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| 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.
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| 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.
