Oct. 25th P/S & Eddy's Jetty

Possible Last Bass of 2023
Big Blade/Billy Goat (Gill/Hot Snakes)

Big Blade Chatter/Billy GOAT

Skunk Out Of The Boat

4:40-6:30PM Funnel, Pt./Flat, Jaimen's Corner, F Flat 

50-54℉, Cloudy some light rain, 2-5mph NE

I didn't get a bite for the first half hour plus at the Funnel and on Pt/Flat. I went to Jaimen's and caught 2 pike and 2 bass. It rained for a minute then quit thankfully. I decided to run to F Flat.  My sunglasses flew off my head and into the lake in Platte. I got one pike at F Flat and missed one bite that hit when the Chatterbait landed. I should have just stuck things out in Sully, No surface activity in calm Platte.

Due to the weather turning cold at the end of October, this was my last trip in the Trophy while I had it docked at the Lake Place on Platte Lake. I pulled the Trophy out of Platte on Halloween. We are getting a warm-up in mid-November so hopefully this will not be my last trip in the Trophy for 2023.

2Bass 4Pike

10:00-Midnight Harbor Mouth, North Corner

50℉, Cloudy, 2-5mph ENE

Ideal conditions: Pre-frontal with light east winds (2-6mph). I got a skinny 23" fish quickly on the Rage Swimmer after I had a bite that didn't hook up on Agent E. I got the 25.5 pretty quickly. Then there was about a 30-minute lull where I lost one hooked fish and had a few bites that didn't hook up, I went to the North Corner and got an under on the first cast with the X Shad Shallow. Lots of weeds in the water. I got the final two bites and lost one other on the NC boulder. I got the final fish of the night on my announced last cast, a 23 incher. No keepers tonight. Had at least 5 hits that didn't hook up. Never did put on a stick bait.

5Eyes 

 

 

Trip With Chuck & Lois On South Long

1:50-5:50 PM South Long Lake 

44-54℉, Cloudy some light rain, 3-5mph N
53℉ Water Temp Not much visibility

Thankfully it did not rain. There were multiple rigs parked and no dock. We headed to the West reeds. Lois started things off quickly with a spinnerbait bass. I think Chuck had 4 bass before I got my first bite which was a pike. I got a pounda on the swim jig, then had one close to 4lbs pull off as I tried to lift it in. I got one more bass and pike on our first stop. Then we headed up the lake by the North Reed Bed. Chuck got a couple of bass and I got one pike. As we got beyond the reeds I decided to put on a swimbait seeing as how Chuck didn't have a rod rigged with one like usual. Bam, fish on immediately. We headed farther east shortly after that. Nothing at the top of the lake. We returned to the starting spot and I got 6 bass on the Rage Swimmer including the last three of the trip on three consecutive casts. Lois caught a couple of fish as did Chuck on the last stop. We called it a day shortly after. Chuck beat me on numbers, but I don't think by a great deal.

9Bass 

3Pike 

Short Sully Trip/Vikes Beat 49ers

 

2lb Big Blade Chatter/Billy Goat (Gill/?)

4:40-6:55 PM Sullivan Pt/Flat and Jaimen's Inside Turn

53-60℉, PC, 2-4mph S

52℉, 2.5' of visibility tanic

I could have gotten out an hour sooner, but I made a bad bet on waiting for the FedEx guy to bring my fishing rods. I started at Steve's Reed Edge, not a bite. Next, I headed to the End of PT/Flat and drifted in with the wind. I got a few pike and missed more than half of my bites. Went to Jaimen's. I lost a 2-3lber at the boat. I got distracted by a phone call from Mom. I lost the Big Blade Bluegill when the leader broke on a backlash cast. I got two bass. Went back to PT/Flat and got a few pike only catching 1/3rd of my bites. Snatcher Chuck called about fishing tomorrow. I unsuccessfully threw a jerkbait for about 5 minutes. Vikes beat the 49ers. I didn't make it home to watch until the 2nd Half started.

3Bass 

6Pike 

4lber Tonight/17lb Bag

 

4:00-7:00 PM SPSI, PT/Flat, SE Reeds, Jaimen's Inside Turn

48-55℉, PC, 2-4mph S

Water Temp: 52℉ moderate visibility

After helping Todd get the pontoon lift to shore I went out. Stopped at SPSI first and had the Misson Spinnerbait get bit off. Then I went to Pt/Flat and got one 2lb bass. Then I went to SE Reeds getting a couple of pike and a 3lber on the back side when I switched to the Big Blade Chatter. Then I went directly to Jaimen's and got a 4lber along the reed edge and good pike at the Inside Turn. I decided to back to the Pt/Flat. Finished with a 4lber (3.75) at the Reed Pt in the dark. Shined one eye and pike at the bridge. Chatter was the deal. 

