Sunday, October 19, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
New York Times covers Illinois High School Bass Tournaments
Illinois, the first state to organize tournament bass fishing at the high school level, has set state finals for May 2009. Teenagers like Bathon, a junior at Pinckneyville Community High School in the seat of Perry County, have started joining teams to fish in the inaugural season of formal statewide competition. Classified as an activity alongside chess, debate, journalism, music and spirit, bass fishing has drawn interest from coaches and administrators across the state.
“We were looking at other activities we could offer students in our schools to hit a different student instead of just the typical athlete,” said Dave Gannaway, the assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association. “It gives them something to look forward to.”
Read the whole thing (Even an all girls school is signed up)...
“We were looking at other activities we could offer students in our schools to hit a different student instead of just the typical athlete,” said Dave Gannaway, the assistant executive director of the Illinois High School Association. “It gives them something to look forward to.”
Read the whole thing (Even an all girls school is signed up)...
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Bass Snatchers Mission Lakes Oct 4th
I had one goal going into this tournament and that was to catch my 6 fish limit, so I would have caught a limit in all 6 tournaments on the schedule. Accomplishing this goal would be a mark of distinction especially fishing from the back of the boat. Up until this year in the 31 year history of the Baxter Bass Snatcher Club a total of only 7 different anglers had ever caught a limit in every tournament in a season and those 7 did it only 16 times. I was pretty hungry to achieve this goal and at 1pm with only 2 keepers in the well I began to feel the pressure. Did I rally or fall flat? Full Story at the BP Tourny HQ...
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
New Minnesocold BassNblog and more
Aj Rods & Tackle Blog: This blog is mostly being done by Isaac "Ikeslayer" Karow who is in the BP Derby and a regular at FishingMinnesota.com Bass Forum. The blog looks really good so far.
The Wired Angler: I found this blog thanks to Hellabass and it's a good one if you are into swimbaits. At first glance it looks like this blog is a lot about tackle and fish catching technology. This post (1st post) will get you up to speed.
The Wired Angler: I found this blog thanks to Hellabass and it's a good one if you are into swimbaits. At first glance it looks like this blog is a lot about tackle and fish catching technology. This post (1st post) will get you up to speed.
Tuesday, October 07, 2008
Shore Action
I got a solid 34inch Pike and more, check out my report Shore Nuff at the BP Fishing Log Blog.
Sunday, October 05, 2008
Boat Conversations with FLW Tour BP Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh
In case you did not know, I went fishing with BP (fuel) Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh from Carver MN. We fished lake Minnewashta for about 5 hours. This blog is about the conversation we had on the boat, which was basically me asking questions about things I was curious about. Here is some of what we discussed:
FLW $1.7 million plus Fantasy Bass Fishing Game:
Jim thought it was just fantastic and thought it will probably help the anglers out down the line. He thought the payoff would probably come in the next few years. He did not have any knowledge as to whether the prize structure will be significantly reduced in 2009.
The 2009 FLW Tour Schedule:
The 2009 FLW Tour features 3 bodies of water (Norman, Kentucky Lake, Champlain), half the tour schedule, that Jim has a history of success on. I wanted to know if Jim was especially looking forward to 2009. He took a measured approach saying he really does not get excited anymore about having certain lakes on the schedule. He has had enough tournaments that he was really looking forward to and then bombed out on to get over confident or excited about anything.
FLW Field Size Cut for 2009
Jim was not super enthusiastic about the cut in field size, like you might think he would be. He is really concerned about the entry fees going up and the prize money staying level or even going backward a bit. It seemed to me that he would not mind 200 boat fields if the purses were increased.
Training Regime
I think it really helps a professional bass fisherman to be in good physical and fishing condition. Jim does work out on a regular basis, sometimes even during a tournament if he can swing it, doing a combination of strength training and cardio. He believes that there is no substitute for time on the water for being on top of your game. Jim absolutely loves to fish and said he is known for being a guy that puts in long days.
