Farm Island Lake Renegade Bassers 7/21/13

Practice-

I had a chance to check out Farm Island lake in June while on vacation. Kyle Rodriguez and I spent a few hours looking around and familiarizing ourselves with the layout. There was many options and plenty of water. We caught a few fish, mostly good size and a nice bonus smallie before we headed back to the resort.  

On tournament weekend I spent most of my time on Bay Lake but headed out to check some stuff on Farm Island Friday afternoon. Jesse Cermak would be fishing with me on Sunday and was on his way up after work. I told him to call me when he got there and I would come and pick him up from the dock. My first order of business was to see if I could get through a drainage pipe near one of the accesses. I was pretty sure if I could get back there I would have it all to myself. It looked like I would fit but it would be tight. I pulled up to it slowly and got out the oar and cleared my rods from the holders. The opening was wide enough and I fit easily. Then suddenly I noticed it was getting smaller the father in I went. And the current from the wind was pushing me in faster than I anticipated. Crap, my trolling motor and big motor were raised up and I wasn't able to stop the boat with the oar because of the wind. Eventually my trolling motor and windshield started to scrape on the top of the culvert. I was struck and risking more damage to my boat with each minute. I didn't want to call anyone because they would take to long to get there and it would be embarrassing. The current going through was pretty strong because of the wind and I had to go against it to get out. I got down on my back on the front deck and put my feet up against the top of the pipe and pushed the boat down in the water and slowly pushed my way out. It was a tedious process but I finally made it out. Guess I wasn't going to the secret honey hole on the other side.

I took a minute to catch my breath and headed back to fish near the resort and wait for Jesse to call so I could pick him up.

Eventually Jesse arrived at the resort and he loaded up and we headed out to fish for an hour or two. It was nice to officially meet Jesse since he was a new member to the club this season. Usually the best way to get to know new members is on the water fishing since it's just you and them in the boat and you have time to chat. When I was new I felt like I didn't really know everyone until I fished with them and we got to share stories all day. The fishing was extremely slow. I think we maybe caught one keeper before we decided to head in to the resort and hang out.

Tournament -

Farm Island Day 2 didn't start out very well.  I was asking people which launch they were using but no one seemed to know for sure.  I'm not sure why people weren't using the ramp at the resort but I had no problem launching my small boat there.  I planned on doing that and just driving over to the take off site since the weigh in was at the resort anyway.  Last thing I heard we were using the launch near the culvert I was stuck in on Friday.  So we launched from the resort and headed over to the take off site.  I knew something was wrong when we got within sight and no one was around.  They left before we launched so they should have been in the water at least.  I quickly called John to see what was up and they said they were all waiting for me at the other launch.  Damn!  I was 'that' guy.  I got there as fast as I could and since I was 2nd to take off, I had to just turn around and keep going.  Usually I am there with plenty of time to spare to eat some breakfast and relax and make sure everything is good to go.  Not today!  I wasn't even sure where to start. 

We decided to start in a shallow area where I had a few frog blow ups in practice.  We gave ourselves plenty of space before we got to the reed point.  We turned back into the bay around the point and I immediately got a fish on a buzz frog.  About a minute later I had another one on.  We ended up spending the next hour in this bay and both got our limits.  Jesse was throwing a tube to the deeper edges and catching fish consistently.  I was throwing a frog mostly except I got one that missed the frog on a follow up with a senko.  Finally the bite died off and we headed to some deeper stuff. 

We went to a deep under water point near the resort and I got a good one right away.  Jesse hooked into what looked like a giant smallie from a distance as it jumped and looked dark and brown.  As it got closer I was ready with the net and it ended up being a huge dogfish!  Next thing I know Jesse asked to use my pliers because he dropped his in the lake because the dogfish lunged at him.  I gave him a hard time and said he couldn't because I didn't want him to drop mine in the lake.  Eventually I gave them to him and he got the fish off with pliers in the boat.  We made a couple upgrades but mostly had all 15-16 inch fish all cookie cutters exactly the same size. 

We briefly tried some docks and then ended up back on a weedline where I caught a good smallie in practice.  Same deal not much upgrading but plenty of fish.  From there we tried a couple different spots but couldn't find any significant upgrades.  We ended up near the resort and headed to the dock at 2pm for weigh in. 

This weigh in was cool because we didn't have to pull our boats out of the water we could just park at the dock and bring our fish up the hill.  And I could just pull my boat out right there and throw the rest of my stuff in the truck and head back home.  Normally we have to pack in the morning because check out time is usually noon out before.  But the resort had no reservations for the next day so the owner said we could stay and have the weigh in there.  Also some people from the resort wanted to see what the weigh in was all about and what we caught.  I ended up weighing in with 10.31 lbs and Jesse had 10.26 lbs.  Talk about cookie cutters, all the fish we caught were the same size.  I ended up in 7th place and Jesse 8th.  My big bass was 2.60lbs.  A 4 pounder would have gone a long way in this event.  Congrats to Walker for the win and big bass sweep of the weekend.  He caught one that was 4.02 and the next biggest was 2.90, not many big fish in the lake, but the numbers were there.  Again it was tight with 3 pounds separating 1st from 12th place.  I was just happy to get out of the weekend without bombing, and in a good position for the state team and AOY. 