8Bass 

6Pike 

One Eye At Eddy's Tonight

Lucky to pull the line snag free

20" X-Rap Shad Shallow (Chart/Org Belly)

9:45-11:50 PM N Jetty Harbor Mouth and S. Jetty

46-55℉, PC, 3-5mph NNW

Not much visibility it was a windy day, but had calmed down considerably by the time I arrived

Lost a bite on the Firetiger X-Rap Shad Shallow at the Harbor Mouth, immediately switched to Hot Steel, and was rewarded with a keeper. I got careless when landing the fish and got really lucky the X-Rap glanced off my jacket rather than stuck me. Lost a fish about 15 minutes later on a Clown X-Rap 10 while standing at Pete's. That was my last bite. Basically, the wind went from 5-10 to 2-5mph and I  think it killed the bite.  I ended at the South Jetty. Sketchy getting to my spot there because it drops so far and my legs down work great.

1 Eye 

 

2023 Bass Club Clash at Mission Lakes

2023 Snatcher's Team, Victory Achieved!

 

The Brainerd Area Bass Club Clash is an annual tournament for bragging rights among the three Brainerd Area bass clubs; The Baxter Bass Snatchers, The Range Bassmasters, and Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters.

Bass Snatchers Won With 83-8 

Brainerd Lakes 70-12 

Range  63-13.  

Snatcher Dennis with the Challenge Cup

3-13lbs Bunker Hawg (blk/blue)

My Boater Ranger Smude

Conditions: Low 40's to mid 50's, Sunny to Cloudy, 0-5mph NE the wind couldn't make up its mind

My Day:

I drew Brian Smude who I fished with two years ago at the Bass Club Clash at Serpent Lake. I was determined to fish better than that poor performance and did. Brian has a history of success on the lake, but this hasn't been his year, and he wasn't able to pre-fish. He also hadn't been sleeping well due to sciatica. We were boat 2 and headed to the NE. I got a small keeper pretty quickly on a Texas rigged black/blue Powerbait Bunker Hawg and added two more small ones to the well in short order. I then got my big bass of the day, which weighed in at 3-13 which had me flabbergasted because my scale had the fish at under 3lbs. I've never had such a mismatch in weights. I had my 5 and culled once before we left for Smude's Juice.

He got two fish there and I didn't get a bite until we were making our second pass. I think it was a pike and then shortly after that I got a 2lber. They both bit on a Powerbait Craw Fatty.  We then worked our way West along the South reeds. I missed two bites on the Poppin Frog before I stuck a good 2lber. I thought it was going to be AWWWWWN, but that was the last bite in the reeds. We then went back to the starting spot and Brian put on a jigworm and filled his limit. I hit a mid-day wall with my energy levels when the fish just weren't biting on anything I tried. We went and worked the cabbage flat behind the reeds as it clouded up and I finally started getting some action again on a spinnerbait, but they were either pike or bass that didn't help. I was bending my spinnerbait wire and it broke. I put on a bluegill Big Blade Chatterbait as we made our way back toward the starting spot. After fishing fruitlessly for about 5 minutes I made the change to blue/black with a FireCraw Big Blade Chatter. It wasn't long and I caught a couple of pike. I culled 2 or 3 times with the Big Blade, but never got that kicker bite I needed.

Results: My fish weighed 13/7, which put me in 8th out of 20 anglers. Smude only had 10/4. I thought he was much closer to me than that. I ended up beating all but two Rangers and two of the Brainerd Club. I think I may have been the top non-boater. The tournament was won by Ranger Arnie who beat out Snatcher Dennis on the tiebreaker but Arnie wasn't actually on the Rangers Clash Team, so Dennis won the Challenge Cup. Jim Eide of Brainerd Lakes took 3rd. 

Snatcher Hammer and Arnie tied for big bass with a 4/15 fish a piece. Arnie originally weighed the wrong bass and wasn't going to reweigh because he didn't think it was going to beat Dennis's fish, but was goaded into it by fellow Rangers. Arnie was also the Weigh Master for his own fish. Not sure how Snatcher Chuck and Dennis let him get away with that, but it's water under the bridge now.

The score sheet

What my scale said I had.

Snatcher Darren left me a selfie
or
two

Snatcher Goofball