Sunday, June 18, 2006

A Week in GEM Camp Tournaments

Sunday, June 18, 2006

The Week in Tournaments:

Monday June 12th GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournament Town Line Lake:
The fish were on the feed this night with lots of fish caught in all boats. The winner of the 3 Bass, 3 Pike tournament was Dave Lindmark and the 6 kids in the pontoon anchored by Sarah's 20inch Largemouth. Sara is a girl, duh, who has mild cerebral palsy and retardation but she held up wonderfully for the week and was a joy to be around; Her 20 incher was big Largemouth for the week and her first fish ever. My boat, Rick and Justin, caught a bunch of bass and some pike but no size.

Tuesday June 13th GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournament Mule Lake:
The weather was sunny which makes Mule Lake tough, the fish did bite late in the day. The Tournament was taken by Guide Mike Thompson and his two kids. I think they won this Multispecies Tournament with 7 species: Largemouth, Smallmouth, Rock Bass, Perch, Sunfish, Crappie, and Pike. Mike caught several 4lb class largemouth on docks and a few good smallies on docks and poppers. My boat, Rick and Justin, didn't try that hard to fish multi-species. I caught a 4lb Larry and 4lb Sally on the Frenzy Popper.

Wednesday June 14th Pepsi Challenge Tournament Town Line Lake:
We went back to Town Line cause the fishing was so good on Monday night, but the weather was warm and sunny which made fishing much tougher. Mike Thompson took the tournament with Rick and Justin on the strength of 3 good Bass and Pike. My boat Malik and Dylan, struggled and didn't have much size on either the bass or pike. We did have fun "surf fishing."

Thursday June 15th GEM Pepsi Challenge Tournament Blackwater Lake:
Conditions were sunny with a south east wind with growing cloud cover late, not ideal but Blackwater has lots of bass and fishing was pretty good. The Best 6 Bass tournament was a tie at 97inches between my boat, Elijah and Alex, and Dave Lindmark and the 6 kids in the pontoon. The pontoon won the tie breaker with Rick's 19inch smallie which was also big smallie of the week. Thus my boat was shut out for the week.

Saturday June 17th Fishers of Men Club Twin Cities Multi-species Buffalo Lake:
The weather was cloudy with a slight South then North wind turning very wet. The fishing was tough and me and my partner Tony Hanf got skunked. Buffalo lake appears to be in the midst of a major decline thanks to winter time over harvest, weed killing, and run off. The Tournament was won by Mike Thompson and his Dad with 10 Crappies and a 20.5 inch Largemouth. The day was not a total wash out as that I had Angeno's Pizza for dinner.

Camp Summary: It was a good week with good kids. On to Lindisfarne.

Thursday, June 08, 2006

Lobster Lake Pre-Fish

Pre-Fish Lobster

It was supposed to go like this:
I would check 2 spots bada bing bada bang and that would be that, I'd win the upcoming tournament. Unfortunately things didn't work out according to plan.

The Lobster Lake of June 8th 2006 is much different than the Lobster Lake of June 25th 2005. As I pulled into my hot spot of last year I immediately noticed the scum was gone, it was thick last year. I was almost in disbelief as no fish were holding in this spot. Last year I caught my limit there in 5 minutes and was able to go to the well several times throughout the day. I checked back later in the day and pike had taken up residence. I'm writing this spot off.

Things were still OK because spot #2 has the potential to be phenomenal. I made my way in to the spot and instead of bass there was carp. Beyond the carp I did get a few pick ups but I don't think it's gonna have the quantity or quality that I thought it might. What a disappointment!

Update:

I didn't do my preparation very well and was short crankbaits and plastics that would have helped me develop back up patterns and areas. The lake is more stained than it was last year and there seems to be a whole lot less weeds. Last year in my pre-fish day I caught a lot more fish and better quality than what I found today. I saw a gazillion sunfish, carp and small bass. As it stands right now I think getting 10lbs will be a challenge. Getting mentally prepared for this one is going to be a challenge.


Update: I had 11lbs-13ozs and finished 5th.