Overview-

I was pretty satisfied with the day as I was one good fish from 1st.  We could have tried some more docks and maybe some other deep points.  I wish I had more time to practice but its hard on the out of towners with everything else going on.  I can tell that every once will count as there are a lot of good sticks in the club and competition will be fierce.  Next time I will make sure I check more thoroughly as to where the launch site will be especially if I'm doing something differently than everyone else.  I'm glad I didn't let it get to me too much and throw me off my game.  It was also fun getting to know Jesse better and hope to draw him as a non boater next year. 

Results

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Bay Lake Renegade Bassers 7/20/13

The out-of-towner tournaments are always a fun time.  It's pretty much a chance to hang out with a bunch of like minded guys who love bass fishing and fish and talk crap for 3 days.  Last year I bombed during the out of towner both days and that set the tone for the rest of the season.  I was determined not to let that happen again.

Bay Lake would be day 1 and Farm Island day 2.

Practice-
I arrived for the out of towner late Thursday night so I could be out on Bay Lake early Friday morning. We were staying at the Summer Breeze Resort and Ryan Ploof rode up with me after our softball games and we shared fuel costs which was great.  We hung out with the guys until pretty late.  The resort was nothing fancy but the price was right to be located right on Farm Island Lake which was our day 2 lake.  The only problem was there was no air conditioning!  I didn't realize this until we got there.  Thank God it was going to be reasonably cool for the next couple days, especially for mid July.  I got a little grief about it since I'm the one who arranged the accommodations but in the end I think it worked out fine.

I woke up early on Friday and was tempted to shut off the alarm and go back to bed.  Especially since it was already pretty windy out.  I decided to spend most of the day on Bay since I had never fished there before and had been out on Farm Island last month.

I started near the launch with some moving baits because of the wind.  I worked my way down to a small slop bay that was semi protected from the wind.  I ended up getting a couple blow ups on a frog and then headed off to find some other areas.  There was many bays (hence the name off the lake) and lots of water to cover.  I decided the best approach was to tie on a spinner bait and cover some water.  It wasn't long before I hooked into a good one.

I would basically catch 1 or two fish and mark the spot with a waypoint on the GPS and move on.  With only one day of practice I just had to find areas that held fish and hope to get the right bites on tournament day.  Plus with the tournament the next day I needed those fish to bite then, and didn't want to wear out each area.  I scouted out lots of water and dialed it into a few weed lines and some bays for frogging.


Tournament-
I was fishing this event solo and decided to start near the take off.  I worked the shallows thoroughly with no luck. I headed to my next area with no luck as well.  I finally found a keeper up shallow.  I hoped I had found a pattern but only caught one fish up shallow.  I just kept moving until I found some fish and eventually I did.

I fished a point near a buoy where I hooked into a good one.  I thought for sure it was a pike by the way it was pulling under the boat.  Also I hadn't felt any bass fight that much on this lake yet.  It finally came up and I got the net under it.  It was a good bass!  I thought it was about a 4 pounder but the scale didn't agree.  I was jacked because I thought that would be one of the better fish caught that day.  By this time I had a decent limit and went to try to find some upgrades.

Frogging yielded a few bites but nothing that helped.

Docks weren't producing any kickers either.

I moved back and forth between my most productive areas with only small upgrades.  It seemed like the longest day ever, maybe because I was solo and had no one to talk to.  Or maybe because I couldn't find a kicker and I covered so much water.

Finally, it was getting close to weigh in time so I headed back to my shallow spot near the access.  I was hoping to flip a kicker in the milfoil.  I got a few bites but nothing that would help.  Finally with about 10 minutes left I felt a good 'thump.'  I set the hook and made a few cranks and it came unbuttoned.  I didn't see it but it sure felt good.  I think it would have helped but can't be sure.  Time to head in.

It ended up that I finished in 9th place, with 10.43 lbs.  My big fish weighed 2.89lbs.  I can't believe that fish wasn't over 4lbs.  I am not the best when it comes to guessing weights but I would have bet anything that fish was over 4.  Oh well, guess my eyes were playing tricks on me.  Now looking back at the picture I think I got a little over excited, which is why I like to guess on the conservative side.  I did have a dead fish too not sure what happened there.  This would end up being my worst finish of the season which is great because 9th place is still in the top half of the club.  This out of towner was much better than last year's!

Overview-
It was a fun lake with lots of fish just not many big ones.  That kind of fishing is fun for awhile until you need a bigger bite and just keep catching the same size fish over and over.  I always wonder in lakes like this if people kept some of the smaller fish if that would help produce bigger ones.  I wish I had more time to practice but that's how it goes.  It's tough to get away to practice for lakes that are two plus hours away.   Its also tough to get dialed in practicing for one day the day before.  But it's the same for pretty much everyone else so it's an even playing field.  I just feel like if I could squeeze in any extra practice it would give me a slight advantage.

