Fishing with Lois and Chuck On South Long Lake

 

1:50-5:50 PM South Long Lake 

44-54℉, Cloudy some light rain, 3-5mph N
53℉ Water Temp Not much visibility

Thankfully it did not rain. There were multiple rigs parked and no dock. We headed to the West reeds. Lois started things off quickly with a spinnerbait bass. I think Chuck had 4 bass before I got my first bite which was a pike. I got a pounda on the swim jig, then had one close to 4lbs pull off as I tried to lift it in. I got one more bass and pike on our first stop. Then we headed up the lake by the North Reed Bed. Chuck got a couple of bass and I got one pike. As we got beyond the reeds I decided to put on a swimbait seeing as how Chuck didn't have a rod rigged with one like usual. Bam, fish on immediately. We headed farther east shortly after that. Nothing at the top of the lake. We returned to the starting spot and I got 6 bass on the Rage Swimmer including the last three of the trip on three consecutive casts. Lois caught a couple of fish as did Chuck on the last stop. We called it a day shortly after. Chuck beat me on numbers, but I don't think by a great deal.

9Bass 

3Pike 

Final Snatcher Tilt of 2022 at South Long Lake

 

Beau Won (16/14) and Got Lunker (3/15)

Mr. Bass 2022, Snatcher Fields

Conditions: Overcast temps 61-50℉, Wind 3-8mph ESE

The Day: We were the last boat out, and the first boat out went right to where my boater, Snatcher Fields, wanted to start. It seemed like 75% of the field went to the same general area to the NE of the narrows. We joined the scrum on the Eastern edge of the line of boats. Nothing on starting spot, so we headed up the lake to an area where we found a school during pre-fish. Chuck got a keeper in the boat. I think I got a pike, then lost a keeper and one that looked like it wouldn't go 12-inches. I got a walleye down the way a little bit. Ran some docks, but nothing. It was an extremely slow morning for us. We \went back to the starting spot and got an 11-incher. Ran back up the lake to a calm weedline. Finally got a keeper in the boat on the big Bubble Walker. Ran down to Bill Bongs Challenge Cup Starting Spot and got another keeper that took the LiveTarget Wake Gill. Chuck put several fish in the boat in short order, then culled with a couple of good 3lber in the cane. Game Over for Mr. Bass 2022. I got my 3lber out along the weed line out from the cane. We ended up back where I got my first keeper. I got my 4th keeper right before we were going to move on a spinnerbait. We went back to the starting area. I caught a short and a small keeper on the spinner bait. Went back up to Bongs Starting Spot. Got bit off twice with jigs and caught several pike on the spinnerbait. Had the craw tube get a bit off. Chuck caught a couple that didn't help and culled once or twice with minor upgrades, and then the day was over.

Results:  My fish weighed 10/09, which put me in 14th Place (2nd to Last Place). Beau Bacon won it with 16/14 and got Lunker with a 3/15. 2nd went to Snatcher Czech (14/11), who showed his face for the first time this season. And 3rd Place went, and Co-Angler Cash went to Snatcher Sarah.

My Thoughts: At long last, I finally got paired with Chuck Fields, and it was cool to do it when he clinched his second  Baxter Bass Snatcher Mr. Bass title. He accomplished the feat back in 1994. This was the first complete season he has fished with the club since winning it in '94. As for the fishing, I figured there was no way, under those conditions, I wouldn't be able to get a limit of keepers in the boat. Besides a half-hour window when Chuck caught most of his weight, it was really slow for us. Unfortunately, I didn't get any bites fishing on the bottom during that window, and when we returned to the spot, the pike had moved in. Whatcha gonna do? It just wasn't my year.  

Snatcher South Long Preview: The Plan and Rods I'm Bringing

 The Plan: Be a good net man so Snatcher Fields captures his 2nd Mr. Bass Title (Snatcher AOY). Plan A is to start on the deep weed edge and only move shallow if it isn't happening. May or may not start with a buzzbait. We are the last boat out, and South Long isn't very big, so who knows what will be available for our first spot.