Tournament Formatting FLW Tour vs. FLW Series
Jim says he likes to get a guaranteed 3 days to fish which is what the FLW Series offers. As far as weights being set to zero, it doesn't really matter to him.
Alliances, Rivals, Respect:
Jim is kind of a loan ranger and does not team up and collaborate with any of the other competitors on tour. He said he really does not have a nemesis on tour and has the utmost respect for all the anglers that he fishes against.
Co-Anglers:
Jim said he thought all Bass Pro's including himself would prefer to be the only fisherman in the boat during a tournament. However he thought that Co-Anglers were a big help to keep the integrity of the sport intact. He brought up a article by BassFan with Rick Clunn and said he basically agrees with everything Clunn said. He said most Co-anglers are great to fish with and has had only a few that caused problems.
Jim had a story about a co-angler that made a cast that connected with a Canadian goose as 3 of them were flying bye. The Co was fishing with a Chatterbait, at the height of the Chatterbait craze when they were scarce, and it was his only one. Jim said the hooked flying Goose broke the line without even breaking stride and boy was that Co-angler mad to loose his Chatterbait.
The Bubblegum Super Fluke:
Jim asked me about the type of fishing that I prefer to do and one of the things I brought up was that I have a lot of confidence in a bubblegum colored Zoom Super Fluke. This remark brought a smile to Jim's face. He said he doesn't usually fish with flukes, but he did absolutely get schooled by a Co-angler on Lake Champlain that was using a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke.
Favorite Kind of Fishing:
Jim's favorite fish is the smallmouth bass and he is a happy camper if he can get away with fishing them on topwater or with jerkbaits.
Favorite Body of Water:
Jim said his favorite kind of fishing is successful at Rainy Lake and he has had a lot of tournament success on Rainy with the big smallies, so that is the lake he likes best.
Secret to the Fort Francis Canadian Bass Championship:
The Fort Francis Canadian Bass Championship is a 100+ boat field tournament on Rainy Lake that Jim has won 4 times (08,07,99,98) placed 2nd twice (00,97) and 3rd once (02). Jim said he wishes he knew what the secret was and could bottle it for other lakes. He said it just seems like at times on Rainy it seems like he can do no wrong, his decisions just always seem to be the right ones.
This year an off year for him on the Minnesocold tournament scene:
Jim said he has fished fewer tournaments in Minnesota this year than he ever has since he began tournament fishing when he turned 18 years old. He didn't really have a reason why that I can remember.
He said he hasn't even been on Lake Minnetonka once this year.
His future in the sport:
Jim wants to continue tournament fishing on the professional level for the forseeable future. He is very concerned about the rising costs that professional fishing is experiencing. I got the impression that as long as he is successful and remains competitive that he will continue to fish, but that he fears the rising costs and a couple of bad years could end up forcing him out.
We did talk about more than this but this is all I am going to blog about. Jim is a genuine and humble guy that is a credit to the sport.
Friday, October 03, 2008
A Day on the Lake with BP Bass Pro Jim Moynagh
On Thursday October 2nd I got to spend a few hours on Lake Minnewashta in SW metro fishing with BP (fuel) Fishing Pro Jim Moynagh. Jim Moynagh has won over a million dollars as a professional bass fisherman and is the most successful bass fisherman Minnesocold has ever produced on the elite levels of bass fishing tours.
Our day fishing:
We met at the Lake Miniwashta Regional Park a little before 10am and were on the water and fishing by 10:30am. We took a short boat ride down the shoreline so we could start fishing the deep edge of a milfoil covered weed flat. Jim chose to throw a Salmo Boxer Crankbait in a color that looked to be sort of bright orange.
The Boxer is a buoyant fairly large and fat crankbait and the one Jim was using dived to about 5-7' and had a straight rather than the bended lip. Jim is sponsored by Salmo.
It was just a few casts for Jim and it was "fish on." He landed a healthy 3lb plus bass. A great way to start the day. I started off using a black single Colorado blade spinnerbait with a rattle. I believe I caught the 2nd and 3rd fish but they turned out to be hammer handle pike. The wind was blowing straight onto the flat we were fishing and Jim got the 2nd bass of the day on the Salmo, it was another solid 3lb fish.