I'm not sure what else I could have done, I definitely fished hard and left it all out there.  I guess the only thing I could have done differently is fished where the big ones were.  The weedlines were producing pretty good and shallow areas were good too.  Who knows?

Results

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Sylvia / Twin Lake Renegade Bassers 6/30/13

Practice
I didn't have much time to practice for this event since I was out of town the previous week and the Medicine Lake tournament was the day before. I had only fished the lake one other time as a non boater a couple years prior. But I wanted to get out there once for sure and at least take a look around and get comfortable navigating the lake. I decided to go through the channel and start on the opposite side and work my way back. I started near a reed island and worked around the bay with some decent success with swim jigs and senkos. The water was gin clear. I caught plenty of fish but most of them were small. I explored the other basin for a couple hours and headed out. I wasn't completely confident but at least I had some ideas.

Tournament 
I was lucky enough to fish this tournament with Mike Juskiewicz, one of the best guys in the club. It's always a fun day on the water with Mikey no matter how the fishing is, and today would be no exception. We had a blast fishing Big Marine last year and I was looking forward to fishing with him again.

We went straight to the reed island in the far lake and saw Nick Madison fishing nearby and debated going to a different area. He was fishing off the island a little deeper so we decided to give it a shot anyway and if he moved in towards the reeds we would leave. We worked the back side of the island and close to where Nick was fishing with no bites. By this time Nick had moved closer to the reeds and was setting the hook on a fish every time I looked at him. We didn't want to encroach on his area, plus we weren't getting any bites so we headed to a small bay nearby.

We worked the shallow stuff with no action until we came to the point which dropped off fast. Man the water was clear! You could see every thing from the boat to the back from 100 yards away. I finally got my first keeper on the point on a drop shot. We caught a couple shorts, then moved over to another bay.

This far bay was my best area, as I saw a lot of activity in there in practice. We stayed back and worked the edges with no luck, then moved in shallower into the slop. It was a lot tougher than it was in practice and I was thinking of how to adjust. Did we need to fish deeper? Shallower? Docks? I was just heading out of the slop to deeper water when I saw a nice bass swimming by the boat. I grabbed my senko thinking 'This fish is never going to eat this when he's this close to the boat.' I dropped my senko down and he ate it immediately! It was a 2 1/2 pounder. I felt a little better and we worked the area a while longer with no success. I think Mike had 4 fish by this point and I needed to catch up.

From there we went to the opposite shoreline to work some docks. I was up front working the trolling motor and saw Mikey set the hook on a fish and bring it in the boat. I was focused on trying to get my next fish and not really paying attention when I heard a 'splash.' I turned around to see Mikey with his hand up looking into the water. The fish came off and jumped back into the lake! I tried not to laugh but it was hilarious! He was just shaking his head. It wasn't a giant but pretty sure it would have been his limit fish. From there we headed through the channel back to the other basin where we would spend the rest of the day.

We moved back and forth between a few weedline spots and I scraped together two more fish. Nothing was working that I found in practice. I was switching baits often and trying deep as well as shallow. I thought this lake would be similar to the Sugar Lake tournament in that there would be plenty of fish but not many big ones. Apparently the fish didn't get that memo as it wasn't working that way for me. I caught a couple short fish but not many. Mikey ended up getting his limit somewhere along the line and and I don't think the fish he lost came into play. He was making small upgrades as well.

I had another bay spot similar to the one in the other basin that I was sure I could get my 5th fish from but just ended up catching shorts on a frog and senko. Time was winding down and I didn't even have a limit. We ran back to a spot where I thought I could get another one on a weedline and finally, with not more than a half hour to go, I caught my 5th keeper on a jig.

Back at weigh in things weren't looking so bad. Other guys were having similar issues and my 2.45 pounder really helped. I finished in 7th place with 7.57lbs. Congrats to Chris on 1st place with 11 lbs and Jesse for big bass at 3.74lbs!  It was really tight again as 3rd - 13th place was separated by less than 2lbs.  Also everyone caught their limits. 

Overview

Wow, things did not turn out like I thought.  Which can easily happen in fishing.  I certainly didn't think it would be that difficult to get my limit.  I was very happy with 7th place the way my day went.  My big fish saved me.  I should have spent more time sight fishing since the water was so clear and that's how I caught my biggest fish.  They didn't seem very shy.  I also wish I had more practice time to look for more deep spots.  I think I also wasn't completely focused coming off the 3rd place finish the day before.  Overall, I lived to fish another day.  

