Bass Snatcher Mississippi River Tournament Recap

Conditions: 70-90℉, Partly Cloudy, 2-5mph

The Day:

We went straight to Little Rabbit Lake and started in the same section as Arnie and Theo. We were working the slop, and they were working deeper. After 15 minutes of nothing, I started casting out over the calm water with the Walkine Boss. I had a pike miss the Boss. Theo got a couple of pike. I think I had a small keeper take a shot at the Walking Boss, but it didn't hook up. Arnie and Theo, I believe, both got on the board and caught a pike as well. 

We entered the third bay, and I got the skunk from the boat with a 2-lber on a frog off some wood. Darren missed a bite and got hung up. We went a little further into the bay, then Daren got the skunk out of the boat with a small bass off the same piece of wood where we had caught those two bites as we were on our way back out of the bay. We fished almost to the mouth of the Bay we started in with Darren getting a couple of boils, but no hook-ups. We fished in the first basin for quite a while, along with a number of other Snatcher boats. Darren and I both pulled a non-keeper out of a slop area that had some life. 

We then returned to the bay from which we had started. Darren got three small keepers on a Chatterbait, and I got what would be my final keeper of the day on a Chatterbait. I think we could have gotten our limits, but a guy was trolling in the area where Arnie and Theo got their fish. We decided to bail for the entrance to Little Rabbit. The life that was in the area in the morning had mostly left. 

We then went to the backwater where I had success with Ruff. It was lifeless there, other than one attempt by a pike to get my frog. We went to an area where Darren got a 4-lber pre-fishing. We started downriver from the juice, and he got a bonus smallmouth right next to the bank on a piece of wood. The area where Darren got the 4-lber had a lot of life in it. The first time I had seen really abundant signs of life all day. We fished this area too quickly, in my estimation. I don't remember if Darren caught a fish or not. He definitely had a couple of blow-ups. I had a good bass eat my frog, and I got a very good hookset, yet it jumped and got off. Tough luck, I was sure that bass was going to come in the boat. 

We ran a good bit of the river, hoping to duplicate the smallie bite, but it never happened. We then arrived at another area where Darren caught a couple of pigs in pre-fish. He had a blow-up that missed his frog just before we crossed paths with Tyler and Dave, who were both struggling. Darren ate his lunch, and I piloted the boat.  Darren resumed fishing with me on the troller and immediately had a blow-up that missed. A little while later, I had a great opportunity to put a good bass in the boat on a Livetarget Frog. I knew the bass was there because it missed the frog the first time, and I let her have it on the hookset. But it buried me and got off.  I was pretty pissed off, and that propelled me for the final hour and a half. Unfortunately, I only had one more blow-up, and I'm pretty sure it was a pike. Darren got two small keepers with the final one coming in the last five minutes. It just wasn't my day yet again. Frustrating!

Results: Third from last, I'm moving up baby. DJ.Kicker got 1st, 2nd Place  went to Dennis and 3rd Place and Lunker (4/10) went to Nate.

My Thoughts: Lost fish cost me yet again. The bite was much tougher than expected. I thought I would average at least two bites an hour. I had maybe 6 bites from keeper bass for the day. The hot weather didn't bother me, and I fished hard all day. Having an infection in my left eye did affect my vision and casting accuracy. Once again, I could not get my limit on a river. Hopefully, we will schedule the Gull River for next year. With two bombs now on the record, I am in a hole for the year.

Tournament Grade: C

Lost fish suck, but when you get good hooksets on a frog, and that is how things go. Fortune was just not with me again.  

2021 Year In Review (By The Numbers) And Report Card

 

In 2021, I set records for the number of fish caught in a year (3938), the number of days fished (242), the number of trips taken (330), and fish caught per hour (4.96). However, my bass numbers were down 113 fish from 2020. I had a record number of trips I rated as Great (74) and Good (190), and I only had (16) Trips rated as Poor, down from (33) poor trips last year. Not a lot of skunks were had this year (17). 

2021 was the Year of Ice Fishing Where Crappie Catches Were King
2021 started with me on the same old suck truck for ice fishing success. But then I got my new Fish Trap, Smitty Sled, and broke through on a school of fish on Rock Lake in January, and my fishing numbers were on fire for about a month. I ended the year on two fifty-fish nights on Bulldog. If not for the snow and my getting sick, I probably would have reached the milestones of 5 Fish Per Hour and 4,000 Fish in a year. I caught a record number of crappies in 2021 (834).
Ice Fishing Grade: B+

Crappie Fishing Grade: A

2021 Bass Fishing:

I would describe bass fishing in 2021 as solid but challenging. No matter how tough the fishing was, I always seemed to boat one or two, but man, did we have to work for bites. I fear that the bass population in Platte/Sullivan is decreasing. I never really whacked them once non-stop in 2021. If there are schools out there, they were not shallow in 2021. Hopefully, it is just a shallow water and baitfish issue that will work out if water levels and temps are more normal in 2022. We got a good number of 4's and 5's this year between the brothers and me.

