End of February At The GOMH

Just a little bit of open water under and out from the bridge to end the month. It will be a while before I break out the long rods.

 

TW/MLF Clarks Hill Fantasy Roster

 

Flight 2 was filled with many anglers I'd never heard of. Hopefully, Bolton comes through for me.

Elite Seminole Fantasy Postmortem.

 My fantasy team was better than last week but still not where I want to be. Still didn't have an angler fishing on the final day in either game, ugh. I've dug quite a hole for myself in Drain the Lake; One more tournament like the first two and I think it is over for me in DTL.

I am currently sitting in the 72% and 8,363 places behind the leader in FBF.

Elite's Fantasy Bass At Seminole, Updated Roster

 It wasn't that I agreed with the rest of the world this week. It's that the rest of the world agreed with me. It just so happened that each of my picks was top owner % in their Bucket. Last week I got cute, went with a couple of lower % guys, and got burned both times. Yeah, I considered some lower % guys, but my picks are all straight-up studs. No apologies!

 I had a rough first week in Drain The Lake. Probably 75% of my roster finished in the bottom half or lower of where they will place this season, and I lost a number of home run hitters. I did get the Hellabass spreadsheet filled out. Hopefully, this roster will set me off on a winning path. I think the spreadsheet Hella makes available to his Youtube Channel paying members is a big advantage for strategically placing educated guesses.

I'm kind of iffy on Nixon, Huff, and Webster and will gladly take a top 30 from any of those three. For the rest, I am hoping for 15th Place or better. 

Updated:

Brandon Palaniuk last Facebook post of him scratching his head spooked me, so I went with Buddy Gross. Hoping to double up on a Top 10 finish or a win. I've now got three shots at that happening.

Fantasy Fish Post Mortem

Update: Final Fantasy Standing for the Elites. A weak roster at a tournament where just a good roster would have gotten me paid. Blown opportunity.

 

Well, for me, this round of Fantasy Bass Fishing has ended a day prematurely due to my decision to go with Chris Johnston instead of Drew Cook. I think my best game was the MLF Predictor, where I got 2 out of 6, just narrowly missing two more questions. I beat Hellabass in Predictor and BPT. In BPT, I only had Chris Lane, who won, and J. Lee, who finished 9th. 

As far as BASS Fantasy goes, Hella crushed me in both games. It looks to me like Drain The Lake was a wasted roster with only one guy in the high teens and the rest in 30th or below. Yeah, I am in the 56 percentile, but I will be way behind the leaders once bonus points are issued tomorrow. It was a blown opportunity for me in regular Fantasy. Had I played it safe with Martin and kept Cook in my line-up, I would be contending to make some money. So glad the Elites fish again next week. I've still got to fill a couple of positions on Hella's spreadsheet for my Drain the Lake on Seminole. 

Fantasy Fishing Status Elites and MLF

None of my anglers had a notable day 1. With Scott Martin sacking 'em in Bucket C, Bryan Schmitt is why I have a dumpster fire percentile. I need all my guys to make the cut, which is doable. A 17lb bag isn't a huge ask for Schmitt and Hamner, and Prince might make it just by holding par with Day 1. Hopefully, all of my guys will get the big bite they lacked on Day 1.

MLF at the Half Waypoint

 Not having everybody advance is a buzzkill; losing more than half my anglers in Group A really sucks. If I get 5 guys to the Championship Round, I'll consider it a win. Both of my Predictor Game choices advanced.

 

Spring Watch, Episode 2, 2023

 

Spring will wait until March this year at a minimum. When does Spring start, according to the BP?

Either 3 consecutive days in the 40's or me doing major outside Water War prep because it will spike into the mid to upper 50's. (Gotta move that snow)

Fantasy Bass Elite's Fantasy Rosters

 

Breaking News: This Will Be KVD's Final Season As A Touring Bass Pro

 

Here is the video announcement.  It will be interesting to see what he does next. I wish him luck this year and in the future. KVD is the GOAT in Bass Pundit's mind.

Update: The video was taken down after being up for about an hour. I think it got released at the wrong time before he had the chance to hype up his big announcement.