Results

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Medicine Lake Renegade Bassers 6/29/13

Practice-
I didn't have much time to practice for this event even though I would consider Medicine my home lake as it's only about 10 minutes from my house. I was at a resort up on the Whitefish chain the week prior and also had to hit Sylvia / Twin to pre fish since they were back to back Saturday Sunday events. I was there once before the bass opener throwing spinnerbaits and crankbaits for 'pike' but didn't put much stock in it because things change quickly in the Spring.

Me and my non-boater for the tournament Ryan Ploof got out the Wednesday night prior for a few hours. While I was tied up at the dock waiting for him these guys with the same boat as mine were cracking me up. First they asked me 'Why you got so many rods?' I explained it was so I didn't have to change lures and retie all the time. I told them I liked their boat and it took them a minute to realize it was because I had the same model only a few years newer. Then they kept asking me where the crappie hole was at even though I told them I only fish for bass. They proceeded to put their boat in the water without the plug and held up everyone while they screwed around trying to fix the problem. By this time Ploof was there and we headed out. They were still saying I was holding out on them as we drove off. Good stuff. Even if I knew where to catch crappies did they think I would tell them?

We started out deep scanning the structure scan for some good looking cover. We almost did more looking than fishing which I have been meaning to do but it's hard for me to drive around and look instead of fishing. But it paid off as we found a couple good areas to fish and caught a 4 plus pounder on one of them.  We only had a few hours so we only made a few casts on each spot and moved on. We really didn't find that many fish but we eliminated some water and formulated a plan.

Tournament-
A few days before the event, the cities of Plymouth and Medicine lake declared a 'no wake order' because of all the recent heavy rains.  Which is ironic because in the past we have been unable to fish tournaments here because of the low water levels which made access difficult. So we had to decide if we were going to make a last minute change or fish the event as planned with the 'no wake' in effect. We decided it was too late to switch and we would continue as planned.  I was definitely in favor of fishing it even with the no wake since I have the slowest boat in the club it would level out the field as far as running to spots. Also it is so close to my house I could use the extra sleep, and I felt confident that we had a decent game plan.

We woke up to pouring rain with no sign of it letting up.  There was no lightning so I knew we would fish anyway.  It did let up some by the time we got on the water and eventually cleared up for most of the day.  Usually blast off is pretty dramatic with 10 or more powerful bass boats stomping on the gas and racing to their first spots (and me getting swamped out by everyone's wakes and just trying to get out of the way).  But not this time because of the no wake.  It was pretty lame.  Everyone just sort of started heading in different directions at the same time not doing much more than 5 mph. I enjoyed every minute of it!

Ploof and I decided to try some shallow stuff that was relatively close first before heading out to our main deep spots.  We didn't want to spend too much time zig zagging back and forth to spots because of the 'no wake'. There was nothing going on shallow so we headed out to our deep stuff. After awhile with nothing going we decided to head to the other end and fish some reeds that were usually productive.  On the way there the graph was showing lots of fish and we saw some surface activity as well.  We looked at each other and figured we might as well give it a shot.  It's a good thing we did!  We ended up putting the smack down on some good fish for a solid hour or more. It was one small area and we had to be in just the right spot in order to get bit.  While we weren't catching them every cast it was very consistent and every time we thought we should leave one of us boated another one. By the time I had my limit and was culling the area was getting crowded.  Ploof had three or four fish at this point.  One angler was fishing the reeds where we were originally headed and another boat was heading down the weedline towards us.  We hung out for a little while longer before we left and headed back to our prime deep area.

This time the deep spot produced.  Not long after we got there Ploof hooked into a big pike and while he was dealing with that I set the hook on a good fish on a tube.  Since Ploof was hooked up with his fish, I had to net this fish myself and it was a good one. After a few heart-stopping jumps I finally got her in the net. Boom!  It would end up being the big bass of the tournament at 4.56lbs.  At this point I had a good limit and had only culled twice. We worked the area for awhile longer but couldn't get any more fish to bite.

We went back shallow and looked for some fish in another area we found in practice but couldn't find the sweet spot.  We were heading to one of the back bays to check it out back there and on the way Ploof hooked into his big bass on a jig of 4.05lbs and filled out his limit. We turned the corner and saw other guys fishing in the bay and decided to just turn around and head back towards the access.  We hit some other areas near the access with no luck and heading in for weigh-in.

At the weigh in I discovered one of my fish was dead.  I'm not quite sure how that happened I think he was hooked in the tongue but I can't believe it died.  I did notice it was bleeding when I put it in the box but never really though about letting it go since it was a decent fish and bites were pretty scarce.  I knew we both had good bags but this lake can pump out some big fish so I didn't think I had quite enough to win. I weighed in fairly early with 15.13lbs and a .25oz penalty so officially had 14.88lbs. As more and more guys weighed in, me and Ploof stayed near the top. After I dumped my fish back in the lake, Pat Porter said he beat me by like .10oz because of my penalty. I was pissed! A dead fish was going to cost me the win. I wanted to wait until everyone weighed in before getting too pissed and was actually relieved when Brian weighed in last and beat all of us with 15.24lbs. Way to go Brian! At least I didn't lose because of a dead fish penalty, that would have really bothered me. Especially since I try to take good care of my fish and use additives and monitor them frequently. It turned out I finished in 3rd place with big bass of the tournament! And Ploof was right behind me in 4th with 13.47lbs, I love it when my non-boaters do well (just not too well). It was a great follow up to my 2nd place finish on Sugar.