Bass Fishing Grade: B-

Bass Size Grade: B+

Tournament Fishing in 2021:

Overall it was a tough tournament season for me, but I got lucky with Platte/Sullivan for the blind draw, doubly fortunate to get Darien Kiefer as a boater, and the rest is history.

Whitefish Lake: 13th Place (Saved by a rally in the final hour and a half)

North Long: 20th Place (Didn't fish well at all)

FishTrap Lake: 8th Place (Rallied in the final hour and a half)

Edward Lake: 15th Place (I sucked, Beau caught 'em fine)

Leech Lake: Skunked

Blind at Platte/Sullivan: 1st Place, Lunker, and Top Co-Angler

Serpent Lake Challenge Cup: (Snatchers came in last, my head wasn't in it)

Tournament Season Grade: A-

Tournament Performance Grade: C

Sure I sucked for the most part, but I got a W, so it's all good. 

2021 Walleye Fishing:

Ouch, this wasn't expected. Walleye fishing crashed back to historical norms after the last few boom years. Low water on Mille Lacs this Fall is the primary driver of the decline.
Walleye Fishing Grade: C

2021 Grumpy Old Man Hole (GOMH) Fishing:

Low water and lack of baitfish made fishing the GOMH the toughest in memory. Thank God for the Trophy.

GOMH Grade: C-

2021 Pike Fishing:

The great thing about the drought and early high water temps was that it threw the pike in Platte Lake for a loop. I only lost about 10 frogs this year. Last year, I lost at least two dozen. I also caught some tanks.
Pike Grade: A

2021 Bowfin Fishing:

I landed a 3 this year, including one tank on August 8th while fishing with Steve.
Bowfin Grade: B+

2021 Smallmouth & Tulibee Fishing:

Didn't catch either one in 2021. Straight up F's Homey!
Smallmouth Grade: F

Tullibee Grade: F

2021 Fishing Grade: B

Kristine Fisher Was Up At Mille Lacs This Past Week

My Sorry Lake Alexander Full Results

Conditions: 84-65℉, Sunny to start then partly cloudy to cloudy, 3-6mph SE
Water Temp: Low to mid 70's (just a guess)

The Day:
My boater Tim was confident we would crush them.  The fish had other ideas.

We started outside a small cove along the South shoreline.  Nothing there.  I started topwater, then went to spinnerbait, then to a jerkbait, then back to a smaller topwater.  As we got to a rocky shoal at the cove entrance Tim got his first keeper a small smallmouth.  I'm not even sure what he was fishing with.  We started approaching some docks.  I think Tim caught a fish and needed to re-tie so I went to the front of the boat.  I had a fish hit my Shower Blows when I wasn't paying attention and lost it half way to the boat.  It was just a small keeper, no big deal right?  A little way down the shoreline I got my big bass of the day on the Shower Blows.  It was a smallmouth that went about a pound and 2/3rds.  That was it for me for quite a while.  We jumped to a couple of reefs.  Tim had a good smallie break him off because he had his drag set too tight.

Tim was drop shotting and hardly getting a bite.  That really played with me mentally because I just was not prepared for the day to go down like that.  Finally, about 3 hours in we headed for some bullrushes.  Tim got a good largemouth on his second cast and then quickly missed one.  I missed hit on my frog in some small pads.  I then got a small keeper off the back side of the rushes.  Tim started culling and I got one that barely went over 12-inches.  I missed a couple more bites in the rushes.

We went and tried some other spots.  I got a couple shorts off of a small point.  We went back to the start spot and Tim got his big bass, a 3lb smallmouth.  It just wasn't happing there so we jumped a couple of offshore spots.  Tim had a smallie get snatched by a muskie when he was bringing it in.  He fought it for a couple of minutes before the muskie let go. Then the smallie got off Tim's line just like that.  It wasn't a very big one and when it got off the muskie was in hot pursuit. We went back to the bullrushes to end the day.  I missed one bite on a frog and I think I missed a couple that hit the craw tube but could have been rock bass.  Who knows.

Three small fish, what a disappointment!

The Results:
My three fish weighed 3/12 and put me in 18th Place out of 20 anglers.  Tim's fish weighed 12/04 and put him in 7th Place.  He was only 9oz out of 3rd Place so breaking off that fish really hurt.  The winner was non-boater Beau Bacon with 16/7.   Lunker went to Chuck Fields with a 3/14.

My Thoughts:  I didn't fish well.  For some reason, I was checked out mentally for most of the day and just couldn't get comfortable with what I was throwing.  I just think I was so unprepared for fishing to be so difficult.  For at least the last two weeks of June catching bass for me became a difficult proposition.  Not sure what it's gonna take for me to get out of this rut.  I better find my mojo quick because the next tournament is less than two weeks out. 

What I Caught My Bass On In 2016

Largemouth: 52 Different Lures Used

I caught a total 764 largemouth in 2016.  My catch rates for them this year were nothing to write home about yet again.  The most I caught in a single day was a pretty pathetic 16 fish.  Even when I was on 'em I wasn't really on them to good in 2016.  I'm setting an ambitious goal for catching a thousand largies in 2017.

Smallmouth: 5 Different Lures

Smallmouth at Eddy's Jetty has always been a hit and miss proposition.  This year I got a few hits which is always good.