BPT Kissimmee Chain Fantasy Bass, My Picks

And here are my Predictor Game guesses:

No Open Water at the GOMH Super Sunday

 

Took Kaylee for a ride before kick-off, hoping to knock out the cobwebs. It was a nice sunny day with temps reaching the low 40s. Think I am still not 100% post-Covid. If I had more energy, I probably would have gone fishing today. This week the BPT is on Kissimmee Chain, and the Elites are on the Big O. No significant rough patches in the long-term forecast, and in a month, we reach Day-Light Savings. I am Jonesing for Spring and Open water. February is definitely moving faster than January, which crawled by this year.

TW Tour Big O Fantasy Post Mortem

 Well, the kid being late to check in on Day 2 cost me about 10 lbs, which sucks because I would have gained ground on just about every once of improvement. But my anglers just couldn't hold it together on Day 3, and most of them dropped. A once-promising lineup lands me in 500th Place. Got to do better than that. 

On to Kissimmee and back at the Big O for the Elites next week. I'm luvin it. BPT starts on Monday.

BP's 2023 Ice Out On Platte February Spit Ball

 Besides that quick arctic dip, February has been on the mild side. Ice depths were as deep as 19 inches the last time out. Still have quite a bit of snow cover, and it doesn't look like temps will be getting cold enough to add too much more ice before March. Things are looking good for an early April ice-out at this point. 

I'm going with April 8th for ice-out. 

That's right, I believe two months from today, I will be ice-free.
My next IO prediction will be in early March. 

Good Day That Don't Mean Jack Squat

 

Not worried about Wheelers, I think there is room to grow in this flight.

When I turned on the coverage in the afternoon, and David Walker was on screen, I knew immediately it was a good sign. The next two guys they went to was B Lat and C. Lane and, shortly after that, Michael Neal.  

I was surprised to be all the way down in 212 Place after Day 1. McCormick killed me being 4lbs back from the average bag. He holds the key to my teams success at this point. If he rallies big and everybody else holds serve, I could easily be in the prizes tomorrow. I am in 9th Place in the  Hellabass League and less than 10lbs from the leader.

Tackle Warehouse Tour Big O Fantasy Roster

Flight 1 

 

Flight 2

As far as I can tell, the "Flight" really only applies to the Bass Pro Tour where I think they will still spit the field for the first 4 competition days. Everybody fishes the first two days on the Tackle Warehouse Tour.

2022 Goals Achieved and Not

Goals achieved in bold green

Goals not achieved in red
Partly achieved in purple
Commentary in blue

Fishing Buddies: 

1. Fish with Dad (Pretty sure I asked him if he wanted to go a couple times)
2. Fish with Mike Thompson (Did not ask)
3. Fish with Jim Bonin (DNA)
4.  Fish With Josh Abrahamson & Ashley Just  (DNA)
5. Fish with Jeff and Renee (Never came up north)
6. Fish with Todd, Isabelle, and Mallory (They are into tubing and the Jet Ski)
7.  Fish with Kane Phongsavat  (Didn't work out this year)
8. Fish with Jaimen Abrahamson  (DNA)
9. Fish with Dave Lindmark  (DNA)
10. Fish with Steve and Devin
11. Take Corey Hicks frog fishing.  (DNA)
12. Fish with Jamar at Eddy's  (He only came up a couple times, and fishing was trash)
13. Fish with Eric Aske
14. Fish with Pete
15. Fish with Kiefer for crappies this spring. (Gas Prices and 1 car)

Dream Fishing Buddies:
1. Fish with Josh Douglas
2. Fish with Al Lindner
3. Fish With Nattie Up North

Bass Snatcher Goals: (Same Goals as 2020)

1.  Win my 2nd club tournament. (Best finish was 10th Place at Gull. Pretty sure that is my worst high finish since joining the club0
2. Get "Wood" in at least one tournament. (1st-3rd Place Finish or Lunker or Co-Angler Challenge) 

3. Get "Lunker" in a tournament.   (Preferably one over 5-8 to win the revolving big bass pot.)
4. Get paired with Chuck Fields. (Fishing with Chuck was the highlight of my tournament season,)
5. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year. (Finished in 13th Place, needed 9 more points to catch Theo in 10th) 
6. Catch a limit at every tournament of the year. (Wasted no time failing to catch a limit at Farm Island)
7. Pre-fish with at least 3 boaters. (Farm, Gull, S. Long)
8. List the Rods I'm bringing for each tournament before the tournament.
9.  Win the Co-Angler Challenge at least twice (Closest was at Gull, where I came in 2nd Place as a Co)
10. Make the Challenge Cup Team