Overview-
I was relieved to have a top 3 finish on my home lake. Looking back I would have started on our deep stuff instead of shallow but sometimes you have to just figure stuff out as the day goes by. The decision to stop and fish where those fish were busting on the surface was the key. We never meant to fish there it just sort of happened. Who knows, maybe if it wasn't 'no-wake' we would have blew right past it. Without that, we may not have even had our limits.

Results

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Sugar Lake Renegade Bassers 6/1/13

The first tourney of the year is always special and much anticipated. Especially here in Minnesota where this year was an especially long winter.  I was fishing by myself and anxious to get the bad taste of last years 10th place finish out of my mouth. I made two practice visits to the lake and caught a ton of pre-spawn fish but was worried about finding size.  They were eating everything I threw but knew that would be the same for everyone.  I had to find fish that were slightly bigger and every ounce would count. 

I started near the access and got a decent fish right away on a chatter bait near some reeds.  Then it would be awhile before I caught another keeper.  I tried a few areas from practice but nothing was working. 

Finally I headed to a popular area and started out on the deeper edge of some pads.  Nothing going so I moved shallow.  I started by throwing a senko near a dock and caught another keeper.  I decided to throw the buzzbait even though I thought it may be a little cool.  Immediately a fish blew up on it.  It didn't hook up but I threw my senko to that spot and caught the fish, another decent keeper.  I picked up the buzzbait again and did the same thing.  Followed up with the senko and caught another keeper.  Ok, this seemed like a pattern.  I'm not sure if they were just sluggish, or if they were possibly protecting nests, but it sure seemed like they were just trying to kill the buzzbait and not really eat it.  I ran this pattern until I had my limit and until this other boat decided it was a good idea to come right up in the tiny bay where I was fishing and threw out their bobbers right in front of where I was casting.  That was ok the bite pretty much stopped in there anyway. 

I moved back out to the edge and started flipping a chigger craw to some pad stems since I couldn't get any bigger ones on a swim jig.  Fish were coming regularly but I was only upgrading ounces at a time.   I wondered more than once if I should be balance beaming all these fish but I knew every ounce would count.  

Time was going by quickly and I only had about an hour left.  I probably only had 8lbs or so and knew I needed more.  I went back to where I spotted a good fish earlier but couldn't get it to bite.  I made a few blind casts to where I saw it earlier but no luck.  I moved closer but couldn't locate it.   I kept working down the shoreline and started to see more activity the shallower I went.  I worked back into a really shallow little cut and saw some good fish.  I caught one that would help on a senko.  And lots of smaller ones on the buzzbait and senko.  There was so many fish back here I didn't know what to do.  I saw a giant dogfish, a big musky, and lots of bass.  Time was really winding down and I had to get myself out of this ultra shallow water.  I had about 10 minutes to get back so I headed towards deeper water.  On the way I was throwing the buzzbait and bam!  A good one exploded on it.  It was my big bass of the day which ended up weighing 2.86lbs and would definitely help.  I was jacked and had to get back asap or I'd be late for weigh-in.  I pulled out into deeper water just in time as everyone came flying into the access. 

I ended up in 2nd place with 9.74lbs.  I thought for a second that I might have it won until Dave McCrone who was the last one to weigh in kicked everyone's butts by almost 2lbs.  I really need to stop weighing in so early and having to sweat out the rest of the club.  Good job Dave!   2nd -16th place was only separated by 2.5lbs!  I knew it would come down to ounces.  Talk about cookie cutters.  It was a blast catching all those fish.  Sugar Lake would be out of control good if it only had some big fish.  I wonder if harvesting more of the smaller fish would help?  

Overview-

Looking back now I would have stayed ultra shallow the entire time.  I pretty much knew the weedline bite wouldn't be a factor but I was surprised that the fish were as shallow as they were.  Almost all my fish came in a foot or two of water.  I think as the day went on and the temperature moved up, the fish were really getting ready to spawn or at least looking for places to make their beds.  I wish I would have spent more time just looking around for beds and bigger fish as well.  It was kind of a fun challenge knowing that it would be so close and trying to just find subtle differences that would pay off in the end.  Now to keep it rolling I started out last season taking 2nd in the first tournament, and it ended horribly.  New season, new outlook. 

Results

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Maple Lake Renegade Bassers 9/21/13

I was fishing with a new member this year Ryan G.  I had found a few good areas in practice so I was pretty confident going in.  I caught a ton of fish in practice but not many big ones, I was just hoping I could get the right fish on the right day.   I needed a good finish and a couple other guys to stumble a little if I was going to win AOY.  I was leading going in but actually behind by 30 points if you count the throw away tourney. 