August 6th Pokegama Snatchers Tournament

2nd From Last, 2nd Place, 1st Place

Dave Smith 4lb 8oz Lunker

7:40AM-4:00PM Pokegama Lake (Grand Rapids) 14 Guys Fishing
Conditions: 76-58 degrees, Light to M NW wind, Mostly Sunny to Mostly Cloudy,  Water visibility about 5'

Pre-Tournament Thoughts: 
I was due for a good tournament finish.

The Day:
We made the long run down to Sherry Arm and started on a large sunken Island with some cabbage where Bill had gotten a nice smallie in pre-fish.  Nothing was home except a small rock bass that I got on a craw tube.  We then moved to a wind blown point.  I pulled two pike on a chart/white Strike King Spinnerbait and Bill got the first keeper of the day, a small largemouth.  I had a good sized smallmouth head butt the spinnerbait right in front of me.  Why couldn't the fish bite it instead?

About an hour and a half in we went to the slop in the South end of Sherry Arm.  Bill got a couple more small largemouth.  We then worked the W shoreline and I got a 13.5" largemouth on Sweet Revenge Mad Maxx.  It showed itself and I got it on the second cast.  A little farther down I got a 13.75" out of some bulrushes on a craw tube.

We went to another point and Bill got another small keeper largemouth.  We went back to the point where I saw the smallie.  I had a couple dink bass grab the spinnerbait and get off.  Bill caught a 3-15 smallie on a jig.  That made his day.  We went back to the sunken island and didn't get anything.  With about two hours left to go we headed back towards Tioga.

I got a 14" in some reeds with rice on the craw tube.  We went into Poole Bay.  I lost a tungsten sinker to a snag in the reeds because I didn't retie my line which had been getting frayed.  Was not to happy about that.  We then moved across to the West side of the bay to some lily pads that Bill hadn't pre-fished.  I had fish miss the Horny Toad and Bill missed what sounded like a good fish just outside of the pads on his frog.  Then his trolling motor caught a bunch of braided line with a spinnerbait attached, so we lost use of the trolling motor for the final hour.

We moved into Tioga Bay and drifted with the wind along some reeds.  I had a good fish hit the Horny Toad but it swam right at me and I couldn't keep up and it got off.  Don't know what it was because I never saw it.  I had some dink bass hit the Horny Toad and had a couple good strikes not hook up. Bill got a small cull and the day was over.

Results:
My three fish weighed 4lbs 13ozs which put in 13th Place out of 14 anglers.  Bill's fish went 11-7 and put him in 10th Place.  1st Place went to Tim Benson with 17lbs 8ozs and Dave Smith had the 4-8 Lunker.

My Thoughts:
I thought for sure I was getting last place in this one, but Art saved me from that fate.  We just weren't on anything as Bill having the smallest limit of the tournament with a 3-15 kicker proves.  I should have thrown the jerk shad some, but was to lazy to switch the spinnerbait for a speed clip.  That smallmouth bumping the spinnerbait and not eating it got in my head a little bit.  They usually crush that little spinnerbait and are hooked up solid.

Next Tournament Rabbit Lake in two weeks.    

My June 2016: Less Larry, More Sally, More Teeth, Less Teeth

Highlight of the Month

After catching more largemouth in May of this year (181) than last year (141), I had high hopes for the fishing this June.  But we just didn't get the rain in this area of MN and my largemouth numbers caught dropped significantly. I caught 30 less largemouth this year (84) than last year (114).  Low water is a GOMH killer.  The two tournaments I fished in the month were underwhelming as far as the number of fish caught.  At least I got 10 bass at South Long; That was the most bass I caught in a day in June.

I did catch 5 smallmouth up 3 from last years total in June.

Pike numbers were not off the charts like they were in May when I caught 126 of them, but 42 is a record for June.  I have easily surpassed my goal of catching 150 pike for the year;  I am currently at 219.

After getting 31 walleyes in May, I only got 4 in June.  Last year I got 16 in May and 12 in June.

You can read about all of my fishing trips this year over at Bass Pundit's Fishing Log Blog.

Not The Morning I Expected, But It's All Good (PB SMB)

20.5" Whopper Plopper (Bone)

4:30-6:30AM GOMH NE SE
7:00-9:00AM Mille Lacs Eddy's Jetty N

After last night's trip to the Grumpy Old Man Hole, I was quite confident when I headed out this morning.  I was a little stunned when forty minutes into fishing the NE side I hadn't even had a sniff and a panfish fisherman showed up and took the SW side.  I switched to the SE side where I have to cast to my right/backhand to get under the bridge.  Also, the casting angles aren't nearly as good because of the way the vegetation and rocks are.  I had one toothy swipe at my Chigger Craw.  After about 20 minutes nothing was happening so I went back to the NE side.  I saw a 17" toothy and sub 10" jumper.  I threw a Spro Frog in the rice, not even a hit, and nothing under the bridge either.  I packed up to leave at 6:30 having not caught anything.

