2014 Season Recap

This year was a strange one.  It started very late because of the long, late Winter.  Then when the ice finally melted, the large amount of snow we had caused flooding and high water all over the state.  Some lakes declared no wake zones to protect property and shore lines and the no wake on Lake Minnetonka lasted well into the summer. 

Some lakes had fish kills because of the lack of oxygen and thick ice.  Including a major one on North Center Lake in Lindstrom which was on the schedule for both of my tournament circuits. 

The season started off pretty good, on our first trip out Kyle bagged a 6.3 and we caught multiple 3 pounders.  It was great to lip that fish for Kyle and be part of the excitement even though it wasn't on my line.  I almost fainted when I saw it and am glad we were able to get it in the boat. 

It was a good start to the season especially after such a long winter. 

I had decided to fish the Greenhorn Sunday series this year as well as the club tournaments.  I fished the Greenhorn Wednesday series a couple years ago and it's a well run circuit.  The lake lineup was appealing with North / South Center and Medicine added to the mix.  After the fish kill on North Center they decided to replace it with Forest Lake and swap the dates with Medicine.  Which was a huge buzz kill for me as I didn't want to miss the Medicine tourney but the club was having a tournament on Clearwater the same day.  And also we were really looking forward to fishing N/S Center and was part of the reason we decided to sign up for the Greenhorn series.  My original plan was to miss only one club tourney so I could just take a zero for my throw out tourney and still hopefully have a chance at making the state tournament. 

So ultimately my juggling act with both series was starting to be a problem early and I would miss two club tournaments this year (never missed one before) and basically be out of it before it began.  But on the other hand I made the money tournaments a priority since the club was pretty much fishing for fun and pride anyway.

Greenhorn-
At the beginning of the season we were optimistic but our mediocre finish on White Bear Lake pretty much set the tone.  We just never got anything going in a positive direction and when we finally did manage a 17 pound bag we didn't even get to cash a check.  Even on Medicine which is my home lake which I am pretty confident in we didn't even manage a limit. 

Highlights-

• 6th place finish on Forest Lake, winning 2nd place bonus money, and overcoming my jinx of the lake.  
• Made the Greenhorn TOC
• 17 pound bag on Goose Lake
• Guy dropping his boat on the ramp at White Bear Lake (could be a lowlight too).

Lowlights-

• Failed to catch a limit on Medicine ending streak of consecutive limits.  
• Failed to catch limit in the TOC on Pokegama/Cross. 
• 17 pound bag on Goose Lake only good for 6th place. 
• Getting struck by lightning on Cross/Pokegama
• Breaking my flippin stick in half setting the hook on fish at Goose Lake. 

2014 Greenhorn Results

Renegade Bassers-
The season started out on Washington/Stella with a 13 pound bag during a thunderstorm which was only good enough for 10th place.  There were some bright spots including the win on N/S Center and the TOC on Vermillion.  I'm disappointed I missed two tournaments on Clearwater which is one of my favorite lakes and Rush which I can honestly say I'm not sad that I missed. Congratulations to Nick Madison on 2014 Angler of the Year!

Highlights-

• First place finish and big bass at N/S Center Lake which I had never fished before. 
• Top 30 finish at the MNBFN TOC on Lake Vermillion. 
• Back to back 4th place finishes on Vermillion out of town tourneys. 
• Lake Clean Up on Maple Lake and getting sign made to post at access (will be installed in 2015).
• Ice Fest was a success even though very few fish were caught.
• Elected Club President for 2015

Lowlights-

• Missing two tournaments.
• 10th place finish on Washington/Stella with 13 pounds.
• Coming so close to making the state team but not closing the deal. 

2014 Renegade Bassers Results

Fun Fishing and Other-

The thing about being in 2 tournament circuits is I didn't have much time for fun fishing.  All my time fishing was spent practicing or fishing the actual tournaments.  I didn't get to hit the Mississippi River at all and only hit Calhoun once very late in the season which are two of my local favorites.  

I did get to spend a week on the Whitefish Chain which was great.  We caught lots of frog fish and had a great time.  I also caught a dogfish on a frog and my wife caught one on a tube. We were thinking about entering the Fishers of Men Tournament if we got dialed in but never really found many bigger fish.

I also sold my boat this Fall.  Time to step up to a real fiberglass bass boat with nice live wells, a little more speed, and more comfortable ride.  Hopefully the deal for the Triton I've been looking at goes through.  I loved my Tracker, it was my first decent boat besides the jon boats I used as a kid.  I babied it and made all kinds of upgrades to make it a decent bass fishing boat.  We had some great times together...  I proved you don't need a fancy bass boat to compete, but it's time for an upgrade.

Highlights-

• Kyle's 6.3 pounder
• Fishing with my daughter
• Whitefish Chain Trip
• Vermillion Twice - My new favorite lake.  Awesome scenery and smallies!

Lowlights-

• Lack of actual 'Fun' fishing
• Not catching a 5 pounder all year
• Bite just seemed 'off' for most of the year
• Catching three dogfish (two in tournaments when I needed a big bite), haven't caught one for years prior.  

Summary-

During the season it seemed worse than it actually was now that I am writing it all down and thinking back on it.  It was disappointing we couldn't get anything going on the Greenhorn Tour, we thought and expected to do well.  I'd say our problem was a combination of just expecting to do well and lack of practice time.  I mentioned before that most of these lakes are familiar to the guys on the tour, and that we should have put in even more time as a result.  Also it makes me think that we needed to do more 'fishing the conditions,' rather than fishing on history.  

The club tourneys were disappointing just because I had to miss 2 events and was out of it before it began.  It really affected my motivation and besides the win on N/S Center, my heart just wasn't in it.  

The main factor I can point to as the reason for a mediocre season is being over committed.  It always seems like a good idea during the Winter to schedule things for the summer, but when it actually comes and you realize that you are going non-stop, it can make for a grind.  Especially when you mix in family and other commitments, it can be down right overwhelming.  Also, the guys I compete against are getting better and better.  It forces everyone to step up their game when the competition is so tough.  I am also tired of saying 'I was so close.'  Next year I want to take the next step and put in the work to make those key decisions that get results, rather than saying I was a pound short.  Last year everything fell into place and it seemed like I couldn't make a bad decision.  I want to get back to that and become more consistent.  I never want to get to the point where I think I have it all figured out and stop trying to get better.  I have all Winter to come up with some goals for myself, and our lake lineup for next season is awesome.  I'm already looking forward to it.  Now we just have to get through the Winter.  Hope it's not as long and cold as last years!