Rods I'm Bringing: 

7'4" H Tatula (Topwater) 

7'4" H Tatula (Chatter, Topwater, Cranks)

7' H Avid (Craw Tube)

7' MH Mojo (Chatter)

6'9" H Tatula Elite (Jigs) (Braid)

6'8" M Avid (Topwater)

6'6" MH GLX (Jigs, Swimbait)

6'6" M GLX (Neko, Ned)

I ended up at the last minute throwing in another 7'4" H Tatula that I threw frogs and a spinnerbait on. Should have had that spinnerbait on the rod from the jump.

Preview For "Mini Bucks" @ North Long & Challenge Cup @ South Long

I've got two bonus tournaments that I am going to be fishing this weekend.  The first is the "Mini-Bucks" tournament on North Long Lake with Chuck Steinbauer on Saturday.  It is a five boat team tournament modeled on the old Bassmaster Mega-Bucks where a lake is divided into zones that the competitors fish for a period of time then move on to the next one and so on until we have fished each zone.  One team in a zone at a time.  Chuck knows North Long very well and the first tournament I fished with him back in 2008 was on the lake.

My goals are to contribute at least 1 fish to our bag and finish in the money (1st or 2nd)

The tournament on Sunday is the Challenge Cup on South Long Lake which pits the Snatchers vs. the Range Bassmasters and possibly the Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters as well.  It will be 6 boats or 9 boats depending on whether or not the Brainerd Lakes club is fishing.   Each club gets  3 boaters and 3 non-boaters.   I was a last minute addition when one of our guys couldn't make it.  I am fishing in Range Bassmaster Bill Bongs boat.  I am entitled to half the time in the front of the boat.

My goals are to beat out all the other non-boaters and for the Snatchers to take the cup.  Catching big bass of the tournament would be good too.🤞

Rods I'm Going to bring
6' M Techna AV (Spin) Dock (Fluke/Senko)
7'4" XH Zillion (Frog)
7'6" H LTB (1oz Jig)
7'4" H Zillion (1/2oz Jig)
7'3" MH LTB (Horny Toad)
7'2" H Tatula (3/8 Jig)
7'2" MH Tatula (Spinnerbait, Bladed Jig, Lipless)
7' H Avid (Craw Tube)
6'8" M Avid (Jerkbait/topwater) Probably won't bring this rod to South Long.

Update Sat: I'm not bringing the Techna AV to South Long.  I am bringing the 6'8" Avid.

Update Sat:  Also I switched the reel out on the 7'2" MH Tatula for the forgotten rod this year, my 7' MHM Mojo Bass.  The Mojo is quite a bit lighter and is only slightly less heavy in the punch it packs.  After throwing the Tatula for a good part of the day on Saturday I thought using the Mojo was the better choice

GOMH & South Long Tournament June 19th

5:15-5:45AM GOMH NE
Conditions: 68 degrees, S wind, Partly cloudy

With the 8AM start I had time to stop by the Grumpy Old Man Hole before heading off to South Long.  I caught 3 small jumpin' bullheads on a white Strike King Spinnerbait.

10" Strike King Double Colorado Blades

12.5"

7:45AM-3:45PM South Long Lake
Conditions: 70-88 degrees, Windy to Extremely Windy out of the SSW, Mostly Sunny turning cloudy in the last hour or so.

The Day:  Our first stop was the points on the South side of the Channel into the South bay.  We worked our way NE than North after we went around the second point.  We didn't get anything on the points and were heading North to the docks.  I was throwing the Whopper Plopper across the channel towards the lake side of the other point.  The Plopper was almost back to the boat when a 14.25" hit it.  First keeper of the morning.

We worked our way North into the reeds and rice.  My boater Tony got a couple of squeakers and I got one (13") as well on a Horny Toad.  I missed a hit in the rice along the back edge of the reed. We working the shallow side of another reed bed when a fish missed the Horny Toad.  I cast back and got a 14" fish.  Tony saw a descent size fish jump and worked himself into position to get it.  It took some casting, but eventually he got it to hit.  It was a solid fish.