I pointed the KIA towards Mille Lacs, hoping that the rumors I'd been hearing about the smallies going on topwater would work out for me.  With smallmouth, I never know if they are going to be at my main shore fishing spot or not.  I found out on my first cast.

12.5" Whopper Plopper

Yeah, it was a small fish, but it hit topwater and got the skunk off.  About 15 minutes later I got another one.

14.5" Whopper Plopper

About 15 minutes later I got the big one.  I was really hoping it was gonna go 21 inches.  I couldn't decide what I wanted to do to land it as it was to the North of the harbor mouth.  I was unable to steer it into the harbor, so I ended up shimming down a large semi slippery slab where I was able to grab the fish.

 I couldn't see the screen to know I had taken a bad picture and the camera went on the fritz.  A lady and her husband were down front and offered to take a picture for me.  I got the camera to work right again and got the one good pic and one's better than none.  I had to hold the fish upright for about a minute before it swam off.

Clouds moved in and I think I got one hit on the loon colored Plopper that didn't hook up.  At 9AM it started thundering and threatening rain so I left.

Sight Fishing Smallies on Mille Lacs And A Muskie Follow (May 17th)

19.5" b/b Chigger Craw

4:00-8:00PM Mille Lacs off tip of Center Jetty
Conditions: Calm, 70 degrees, mostly sunny perfect for sight fishing.

I went to Reeds to pick up the shirt I got for entering a Facebook contest then headed to Eddy's.  Here are the rods I brought with me.

 I started out throwing topwater and was so distracted by doing that that I failed to notice what kind of visibility there was;  I could see out a 35 to 40 feet off the tip.  When I did notice I saw two big smallies and a 14-15" one.  They weren't interested in the Phantom.  So I tried a Slush Minnow.  One of the big smallies eyed it for a little bit, but never went for it.  Next I went to the Chigger Craw.  The little one showed some interest, but never went for it.  The same with one of the big ones.  Then they left after I had been fishing for them for about half an hour.  About 15 minutes later four 17 inch class smallies came swimming through from the SE to NW.  They didn't show any interest and were mildly spooked when a cast landed.  They left in about 2 minutes to the NW.  About a 15" largemouth came from the SE and swam into the North harbor.  I had my jerk bait suspending right in front of it.  But it looked at it for a little bit then continued into the harbor.  A 12-13" smallie came in from the NW and left in the same direction after getting spooked.

I didn't see anything for about half an hour and went up for one last look when three 17' class fish swam into sight from the NW.  I made a cast to them and they initially spooked, but  two of them quickly turned around to investigate.  I hadn't noticed that a 4th smallie came in with them.  I finally noticed him when it picked up the bait as a smallie I was watching went to try and steal it.  I set the hook and played the fish across the Jetty into the South harbor where I landed it.

17" Chigger Craw

When I got up on the Jetty there was a bigger fish a little bit off to my right (SE).  It was just on the edge of the rocks and the South harbor channel.  I made a cast about 10 feet to it's SE.  It spooked for about 2 feet then turned back toward the Chigger Craw when it got back within 10 feet, I hopped the craw and it sped right over and grabbed it.  She did some good head shakes on the surface, but I landed it.  It was full of spawn, probably just under 5lbs.  It is the one in the first picture.

There was nothing for quite a long time and I threw various topwater lures including the cool Salmo Bass Bug.  Which is basically a floating round rock with a lip and a single treble hook.  Darned if that little bug doesn't throw a wake and sound like a small buzzbait.  It didn't attract any bites or lookers.

What did attract a fish was a chart. 1/2oz Rippin Rap.  I could see something trailing it.  But that was no smallmouth.  It was a 40" ski and it nearly caught the Rap before I jerked it away.  The thing then stared me down.  I thought if your gonna do that then I'm going to get a picture of you and I went back to get my camera.  By the time I got back up on the rocks it was swimming off to the NW.   I put my sun glasses over the lens and this was the picture I got.

     Darn camera went on the Fritz.  By the time I got it working right the fish was gone.

I did take this next pic to show how close it came in.  I got a really good look at the fish.

One or two more small 12ish smallmouth's came through, but were spooked easily.  I packed up at 8PM because visibility was deteriorating and I wanted to get back to my area Lakes.

Here is the set up I got my fish on tonight.

TD-Z Type R
St. Croix Legend Xtreme 6'8" Medium XFast.  The rod is a medium light compared to the Avid, but quite a bit more sensitive.

Fishing Goals for 2016

Ten years ago, I wrote my fishing goals for the 2006 here on my blog.   I crashed my truck that summer into a deer totaling it which sent me into a depression that ended my participation in the Team Bass Club. We also moved out of the lake place that spring and into where I live now, which threw me off ice fishing until last winter. I never wrote another list of goals again until now.

Bass Snatcher Goals:
1. Get "Wood" in at least one tournament. (1st-3rd Place Finish or Lunker)
2. Win my 1st tournament. (My best finish to date is 2nd Place.)
3. Get "Lunker" in a tournament.   (Preferably one over 5-8 to win the revolving big bass pot that I'm now entered in thanks to somebody finally winning it last year. With 3 big bass lakes on the schedule, there is a shot.)
4. Get paired with Chuck Fields. (He usually only fishes a couple of tournaments a year, so chances of it ever happening are not very good.)
5. Finish in the Top 10 at the end of the year. (Something I haven't done since 2011)
6. Catch a limit at every tournament of the year. (I've done this twice, but in 2012 I only fished 4 out of the 6 tournaments due to a bad back.)

