Medicine Lake Greenhorn Tour 7/13/14

I was excited to hear that the greenhorn tour was coming to my home lake for the first time.  I have done well on the lake in the past and figured my knowledge would give me a slight advantage.  That's when fishing slaps you across the face for a rude awakening and brings you back to reality.

Practice

I was able to make it out to practice a couple time before I was heading up to cross lake for a week-long resort vacation.  I wasn't able to put much together during practice except a couple good ones on the first visit on a weedline.  I was out with Kyle and Emma and we had a great time.  We found some feathers on the beach and a couple panfish.

The second time out I only caught one pike but was only out for about 3 hours before I headed up to the Whitefish Chain for the week.  I tried all my spots and a couple new ones but nothing was working.  I tried deep, shallow, topwater, fast, slow, everything I could think of.   Nothing was working.  I just assumed it was a tough day and that they would be biting on tournament day.  I try not to let a bad pre fish bother me much since sometimes a good pre fish day leads to a tough tournament and vice versa.

I was putting my boat on the trailer when a guy was standing on the dock started up a conversation.  The entire time I was thinking "how can I politely get out of this conversation?"  Since I was in a hurry to get home and pack up and head out of town.  He was nice enough but he wouldn't stop talking.  He said he was a fishing guide but didn't know medicine very well.  He also said he was from Brainerd but when I told him that's where I was going he asked me how long it took to get there.  And he was standing so close to me I was a little uncomfortable.  Finally I politely told him I had to get home to pack.  I pulled my boat out and proceeded to strap it down when he pulled up next to me.  I'm thinking "oh great, what does he want now?"  He have me his number and told me to call him and we could go fishing together and if we went far we could split gas money.  I was a little creeped out.  In this day and age it's too bad that this kind of encounter has to be viewed with such suspicion but unfortunately that's the world we live in.  I'm not going on any fishing trip with some guy I just met at the boat ramp that I know nothing about.  Especially a long distance trip.

Tournament

We arrived at the ramp at about 5:15 and drew boat number 6.  Which was pretty good considering our track record. We dumped in and waited to get it on.  One guy in the tour has no tournament etiquette.  He pulled up to the spot where you are supposed to dump your boat in but wasn't ready to go.  He was still unpacking and getting ready by the time we were ready to dump in.  So we just went around him and dumped in anyway.  Didn't the fact that everyone was parked in the lot clue him into what was going on.  Then at the end of the day when all the boaters drop off their co-anglers to get the truck, he dropped his guy off and proceeded to park at the only dock spot available.  Everyone usually drops the guy at the dock, then heads back out a little ways to get out of the way and floats around until they see their truck pulling up.  Not this guy.  I wonder if he doesn't know or just doesn't care.  I'm guessing it's the latter.  Then get this.  After he dumped his boat in, he drove around marking fish like way away from where the rest of us were hovering waiting to blast off.  While not illegal, I've never seen anyone actually do it.  I can't pull for a guy like this.  It's just bad sportsmanship.  Rant over.

We started on a deep rock spot where I have had good success in the past.  After a few minutes I felt a good 'thump' and set the hook.  It felt good if it was a bass.  I played it closer to the boat and of course it was about a 4lb pike.  This was a sign of how our day would go.  We worked the area about 30 minutes before we headed shallow to see if we could get some topwater going. 

We headed to a shallow bay with lots of pads and milfoil and began froggin.  After a few minutes with no blow ups, I switched to a punch rig and let Ron throw the frog.  I figured if they started hitting I could join in but I wanted to figure out what they were biting.  After quite awhile with not even a blow up on the frog, I threw a tube craw to the edge of the pads and stuck a good fish.  It was about 3.5 pounds.  It was just enough to keep us in the area for awhile longer but with no more bites.  So this was a good sign but still it was around 9am and we had only one fish in the box.

We moved to a stretch of reeds with a nice weed line nearby and were greeted with noting but pike and short fish.  From there we ran to another shallow area and tried some docks.  Then back another deep rock area that I knew.  Then finally back to one of the bays.

At this point we were pretty discouraged as it was noon and we only had one good fish with nothing to go with it.  I decided to just keep flipping and eventually I would drop it on a bass's head and they would eat it.  After another short, I finally got a bite in the pads with heavy milfoil around it.  It felt like a good one but once we got it in the next and removed all the salad, it was no bigger than 14 inches.  After working the entire bay, we headed off to do a quick check of our deep starting spot, then headed back to where I caught the 3.5 earlier in the morning.

With about an hour left it was all out panic mode and a was flipping every patch of weeds I could see.  I caught another keeper pretty quickly and then another within the next 15 minutes.  Finally with about 30 minutes left I set the hook on a good one.  I got it closer to the boat and it was a freaking dogfish!  Unbelievable.  I haven't caught a dogfish in a long time and I've had 3 in the boat in the last week.  That would have been our limit fish and at least we would have something to go on after a tough day.  But it was not to be.  We worked hard for the remainder of the day and headed to weigh in.  We ended up in 10th place with 7.39lbs.  The winners said they were flipping weeds in 6-8 feet of water with tube craws and worms.  Also some of the better fish came on crankbaits.  