I had some items that I wanted to ask Jim about and I was more concerned about hearing the answers than fishing and that is my excuse for missing about 3 or 4 solid bites on the spinnerbait. I will do a separate blog on the topics that Jim and I spoke about while on the boat.
The fishing wasn't fast and it wasn't real slow. As we approached a point that comes off of the flat Jim tied into a solid fish, which turned out to be this 4lb bass:
Sorry about the Picture quality, it was a camera phone picture.
Jim managed to land a second bass off this point off the flat and I was getting nothing on the spinnerbait so I switched to a jignpig and did get a hit on that, but I missed it. Jim also switched up to a jigNpig missed a bite then connected with a pike. There were a lot of baitfish on this point and Jim had high hopes we would hit a good school but all we got were those two bass and a pike. Eventually we kept heading down the flat towards the access we launched at. Jim resumed throwing the Salmo Boxer. I think he landed a pike or two and I switched up to a Strike King Red Eye shad without any luck, than switched to a rattletrap that was similar in color to the Salmo Boxer that Jim was throwing. We were just about straight out from the access when I got a hit and landed a solid 2lb bass. As I was reeling in Jim hooked into another bass that was close to if not over 3lbs. I got my fish out from the boat and Jim got his close into the boat. Jim remarked that this goes to show that the fish are scattered and not bunched up in schools. We worked this area thoroughly but didn't get another fish. As we worked our way North, I think Jim got one or two more nice bass on the boxer and a pike, but I wasn't getting anything.
We tried retracing our steps and went back south, but we didn't have much action except for maybe Jim catching a pike. At this point we had about an hour and a half before I wanted to be off the water, so Jim suggested we try some pads and docks on the South end of the lake. It was pretty sunny and Jim thought the fish might want so shade.
I started throwing Snagproof frog and Zoom Horny Toad over the pads. I had a pike jump over the Horny Toad, had a small fish strike at the Snagproof frog, and had another small fish hit at the Horny Toad but not hook up. I mostly was leaving the docks we came across to Jim. He was throwing a wacky rigged All-Terrain Tackle Terrain Stick; I am unsure of the color.
We were seeing a lot of sunfish up shallow but almost no bass to speak of until Jim spotted a good fish that was just sitting out in the open in a hole in the weeds quite a ways out from the closest dock. The fish didn't even look at the Terrain Stick, but when I put the Horny Toad down there it inhaled the white toad. I set the hook and came up with absolutely nothing. Jim threw the Terrain stick back at it and this time the fish quickly inhaled it and Jim had yet another 3lb bass.
We kept working our way down the bank and Jim started pulling a few 12" to 14" bass off the docks. I started throwing a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke at the docks and missed my first pick up. I think I had one more shot at a fish underneath a boat lift, but I got hung up and had to break off. We came to the end of the bays docks and it was time to head in.
I think Jim out-fished me on bass about 10 to 1. Regardless of my lack of luck, it was a fun day on the water.
Bass Snatchers Mission Lake Preview
Tomorrow is the last Baxter Bass Snatcher Club tournament of the year and it is on Upper and Lower Mission Lakes just North of Brainerd. For the 6th time this season the tournament is on a lake on which I have no prior experience. The lakes are suppose to be pretty decent for quantity and quality bass. My partner Dennis is currently in the lead to be the Anger of the Year of club "Mr. Bass." Dennis has achieved this honor 3 other times (97,03,06). He prefished the lake 2 times and is generally optimistic about things and believes we should both be able to catch a limit.
My one and only goal for this tournament is to get my 6 fish limit. If I do that than I will be one of 8 anglers that have ever achieved this goal in the 31 year history of the Baxter Bass Snatcher Club. In those 31 years a person catching a limit in all 6 tournaments during a season has been achieved only 16 times. There are 5 of us who have a shot at this achievement going into Mission and the other 4 guys have done it at least once.