Viking Invitational 10/5/14

Lake Minnetonka is located only 15 minutes from my house but I haven't spent as much time there as I should.  The amount of water to cover can be overwhelming but after fishing Vermillion this year it doesn't seem nearly as big.  I have a love hate relationship with the lake.  I've had some really good days there but some real downers as well.  It's frustrating watching guys come in with 20 pound bags tourney after tourney and you can't buy a big fish.  It can also be a real pain in the butt with all the recreational traffic and busy launches.  I know I just have to put in more time out there and I say that every year, but next year for sure it'll be all about spending more T.O.T. (time on Tonka).


Practice
I headed out the Friday a week prior to the tournament.  I was joined by my trusty co angler Kyle Rodriguez.  We launched from the Spring Park bay area and went off to explore the west end of the lake.  I haven't spent hardly anytime at all in this area since it takes so long to get there by boat and most of the launches near my house are on the other side.  We went into black lake and caught some pike flipping the pads.  Kyle managed a small bass as well.  We tried some docks and some shallow cover.  We worked our way through the no wake area checking some interesting spots on the way.  We eventually ended up in Cooks bay to look for some deep rocks to fish.  I found scattered rocks but nothing too exciting.  Eventually I caught a 3 pounder and we moved shallow to try some docks.  After working a good looking dock for awhile with no luck we headed over to Phelps.

The water in Phelps was very clear and the weeds looked good.  We caught a couple small ones on a swim jig up in the pads.  As we worked down farther I started flipping some thinker weed patches.  I flipped into a patch at the end of a dock with a jig and set the hook on a good one.  It was probably close to 4 pounds.  I wish we had more time to explore the deep weedline near that area because the shallow weeds looked so good.

We hit some more shallow milfoil on a point with no luck on the way to the access.  It was a short day as we both had to get to work still.

I was pretty satisfied with our day, we explored some new areas, caught some fish and a couple good ones.  I purposely stayed near the water we would be fishing in the tournament and hopefully I could add a spot or two to our day if needed.

Tournament Day
I would be fishing this year's Viking Invitational with fellow Renegade Bassers club member John Pozarski.  I was excited since I haven't fished with him for awhile and he finished 2nd in the club tournament we just had on Tonka.  John took me out quite a bit when I first joined the club and I learned a lot from him.  We've had lots of fun fishing together from when I caught a fish in one of my first tournaments before he even got the trolling motor in the water, to the time on Koronis where we ran a stretch of docks and we were both catching fish every other cast, culling, taking turns running the boat, weeds and fish all over the boat, it was crazy awesome.

The weather had been really nice up until about 4 days from the tourney.  Then a front rolled in and it was cold and rainy all week.  The weather at takeoff was about 35 degrees but it was supposed to warm up to 50 with light wind.  But it failed to warm up in fact in felt like it got colder.  And the wind was blowing hard all day non stop.  It was challenging conditions to say the least.

We took off and headed to the west side of the lake.  We started on a deep weedline and it didn't take long to hook up.  I was throwing a jig and on one of my first few casts I got thumped and hooked up with a solid 2.5 pounder.  Before I could even get it out of the net, John had one on and I had to scramble to get mine out of the net to get his fish.  We had two decent fish in less than 15 minutes of fishing at our first spot!  We thought it was on.  Little did I know I wouldn't catch another fish for the rest of the day.

From that point not much else happened.  John filled out our limit slowly with one fish here and one there.  We tried everything, slow, fast, and everything in between.  The fish were totally shut down.

With our small limit we didn't think we'd have much of a shot but we weighed in anyway.  We ended up being just a pound and a half shy of a plaque which totally surprised us!  I think I've mentioned it in a previous blog but it's time to stop coming up a pound short and get on the other side of things.

We ended up in like 18th place out of 80 boats or so.  The winner apparently qualified to fish the bassmaster elite series next year and had almost 20 pounds!  No wonder he is going pro.

Weather

Results

Lake Minnetonka Renegade Bassers 9/20/14

Practice

I didn't have much time to practice after the state tournament but I did manage to get a few hours in the week prior to the tournament.  I planned on sticking close to Maxwell and just check some spots where I've done well in the past.  I started in north arm and flipped some heavy cover and caught a decent one pretty quick so I left.  I hit another patch of pads where I usually do well so that was a good sign.


Tournament

I was fishing solo  and I started off flipping some pads near Maxwell for a few minutes before I headed back to North Arm to flip some heavy milfoil.  I had a bite pretty quickly on a jig but didn't hook up.  I was working the heavy milfoil out in front of the docks with an occasional cast under the docks as well.  It didn't take long to hook up with a nice 2.5 from right out in front of a dock.  I continued down the shoreline alternating between heavy punch rig, jig, buzzbait, frog, and swim jig.  I got another bite or two but again failed to hook up.  I was pretty set on flipping heavy cover all day but wanted to keep an open mind.  After working the entire stretch with no more action I decided to head elsewhere.

I headed to a hump with some nice weeds where I've done well in the past.  There was a boat on it so I made a few casts on a nearby weedline to see if they'd leave soon.  No dice, so I headed near the bridge to try some docks.  It was too windy for these docks as the wind was picking up and blowing in on them.  I caught two pike with a rat-l-trap and headed back to North Arm.

I decided to head super shallow into a little backwater area and see if anyone was home.  Lots of baitfish activity but nothing but a short on the swim jig.  I went back to plan a and started flipping the heavy cover again.  I was getting bites but nothing over 2 pounds.  Usually flipping has big fish potential but not today.  I had a small limit by this point but needed some upgrades quickly.

I headed back into Maxwell to hit some pads.  The boat traffic was insane.  It was a beautiful fall day and everyone was trying to enjoy it out on the water.  Especially since the entire lake was a no wake for most of the summer because of the high water. I managed to catch a couple more small fish but no significant upgrades.  Time to play dodge boats and head back to weigh in.