We worked the reed beds and Tony got his limit.  I wasn't getting any hits on the Horny Toad or a frog, so I started throwing a white Grass Pig on a weighted swimbait hook.  I got a 14.25", then I lost a fish at least that size when it got hung up on the very last reed before it was in the clear.  I then got a 13.95" bass and then lost the next one that hit me in the reeds.  We went and fished a dock.  I threw my fluke to a clump of rice and good fish jumped all over it, but I botched the hook set.  I couldn't get the fish to hit again.  We went back into the reeds. I think I missed two more hits in the reeds before I finally got my limit fish, a 12.5" squeaker.  We were a little over 2 hours into the tournament at this point and the wind was really starting to come up.

I think the next fish in the boat was Tony's big bass, a solid 3lber.  We decided to go back and start all over in the reeds.  As we were coming to another reed bed I made a fairly long cast with my craw tube and 15 incher picked it up.  That was my big bass of the day and the only one I would get on the craw tube.  I did also get a rock bass and a green sunfish on the craw tube that I thought for sure was going to be a bass by the way it hit.

Took a picture of the little guy.

      We went for a long stretch without getting anything.  Eventually we started getting fish again.  I culled out my second fish with a 13.5".  Don't remember what I caught it on, the swimbait maybe.  I started throwing the double Colorado blade Strike King Spinnerbait and I caught a pike, then a rock bass, then a 12", then my final cull of the day with a 14" on it.

With a little more than an hour left it seemed like the wind was quieting down, so we ran up the lake to the other spot we got fish while pre-fishing.  That was a mistake as it was still whipping around up there.  We tried it for about half an hour then headed for the SE shoreline which was still in the wind.  I looked in the well and one of Tony's fish had expired.  After getting nothing there for 10 minutes we called it quits.  I don't remember exactly when, but shortly after Tony pointed the boat towards weigh-in we hit something, spun the hub, and bent up the prop pretty bad.  We waved down Guy who towed us to weigh in.

Results:  My limit weighed 8lbs 10ozs, which put me in 16th Place out of 21 anglers.  Tony's fish weighed 13-14, but the 2oz penalty cost him 3rd Place because Guy with whom he was now tied had the Lunker for the day at 4-7.  Chuck Steinbauer was the tournament winner with 16-2.

My Thoughts:  Tony's boat control in that nasty wind was excellent.  With a little better luck in landing the fish that bit I may have had a shot at being in the Top 10.  Lost fish are part of the deal in the reeds.  I did beat my weight by 14ozs from the tournament we had on South Long on 6/21/09, but my place of finish is one place worse this time.

In AOY I'm 4 points ahead of where I was at this point last year.  I finished in front of the two guys that were behind me at Birch. Unfortunately I didn't manage to finish in front of anyone who was in front of me either, other than two guys who did not fish this tournament.  I am going to have to fish better if I'm going to make my goal of finishing in the Top 10 for the year.

Getting towed to the landing by Bailey

Next Tournament: Fishhook Lake at Park Rapids on July 16th.

South Long Quick Report

Picked up the craw tube just like a bass.

Bill Bailey towing us back to the ramp

It was on ok tournament for me.  I got a limit in the first 3 hours and I beat the weight I had in the 2009 tournament at this same time of the year.  My first fish came on the Whopper Plopper.  Lost a couple of fish that would have helped me a little bit, but that's life in the reeds.    I didn't really notice the heat  in large part due to my white Columbia Performance Fishing Gear hoodie and the wind.  It blew as expected.  Nearly had my hat blown off multiple times.  My boater Tony's boat control was excellent.  Unfortunately Tony hit something as we were about to take off to head to the weigh in.  He spun the hub and badly messed up his prop.  I'm not sure if we were DQed or not for being late to the weigh in.  Tony had a fairly good bag. If our weights count, not sure where mine stacks up as we left the weigh in early.  It was a long tow into the wind to get back to the ramp.  

Bass Snatcher Tournament On South Long Tomorow

Wicked Warm and Windy is the forecast for the day and we get more of it because we are starting at 8 and ending at 4.  Not a big fan of 8AM starts for local tournaments.