Overview

To say that I was disappointed with our finish would be an understatement.  I have had very good success on Medicine in the past, and was pretty confident we'd get them figured out at some point during the day.  This also ends my streak of 11 tournaments in a row where I've brought in a limit.  I didn't fish an event all year last year without catching a limit, and here it is early July and the streak is over.  I take pride in at least bringing in a limit, and get very frustrated if it doesn't happen.  

In hindsight we should have spent all day flipping heavy cover.  It seemed the bite was off from the get-go, and the fish were definitely not in aggressive feeding mode.  You had to make them bite by dropping a lure on their head or ripping a crank past their face.  I can say that I worked as hard as I could, tried everything I could think of, and sometimes it just doesn't happen.  That's fishing!  And part of why we love it.  If we could figure them out every time, it wouldn't be as exciting when you do.  But I'd certainly like to figure them out soon and cash a check!  Time to take a break, get the boat fixed (steering cable), and re-group for the next Renegade Bassers event on N/S Center and the final Greenhorn Tour event on Goose Lake.  Ron will be fishing the next Greenhorn event on Coon with a sub as it's my wife's birthday that day so good luck to him.  Somehow we are still only 4 points out of making the Greenhorn TOC and still have a chance.  

Results

Weather

Forest Lake Greenhorn Tour 6/22/14

Forest Lake has been a tough nut for me to crack.  In my two previous tournaments on Forest I have not done so well.  Last year while fishing a Thorne Brothers mystery tournament, we only had 2 fish and didn't even go to the weigh in because it was raining and freezing and we were parked at a different launch.   In 2012 we fished a Greenhorn Wednesday series event and finished 15th out of 16 with a paltry 6.61lbs.  Before this year I've only been on the lake for those two events with 0 practice hours logged.  Easy to figure out why I've struggled there.   I was determined not to let this happen again and set out to dial them in with some hours on the lake. 

 

Practice - Saturday one week before with Matty B.

My friend Matty who I iced fish with quite a bit this year joined me for a day of open water fishing.  He has never bass fished before so I was happy to hook him up with a couple rods and give him some tips.  He got one right away on a pop-r but the size was not quite there.  We moved around quite a bit and didn't really figure much out.  One here one there.  Caught a couple on swim jigs and it was usually 2 or 3 at a time but no size.  The weather sucked and was raining off and on.  Finally around 1pm we came out of the protected bay we were fishing and the main lake was blowing like crazy.  I saw the sheriff drive by with his light flashing on his boat and found out later at the ramp that he was driving around warning people that 70mph winds were coming.  I'm not sure if they ever came but we got off the water just in time.  It was a fun day fishing and teaching but didn't really learn much as far as pre-fishing for the tournament.  I'd have to try to come out again and see what I could find.  

Practice -

I headed out the Friday before the tourney early in the morning for a few hours to see if I could put something together.  I forgot to put my plug in which makes for a great start to the day.  Luckily I noticed right when I was pulling it off the trailer.  I had to pull it out. let it drain for a sec and dump back in.  Yes, I was 'that guy' that I like usually make fun of.  I started ultra-shallow to see if the high water from all the rain we've had recently would put them up on the bank.  It did not!  Finally after I was heading to deeper water I caught a decent one on a swim jig.  I checked some docks on the way out deeper with no luck.  I just can't seem to get into dock fishing anymore.  I just don't like to piss off dock owners, get hung up on their dock every few casts, and target fish everyone else are going after.  I know we have a 'right' to do it but it just seems like more drama than it's worth sometimes.  I used to love it and I know there is a time and a place for it and I knew historically Forest Lake docks are typically a winning pattern so I had to check some.  Maybe I'm just out of practice since I do it so seldom lately!  After talking with Ron he said he caught fish on docks, but none with any real size, I didn't think it was a winning pattern this time.  It used to be fun but as I was going down the line of docks my heart wasn't in it so I headed to another spot.  I checked a point, nothing home.  I checked a weedline with awesome looking weeds - nothing but pike.  I headed shallow and caught 2 quick ones on a swimjig on a nothing looking sandy bank.  I think with the high water the shoreline had washed out underneath the cattails giving them a place to hide.  I continued shallow and caught a few in an area with pads / reeds.  One was decent so I left it and headed deep again.  Right when I was about to leave I set the hook on the best fish I'd ever caught out there.  About a 3 pounder!  I wanted to explore the area further but I had to get to work so I took off.  I found a few decent areas and certainly felt better than I did before.  I didn't have any 'go-to' areas but a few decent areas where we could rotate.
 