I only weighed in 7.39lbs for 10th place.  It was disappointing but I was actually kind of relieved this that the tournament season was over.  Don't get me wrong I love to fish but this year seemed to be a grind.  There were definitely a couple bright spots but fairly mediocre as far as I'm concerned.  I am looking forward to the Viking Invitational which is pretty much just for fun and a chance to help out another bass club and a food shelf.

Overall today I just didn't have my head in the game.  Even though there was no pressure since I was out of the running for angler of the year, for some reason I was off.  When my primary area didn't produce, I didn't have a game plan in place to make the needed adjustments.  Then as the day wore on I actually got kind of frustrated.  I should know this lake better by now.  One more chance to figure it out over the next couple weeks before the Viking Invitational.

Weather

Results

MN BASS Federation TOC Lake Vermillion 9/4/14 & 9/5/14

Practice

Fishing was pretty tough compared to when we had our club tournament a few weeks ago.  Water temp has dropped 10 degrees and storms and rain have been passing through regularly.  It was pretty much a one here one there type deal.  Everyone was catching them on tubes, crankbaits, and senkos.  Topwater not a real factor.  There was no real pattern emerging and the fish seem to have scattered and pulled out.  But with all the crayfish, I didn't see where they can go.  When you did get bit, most of the time they would barely hit it and not commit, or just glom onto it and you weren't really sure if it was a bite or a rock. Maybe the cloudy weather was effecting it.  One more day of practice to go and come up with a real plan.  I think I have my area dialed in I just have to check some things and cover some new area.  My goal was to find spots relatively close together so I wouldn't be running all over the lake wasting fishing time.  Especially with my boat only having a 50hp motor it would be a key factor.  I also hoped my non-boaters would work with me and share the same view.

Tournament Day 1

Day one of the state tournament I drew Pat Corrigan from the old Golden Hook Bassers (I think he's in West Metro Bassers now). It was kind of cool and kind of awkward at the same time. Pat was the one who introduced me to club fishing at the Federation level. He brought me to my first tournament on Washington Lake. But then he had a falling out with some members from the club and they started their new club Renegade Bassers. I didn't really have any problem with Pat, but I was pretty new and wasn't going to join his club that only had four members. Normally Pat is a boater so I was surprised to see his name next to mine on the list as a non-boater.  He had not been up to practice so he basically let me run my spots the entire day which was great. We drew boat number 79 at the end of the fourth flight six boats from the last one.  The morning of the tournament the weather was horrible.  There was a two hour weather delay while we waited for the lightning and storm to pass.  While we were getting in line in the bay near the casino I was looking out at the main Lake and debating whether or not we could go across it.  The wind was howling and I had a treacherous trip across the main lake only a couple days earlier.  I didn't think there was anyway we could do it in the current conditions.  But once we emerged from the bay and blasted off it seemed fine and we made the run. 

We ran into my deep rock spot and threw a drop shot for a few minutes. I caught a dink pretty quickly and Pat quickly followed with a small keeper. I got nothing else there so we headed over towards Gold Island. We worked that area for a while but no keepers. It was tough fishing deep in the wind being blown all around. So we decided to head to a small bay where I caught some in practice. One thing I remember is when I was throwing my frog it must've landed on a fish and spooked it because it made a large splash, I went to real my frog in and pick up my Senko, and throw back in there but I looked over and Pat already threw to the same spot! I didn't think that was very cool because I am the one who spooked it in the first place. We worked the bay and I eventually got a nice keeper largemouth on a deadhead in the middle of the pads.  I was finally on the board with decent fish. Then we headed out to fish some reeds and got something going. We were working down the reeds and I threw my tube to the point of reeds a few feet towards deeper water and all of a sudden my line felt go tight. I thought it might be a rock but I set the hook anyways it was nice 3 pound Smallie. We continue down and the same thing happened again on the next reed point very soft bite boom another 3 pounds Smallie.  We worked our way around the reeds and I slowly picked up my limit. From there we ran to the north part of the lake and hit a point where I made a small upgrade. Then we ran even farther north east and hit some reeds where I had some nice fish in practice. No one was home so we started heading back towards the ramp. We stopped in little bay on the way back and Pat picked up his second fish under a dock. We worked the bay with no more fish. I wanted to make the run across the main lake with plenty of time to spare in case conditions were bad so we headed back in that direction. We got near the check in point with over a half hour to spare, so we fished near an island and then headed to weigh-in. 

Pat and the other Pat from my club thought I had around 14 pounds but I was pretty sure it was more like 12 ( I am always conservative). The scales ended up saying 12.42 pounds. Not bad for my first day as a boater in the state tournament. I wish I could've got one more upgrade but that's okay I was in a good position for day two. Pat only got two keepers and I felt bad for putting not putting him on better fish. But we both missed a few bites that ended up costing us so I wasn't really all my fault. At this stage I was a little nervous talking into the microphone luckily we were the last boat to weigh in and there wasn't many people around that point. I don't even remember what I said I was pretty tired from working the wind all day and fishing hard. I headed back to the resort and got ready for day two.

Tournament Day 2

For day 2 my non-boater was Adam Baumgartner from Metro Bassers. He zeroed on day one so he pretty much let me do my thing to since I was still in the running if I could put together a good finish. It was windy and raining again at the start of day two. We were boat 10 and we took off and headed up to the bay where I caught good fish the day before. We got nothing out of there in the first round except a couple missed fish. We ran to my deeper spots it was very difficult to fish in the 20+ mile-per-hour winds. I managed a small keeper on a drop shot near gold Island. We worked around Gold Island again for the second day in a row with nothing to show for it. Then we headed to the island that I did really well in practiced for our Renegade Bassers out-of-town tournament. It was unfishable with the wind blowing hard on it from all sides. 