Mission Lake apparently is a diverse fishery where the bass hang out in the slop, extensive reeds, weed flats, weed lines, and docks. From what I understand the Upper Mission Lake has more water clarity than the lower lake, but generally they are both fairly clear. Dennis says we will probably spend most of our time on the deep weed edge and on the flats. He doesn't want to go into the reeds or slop and at this time of the year the dock fishing opportunities will be limited. I plan on throwing a spinnerbait a lot, a jigNpig some, maybe a buzzbait, and rattlebaits. I am really hoping that the fish will be active and the horizontal presentations will rule.
It is supposed to be a cool but sunny morning with temps rising to 60 or so with light 5 to 10mph SE winds. Wish me luck.
My one and only goal for this tournament is to get my 6 fish limit. If I do that than I will be one of 8 anglers that have ever achieved this goal in the 31 year history of the Baxter Bass Snatcher Club. In those 31 years a person catching a limit in all 6 tournaments during a season has been achieved only 16 times. There are 5 of us who have a shot at this achievement going into Mission and the other 4 guys have done it at least once.
Mission Lake apparently is a diverse fishery where the bass hang out in the slop, extensive reeds, weed flats, weed lines, and docks. From what I understand the Upper Mission Lake has more water clarity than the lower lake, but generally they are both fairly clear. Dennis says we will probably spend most of our time on the deep weed edge and on the flats. He doesn't want to go into the reeds or slop and at this time of the year the dock fishing opportunities will be limited. I plan on throwing a spinnerbait a lot, a jigNpig some, maybe a buzzbait, and rattlebaits. I am really hoping that the fish will be active and the horizontal presentations will rule.
It is supposed to be a cool but sunny morning with temps rising to 60 or so with light 5 to 10mph SE winds. Wish me luck.
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Opportunity Knocked
Last week I got an email from Ashley Moss who is the person that handles the FLW BP (fuel) Fishing Team. She had read my blog and was aware that I have talked about Minnesocold FLW BP (fuel) Pro Angler Jim Moynagh. She wanted to know if I would be interested in fishing with Jim and then blogging about it. How could I refuse this chance? Jim Moynagh is the most successful Pro Bass Angler Minnesocold has ever produced.
We are going fishing tommorrow at Lake Miniwashta in the West Metro.
To learn more about BP Pro Angler Jim Moynagh check out this Profile done by Futurebass.com a couple of years ago.
Here is a You Tube of Jim talking about Flashers:
To find out about FLW sponsor BP Fuel click here.
Monday, September 29, 2008
Coming Soon...
Fishers of Men Fall Outing- How the BP captured Fally Walleye!!!
BP's Day on the lake with BP(Fuel) Pro Bass Angler Jim Moynagh.
Shake up in the BP Bass Derby
Preview and Tournament Report from the last Bass Snatchers tournament of the year at Upper and Lower Mission Lake.
BP's Day on the lake with BP(Fuel) Pro Bass Angler Jim Moynagh.
Shake up in the BP Bass Derby
Preview and Tournament Report from the last Bass Snatchers tournament of the year at Upper and Lower Mission Lake.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Activision's Rapala Fishing Frenzy
Activision's Rapala Fishing Frenzy is a new fishing video game coming out. I was contacted by PR firm Sandbox Strategies and they want to send me the game so I can review it here at the blog. Hey if people want to send me stuff, who am I to say no.
Check this out:
Rapala Fishing Frenzy (Sept)
Publisher: Activision
Platforms: Wii, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360
Bait your hook this summer to catch “Rapala Fishing Frenzy,” the newest edition of the popular angling game from Activision, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI). Developed by Fun Labs in close collaboration with Rapala, the world's largest manufacturer of fishing lures and #1 fishing brand in the world, the title will supply heart-pounding fishing action in over 20 tournament events.
