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

Weather

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

Weather

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

Weather

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!