Technique & Tackle Goals:
1. Catch some fish on a River2Sea Whopper Plopper. (This will be my 3rd year with this bait, and I haven't caught a fish on it yet. I'm not sure if I even threw it last year.)
2. Catch fish on my wake baits: Lucky Craft, Livetarget, and Rapala. (I hardly ever tried the Lucky Craft, and I got the Livetarget and Rapala's late last fall)
3. Throw a football head jig at the GOMH. (It will work, no doubt about it.)
4. Get out in the Trophy. (It's been 3 years since I've had it in the water.)
5. Win something in Fantasy Fishing or Facebook giveaway/contest.
6. Catch fish on a Lucky Craft Gunfish 117 (Lures I just won on eBay)

Fish Goals:
Crappie:
1. Catch a 14" or bigger. (This has been my goal for a long time, predating the blog.)
2. Catch* over 300 this year. (Very doable at this point.  I'm at 199 right now)

Dogfish:
1. Win my 3rd Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Championship
2. Catch an MN State Record fish. (11-4  or 35" x 20")

Pike:
1. Catch* over 150 this year. (I caught 205 last year.)
2. Catch a 38" or over.

Bass: 
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Largemouth
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth
3. Catch* over 500 bass this year. (I caught only 450 last year.)
4. Catch* at least 5 smallies. (I caught 10 last year)

Blogging:
1. Blog about anytime I reach a goal.
2. Blog the BASS Elite AOY on Mille Lacs Lake.

* Catch is anything I deem it to be, including follows by pike or smallmouth (while pre-fishing), a pike missing my lure, fish seen on the Aqua View, and fish that get off before I have them in hand that I can positively identify.

Bass Snatchers Schedule for 2016

The Baxter Bass Snatchers have sort of finalized our schedule for this year.  It's only "sort of" because the DNR would throw a wrench in our plans if they switched the first two weeks to immediate catch and release only from the catch and keep regulation they had last year on Mille Lacs.

Here are my thoughts on the lakes we are fishing this year.

May 21st Mille Lacs Lake:  This would be the first time in the 39 year history of the club that we will fish the lake for a tournament.  We are planning to go out of Cove Bay so hopefully wind won't be bad out of the North.  If the wind is bad we could switch to Sunday the 22nd.  I really hope DNR doesn't switch the regulations and shut us down, although I suppose if we have to go to an alternative date later in the year we could still fish Mille Lacs.  I have fished Mille Lacs a fair amount and caught some big fish which are pretty much everywhere for smallies and I've gotten some big largemouth as well.  Really looking forward to this one.

June 11th South Long Lake:  Unfortunately we nixed Platte/Sullivan on this date because another circuit was fishing the lakes that day, well maybe next year.  I've fished South Long four times for two tournaments.  I'm guessing that the lake is going to set up more like the first tournament in 2009 than the pre-spawn tournament we had in 2013 with the late Spring that year.  The two things I don't like about this lake is the access which has limited parking and maneuvering space and our 8AM start time is only going to make congestion there worse.  Also the 8AM start makes a morning topwater bite less likely.  My best finish here was 5th Place.

July 16th Fishhook Lake (Park Rapids):   This will be my second tournament on this lake with the club.  Had a great time the first time and hope the numbers and size structure of the fish is about the same.  I had 13/7 and came in 13th Place with a 4/5 kicker which was the third biggest fish caught that day.  The lake has a small smallmouth population, not sure if they are known to get big like the largemouth do.

Aug. 6th Pokegama (Grand Rapids):  I've fished this lake 3 times for 2 tournaments with the club.  The third big fish lake of the year with Smallmouth and Largemouth.  Love it!  My best finish here was 15th Place with a 12/8 bag in 2008, my first year in the club.

Aug. 20th Rabbit Lakes: This will be my third tournament on these lakes with the club and my fourth tournament overall.  I don't care for the fact it's an 8AM start.  Maybe I'll catch an elusive Rabbit Lake smallmouth.  My best finish was 3rd Place at an Excel Singles.

Sept 24th Whitefish Chain:  This will be my fourth tournament here with the club and fifth overall. Like Pokegama there is a bunch of water I've never seen or fished.  Hopefully a Fall topwater bite will be going this day.  My best finish was a 10th Place in early June.

Hopefully I will be healthy enough to fish every tournament this year.  Last year I missed two do to illness.

What I Caught SM & LG Bass On In 2015

The 2 sight fish and half of the Fluke fish weren't actually caught.  They were follows.

As for the LM

I only caught 450 largemouth in 2015, a significant drop from the 602 I caught last year and way off the 922 I caught in 2013.  This was by far my worst year for catching largemouth since I started keeping track at Fish Swami in 2011.  I am blaming the normal Spring ice off and low water at Platte/Sullivan for most of the drop off in fish caught.  The GOMH just wasn't holding fish like it has in the past.  Instead of getting 10 or more largies per trip, I was getting 5 or less.

