Bay Lake Bass Snatcher Tournament

Todd Berghuis and a loon

6:50AM-3:00PM
Conditions-  Mostly sunny, cold and windy in the morning out of the NNE, the breeze dying down a bit, and it warmed to the high 50's.

The Day:
It was cold in the morning, I did layer up properly and stayed warm except for my left hand which I had to stop fishing with a couple of times to put in my pocket to warm up.  We agreed to start on a deeper spot where we got a double on in practice.  This spot was exposed to the brunt of the wind and the fish weren't there.   My boater Todd got a couple pike and an Ok sized bass and I got a pike on a craw tube.  After about an hour we moved shallow.

I got a pike then a small keeper (12.5") on a black/blue D & M Piranha with a sapphire blue Chigger Craw.  We then moved to another shallow bay where that loon came to see what we were up too.  Todd got two small keepers.  I switched up to a bluegill color D & M Piranha with a swimbait trailer.  Very quickly I got a small keeper (12.25") casting out, then one that felt better than it was (13.75") right up next to shore.  We worked back over this area two more times.  I got a pike on the D & M and Todd got another keeper or two.  We worked into a small marina and I got a quality fish (15.75) off a pontoon with a white Zoom Horny Toad.

We then made a move to a boat channel.  As we were entering it I got my best fish of the day (15.9") off of the first dock in the entrance.  Todd caught one of his better fish in the channel and I got my limit fish (12.5") and missed one on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke.

We made a long move to another shallow bay.  Todd got a fish to cull and I ran the trolling motor for about 10 minutes while he got his fish figured out.  Shortly after he regained control of the trolling motor I saw a 15.5" bass take a shot at my Piranha.  I caught it.

We tried our starting spot and didn't get anything but a pike or two.  We then went back to the bay with the loon.  I had a hit on the the D & M that ran towards me and got off.  I think I got my next cull (14.5") on a Zoom Super Fluke.  Todd got a couple that didn't help him.  We got to a calm area and I got my last cull (13.25") on a Reaction Innovations Vixen.  We made one last move to the bay where I got my biggest fish in pre-fish, but didn't get anything.  And then the day was over.

Results:  My six fish weighed 10lbs even and was good for 18th place out of 30 anglers.  My boaters limit went for 10lbs 15ozs and put him in 11th place.  The winner was Nate Steinbauer with 14lbs 2ozs who caught the Lunker at 4lbs 2ozs.

My Thoughts:  I could have done without the cold front and a little less wind.  Apparently the bite turned on in the later part of the after noon, but we really struggled the last two hours.  Fish just didn't move up in the bay we chose to fish unfortunately.  Todd was really enjoyable to fish with and was very concerned that I get my limit, which I fortunately got in the 1st half of the day.

My #yearofrevenge starts at the next Tournament at Farm Island Lake.