So then we ran up to the bay again to check and see if the fish were biting up there yet. This time they showed some signs of life. We worked around the entire bay and I only pulled one small fish off the tree that I caught a good one on yesterday. We were working towards the point when I tied on a craw tube and heavy weight because of the wind. I threw my lure near a rock in the reeds and immediately got hammered he almost knocked the rod out of my hands. It was a good 16 inch smallie.  While it was dealing with him we got blown off the spot I told my partner we're gonna make another pass this time closer to the point and boom another Smallie same size. We might've been on the something rocks in the reeds seem to be the pattern. Then continued working down the reed line and we wouldn't get bit if we only threw on the edges. If you threw up to the bank where the rocks were in the reeds they would hammer your lure. We continued working down the bank for about an hour and that pattern was on fire. I got my limit and even made a couple small upgrades. I went from having two small fish to having over 10 pounds within an hour. It's amazing how quickly things can change in fishing. You have to tell yourself not to get discouraged because things can happen fast. We decided we are going to grind it out in this area for the rest of the day. I was trying to get my partner some fish but he missed a few bites as well as I did and we weren't able to get him any. And then to end the day we were working one side of the reeds and another boat was working down the other in the same direction. We are ready to head out when the other boat packed up and left. I asked my partner if they were working in the reeds very deep and he said they were only hitting the edges. We decided to go behind them and work the stretch where we had caught one one earlier. I threw up near the bank and immediately got hammered. I set the hook and a big Smallie jumped out of the air. I made a few cranks of my reel had him coming towards me I could see him on the top of the water. But then he hit a patch of reeds and turned his head down and that was it. I was trying to control the boat in the wind and keep us from smashing into the rocks, and also fight the fish at the same time. I made my way in there keeping the line tight and hoped he was hung around the reeds and I could scoop him out. But he was in an area where there was lots of rocks so I was nervous about pulling the boat in there. We finally got up to it and it was gone just my hook hanging on the reeds (funny, auto correct changed hook to 'hope', which was also gone at that point). I hate to complain about it but that fish cost me a top 20 finish. You have to expect that you're going to lose some fishing heavy cover like that where you have to drag the fish all the way through the reeds back to the boat. But I saw him come out of the water he was easily 3 pounds if not four. I was upset because I had broke off for times that day with 30 pound braid on a pretty heavy duty rod. I'm not sure if the reeds were fraying my line or if the line was wrapped around my hook when I made the hook set but something was off. The first one I thought was a pike even though breakoffs with pike on 30 pound braid are rare. But after the fourth one something must have been amiss. 


We had to get back to make the long run across the main lake. We stopped at a small island near where is the fish were being released with no more action. I felt pretty good but I didn't think I quite had what I had the day before, because I still had one small fish. I ended up weighing in 11.7 pounds just about a half a pound less than I had the day before. Since we are in the first flight all I could do was sit and wait and watch the results. Every time someone came in with a bag bigger than mine my hopes would diminish. I really wanted to make the top 20 and get a plaque take home. I didn't think I had enough to make the divisional team but I didn't think the top 20 was out of reach. Guy Knutson from our club went out and smacked a 15 pound bag and solidified his spot on the divisional team with a 10th place finish. This will be his second divisional appearance in 3 years. Way to go Guy! It was fun sitting around the weigh in watching everybody come in and talk about their catch. But it was also stressful knowing that each bag that was bigger than mine or the two day total that was more than mine would decrease my chances. I was also exhausted from a hard week of fishing and grinding it out in the wind every day.

Overview

Overall it was a pretty fun week of fishing on Lake Vermillion. The scenery is beautiful from rock islands to huge pine trees, bald eagles, loons, and muskies this is one of the most beautiful places I've ever been. The weather was horrible all week windy and rainy every day. Monday when I made the run across the main lake it was pretty scary and the waves were pretty high. Usually when I talk about the scenery or the weather means that I didn't do very well. I'm satisfied with my finish 27th place out of 172 anglers is definitely nothing to be ashamed of. But when you're that close and you have the fish on that would've put you in the top 20 you expect to seal the deal. I just didn't execute well in that last stretch that would have given me a couple pound upgrade. But that's fishing!  Looking back I would've done a couple things differently. I would have tried to find some more deeper areas as it seems like that's where the bigger fish were located. I think I had a good plan finding spots close together so I didn't have to run all over the lake. I also feel like if I had a different boat I would've been able to hit a couple more areas each day and maybe a pound here and a pound there upgrade would've put me in the top 20. Overall it was a great week of fishing and goofing around with the guys from the club but I'm excited to get home and see my family.











Results

Weather

Greenhorn TOC Cross / Pokegama 8/24/14

We showed up, it rained, we launched, got struck by lightning, and left.  That was about it.

Seriously though, do you ever have those days on the water where nothing goes right?  Well we had one today and couldn't have picked a worse time for it.

We arrived at the ramp and a thunderstorm was coming through.  We waited it out and took off right on time.  We headed to our starting spot which was on the far side of cross.  We were fishing a point when the clouds started to look dark again.  I had just taken my raincoat off and decided to put it back on in case it started raining again.  The clouds were dark but nothing crazy.  All of the sudden there was a loud Crack!  A lightning bolt exploded somewhere close by.  It scared the crap out of us.  I almost dropped my rod in the water.  It was strange because it wasn't even raining and the sky wasn't that dark.  We thought about leaving but the weather was coming towards us and there was nowhere to go since we were on the far side of the lake.  We just had to stay close to shore and ride it out.  After taking a minute to calm down with what seemed like no immediate threat, we continued fishing.  Less than a minute later there was another loud Crack!  But closer this time.  My immediate reaction was to duck so I didn't really see it but I saw it out of the corner of my eye as I was hunched over.  It was really close and we felt it go through our bodies from our feet out through our hands.  Like a super strong static shock.  It was insane!  It must have hit the water close by and came up through the boat and out our bodies.  It scared the crap out of us and set the tone for the day.  We waited for at least 20 minutes before we started fishing again and even then we were keeping our rods down.

There's not much to say about the fishing.  We got 4 keeper bites all day!  We threw everything we had at them.  Moving baits, deadsticking, shallow, deep, and everything in between, you name it, but they weren't having it.

We ended up with four fish for 5.77 lbs.  But we weren't last!

I only had one day to practice because of the Vermillion out of towner, so I hit Pokegama and Ron hit Cross.  Me and Kyle found a few fish flipping but nothing of size (except this giant toothy critter) so we decided to ride it out on cross and maximize our fishing time and avoid the 30 minute no wake.
 In hindsight we should have ran over there since we only had two fish by 10am.  I wish I had more time to check the river because I had a feeling it would be good.  And sure enough the top two finishers were fishing the river.  Both lakes have very little structure and no weedlines so even if the river had a little current it would be something.  I wish I had more time to practice for such a big event especially since I've never fished there before.