Downloads
HD Trailer: www.sandboxstrat.com/Rapala_FF_Trailer.zip (183 MB)
Screenshots, Wii peripheral photo, box art: www.sandboxstrat.com/Rapala_Fishing_Frenzy_assets.zip (8MB)
Fishers of Men Fishing Club Twin Cities Fall Outing
Once again it is time for the Fishers of Men Fishing Club Fall Outing not that any of my blog readers would know because I have not blogged about it in years past. This is an event that I have participated in for the last 10 years. It actually seems like I have been to more than 10 of them. It was at my second Fall Outing that I was given the nickname Basspastor. This year we will be going back to Lutherdell Bible Camp on Boy lake North of Longville for the first time in 3 years. Last year we went to Camp Shamineau on Shamineau Lake and the year before that we went to Broadwater Lodge on Woman Lake all the years before that were at Luther Dell.
It used to be that the big draw was walleye fishing on Leech Lake, but in the last few years since walleye fishing has been poor on Leech no one has been fishing it and last year we were West of Brainerd. Since the walleye fishing has come back strong on Leech I suspect that a lot of the guys will be going there. I really do enjoy that Fall Leech lake jig and minnow fishing, but I am probably going to hit Mule Lake for the bass and Town Line Lake for bass and pike. We have a pretty good sized group coming up this year and so they need me to bring the Trophy so I can take someone out.
In years past we have had Ron Lindner, Vikings great the late Wally Hilgenberg, Cass Lake Guide Merv Heischmidt, and famous Leech Lake Guide Chip Leer as speakers. Once upon a time even I was the featured speaker. I have many great memories from the Fall Outing and hopefully this year will be no different.
It used to be that the big draw was walleye fishing on Leech Lake, but in the last few years since walleye fishing has been poor on Leech no one has been fishing it and last year we were West of Brainerd. Since the walleye fishing has come back strong on Leech I suspect that a lot of the guys will be going there. I really do enjoy that Fall Leech lake jig and minnow fishing, but I am probably going to hit Mule Lake for the bass and Town Line Lake for bass and pike. We have a pretty good sized group coming up this year and so they need me to bring the Trophy so I can take someone out.
In years past we have had Ron Lindner, Vikings great the late Wally Hilgenberg, Cass Lake Guide Merv Heischmidt, and famous Leech Lake Guide Chip Leer as speakers. Once upon a time even I was the featured speaker. I have many great memories from the Fall Outing and hopefully this year will be no different.
Bass Snatchers Serpent Lake 9/20/2008
When I arrived at Serpent Lake just after 7AM my partner Mark already has his boat in the water. I loaded up my gear and then we waited for the 8am blast off. When I was at the dock Bill Ludenia told me bass were on the flats biting on jig and pigs. When I was in the boat with Mark he talked about throwing spinnerbaits on the flats. I asked him if he was considering throwing a buzzbait at all and he showed me that he had one tied on. On the West end of the lake by the public access, there was just a light breeze blowing and there was a slight haze, but not enough to call it overcast.
At blast off we were boat #11 out of 12 and when it was our turn we headed East down the lake as fast as the boat would go and that was pretty fast. We ended up stopping on the Eastern Edge of a weed flat on the North side of the lake where Mark had gotten a big bass once upon a time, as we were getting into position another Bass Snatcher boat came into the same general area.
I started off throwing a pumpkinseed swim jig with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer and I was quickly rewarded with a fish on. It turned out to be the first of many pikes that I would catch this day. Mark started out with a spinnerbait but quickly put that down for a buzzbait in the calm conditions we were in. It didn't take long until Mark was rewarded with a nice bass. I switched to a white single spin Colorado blade spinnerbait and caught a rock bass, then a pike, then a 11 inch bass. As we worked our way west on the flat Mark caught another nice bass on the buzzbait. That was enough to convince me to go to topwater and I put on a Purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. I think Mark got another nice bass and shortly after that, I caught my first keeper of the day which was a solid 16" fish. Conditions just seemed to be perfect for topwater and anticipation of a strike was high. Mark caught a couple of more fish on the buzzbait to my nothing, so I was thinking maybe they wanted a more active bait, so I switched to a white spook. The fish did seem to like the spook better than the popper. I had a pike launch itself after the spook and miss it. Then a couple of casts later something hit at the spook and missed, then hit at it again and missed, I paused the bait then started it up again and this time the fish got it and I was rewarded with another 16" bass. Mark caught a couple of more bass on the buzzbait and reached his 6 fish limit. I caught a couple of short basses which was a bit frustrating cause a spook is supposed to be a big fish bait. After much walking the dog I did get a 14" keeper.