Maybe it won't seem as hot in the wind.

I don't know what my boater feels about fishing in the wind.  Maybe because it's a fairly narrow lake that sits down in a valley and is surrounded by trees it won't seem as bad if the wind isn't at the perfect angle to blow right down the lake; Which could unfortunately happen with the way the lake sits.

I really hope the conditions don't get me or my boater frustrated.  I need to catch a limit.  I am going to catch a limit.

June 1st Bass Snatcher South Long Lake Tournament Full Recap

The Weather:
The weather forecast was for it to be raining from the get go and winds out of the NW gusting upwards of 20mph.  Fortunately the rain held off and the wind stayed fairly mild as well out of E NE for the first couple of hours.  It then rained for about an hour or so and the wind was really blowing by the end of the day.

The Tournament:
We were first boat out at around quarter to 7AM.  We would have got out sooner but a certain boat put there plug in the wrong hole.  We went right to our starting spot and my boater Owen had his big bass of the day in the first five minutes.  I decided the conditions might be right for topwater so I had put on my Stanley Phantom.

Right after Owen got his fish in the boat.  I had my first keeper on, a solid 15.25" fish that I would hold onto all day.  I caught the next 3 fish as well landing a 14.5", 16", 14.75".  By this point we started getting crowded by a couple of different boats; All of them catching fish as well.  Owen landed a few to catch up with me.  I got a 15.75" and 13.50".  We were now in a calm area and I got my big fish of the day a 17.5" , 3lb 1oz bass also on the Phantom.  Unfortunately we didn't really stay in that area to work it over and headed back over the water we had just come from.  The wind had come up a little bit more at this point and when we got back into the wind the topwater bite seemed to have died.

Owen caught one off a dock so we did that for bit, but that was totally unproductive.  It started to rain so we headed to our secondary area.  I think I landed one that didn't help then I got a 16 incher getting both fish on black blue Strike King Pure Poison with black blue Berkley Havoc Grass Pig Jr. as the trailer.

This is what I would get the rest of my fish on for the day.  Other than that one fish that area was a bust.

We then went to an old reed bed that was in the wind.  I had a good feeling fish on right away but it came off half way to the boat.  That was it for that area, so we went back to our starting spot which was quite crowded at this point.  We started catching fish almost immediately, so we worked the area for the rest of the day.  However we did go up into the calm area that was still calm and I culled a couple of times with a 15.25" and a 16.5" and I got several that didn't help. Owen culled a couple of times as well.  I did try throwing the Phantom some scaring Chuck Steinbauer in the process, but didn't get any hits on it.

Results:
My 6 fish weighed in a 14lbs 7ozs which put me in a tie for 5th place, which I won on the big bass tie breaker.  I got lucky because the other guy had a dead fish penalty.  Owen had 13/7 and came in 10th.  We broke the record for the best first club tournament of the year in terms of total weight caught.  Our average bag was 12.65lbs.  Chuck Steinbauer won with 16/15 beating Ed Ott by an ounce.

Analysis:
I'm happy with how things went for the most part.  I had fun, it was a good day with the topwater to start.  It's pretty clear we wasted time fishing those docks, but one fish sent us off on that mission, so what are you gonna do?

Bass Snatchers South Long Lake Tournament Quick Report

I had a pretty good day all things considered.  My weight of 14-7 would have been enough to win the last tournament on the lake, but in this one it was good enough to put me somewhere in the Top 10.  The rain held off for the first couple of hours and it got warmer than expected.  The fish bit for me on topwater in the morning.  I was throwing my Stanley Phantom (pictured above) and got my limit and big fish before the wind changed and the rain came.  During and after the rain I caught everything on an old style black and blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig with black/blue Havoc Grass Pig Jr. as a trailer.  Fun day with my boater Owen.  He insisted I take the front of the boat for a good chunk of time at the end of the day.  We both caught a bunch of fish in the last couple of hours.

I will have the full story later on this week.