It was a disappointing end to a disappointing season.  I think the biggest factor was I over extended fishing two tournament circuits and not having as much time needed for practice.  Most I'd these guys fish these lakes every year so that means we should put in even more time to dial them in.  Oh well, I'm not going to cry about it, I'm going fishing!

Congrats to the winners who kicked our butts all season long!

Results

Weather

Vermillion Lake Renegade Bassers 8/7/14 - 8/10/14

Our out of town tourney this year was on Lake Vermilion in northern Minnesota.  It was also an opportunity for us to practice for the MN BASS Federation State Tournament coming up in September.  I was excited to fish it, since I've never been there before.  I've heard nothing but good things about it as far as scenic beauty and it's quality smallmouth population.  The amount of water is staggering.  It's the 4th largest lake in Minnesota and is 27 miles long.  It would need to be broken down into sections and I would need to stay relatively close to the launch site.

Darin Sorenson would be driving up with me which was great since we both saved on gas and had some company during the 3 1/2 hour drive.  I meet him at his place at about 6pm on Thursday night and we hit the road.  Our plan was to get to the resort by 10 so we could get a full practice day in on Friday.  On the way we met Ryan Ploof for a quick bite and then continued on.  We were driving along and I was on the phone with my wife when Darin started saying 'car, car, car' louder and louder.  We were on a four lane divided highway with two lanes on each side.  I was in the left lane passing a slightly slower car, and another car was coming right at us!  It took me a second to realize what was happening.  I was on the phone, it was dark, and the last thing I expected was a car coming at me on the wrong side of the road.  In the few seconds that I had, I decided that the lesser of two evils was to hit the car next to us instead of crashing head on.  At the last second I jerked the wheel to the right and braced for impact.  Lucky for us the car that was there had slowed down and we missed the oncoming car by a few feet.  Holy crap my heart was pounding I thought we were in big trouble.  It was so close.  What the hell was he doing?

Once we calmed down, Darin called Ploof to warn him as he was about 20 minutes behind us.  We were thinking there was no way he would still be there by that point but just in case.  Sure enough Ploof called us about 20 minutes later and had luckily gotten off to get gas and saw him drive by, still driving down the wrong side of the highway.  He called 911 and they said they had already received many calls about him.  Hopefully he didn't hurt anyone.  What a way to start the weekend!  Onwards to the resort and we arrived safely a little past 10pm, unpacked, and went to bed.

Practice Day Friday

We got up around 5 am to hopefully be on the water by 6.  It was a little rough for some folks who had partied long into the night.  I was fishing with Mike on Saturday and he would be joining me today for some laughs and hopefully some Smallies!  Mike was having some trouble backing the trailer in because I think he was seeing two trailers.  We started out right near the launch at a little island.  It didn't take long to catch a nice smallie on a spinnerbait.  We then headed over to a bay that looked like largemouth territory with weeds and pads.  We were fishing along and I thought I saw a log in the water.  I casted my lure towards it and as we moved closer realized it was a giant musky.  One of many we would see over the next couple days.  There are lots of giant muskies in the lake.   We continued on and I got a decent largemouth on a frog.  Things were pretty slow so we made a nice long move to an island with some nice boulders and deep water nearby.  Rocks would be another theme for the weekend as they are everywhere and we would lose lots of tungsten over next three days.  We both hooked into some nice Smallies, marked it, and headed off in search of more areas like this one.  We ended up catching a ton of fish and quite a few nice ones during the day.  It did slow down quite a bit around noon but we still managed one here and one there.  Didn't get any giants but a few over 3lbs and some close to 4.  The best baits were Texas rigged tube, didn't seem to matter what color, rapala dt 10 in bluegill, and a few on a spinner bait.  Mikey was catching most of his on a fat ika tube.  You could fine pretty much any shoreline with rocks (which was everywhere) and catch them.  The best ones seemed to be near deep water with a sharp drop off near shore.  I tried like heck to get a topwater bite going but only managed a little dink on a pop-r.  I threw the spook quite a bit but nothing was interested.  Water temp was about 78 degrees during the middle of the day.

There were crayfish everywhere!  Every time you would catch one, they would be spitting them up near the boat, and in the boat.  They would even clamp onto our lures!  Mikey caught one and we thought it was the craziest thing until he caught many more and so did everyone else we found out later that night.  And if you'd look down in the water, you could see them scooting around everywhere.  I wonder if it's always like this or if they just had some sort of massive crayfish hatch.  I tried to match them since they were brown with little orange spots on their pincers but it didn't seem to matter they were eating the black and blue tubes just as good.  We were also wondering why they would even bother to eat our baits when they had so much live food available?  Maybe the crayfish were clamping onto our baits and then the Smallies were eating them along with our baits?

All in all it was a fun day and we found some decent spots for tomorrow.  We headed back to the resort around 4pm exhausted and ready for some food and rest.

Tournament Day 1 Saturday

We arrived to the launch on a beautiful morning.  This was going to be fun, since I've missed two tournaments already this year due to greenhorn events on the same days, I was out of the running for angler of the year.  I could just relax and fish with no pressure and use this as practice for the TOC.  Even though I'd still take a win.

We were boat number one at takeoff.  Yea, everyone gets to pass me as soon as we get up to speed.  We headed to our starting spot which was a little island about 10 minutes away.  Just as we were about to pull up, Brian comes flying by and pulls up to the same island.  Of all the 365 islands.  I couldn't believe it.  It wasn't Brian's fault, he beat my to the spot fair and square.  I was upset that I have such a slow boat and that of all the water available, we both had the same starting spot.  Now normally I would have just moved on to my next best spot but we caught two nice fish on it yesterday.  And they went away from our prime area, so we just went in the opposite direction around the other side of the island.  Anyway, after all that neither of us caught a keeper off that spot.

We moved on to our next area and realized things were much slower than they were yesterday.  I finally got a nice keeper off a point with a tube.  Mike was doing pretty well.  Every time he caught one, it was a good one.  And every time I caught one, it was a 12 incher.  We bounced around to most of the stuff we hit the day before.  It was mostly islands and rocky shorelines (surprise, surprise) and I did most of my damage with Texas rigged green pumpkin and black and blue Lena Lures ring tubes.

