007, which may mean a bumper crop of keepers for 2009. Birch by Hackensack Cass County- Never been there, never really heard about it until now. The club has fished it a few times, and the one thing that stood out to me is that it has produced several 4 & 5lbers. The last time the club was there was in 1999, and at least 5 bass over 4lbs were caught. Hopefully, my partner will be willing to take me prefishing because I don't know what to expect. Pelican- Pelican, is probably the 2nd most popular lake in the Brainerd Lakes area behind Gull, and it boasts the famous Minnesota Resort Breezy Point. I've never been to the lake. It is over 8,000 acres and looks like it could get a bit rough in the wind. I really am not aware of its reputation as a bass lake, so I will have to research this one quite a bit further. The club was last on Pelican in August of 2006 and over 19lbs won it with 13 of 28 anglers coming in with 6 fish limits. It looks like this one could be fun if the wind stays down. Leech- Yeah, Baby. This is one of the lakes I hoped we would be fishing. Leech has big fish in heavy cover that sets up as prime frogging habitat. Many club members have a lot of experience with Leech. The club last fished it in July of 2006. In 2006 there were two bags over 20lbs, and there were 18 limits out of 30 anglers. Leech has produced 3 fish over 6lbs for the club. I may have to get into the club's big-money rolling big bass pot that only gets collected when a contributor to the pot catches one 5 1/2lbs or bigger. The club had one fish that big at Pokegama last year, but he wasn't in the pot, which made many guys very happy. Cullen Chain- I don't know much of anything about these lakes North of Brainerd. The club last fished here in early June of 2005 with 18 limits coming to the scales out of 29 anglers, but the winning weight was just 13 1/2lbs, and only 1 fish over 4lbs was caught. It looks like these lakes should be good for some action. The DNR reports indicate these are clear water lakes with visibility over 10 feet, which very well could mean a solid buzzbait bite. Overall I think we have a strong slate of lakes this year. Carl "BassAckwards" Spande has a tentative schedule for 2009 out as does Art Simms and Josh Douglas.