The wind came up and the surface bite died. Mark started throwing a white spinnerbait and started getting a few bass and pike. I tried the swim jig and the white spinnerbait. I backlashed and broke my line at the spool sending the white spinnerbait into the distance. Easy come, easy Go! I tied on another white single Colorado blade spinnerbait and got back after it. That was not getting any hits so I decided to tie on a black spinnerbait with a much bigger Colorado blade. I caught a pike very quickly on that.
We headed back across the flat to our starting spot and I nailed a couple more pike on the black spinnerbait and also had a couple of hits that did not hook up. We were working the middle of the flat and I was throwing out to deeper water when I got a solid hook up which turned out to be a nice 16" bass. A little while later doing the same thing I nailed yet another nice 16" largemouth. Things seemed to shut down after that and I was not even getting bit by pike anymore. Still, the good fish I got on the black spinnerbait gave me a lot of confidence to keep throwing it and persistence paid off as I landed my limit fish sometime around 11am. My limit fish was just a 13 incher. It was really nice to have a limit since my partner Mark's expectations coming in were quite low.
Things stayed kind of slow on another pass across the flat. Mark switched up to a jig and pig and got a bass on that. I think I landed a pike or two and then switched up to a jig and pig to give my back a break from the relentless casting and retrieving. I had a solid pick up on the jig and landed a 14" inch fish so I culled up a little. Not long after catching that fish Mark suggested that we hit some docks in search of a kicker.
We started off on some of the docks on the flat that we had been fishing all morning. As we were moving along we came to a short wooden single dock that looked like nothing. Mark cast at the dock and got a strike but didn't hook up. I made a cast at the front of the dock and saw the bass that Mark missed swim away from the dock then start to circle back in the direction of my Super Fluke. While I couldn't tell completely it looked like the fish picked up the Fluke and so I set the hook and sure enough, the rod doubled up. I didn't realize it when I saw it swimming, but as soon as I hooked up it became apparent this was a bigger fish. It put up a good fight and didn't go into the net easy, but I did land the 4lb 2oz beauty which turned out to be the tournament big bass by an ounce. Sometimes you just get a bit lucky and things go your way. This success motivated us to run the lake and hit docks for a while.
We got a few keepers and several shorts on docks, but nothing that would help. Eventually, we moved to the South side of the lake and started hitting docks there. The Southside docks were pretty dead and we eventually headed out over a flat. I got a small pike, then tied into a good fish that I was hoping was a bass. It was a bass but not as big a fish as the fight it put up. The fish was 15.25 and I ended up throwing it back, which was a mistake because I still had a 14" fish in the well but I could not find it thanks to the fact that I got mixed up when a couple of my clip-on cull tags came off of the fish. Mark has a walleye boat with one main non-divided livewell, so with 11 fish in there it was easy for me to not come up with the 14 incher after a bit of a search. I figured I had just measured wrong but at the end of the day sorting it was pretty obvious I had a 14" fish.
We headed back to the flat we started on and I caught yet another 15" bass that would have helped, but once again I did not find that 14" fish and so I let a bigger fish go. We worked the flat and caught a few more pikes. With about 30 minutes left we headed back to the launch area and tried a weedy point but didn't get anything. We headed in about 10 minutes early.
Results:
Mark thought I had his bag beat by 2-4lbs, but it turned out that he beat me by 10ozs, so I ended up in 3rd place overall at 14lbs 6ozs. First place was 17lbs 6ozs. I got plaques for Lunker and 3rd Place. It's hard to say whether or not my culling screw up cost me 2nd place or not, Mark figured it probably did. Oh well, one place is no big deal, I am just glad it was me that got the big one.