After we ran most of our smallie areas, we went back to check a bay with lots of weeds that looked like largemouth territory.  We worked our way around without much action, then I threw a senko to a tree sticking up out of the water, and the line went tight immediately.  I set the hook and a few seconds later a beautiful Smallie jumped about 2 feet out of water.  I finally got it in the boat and it was a 17 incher.  It really brightened my spirits after a grind of a morning.  I was slowly putting together a decent bag.  By this time I had my limit and Mike needed one more.  We ran down a reed line and both missed a few fish and Mikey had his limit fish half way to the boat and it came unbuttoned.  Off to the next area to try and pick up the limit fish.

We made a long run to another spot from yesterday.  Not much going on here..

We wanted to make it back in plenty of time for weigh in, and I wasn't sure how long it would take to get back so we headed that direction.  I spied a small bay that looked interesting so we decided to make a quick stop.  And lucky we did.  Mike got his limit fish and I culled my last 14 incher. There were fish all over in this bay.  It was too bad we had to get back and leave biting fish.

We made one more quick stop near the weigh in and headed in.

I ended up in 4th place with 13.88lbs and 2nd biggest bass at 3.83lbs.  I was pretty surprised with the result.  That last flurry really helped after what was sort of a grind of a day.  It was still a good day compared to city lakes, but it did not compare to the day before.  Not sure if it was due to the pressure or weather but it was still fun.  And Mike got his limit as well so I was satisfied.

We headed back to the resort for some grub and turned in pretty early after 2 long days on the water.

Tournament Day 2 Sunday
Today I was fishing with AJ Madison which I was looking forward to since we never fished together before.  My plan was to cover new water since I didn't really care how I finished, and I was looking ahead to the TOC.

We took off and stopped at the first interesting area to try some topwater.  Nothing doing so we made a quick run to a nearby point.

I gave up on the topwater and quickly caught a nice 15 on a tube.  We continued on around the point and I hooked a huge musky on my dt10.  I really wanted my crankbait back so I carefully played it to the boat.  After it dove under the boat a few times and almost broke my rod, AJ reached down and unhooked my crankbait for me.  I got some pretty good video of it to watch later.  I really have no idea but if I had to guess it was between 35-40 inches, and man was it thick.  After taking a minute to calm down, it was back to smallie hunting.

We worked some more shoreline with no luck.  We headed off to look for some largemouth.  We stopped at a nice looking bluff wall with no luck then we headed into a weedy bay.  No luck on the largies either.
We worked a nice looking island and I got another couple small keepers on the dt10 and the tube.  It was tough today trying to fish the rocks because we kept getting hung up.  AJ was a master at getting his lures out because he had so much practice the day before.  I finally lost my dt10 which not even the musky was able to break off.  Luckily I had another one.

Awhile later AJ hooked a solid 15 incher on topwater.  I followed up with another keeper 12 incher.  Off to fish some reeds.

I had a nice bite on my senko but was just a stupid pike.  I could tell AJ wasn't really into fishing reeds and looking for largies but I knew they had potential and could also hold Smallies.  I made another stop at some reeds with boulders near a point.  Good thing we stopped.  I threw my senko near the boulder and all the sudden my line was swimming towards the other side of the rock.  I set the hook and landed a nice 16 inch smallie.  We continued down the shoreline and hit the smallie jackpot.  After I made a nice cull with my big one, I let AJ control the boat and sat down to a peanut butter and jelly.  I casually threw out my senko and relaxed.  A minute later my line started swimming off and I put down my sammich and set the hook on another good one.  Maybe I was onto something.  We continued down the shoreline and AJ got another keeper on the only dock that was there.  We swung around so he could hit the dock again and he landed another keeper!  My work was done.  He said that it was my responsibility to get him 3 fish and I succeeded.  If he didn't get anymore than that it was the lakes fault.  We made another pass and I caught a pike off the same spot where I had caught my big smallie earlier and was exited that it was another toad until I saw it.  I think I upgraded once more and then we had to head back.  All day we had been working our way away from the ramp and I had no idea how long it would take to get back.  And for the second day in a row a late flurry helped us and we had to leave biting fish.

We arrived with plenty of time to spare and worked the bay near the ramp for the last 20 minutes with no bites.  I ended up with almost the exact same weight as the day before 13.48lbs and my big was 3.24lbs which was good enough for 3rd place.  I was extremely happy with the result, especially since we were basically pre fishing new water all day.  I think I like this no pressure fun fishing deal.  Hopefully I can keep it going during the TOC.  Congrats to Patrick Porter on the two day sweep, he had 15 pounds both days.

Overview

It was a ton of fun catching lots of Smallies and hanging with all the guys.  I had a blast fishing with Mike and getting to know AJ better even though he doesn't say much.  He is a top notch net man as well.  I'm satisfied with how I did and covered a lot of water in preparation for the toc.

Results

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Goose Lake Greenhorn Tour 8/3/14

Goose Lake is up near the top of the list of my favorite lakes.  It's mostly a shallow, weedy, dirty lake that will test your froggin and flippin skills to the max.  I was excited to hit it immediately after my win on N/S Center, as I would be doing pretty much the same type of fishing.  I hardly had to do any re rigging which was also a plus.

Practice

I decided to call in a half day to work and head out there during the week for a few hours.  Kyle joined me since he works mostly nights now.  We started near the small launch and tried some topwater.  Walking frogs, buzzbait, and buzz frogs.  After awhile with no action we headed to the opposite side of the lake.  It didn't take long for Kyle's frog to get inhaled and it was a beauty.  It was his first bass on a walking frog and he did a good job of waiting on the hook set and reeling it through the heavy cover.

A few flips later I boated a nice one of my own on a craw tube.  I also caught a few on a scatter rap but not nearly the size of the frog/flippin fish.  It was a good option nonetheless.  From my experience on this lake, you might not get many bites, but they will usually be good ones.  During the Renegade Bassers tournament last year I only culled once maybe twice and had 16 pounds.

 We decided to head to the other deeper basin and check some stuff over there.  I hit my main area to see if it was still holding fish and on the 2nd pass it produced a solid 3 pounder.  That's all I needed to see so we left. We worked a slop bay nearby and a little bit into the channel just eliminating water.

We moved to another area similar to the first two that produced and the result was similar, a nice 3+ lb fish on a craw fatty.  They were all hiding in the pads.  The weedline tops out at about 6 feet so fishing shallow is pretty much the only option.  I couldn't get any bites out of the reeds.  It didn't seem to matter if there was milfoil or reeds nearby, the pads seemed to be the ticket.