Bass Opener Day 3

South Long Pre-fish:

15.75" my second biggest fish of the day

I got out for a few hours today with my boater Owen to pre-fish for next Saturday's Tournament on South Long.  The lake seems to be a bit behind Platte Lake at this point.  The warmest water we found was 55°F and it was pretty much 54°F everywhere.  The wind was blowing out of the E SE yet again for the 3rd or 4th straight day.  I guess the air temp got to 61°F today and there was no sun.  We basically didn't catch very many fish.  I got 5 but two of them were quality keepers at or a bit over 2lbs.  We got everything on moving baits.  Depending on the weather improving a bit this week, we have confidence in a couple of spots.  Thankfully they both are fairly large areas.  Being boat #1 should help.

The GOMH:
I arrived at the GOMH around 5PM and started on "the juice".  All I got was one toothy bullhead on the Grass Pig.  Eventually I moved to the SW side and there I started getting fish on the huckleberry Christopherson's Craw Tube.  My 10th fish was this Toad Bullhead.

I'm not sure of the exact length because I didn't have my ruler along, but I'm calling it 19.5" for the Derby.  She was definitely close to 5lbs full of eggs. I caught a total of 11 bass at the GOMH.  I left at 9PM

Fish for the Day
Bass: 16
Pike: 1

Fish Total for Bass Opener
Bass: 73
Pike: 11
Walleye: 1

Bass Snatchers 2013 Official Schedule with My Thoughts

Here is what my club is fishing this year, with my comments.

June 1st South Long-  Other than the parking situation,  I like the lake.  I've fished it twice when we fished our 2nd tournament in 2009, which was on June 21st.  I have some revenge to get on those bass.

June 22nd Mission Lakes-  I like these lakes.  I've fished them twice, but that was in October both times.  I'm sure they will fish a bit differently than it did in 2008 and 2009 because those were after all in early October.

July 21st Rush Lake-  I don't even know where this lake is, let alone anything else about it other than the Snatchers have fished it before twice, once in mid July of 2000 and once in late August of 2003.  The lake took 19lb weights to win both times but there weren't many limits caught either time.  Hopefully the lakes bass population has improved since then.

Aug 3rd Rabbit Lakes-  I have fished these lakes 2 times as a Snatcher, once for pre-fish and once for the tournament in late July of 2010;  And I fished it 3 times in 2004 for an Excel Bass Tournament I fished in late June 2004.  I look forward to getting a bit of revenge on the fish there for 2010, but the lake has generally treated me well.

August 17th Blind-  We won't find out the lake until the morning we go to fish it.  It could be any lake within 30 miles of Brainerd that is 1000 acres or more and that we didn't fish last year, so North Long, Alexander, Bay, and Whitefish Chain are out.  I believe the 30 mile rule puts Platte/Sullivan in play.  I believe the Mississippi River is in play as well.  Should be interesting.

Sept 21st Little Boy/Wabedo-  I'm not happy that the club refused to switch this with Mission so the smallies could be in play.  I fished there twice but that was for Muskie Tournament also in late Sept. or maybe it was Oct..  I don't recall what I caught other than 1 tiny muskie and maybe a couple of pike and bass in the reeds.  I lost a box of topwater lures there.  It just stinks that there could be a topwater smallie bite going on.

Hopefully my back will be OK this year, that's my biggest concern.

South Long, Mille Lacs, & GOMH

(My boater Dwight with a 4lber)

I'm going to try not to say to much in this pre-fish report because we had what would seem to be a pretty successful pre-fish. Had today been tournament day, my boater Dwight probably would have won things going away and I had enough bites to keep me interested even though the fish I caught were not huge, but they weren't Cedar Lake like short fish or barely keepers either. I also pre-fished a lot of the time in such a way that I wasn't going to hook the highest percentage of fish that bit.

I arrived at the lake a little before 2PM and club member Herman who I fished with at Farm Island lake last year was just pulling his boat out. I don't think he caught a fish and he said he only had two bites. He seemed to be a little disgusted with the amount of slimy green moss in the lake. About 10 minutes after Herman left, Dwight showed up and we were on the water by 2:20PM. There was at least 1 other club guy out pre-fishing today.