The positives I can take from 2015 were the number of fish I caught on Spro (41) and Mad Maxx (42) frogs and the 24 fish I got on the H20 Jerk Shad.  Also for the 1st time a chatter jig was my best largemouth lure of the year with the D & M Baits Piranha being the only lure in triple figures.  Some memorable hits this year on the frogs and the Piranha.

My Day at Woman (Pre-fishing with Dave Branum)

Small Smallmouth

And

Large Largemouth

I did have a large smallmouth follow late in the day.  I've got a plan to turn followers into biters come tournament day.

Mille Lacs Score!!!

19.5" D & M Piranha

From last night
6:10-6:40 Rock
6:45-6:55 Bulldog
7:00-7:20 GOMH
7:35-7:40 Cemetery Jetty
7:50-10PM Eddy's Jetty

Conditions- Drizzle/light rain, overcast, 51 degrees, wind dying down pretty much by the time I got to Eddy's Jetty.

Rock, Bulldog, and the GOMH didn't give me a bite.  So as was my plan I headed to Mille Lacs.  Cemetery Jetty is gone, taken out by the DNR.  With the way the wind had been blowing SE all day it was impossible to tell what potential it has.  Wading maybe???  I only threw a few casts.  I shouldn't have worn long johns as after walking out to CJ, I was roasting.

I got to Eddy's and started throwing a D & M Piranha from the center jetty.  I got up on the rocks throwing SE and I thought I had something nip at it.  About 6 casts later the Mojo loaded up at the end of a long cast.  It was a total football pre-spawn smallie.

19.5" D & M Piranha

Next I got this one, once again on a long cast.

17" Red Eye  Shad

The fish actually fought me into the North harbor, I hooked it out front of the South harbor.

It got dark so I switched to a minnow under a bobber.  I almost got a crawfish from my sinking line.  Sure enough I got a hit and I stuck it.

24.5"  minnow red hook chart bead.

I immediately got a wind knot, so that was it for the minnow.  Didn't get anything on a Grass Pig or Rapala.

My weapons for tonight.

Excellent Point Vern!

No changes in the harvest rules are planned. With just three creel survey workers, it seems that the launches aren’t interviewed very often, many launches won’t let the DNR on their property and the survey is voluntary. My thought is: if these resorts, guides and launches are profiting from their customers harvesting fish owned by us, citizens of Minnesota, they should be required to accurately report their catches. If this information isn’t in the DNR Creel surveys, how can they keep saying the harvest is safe? 

Vern Wagner made this point on Facebook while talking about fishing on Mille Lacs Lake.  Without a doubt the launches and guides should be keeping a record of every walleye, pike, muskie, and smallmouth they catch, it's approximate length, and whether or not it was kept.

Bass Snatcher Serpent Lake Tournament Report June 22nd

My Boater Dave Branum from the Morning We Pre-fished

Conditions: Cloudy in the morning turning sunny then partly cloudy.  Wind from almost calm to about 10mph out of the S SE.  It did sprinkle for a little while.  I could have used less wind.

My Plan- I was really hoping the wind would stay low enough to allow me to fish topwater all day.  After the pre-fish I figured it was a plan that had a chance of winning the tournament.  Honestly, I usually don't fish thinking I am going to win a tournament, but that was my mind set on this one.

The Day- I believe we blasted off around 6:40AM and we got our starting spot.  Well one caveat to that statement.  We got our starting spot, which was a fairly big area, but there was a non-competitors boat fishing right in the middle of it.  We did get to start on the spot where we got the double and I got 2 smallies.  It took about 10 to 15 minutes, but I got a 15" largie on a Paycheck Baits Repo Man.  I think I missed a hit and noticed on a couple of casts I had fish following but not hitting.  So I took the Repo Man off and went to the KVD Dawg.  I got a 14.25" and a 15.25" on that.  Dave got 1 or two fish.  The other boat landed a few as well.  Eventually we moved on the other side of the other boat.  I had a nice pike blow up on the KVD.  Then it got calm for a little while.  I started throwing a gold Frenzy Popper and I got 13.75" and a 12.5" on that.  The other boat left and the wind came up.  We weren't getting bites so we left.

Our next spot was a weedline where we got a few pre-fishing including 1 nice smallie.  The wind was blowing here pretty good.  I started out throwing the KVD Dawg, then a Kelly J, then a Strike King Spinnerbait.  I got a hit right away on the spinnerbait, but it was a slimmer.  I did get a 10 bass and 13.25" bass on the Kelly J.

We moved to a sunken island with weeds and rocks.  I culled out my 2 smallest with a 15.25" and a 14" on the Repo Man.  Dave got himself a nice smallie (2-10) and lost a another better largemouth as he was bring it to the boat.  I decided to throw a Lake Fork Craw Tube for a little bit and was quickly rewarded with a 16.25" largie (1-15).  I started catching a bunch of rock bass as well.