I wanted to start in the small bay near the take off but three guys ahead of me headed that way along with the goose hunter that was already there so I decided to go with plan b.  We went to another shallow area where we tried frogs, buzzbaits, and swim jigs.  Besides losing two swim jigs on two casts to pike, nothing was biting. 

We decided to move to the far back bay and try some docks where I caught them good in practice.  Nothing home here either except one short on a swim jig.  Tried senkos, frogs, swim jigs, and a little heavy flipping. 

Starting to get a smidgen discouraged, we tried a deep hole near the other launch in the back bay.  Although the sonar was blowing up with bait fish and arches, they either weren't bass or wouldn't bite. 

I knew there would be fish on the main lake weed lines that I found, but I was hoping to find some bigger fish shallow before we went out there.  With only 1 short fish in about an hour, hour and a half, it was time to head deep.  We arrived at our first weed line spot and I got bit right away.  I managed to put a couple in the box and felt a lot better.  They were eating black and blue tube craws pretty good.  I was switching from power worm to tube to tube craw and tube craw definitely was the ticket for the bigger fish.  Also the bigger fish seemed to be on the very deep edge of the weed line. 

When the action slowed down I wanted to hit this inside turn down the shoreline but as soon as I was ready to move, another boat moved in on it.  Ok fine, I'll just wait them out and go check it out.  They worked it very quickly and soon we moved.  My first cast I got hammered and it was an 18".  That was one of the many decisions that worked out for me that day.  Also that bite was one  of the few bites that hit it good.  Most bites that day were very light and hard to tell weed from fish. 

We worked that spot awhile longer and caught a few more before we left.  At that point I was putting a decent limit together I had probably about 10lbs in the box.  After the rough start I was very relieved. 

We decided to hit the spot where I wanted to start quickly.  The shallow bay near the launch.  My trolling motor stopped working so I had to take the prop off and clear off the weeds then it was fine.  We got zero bites in the area but saw a huge northern.  It was very calm, clear water, and blue sky, plus got hammered all morning by many anglers. 

Back to the weed line where we started.  And upgraded again with another 16".  Now I had an 18", three 16's, and a 15.  We decided to go back to the back bay and try to flip some heavy cover. 

We started in the pads to the left of the boat ramp and it didn't take long to get hit.  I set the hook and flipped the fish in the boat and over my shoulder, and it was a good one.  It came off and flopped on the floor and for a second my heart stopped because I thought it jumped back in the water.  I turned around and saw it on the floor and pounced on it.  It was another 18"!  I was jacked, I couldn't stop shaking for like 20 minutes.  Ryan said it bounced off the side of the boat and if it was a bass boat it would have been gone.  Since my boat is a Tracker V-16 it has about a 6 inch lip between the front deck and the side.   Now my smallest was 16 and I thought I might have an outside shot.  I thought I had at least 12lbs on the conservative side.  I like to underestimate and be pleasantly surprised instead of overestimating and being disappointed. 

I tried to calm down and we fished the rest of the pads on both sides and got a couple more bites but didn't hook up with anything.  We then went back to the weed line where we caught most of our fish to finish out the day.  I knew I had a shot to win and a shot at big bass based on how practice went.  But it's never over until all fish have been weighed. 

When I dropped off Ryan to get the truck, he jumped to the shore and sank about a foot down into the quick sand that Pat warned us about.  I had alot of fun fishing with and getting to know Ryan G I just wish he would have been able to get a keeper in the boat.  He was the pike master though.  I must be tough on my non boaters because this is the 2nd tourney in a row they got skunked.  I better stop front ending them.  Lol. 

I weighed in 14.82lbs for 1st place and my big fish was 4.09 and good enough for big bass of the day.  I ended up sealing the deal on the angler of the year.  I was so stoked.  I knew I had a chance but I didn't want to let the stress get to me so I was in the mind set of just going out and doing the best I can.  It's certainly been a great year!

Overview-

Not sure how critical I can be on a tournament that I won.  I was thrilled to have won.  It's been two years since Pokegama that I've won a tournament, and I felt like I was so close on Medicine and Goose earlier this year.  These are hard to win and it must have been my time.  Brian scared the crap out of me again as he waited until last to weigh in again and had 14.48lbs.  I only heard that I had 14 something pounds and my heart sank for a second as I thought he beat me when I heard his weight.  Turns out I got him by less than half a pound.  I got the big bites I needed even though I didn't catch any real big fish in practice.  I got the "right fish on the right day" as my buddy Pat Porter always says.  If I were to fish it again I would start deep instead of starting in a shallow area where I never really caught many fish.  Also I would have rotated between flipping and deep a little more throughout the day as I caught one big fish deep and one shallow. 

