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