Next we headed to our starting area.  The wind was blowing pretty good there.  I started experimenting with lipless cranks.  I was on my 4th one, a 3/4oz chart/red Red Eye Shad, when  I had a 15 to 16 inch largemouth hit it. It only had one hook and got off.  I then caught a hammer handle.  Then I got the fish I was looking for, a good smallmouth.  It hit on the end of a long cast and shot up out of the water trying to throw my bait.  It then swam towards the boat.  Reeling as fast as I could I was able to keep up with it.  I had it about 4 feet from the net when it tail walked and came off.  I would say it was 17" inch 3lb class fish.  I ended up catching a rock bass and a perch on the Red Eye as well.

We moved to a weedline that was protected from the wind.  I started throwing the Repo Man.  A 17" or so smallie jumped on it about 12 feet out from the boat.  It missed the bait and must have seen me because it didn't come back for it.  Dave got a largemouth, which helped him and then he dropped one that had to be at least 3 1/2 lbs, probably a bit more.

We went back to the island where Dave got the smallmouth. I don't remember if he caught anything but rock bass.  I got a couple of rock bass on the Red Eye.  We finished up on our starting spot.  I got a couple of rock bass on the craw tube.

Results-   My 6 fish weighed 9lbs 8ozs which put me in 24th Place with 26 anglers fishing. Dave's fish went 10lbs 15ozs and put him in 11th Place.  The winner was Darren Kiefer with 14lbs 5ozs and Lunker went to Bill Ludenia with a 4-1 largemouth, at least I think it was a largemouth.  Bill came in 2nd with 13-14.  Everyone got a limit.  Fishing was tougher than expected.

Thoughts-  I'm disappointed.  Like I said in quick report  I had the bites to do well, Top 10 for sure, and my boater had the fish on to contend for the win, but our execution left something to be desired.  Part of my execution problem stems from the rod I was throwing the Red Eye Shad on.  The rod is a Lamiglas Excel 735.  Great for throwing a long cast, but not forgiving enough for playing the fish.  It's great a rod for frogs and dipper style swimbaits, but treble hook lures not so much..  On a softer rod I may have gotten both of the one's I lost.

I can't really do anything about a fish that misses my topwater lure.  I played that fish perfect, letting the topwater sit before starting it up again and then throwing a follow up lure.  That fish saw me and was gone.  The wind was such that I didn't get to throw topwater as much as I wanted too.

Next Tournament Leech Lake July 19th.

Hey Mille Lacs Walleye Fishermen, It Isn't Smallmouth Eating Your Fish

The Pioneer Press put it like this:

SMALLMOUTH BASS

Crayfish, crayfish, crayfish.

"Smallmouth were the easiest to figure out," Parsons said. "The diet that was observed was dominated by crayfish -- significantly more than half in the summer. In the fall, they ate a few more fish. Smallmouth really don't eat a lot of fish, but if they do eat them, they'll generally eat yellow perch, and occasionally bluegill, crappie, darters and shiners. The proportion of walleye they eat is very small."

Oh coarse, what the DNR says will have zero impact on what some of these walleye fisherman think. I heard it this Spring from a guy. "Those damn smallmouth are eating machines and they will eat anything" is what the guy said.  It may be true they are eating machines, but your typical small walleye isn't doing things that put it on a smallmouth basses radar screen as far as being smallmouth forage, so walleye's don't typically show up in a smallies stomach.  But like I said, with some guys facts don't matter one bit.

Bass Snatcher Tournament Lake Alexander June 7th

My Boater Chuck Johansen, 1991 MN B.A.S.S. Nation T.O.C. Winner 

The Weather- Calm, cool/cold and overcast in the morning, turning sunny with some wind out of the NW in the afternoon.

The Day- Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we blasted off around 6:45AM because we made a long run up to the NE corner of the lake to fish some reed beds, floating bogs, and docks.  The reeds hadn't started coming out of the water yet.  As we worked our way East I started out throwing a Pure Poison, but in the calm conditions quickly switched to the chart/firetiger Stanley Phantom.  I had what I'm 90% sure was a muskie come up and wake behind that.  Eventually I switched to a gold Frenzy Popper.  I made a long cast out to some reeds.  I'm not sure if I had a little over run that I started taking out or what, but a fish hit the Popper.  I quickly, set the hook but I couldn't reel in because the line was caught on my reel.  It felt like a good fish, but by the time I got my line out of the reel handle it had come off.   I managed to catch a 9" dink on the Popper and missed another one that swirled on it.  We went into some docks and passed by a decent smallmouth that was on a bed.  Next I got a rock bass on a Yabbie and another 9" dink on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke.  Then Chuck got  the first keepers along the dock. We had to be at least an hour into the tournament when Chuck got the first keeper.  I finally got a 12" squeaker and we both got some that didn't measure and more rock bass as we worked our way along the bogs and docks on Flukes and the Yabbies.  Chuck got a couple of small keepers and  I got a 13.5" and a 13" off the docks, then we ran back to approximately where we started.  When we got close to the area where we had seen the smallmouth bed I threw my Fluke into the general vicinity and the fish crushed it.