The other rookie in the club this year did not fish for his second tournament in a row, so I locked up rookie of the year honors by just showing up.
Our last tournament is Oct 4th on Upper and Lower Mission lakes in Crow Wing County. Mark says they are great bass fisheries.
At blast off we were boat #11 out of 12 and when it was our turn we headed East down the lake as fast as the boat would go and that was pretty fast. We ended up stopping on the Eastern Edge of a weed flat on the North side of the lake where Mark had gotten a big bass once upon a time, as we were getting into position another Bass Snatcher boat came into the same general area.
I started off throwing a pumpkinseed swim jig with a Zoom Speed Craw trailer and I was quickly rewarded with a fish on. It turned out to be the first of many pikes that I would catch this day. Mark started out with a spinnerbait but quickly put that down for a buzzbait in the calm conditions we were in. It didn't take long until Mark was rewarded with a nice bass. I switched to a white single spin Colorado blade spinnerbait and caught a rock bass, then a pike, then a 11 inch bass. As we worked our way west on the flat Mark caught another nice bass on the buzzbait. That was enough to convince me to go to topwater and I put on a Purple Berkley Frenzy Popper. I think Mark got another nice bass and shortly after that, I caught my first keeper of the day which was a solid 16" fish. Conditions just seemed to be perfect for topwater and anticipation of a strike was high. Mark caught a couple of more fish on the buzzbait to my nothing, so I was thinking maybe they wanted a more active bait, so I switched to a white spook. The fish did seem to like the spook better than the popper. I had a pike launch itself after the spook and miss it. Then a couple of casts later something hit at the spook and missed, then hit at it again and missed, I paused the bait then started it up again and this time the fish got it and I was rewarded with another 16" bass. Mark caught a couple of more bass on the buzzbait and reached his 6 fish limit. I caught a couple of short basses which was a bit frustrating cause a spook is supposed to be a big fish bait. After much walking the dog I did get a 14" keeper.
The wind came up and the surface bite died. Mark started throwing a white spinnerbait and started getting a few bass and pike. I tried the swim jig and the white spinnerbait. I backlashed and broke my line at the spool sending the white spinnerbait into the distance. Easy come, easy Go! I tied on another white single Colorado blade spinnerbait and got back after it. That was not getting any hits so I decided to tie on a black spinnerbait with a much bigger Colorado blade. I caught a pike very quickly on that.
We headed back across the flat to our starting spot and I nailed a couple more pike on the black spinnerbait and also had a couple of hits that did not hook up. We were working the middle of the flat and I was throwing out to deeper water when I got a solid hook up which turned out to be a nice 16" bass. A little while later doing the same thing I nailed yet another nice 16" largemouth. Things seemed to shut down after that and I was not even getting bit by pike anymore. Still, the good fish I got on the black spinnerbait gave me a lot of confidence to keep throwing it and persistence paid off as I landed my limit fish sometime around 11am. My limit fish was just a 13 incher. It was really nice to have a limit since my partner Mark's expectations coming in were quite low.
Things stayed kind of slow on another pass across the flat. Mark switched up to a jig and pig and got a bass on that. I think I landed a pike or two and then switched up to a jig and pig to give my back a break from the relentless casting and retrieving. I had a solid pick up on the jig and landed a 14" inch fish so I culled up a little. Not long after catching that fish Mark suggested that we hit some docks in search of a kicker.
We started off on some of the docks on the flat that we had been fishing all morning. As we were moving along we came to a short wooden single dock that looked like nothing. Mark cast at the dock and got a strike but didn't hook up. I made a cast at the front of the dock and saw the bass that Mark missed swim away from the dock then start to circle back in the direction of my Super Fluke. While I couldn't tell completely it looked like the fish picked up the Fluke and so I set the hook and sure enough, the rod doubled up. I didn't realize it when I saw it swimming, but as soon as I hooked up it became apparent this was a bigger fish. It put up a good fight and didn't go into the net easy, but I did land the 4lb 2oz beauty which turned out to be the tournament big bass by an ounce. Sometimes you just get a bit lucky and things go your way. This success motivated us to run the lake and hit docks for a while.
