Snatcher Tournament Pokegama (Grand Rapids)

Snatcher Ludenia Gets the W

Conditions: 55-67℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy, 0-7mph SE NE

Water Temp: 66-68℉

The Day:

We got a bit discombobulated on our way to the river. At one point, we lost power on Darren's console GPS. We did eventually find what we were looking for: the Hot Pond Convergence. I suggested we backtrack a bit and fish our way back, seeing how no one followed us into the river. About 20 minutes in, I put a small keeper in the boat that hit a ToadZ. About 10 minutes later, Darren had a pike steal his frog. Darren missed a bite from a good-sized bass along a mat in the rice. I pitched a Turbo FattyZ into the same mat and immediately caught one just shy of 2 lbs. Darren had a pike steal the LiveTarget Frog I gave him with a  huge blow-up. I think Darren had three frogs get bit off in total, along with a couple of jigs and Texas Rigs. I think I got bit off once on a Texas Rig.  Hammer and Jon showed up and fished a bit in the area we were heading for before heading farther upriver. 

Eventually, we got to the Convergence, and I got a nice bass on the ToadZ off of some isolated pads. A couple of minutes later, I lost a similar-sized fish. We then went into the hot, and Darren had his third frog get bit off. It was dead in there other than that. We went back to the convergence to talk to Hammer and Jon. They were catching more fish than us, and Hammer told us what was working for them. We fished back over the area where I had caught my third bass. Darren got bit off a time or two. I started pitching a Turbo FattyZ and got a pike, then a bass over 2 lbs. Darren caught a pike or two more. 

At about 1 PM, we decided to bail on this area just as it was clouding up again.  We fished some slop on our way back to the lake, where I got my final two bass of the day. The first on a swim jig, and my last bass of the day came on a LiveTarget Frog. Darren got a dink that he didn't measure. We got to Tioga Bay with about an hour and a half left. Darren's front mapping wasn't right. Despite that frustration, Darren did put three nice bass in the boat in the final hour. I missed one bite on a jig in Tioga. Turns out it was a tough day.

Results: My fish weighed 11/12, which put me in 5th Place out of 11 Anglers, and I won the Co-Angler Challenge for the first time in a couple of years. Snatcher Ludenia blew the field away with 19/4. Dennis got 2nd with 14/14, and Snatcher Chuck came in 3rd with 14/9. Snatcher Mick had Lunker with a 4/14 brown bass.

My Thoughts: I really thought the largemouth would be on fire, but it seems that was not the case. I also thought there would be multiple fish over 5lbs caught, but it didn't happen. My boater Darren has very little experience on this body of water, and we went in blind, with neither of us getting to pre-fish. That definitely hurt us. I should have fished a swim jig and the Turbo FattyZ more and a Frog less. On the positive side, it was my best finish of the year; I won the Co-Angler Challenge and have a shot at being in the Super 6 going into the last tournament. It could be worse. 

Grade: B 

I was energized and fished hard all day.

4/14