Tournament Day
It was Ron's turn to draw boat number since I've drawn boat number 14 last time, and last for the previous one before that.  He didn't fare much better, we drew boat #15.  Not a huge deal since we didn't really have a set starting spot anyway.  We started in a small bay with pads, reeds, and shallow grass.  We started a ways out from the pads and I cast my senko towards the pads into the shallow grass.  Immediately something exploded on it!  I was surprised because it was the first cast and can't say that I get many hits like that on a senko.  I waited a second and set the hook.  I felt weight and made a few cranks and then nothing.  It came off.  Nothing but a bunch of weeds on my hook.  We continued to work the area with frogs, swimjigs and senkos with no luck.  Finally we were headed out of there when Ron stuck a keeper on a pit boss. 

Then we headed out to the deep weedline which was about 10 feet.  We worked it for awhile and I finally hooked into keeper number two on a tube.  While Ron was putting the cull tag onto it I cast to the same spot and set the hook again!  A couple casts later keeper number 4 was in the box.  While Ron was weighing the fish and putting them in the box, he had the trolling motor keeping us locked on the spot, and his line was still out and got tangled in the prop.  While he got it untangled we drifted off the spot and couldn't find it again.  In the meantime another boat came up and blocked us from continuing down the weedline so it was time to make a move. 

We headed to another shallow area with reeds, pads, and cattails.  Basically it was our main area that has produced for both of us in the past.  I got hit pretty quickly and boated a 2 pounder, our biggest so far.  We continued to work the area with everything we had, including punch baits and jigs up the cattails.  With the flooding and high water we've had because of all the rain, there was plenty of water deep into the weeds.  Ron caught another keeper and we were culling by 9am.  Which was a good start compared to previous events on this lake.  I continued punching in the cattails and Ron said he wanted to try that as he's never done it before.  On cue, his first flip into the heavy weeds yielded another nice keeper even though I don't think we culled with it.  Flipping heavy cover is one of my favorite ways to catch em and I was jealous I couldn't get one but glad Ron did.  We ended up catching a ton of fish the area but not much size.  We probably had around 7-8lbs and figured we needed at least 10 for a decent finish. 

Back out to the deep weedline where I caught a good one in practice, tons of bait fish busting the surface but nothing but one small bass.  So far deep and shallow were about the same as far as weight and numbers.

Off to another deep weedline out of the wind.  We ran in and hit the reeds that were close with no luck.  Entire way down the weedline not so much as a tap.  I had broken off 3 times on what I thought were pike.  But my line sounded funny coming out of my micro guides so I started to suspect maybe something was wrong with my rod.  I rigged my Texas rig set up onto a different rod with braided line.   Just when I suggested we make a move, I got a tap and set the hook on another 2+ pounder.  It was bleeding all over the place but it eventually made it to the weigh in alive.  We made a few more casts in this area but came up empty. 

A storm was coming so we decided to move before it started pouring.  Too late!  By the time we started the engine it was raining hard and it made for a difficult boat ride.  We went back to the weedline where we started.  Nothing but pike biting here so we had a decision to make.  We only had about an hour left.  The rain had pretty much stopped.  Should we grind it out here or make a move?  We decided to head back to our most productive shallow area to end the day. 

Once we got there I threw a senko way up into the reeds and the line immediately started pulling tight.  I set the hook and it got wrapped around a big clump of reeds.  I kept pressure on but I didn't feel anything.  I started to tell Ron to go in and get it when it freed itself up and I quickly got it to the boat.  It was another 2 pounder and a decent cull.  I had a couple more bites but couldn't connect.  With time winding down it seemed like the area was heating up.  Unfortunately I couldn't seal the deal on anything that would help and it was time to head to the weigh in.  

While I was waiting in line to pull Ron out of the water, I could see the weigh in and noticed a couple pretty small bags.  I didn't feel very confident that we would get a check, but maybe we would be close.  We ended up weighing in 9.93lbs good for 6th place.  Which was also good enough for 1st place bonus bucks team and $90.  Always good to win something!  

Overview

It was another grind out there.  No real pattern and only one fish here, one there.  But on the bright side it was my best day on Forest Lake so far.  We caught a lot of fish just not as many big ones as we needed.  Almost 10 pounds on Forest is not horrible, basically one 4 pounder out of 1st place.  It was finding that 4 pounder that was the problem...  Not sure if I would do much differently except maybe moving around a little more often and just giving each spot a few casts and only settle in once we caught one.  I wish I would have seen the fish I missed on my first cast, as it sounded big and may have helped.  Also if we had a few more minutes in our last area I bet we could have added another pound or two.  But i'm sure it would have helped others as well.  I'm satisfied with the finish, I always want to win but having such a bad history on this lake gives me confidence down the road to be able to compete.  Next up is Medicine Lake and i'm hoping we can stay on the right track!