From there we made a quick check of a deeper area that looked good, then we finished out the morning near the access without any more bites.  My guess is we had about 14 pounds fishing until noon.  And we would pretty much leave the good areas after catching one or two fish.  I was glad I made it out to check it out, we just needed to do it again come Sunday.

Tournament

We arrived at the resort access at about 5:15 after an hour drive which made for an early morning.  We remained status quo by drawing boat #10.  If we had a top 3 draw we were going to head to the deeper basin but since we drew boat 10 we decided to start on the shallow side.  We hit the area where we got 2 good ones in practice and managed 2 small keepers on a buzzbait and senko.  We ran to the opposite bank and worked it for awhile with no luck.  We decided to give the starting spot one more quick check before we hit the other basin.  And this is where things got interesting.

I flipped a few feet into the pads and something wasn't right.  I didn't feel the bite but I saw a pad move and I wasn't moving the bait.  I set the hook anyway.  Good thing I did because a 4 pounder had grabbed it and I got him the boat.  I told Ron how the bite was and that all I knew was something felt strange.  A few  minutes later I heard Ron say 'something felt strange' as he set the hook and his rod was bowed over.  I got the net under it after a good battle and it was an exact replica of the fish I had just caught.  Now we were rolling.  We just had to stick with it and the big bites would come.  We milked this area for all it was worth and caught our limit plus culled a couple times.  We got another 3 pounder and two that were just under 3 that were our smallest.

After going awhile with no action we decided to let the area rest, and head to the other basin and try our luck there.  We headed to an area that I've done well on in the past and caught a couple fish but no upgrades.  Ron picked up his frog when he saw milfoil and said 'where there's milfoil, there's frog fish' and immediately caught one but it didn't help.  I think it was our only frog fish we landed for the day.

We ran to another area with pads and had some interesting things happen.  First Ron had a giant blow up on a frog but didn't get a hook in em.  He threw back there again and it blew up on it again.  But again it failed to hook up.  We threw senkos and craw's in the area but couldn't get it to bite.  Then a few minutes later I made a flip and felt a bite, set the hook, and my rod broke in half!  I couldn't believe it!  We landed the fish but it didn't help.  I don't understand, the fish wasn't that big, and the cover I pulled it from wasn't that heavy.  It was a 13 Fishing rod made for cabelas.  Heavy action swimbait / umbrella rig.  After I tied my punch rig on another rod I got my lure back in the water.  I immediately got a hard bite and set the hook and it didn't even move.  I thought we were in business.  And wouldn't you guess it was a freaking dogfish!  Unbelievable.  My third one this year.  Then Ron caught another one that didn't help and we were going to head back to the area where the frog blow up was and see if it was willing to bite.  We looked and there was a canoe fishing right on the spot.  We would have been pissed if they caught it.  We waited until they moved on, then circled in behind them for another pass.  While we were trying to get big momma to bite we heard the guys in the canoe hooting and hollering.  We looked over and they were holding a nice 4 pounder at least.  From the area we had just worked!  Things were starting to go in the wrong direction.

From there we headed back to our main area.  There was all kinds of activity fish and bait fish jumping all over.  After catching a big pike and working it for 30 minutes or so without a bass, we decided the area was taken over by other species and it was carp surfacing all over.

A front was moving in and I was hoping this would activate some fish.  It was not to be and we worked the north part of the lake hard before heading in.  The sky looked menacing and with about 10 minutes remaining a major wind gust encouraged us to head in.  The rain held off until I was pulling the boat out of the water.  I saw a few smaller bags but apparently missed the big ones.  I was pretty confident we had at least 16 pounds and should get us a check.

We ended up with 17.3lbs which was only good enough for 6th place.  The big guns of the tour both had 18 pounds bags and the winner blew everyone away with 19 pounds anchored with a 5.9 big bass.  Apparently they needed a last minute jump in order make it back.  We found out we were doing the right thing as all top 3 finishers were throwing heavy jigs/punch baits and white frogs.  It's a little frustrating when the same 2 teams are in the top 3 every tournament in what is supposed to be the 'Greenhorn' tour, but I think part of it is a little jealousy, and part of it is knowing that we can compete with them but we just aren't able to go out and execute like we are capable of.  Hats off to them!

Overview

We had the chances to finish in the top 3 but couldn't seal the deal.  I think we both either had one on, or missed a fish that would have gotten us the money.  We were just one bite away which is all you can really ask for, it just wasn't our time.  It was certainly our best finish weight wise by far, even though we finished 6th on Forest.

As far as what we could have done differently, a few things come to mind.  At the weigh in, one of the top 3 teams were saying they caught their fish on 1/2oz jigs.  We were mostly using 1oz slither rig and punch baits.  I actually thought about switching to something lighter and maybe they wanted a different fall speed, but never did.  I'm not sure how that would have worked since most of the cover we were fishing was pretty thick and we probably would have had to just flip the holes in the grass.  Something to keep in mind for next time.  Also maybe deadsticking a senko?  It seemed like they got very inactive after 11am, and although painful to do, might have produced.  Another thought I had was to run and gun and hit more areas instead of wasting too much time in unproductive water.

This is the 2nd event in a row where I haven't upgrades past 11am.  I've had good bags so it's not that easy when you need at least a 3 pounder to upgrade.  Do you stick with what got you there, or try something different?  These are decisions that I need to work on.

Our finish did qualify us for the greenhorn toc on Cross/Pokegama, so that was a bonus!  Off to Vermillion next week for the Renegade Bassers out of town tournament and practice for state BASS federation tournament in September.

Results

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North / South Center Lake Renegade Bassers 7/26/14

I was very excited when Center Lake was added to the schedule for this season.  I've been hearing that the lake has been on fire for the last couple years.  Of course we get it on the schedule after a really tough winter and a massive fish kill that happened mostly on North Center.  There was some question if we would be able to fish it, and we monitored weights reported from other events and decided it would be ok to proceed but weights have been down slightly from past years.  I have never been on the lake in the summer, I have only iced fish there a few times.  Not only was my boat in the shop getting the steering cable replaced, but I decided that I would go into this event blind, with no prefishing, and just go out and fish and have fun and see what would happen.  I have been struggling lately so maybe with no pressure and no preconceived ideas, I could finally get some big bites. 