We got a few keepers and several shorts on docks, but nothing that would help. Eventually, we moved to the South side of the lake and started hitting docks there. The Southside docks were pretty dead and we eventually headed out over a flat. I got a small pike, then tied into a good fish that I was hoping was a bass. It was a bass but not as big a fish as the fight it put up. The fish was 15.25 and I ended up throwing it back, which was a mistake because I still had a 14" fish in the well but I could not find it thanks to the fact that I got mixed up when a couple of my clip-on cull tags came off of the fish. Mark has a walleye boat with one main non-divided livewell, so with 11 fish in there it was easy for me to not come up with the 14 incher after a bit of a search. I figured I had just measured wrong but at the end of the day sorting it was pretty obvious I had a 14" fish.
We headed back to the flat we started on and I caught yet another 15" bass that would have helped, but once again I did not find that 14" fish and so I let a bigger fish go. We worked the flat and caught a few more pikes. With about 30 minutes left we headed back to the launch area and tried a weedy point but didn't get anything. We headed in about 10 minutes early.
Results:
Mark thought I had his bag beat by 2-4lbs, but it turned out that he beat me by 10ozs, so I ended up in 3rd place overall at 14lbs 6ozs. First place was 17lbs 6ozs. I got plaques for Lunker and 3rd Place. It's hard to say whether or not my culling screw up cost me 2nd place or not, Mark figured it probably did. Oh well, one place is no big deal, I am just glad it was me that got the big one.
The other rookie in the club this year did not fish for his second tournament in a row, so I locked up rookie of the year honors by just showing up.
Our last tournament is Oct 4th on Upper and Lower Mission lakes in Crow Wing County. Mark says they are great bass fisheries.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Bass Snatchers Serpent Lake Preview
Unlike most MN Bass clubs, we at the Baxter Bass Snatchers have 2 tournaments yet to fish. Tommorrow we tackle Serpent Lake at Crosby in Crow Wing County. Once again I will be fishing a lake that I have never been on and I did not get out for a pre-fish. My partner Mark does not have a good track record on the lake and he told me flat out that he "does not like the lake very much." He did get out to pre-fish at least once and didn't find much of anything. He may have gotten out for a second shot at it. From the past club tournaments it is hard to get a read on how things might go because they fished it in 2004, 2001, and 1997. The 2004 tournament by far had the most fish caught, but that was in June. In 2001 it was fished Sept. 29th and there were only 5 limits for 21 anglers, but who knows what the weather was like.
I don't know how clear the water is thanks to the MN DNR website being down tonight. The weather had been fairly cool for a couple of weeks until a couple of days ago where it has warmed up quite a bit. Hopefully this weather will put the fish on the feed. I am bringing 8 rods, which is the most I have brought to a tournament all year. Mark has a big Ranger so space should not be an issue.
I think the main plan is to fish spinnerbaits and swimjigs over weed flats which can be a pretty solid pattern at this time of year. I believe Serpent has smallmouth so I also will be loaded up with topwater, X-Raps, and tubes. Once again my goal is to get a limit and land in the top 50% for the day.
I don't know how clear the water is thanks to the MN DNR website being down tonight. The weather had been fairly cool for a couple of weeks until a couple of days ago where it has warmed up quite a bit. Hopefully this weather will put the fish on the feed. I am bringing 8 rods, which is the most I have brought to a tournament all year. Mark has a big Ranger so space should not be an issue.
I think the main plan is to fish spinnerbaits and swimjigs over weed flats which can be a pretty solid pattern at this time of year. I believe Serpent has smallmouth so I also will be loaded up with topwater, X-Raps, and tubes. Once again my goal is to get a limit and land in the top 50% for the day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)