11. Finish higher than Tuma in a Tournament (He didn't fish this year)
12. Give each boater I fish a lure from my collection. (Done)

13. Catch a 20+ Bag and make the Club's list of Top 25 Biggest Bags (15/2 at Gull was my best bag this year)

Technique, Equipment, & Tackle Goals:
1. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaways/contests. (Won a rod in the MLF Predictor Game and won BBC Group $ once)
2. Officially Open the Tackle Warehouse this year. (May 6,2022)
3.  Keep a Lures Lost List (Did it. Most lost lure was 8 Billy Goats)
4. Catch 25 fish on a Frenzy Popper (Not sure if I even through it)
5. Catch 25 fish on a Stanley Phantom (I threw it a couple of times, but no takers)

6. Catch bass cranking deep in Sullivan Lake (Caught 1 bass deep cranking. Tried several times.)

7. Get better at marking waypoints when I catch a fish (Done)

8. Start using side-imaging to catch fish (Got a few, a work in progress)

9. Sell some of my tackle (Not much)

10. Give Away some of my tackle (Did it)

 Blogging:

1. Blog about it when I achieve a goal most of the time (Yep)
2. Record all fishing trips at Fish Swami (Done)
3. Fish at least 200 days and blog about them (224 Days fished in 2022)

4. Give better descriptions of trips in the Notes at Fish Swami (Done)

5. Get all those unblogged trips from 2021 at Fish Swami blogged at the Log Blog (Project for the future)

Fish Goals:
1. Catch* 4,000 Fish (Did it)
2. Average 5 fish caught per hour. (5.53 per hour in 2022)
3. Have a 100 fish day. (Came up 3 fish short of doing it twice)

4. Catch Devin's Birthday Bullhead On May 20th (Done)

5. Catch A Fish Every Month (Done)

Crappie:

1. Catch a new personal best. (Currently 14.25") (Got 14.75/1.80lb on 5/9/22)
2. Catch* over 1,500 Crappies this year. (Caught 1,685)  

3. Catch my personal best number of crappies.

Dogfish:
1. Win my 3rd Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship
2. Catch an MN State Record fish. (11-4  or 35" x 20")
3. Catch a new personal best.
4. Get the Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship stuff done in a timely manner this year.
(Seriously thinking about shuttering the MBC. A lot of the code on the blog no longer works, so I can't do anything with it)

Pike:
1. Catch* over 1,000 this year.
2. Catch a 38" or over/personal best.

Bass: 
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Largemouth (6.5lbs/21" PB) (Nope)
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth (20.5" PB) (Nope)
3. Catch* over 1,500 bass this year. (1785 for the year) 
4. Catch* at least 10 smallies.  (Caught 2 smallies in 2022)
5. Catch a 25lb 6 Fish Bag (No, not even sure if I broke 20lbs)
6. Have a 50 bass day (Did it at least 4 times)

7. Catch over 500 bass on Frogs/Toads (Did it)
8. Catch 5 bass over  5lbs/20-inches (No 5lbers this year)

9. Catch 25 bass over 4lbs/19-inches (Caught 39 4lbers)
10. Get Steve and Todd at least one 4lber (One a piece and Steve did it on the final trip)

11. Get Belle, Mallory, and Devin a frog fish.

Walleye:
1. Catch at least 100. (Caught 86, but 43 of them weren't hook and line fish) 
2. Catch 30"/10lber or new personal best. (28.5 is PB) (Nope)

* Catch is anything I deem it to be, including follows by pike or smallmouth, a pike missing my lure, fish viewed on the Aqua View, fish I spot in a spotlight and fish that get off before I have them in hand that I can positively identify.  And fish caught by people I am guiding or boater during pre-fish.

Dang Thieves!

 

Fixed it.

Tuma Was On The Bass Galaxy Podcast

 

Spring Watch 2023

 Groundhog Day has come and gone, and I've gotten a case of Wuhan Flu. Seeing as how I haven't been fishing, this winter has dragged on. I am ready for Spring. Looks like we are in for a bit of a warm-up next week. I will just have to wait and see if I am up for a little bit of fishing early next week.