Results

Water Temp = 74

Weather

Goose Lake Renegade Bassers 8/10/13

Practice-
My non boater for the Goose Lake tournament was Mark Nistler.  We fish together all the time so I was really looking forward to it. We were pre fishing together and didn't even know we were paired up on Goose until we looked at the schedule.  My pre fishing outings were pretty good.  I was out there 3 times and felt like I had a good idea of what to do on tournament day.  There weren't a lot of numbers, but there was definitely quality.  I felt like if I got 5 bites all day, I would be in good shape. 

My first trip out there was with Mark and I caught a 4 plus pounder pretty quick on a frog near the access.  We caught a few here and there but mostly familiarized myself with the lake and scouted for areas to hit next time. 

The next time out was by myself and I went to the far back lake to check things there.
It was pretty slow until I started throwing a frog.  I didn't think it would be good because it was mid day and high sun.  But it was pretty productive none the less.

While pre fishing with Ryan Kroth we had some misfortune.  It took awhile to get our first fish.  Finally Ryan hooked into one and it was a good one.  We were both super stoked but then we heard a 'snap.'  He broke his new Lamiglas Rod by lifting up the Rod that slid under the boat cleat.  It was a $360 Rod.  We went from jubilation to devastation in a matter of seconds.  After that we destroyed em on frogs for about an hour until it shut off.  I caught a couple nice walleye on a rat-l-trap and had a good meal.  Then my trolling motor just completely lost power at the end of the night.  (It ended up being the relay.)

Tournament-
I was planning on throwing a frog all day in order to catch 5 good ones based on practice.  The weedline was at like 6 feet so I didn't think it would be a factor.  We started on the shallow side and started frogging.  I caught a short right away on the frog.  That was strange because it was the smallest fish I've caught out there but also told me maybe they were active.  We fished our prime area almost all the way to the other side with no action then finally caught a decent one on the frog.  I was starting to rethink my decision to stick with the frog all day.  We decided to head down the channel all the way to the other end.  We hit a 'weedline' on the way and I caught a 12 incher.  We got to the far end and they were spraying milfoil.  Damn.  That's twice now I've run into this while fishing tournaments.  We didn't waste much time there made a quick few casts and left.  We came out of the channel and around the corner and saw a spot that I liked from practice and no one was on it so we decided to hit it.  While I felt there was plenty of water it did get crowded a couple times.

This is where the fun began. 

We came out of the channel and around the corner.  I decided to start there since I caught fish there in practice and no one was on it.  I switched lures from a black/red Culprit Incredi-Craw to a black/blue Berkeley Craw Fatty.  I had a 1oz tungsten weight and a size 4 Gamakatsu super line ewg hook.  As soon as we settled in I got hit on like my 4th flip into the pads.  It was a 4 pounder.  Ok, here we go.  Next flip, boom, another 3+.  I think I caught good fish on like 4 of my first 10 flips near those pads.  It was unbelievable!  It illustrates how things can change so fast in fishing.  If you pull an area and the timing is right you can load the boat quick.  It confirms to me that you always have to remain focused and don't get too down because it can happen anytime. 

Mark was trying to get the net on one of my fish and I just flipped it in the boat and he said 'the transaction between you and the fish happens so fast.'  Quote of the day, I got a kick out of that. 

Also in that same stretch my reel was getting loose and not sitting properly in the reel seat.  Eventually I set the hook on a fish and the reel feel off.  I had to hand line it into the net!  Luckily I was prepared for it and still caught the fish. 

I also had trolling motor issues and had to pull the prop off.  At this point it was getting a little crowded so I just slid up into the weeds and made the repairs to 'block' out the productive stretch we were fishing.  I saw Ryan Ploof and asked if they had hawgz and he said they did.  Little did I know he had a fat sack including an almost 6 pounder.  I fixed the trolling motor and the action slowed down.  I went from 2 fish and less than 5lbs to a limit and over 15 lbs in less than a half hour.  I culled the 12 incher from earlier and that was it, only culled once but had some quality fish. 

After the action slowed and the trolling motor was fixed, true to form Mark had to poop so we had to go back to the access.  Also on the way his hat flew off and into the lake so we had to turn around and get it.  I think he was trying to sabotage me.  I was hoping to hit the area by the access and find that kicker fish because even though I had a good bag I knew there were big fish in the lake and I didn't think I had quite enough.  I worked that area hard but no one was home.  We worked near the other access where the weigh in was to close out the day.  It was a pretty uneventful day besides that one stretch.  Mark was unable to boat a keeper and had a rough day.  I thought I had an outside chance but ended up in third place with 16.32lbs.  Ploof kicked ass with a 18.73lb bag anchored by a 5.92lb hog. 

Overview-
I was thrilled to have a 3rd place finish.  Slightly disappointed that I didn't win with over 16lbs but that's how it goes sometimes.  It's a testament to the quality of fish in the lake and Ploof being able to capitalize on it.  Looking back I would have abandoned the frog fishing a little earlier and not tried to force it, and spent more time flipping.  Also running to the far lake was time consuming and unproductive.  But who knew they would be spraying that day?  It also seemed like a timing thing as other guys were working the same areas.