We did fish some good looking water and didn't get bit like we would have liked, but we found plenty of good looking water that was holding fish. One surprise is that we didn't really seem to run into lots of little northern pike, which was nice. I was hoping to tangle with a few nice dogfish but none of them made an appearance.

The way things are shaping up I think I am going to really like fishing this lake. South Long has a lot of water that is tailor made for fishing Zoom Horny Toads, slop frogs, and lighter swim jigs and I am all about that. Hopefully the weather and fish will cooperate with our primary game plan.

Mille Lacs: I arrived at Eddy's after 7PM and got totally skunked, not even a bite even though conditions seemed to be good.

GOMH: I finished out the evening slopping the GOMH with a brown Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog. I caught 3 jumpin bullheads and had 4-5 more bites by fish that didn't want the frog that badly, probably smaller fish. The biggest bullhead I caught, a 2lber, annihilated the frog. I got all my fish on the NE side.

DNF & Stuff

I did not fish today or tonight due to a trip to Deerwood and Brainerd and the fact that I spent a chunk of time I might have used for fishing, getting my tackle ready to pre-fish South Long lake. My boater for this tournament is a 13 year club veteran and has fished the lake with the club 2 times, both in July (98,94). He doesn't like the lake, which is a refrain I have heard a couple of times before with my partners getting excellent results from the lakes they dissed. I have wanted to give this lake a try, but the previous club tournament results are not that encouraging in terms of limits brought in or big fish/big bags. However, as a general rule judging by Bass Snatcher tournament results the lakes in this area of Minnesota are better for bass fishing now than they were 10 to 20 years ago and it has been 11 years since they were last at Lower South Long.

The lake was surveyed by the DNR in 2007 and it showed an abundance of small pike (yippee). They did electrofishing for bass which came up with an abundance of fish but they were mostly under 11 inches, but in 2 years time those fish should be 12-14. This lake is really on my radar screen as a big dogfish lake as judged by the DNR survey results. Judging from the survey information the water clarity is about the same as Platte Lake, but South Long has much deeper water.

My partner has indicated that he wants to key in on fairly shallow vegetation/emerging slop. If we can get away with this, it would suit me just fine, bring on the big sticks! Also I would be able to get some good practice in on Platte/Sullivan this week.

Fantasy Bass Fishing: Things are not looking that good for me this week. In FLW I've got
Young 5th
Morehead 15th
Colson 29th
Jeane 44th
Moynagh 62nd
Ehrler 87th
Canterbury 88th
Dudley 108th
Fritts 132nd
Gagliardi 150th
I got rid of Bolton (2nd) for Jeane, Ouch!!!

Not doing any better with BASS
Herren 3rd
KVD 8th
Skeet 46th
Hackney 84th
Fralick 87th

But Day 1 means Jack Squat, especially at this tournament in the Elite Series where a couple of good fish can move a guy substantially.

On the Soap Box:
BassFan reports about FLW Pro Keith Williams
He said he ran all the way south and when he arrived, a non-competitor was on the hole he planned to fish. Williams said he politely told the non-competitor he ran a long way, and asked him to leave.

"Right in front of me he caught three or four, then left – I think that took a lot of nerve," Williams said.

I got to fish with Keith and his long time Bass Pro Dad and they seemed to be pretty good guys, but I think Keith needs an attitude adjustment. He is lucky the guy left after catching 1 good fish. Just because a top level tour Pro makes a long run to get to a spot does not entitle them to anything, especially on Day 1. Now maybe if the guy was a spectator on Day 1 and then jumped the hole the next day, Keith would have a point but there isn't any indication that the guy stole the hole. How does Keith know that the guy himself didn't travel a good distance to get to the lake, not that this really matters because if someone is on your spot, that is as they say "just fishing."

I don't have a problem with him politely asking to have the spot, he has a lot more invested in catching those fish than anybody else on the water except the other Tour Pro's. He should just be grateful instead of indignant.