15"

  That was pretty much all we got on our 2nd pass except for a few dinks and rock bass.  We ended up hopscotching with a couple of boats on the docks on the East side of the lake.  We got down to the SE corner and there was a prime looking area of an old reed bed.  I took a 14.5" on the Fluke and then I missed a good fish that may or may not have been a bass up by shore.  Chuck thought maybe it was a dogfish.  We ended up pulling a double much to the dismay of Chuck Steinbauer who was fishing towards us.  Mine was a 15.75" largie.  Steinbauer left and we worked the water he had been fishing.  Then we made the call to go back over the area again.  I tied on a Zoom Horny Toad with a purple head and chart. legs.  I caught a 24 or so inch pike on that.  The wind came up more than it had been and the sun came out.  Chuck thought we should move, but I suggested we fish down to a pontoon boat.  My suggestion paid off for Chuck when he landed a quality fish just on the other side of the pontoon.  We decided to keep going and I think Chuck got another good fish off of a bog point that had the wind blowing on it and I missed what felt like a good fish on a green pumpkin Lake Fork Craw Tube.  I got a couple of rock bass and missed a couple of bites on the Craw Tube before connecting with a 14" fish that culled out my 12".  I think Chuck got another keeper as well.

Next we went a little to the West of the area we started in and headed West.  I culled a 13" for a 13" and caught some that didn't help as we worked our way through the reed stubble.  We started working some docks and we both got some that didn't help and some rock bass.  I had a good smallmouth follow my Fluke out from a dock.  I let the fluke drop when I saw her. It turned to swim away. I jigged the Fluke again, the fish whipped around, eyed it for a couple of seconds than took it.  I set the hook and landed my biggest fish of the day 16"/ 2lbs 3ozs and final keeper bite.  Got several more that didn't help including one on a Gambler Ninja Spin as well as several rock bass on the Craw Tube.  I think I missed 1 that would have helped at least a little bit on a Craw Tube.  Chuck got one last quality cull off of a dock.

The Results- My 6 fish weighed in at 10lbs 1ozs and put me in 19th Place out of 26 fishing.  Chuck's fish went 12lbs 4ozs and put him in 8th place.  Jim Smith won easily with 16lbs 5ozs, more than 2lbs over Guy who got 2nd Place.  Big Bass only weighed 3-8 and was caught by Dave Branum; I think it was a largemouth.  Only 1 guy failed to catch a limit and weights were up an average of around 2lbs per person over the last two tournaments on Alexander (6-25-06, 9-22-12)

My Thoughts-   Other than the first hour which was fairly slow, it was a fun day on the water with a lot of setting the hook.  Had I got all my bites I guess I would have had around 12lbs as well.  For neither of us getting to pre-fish I thought the day went pretty well.  Chuck was a great guy to fish with, very considerate, and asking for my input from time to time.

Next Tournament- Serpent Lake June 22nd

Two Follows And One Hit from A Bird At Mille Lacs

The carnage at the North Side of Eddy's Jetty (Click to Enlarge)

Today I fished at Mille Lacs from shore from 5-9PM, with a break to eat dinner at Subway.  I started off fishing at Eddy's Jetty.  I fished off the South and off the North Jetty tonight.  I had a seagull try and grab my jerkbait that was fouled in my line as I was retrieving it.  I also saw a school of large suckers swim past.  It's to bad there isn't a largemouth within a mile of Eddy's because it would have been on that tree in the water.

After I had dinner I went to Cemetery Jetty.  The water is so high I couldn't get out and fish off the tip and unfortunately the ice didn't come in and lay waist to brush that has been growing there.  I did spook something in the old harbor.  On consecutive casts I had follows by absolute beast of a muskie and then a smallmouth on the same KVD jerkbait I got the pike on yesterday.  This muskie could have eaten that pike.  So any muskie fishermen that read my blog, the Cemetery Jetty is the point just to the North of where the Rum River flows out of Vineland Bay.  I've also seen huge muskie at Eddy's Jetty before.  A loon also came by twice.  I pulled off one wood tick going out and 5 and 1 deer tick on my way back

After leaving Mille Lacs I went to the GOMH and got skunked there as well.

Mille Lacs Smallmouth Regulation Changes

From today's DNR press release:

Similarly, the smallmouth bass harvest season will be extended and limits relaxed. The smallmouth bass season on Mille Lacs will start May 10 and be exempted from the statewide catch-and-release regulation that begins in mid-September. This means anglers may harvest smallmouth bass from the opener until the last Sunday in February. Anglers may keep six fish, only one of which may be longer than 18 inches. The previous regulation allowed anglers to keep six fish 17- to 20-inches, only one of which could be longer than 20 inches.

I am totally OK with the changes.  We will just have to see whether or not I will be able to take advantage of the early start to the season.  It's been a couple of years since I caught a smallie from Mille Lacs and I haven't had the Trophy out there in at least 5 years.  The one thing that I don't care for is the fact that we can't be on the water until 6AM except for on the Opener weekend. I feel they should have made the start time 5AM. The night ban is in effect until December, so there will be no night fishing allowed on the lake this year other than on Opener weekend.

I feel bad for the Muskie guys.