Results

Water Temp = 74

Weather

It only got to 73 degrees and was sunny and virtually no wind.  

Viking Invitational 2013 Lake Minnetonka

October 6th 2013

My partner Darin Sorenson met me at my house at 6am and we headed to the Carson Bay launch.  This would be our third time fishing this tournament together.  We made it to Maynards by 7 am and hung out with other guys from our club that were there as well as checked out Nick Madisons new Phoenix bass boat, very nice, I'm jealous.  Our club had 4 teams competing in the event with a total of 85 teams.  The tournament is hosted by the Viking Bassmasters, another MNBFN club.  The proceeds raise money for their club and they donate a lot of food to the food shelf, it's a well run, casual tourney for a great cause.

We were boat #8 and started where we usually do in St. Albans bay and caught one flipping a mat pretty quick on a blk/blue Berkeley craw fatty.  Not a giant but a good start.  Little did we knew it would be a long time before we boated another keeper.  This crazy bird wouldn't stop harassing us and kept going after or lures and diving under the boat.  It was starting to piss me off so we left.  (Plus we weren't catching anything anyway.)

Our next stop was in Gideons bay where we thought would be our best spot.  Nothing here besides a million pike and a couple shorts that Darin caught.  Then we went back into a small bay to try shallow but got just one bite that we didn't see what it was.  We were trying to determine if shallow or deep was our best bet and time was ticking.

From there we headed to a main lake spot that we fished earlier in the week.  I caught a decent one pretty deep on an Outkast RT jig bruise color in about 15 feet or so.  That was it for that spot.  By this point we have two small fish in the box and its almost noon.  With nothing figured out we ran to North arm to see if we could get the flipping bite going.

On our way we decided to stop and flip some pads that I have done well on in the past.  That proved to be a good decision because we popped two quick keepers.  One on wtr/blk/red biffle bug and one on blk/blue craw fatty.  We quickly worked through that area and then headed to another stretch near some docks to flip some milfoil mats.  No more action flipping and we had time to hit one more spot on the way back.

On the way back, we decided to stop at a deep hole with good weeds on the edges where I caught fish in practice on multiple trips.  We needed one more fish to fill out our limit.  We only had about 20 minutes before we had to head back to weigh-in.  I took a few casts with a tube and nothing.  I was pretty much checked out at this point and my 'never give up' attitude was really being tested.  It was a grind, crappy weather, and the bites too few and far between.  It was difficult to stay focused. I decided to pick up the rat-l-trap (rapala clackin rap) expecting to only catch a pike on it.  My 2nd cast I got hit and just assumed it was a pike until it jumped.  It was a good bass!  Finally, we had our limit and it was our biggest fish of the day.  It was funny because Darin said I should have told him that I had a fish so he could get the net but the way our day was going I honestly thought it was a pike. While we weren't going to compete for a trophy, it was nice to have our limit and have at least a 3+ pounder.

After a few more casts it was time to head back to Maynard's for weigh in at 3. I think we were the 2nd or 3rd team to weigh in and we ended up with 9.83lbs and big bass of 3.31. Not totally horrible but I expected to do better with all the time I put in practicing. This lake is tough to figure out and things definitely change from one day to the next. Also it seemed like it was always only one fish per spot. I rarely caught more than one fish per area. I hope we get it voted in as a club tourney next year so I can put some more time in, even though I will try to anyway. We hung out for the results and raffle afterwards. Good friends of mine from our club Nick Madison and Ryan Ploof ended up winning with 16.22lbs. Mad props to them awesome work for the win! Pat Porter and A.J. Madison from our club had 11.07lbs and Steve Walker and Jesse Cermak had a couple small fish but didn't weigh in. Darin won a gift bag in the raffle and we headed back to the ramp. It was a rough ride and we got soaked. Perfect way to finish the day.



Overview-
Overall I'm not really sure what we could have done differently.  Deep and shallow bites seemed to be tough.  I think the winning fish were caught deep but I still had confidence in the flipping bite shallow.  One thing I think we should have done differently is run more spots and give up quicker on unproductive spots.  Even though going in I knew this, we didn't really stick to it.  It's hard to give up on productive looking spots after a few minutes but I really believe it would have helped to cover more water.  I also think we should have spent more time doing different things until we figured something out.  For example one of us flips shallow, and the other one hits the deeper water / weed line on the opposite side.  Or when fishing deep one of us cast shallow and one work deeper until we develop a pattern.

This is the third tournament in a row that my partner / non boater failed to boat a keeper.  I'm starting to think it's my fault.  One positive from the day was my new Onyx rain gear.  I finally decided that I needed some better rain gear especially some bibs since every time I sit down with regular rain pants my butt gets soaked.  They kept me dry and warm the entire day.  I would definitely recommend them.


Results

Weather-
Water temp 62 degrees. 4 degrees colder than when I last practiced.

Weather Underground Weather Report