Practice

None

Tournament

I was supposed to have my buddy Darin Sorenson with me as non-boater but unfortunately he wasn't able to make it.  All I knew was I was going to stay on South Center and start shallow.  With the lakes reputation for big fish, I was prepared to frog and flip heavy cover all day.  Most of us headed south and I settled into a small bay with lots of pads and milfoil.  I caught a small keeper pretty quick on a swim jig.  There were bait fish everywhere!  I was rotating through the frog, swim jig, and punch rig.  A few casts later I caught another keeper on the swim jig.  I flipped my punch rig into a milfoil patch and got a good bite.  I swung and missed!  I flipped into the same spot again, and he hit it again and I was ready and didn't miss again.  It was a nice 3 pounder with a big old head and skinny body. 

I continued working the area and had a couple blow ups on the frog but couldn't hook up.  I came to the other side of the bay and flipped into a heavy patch of milfoil and set the hook on another good one.  Another fish that was about 3.5 lbs, I was starting to like this lake.  It was about 7:30am and I already had more weight than any other previous tournament I've fished this year.  Got to keep it going and stay focused.  I caught my limit fish on the swimjig shortly after that but it seemed like all the swimjig fish were small and the flipping fish were much bigger.  No more swimjig for me today I thought.  

I kept throwing the frog because it looked so froggy and I needed another good fish.  I was just about to give up on it for the day (or at least awhile) when my frog was totally destroyed.  I set the hook and it was a toad.  I wrenched it through the slop and got the net under it.  It was a giant!  I was thinking 5lbs for sure but ended up being big bass of the tourney at 4.78lbs (close enough!).  I was jacked.  This was my biggest fish of the season by far.  I think the main difference between this year and last year is I haven't had many big bites.  And he inhaled the frog.  It's strange that they weren't hitting it more by the way he ate it, it was halfway down his gullet.  I carefully removed the hooks and put him in the box.  It was quite a cull as I released a 13 incher.  I'm getting excited just writing about it.  I had to take a minute to calm down.  

It was about 9:30am when I was debating on leaving the area.  I hadn't had a bite for awhile on the frog or flipping and I was wondering what to do next.  I said to myself I would make a few more flips and head somewhere else.  Immediately after that, boom!  Another solid 3 pounder flippin the slither rig.  At this point I decided that I would just ride out the rest of the day in this area.  1) I was clearly around quality fish, even though it was awhile between bites at this point.  2) I had the area basically to myself.  3) I didn't know where else to go.  I could go fish deep but I didn't know where to start.  I could also go to another shallow area and see what I could find.  

I decided to head out to some deeper water and recirculate the water in my livewell and take a pb & j break.  The area I was fishing was very shallow and dirty so I wanted to give my fish some clean water and keep them alive for the rest of the day.  It was getting pretty hot as well and I was concerned about having the dirty water in there.  I figured I had around 14 pounds (very conservative guess) and thought needed one more good one to have a shot at winning this thing.  It was about 10:15 and I decided I would quickly go try another shallow area and then head back to my main area.  

I was relaxed, had a full tummy, and my fish had clean water and some 'Fish Gatorade' to keep them going.  I headed off to another shallow spot with reeds and pads.  I worked the deep edges all the way up into the heavy reeds without a bite.  Back to the main area I went.

Once I got there, it was a different ball game.  Not much would happen for the rest of the day.  I got a couple good bites but couldn't connect on any of them.  It was so long between bites that I started to lose focus and wasn't ready when I did get a bite.  Either that or they just weren't hitting it as good as they were earlier in the day.  Probably a combination of both.  I did miss a couple bites where they knocked it pretty good.  

I did catch a huge snapping turtle.  I flipped into a patch of milfoil, went to bring my bait back, and it wouldn't move.  It felt like a had hooked a log even though I didn't set the hook.  Hmmmm.  I kept pulling gently and felt some movement.  I immediately thought it might be a giant bass just wrapped in some heavy weeds.  I started pulling a little quicker and saw a flash of white and for a second thought 'it is a huge fish' and went to grab the net.  My hopes were crushed when I saw that the flash of white was the huge claw of a snapping turtle.  I immediately grabbed for my scissors to cut the line.  I hesitated for a second when I thought of my slither rig with a 1 oz tungsten weight that I paid about 8 dollars for.  Once I realized that my fingers were more important than my weight, I cut the line and re-tied.  A couple boats were near me watching and I told them it was a big snapper and one guy said:  "Them's good eatin," I thought that was funny.

Time was winding down and I decided to try near the launch since I heard from someone that the tournaments were releasing their fish on North Center in order to try to replenish that area.  Who knows if the fish don't just swim back to the South lake or not.  But it was worth a shot.  Maybe I could catch a straggler from last weeks tournament.  I still thought I needed another good fish to be in the hunt.  No luck, time to head in and weigh em up.  

The buzz at the ramp was that most guys had limits but they weren't very big.  I might have a shot at this I thought.  I knew I would be in the hunt for big bass but I also knew the lake's potential for big fish so I didn't count my chickens before they hatched.  I ended up weighing an impressive 16.05lbs!  It's been awhile since I've weighed in over 15 pounds.  Which was good enough for 1st place by over 3 pounds.  My big bass was 4.78lbs. good enough for big bass.  I decided right then I was never prefishing again!  Ha!  I don't want to sound like I'm bragging but even I was impressed.  These wins are rare so you need to enjoy them while you can.  It is my 5th tournament win and couldn't have come at a better time.   I really needed this win.  My season has been mediocre at best and I needed to get some confidence back, and a win and big bass will certainly help in the confidence department.  Off to Goose next week for the final Greenhorn even of the season unless we make up the 4 points that we are trailing for the final TOC spot.  

Overview

It's hard to find much that I could have done differently when you win by 3 pounds.  One thing that keeps bugging me is the 3 hours I went in the afternoon without catching a fish.  I should have went and fished deep after going an hour without a bite in my main area.  I did miss a couple bites that may have made me think differently, but who knows.  I'm probably being ridiculous but I'm always looking for ways to improve and become a better angler.  I am satisfied with the win and I'll leave at that.  

Results

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