Bass Snatchers South Long

  

Beau Won (16/14) and Got Lunker (3/15)

Mr. Bass 2022, Snatcher Fields

Conditions: Overcast temps 61-50℉, Wind 3-8mph ESE

The Day: We were the last boat out, and the first boat out went right to where my boater, Snatcher Fields, wanted to start. It seemed like 75% of the field went to the same general area to the NE of the narrows. We joined the scrum on the Eastern edge of the line of boats. Nothing on starting spot, so we headed up the lake to an area where we found a school during pre-fish. Chuck got a keeper in the boat. I think I got a pike, then lost a keeper and one that looked like it wouldn't go 12-inches. I got a walleye down the way a little bit. Ran some docks, but nothing. It was an extremely slow morning for us. We \went back to the starting spot and got an 11-incher. Ran back up the lake to a calm weedline. Finally got a keeper in the boat on the big Bubble Walker. Ran down to Bill Bongs Challenge Cup Starting Spot and got another keeper that took the LiveTarget Wake Gill. Chuck put several fish in the boat in short order, then culled with a couple of good 3lber in the cane. Game Over for Mr. Bass 2022. I got my 3lber out along the weed line out from the cane. We ended up back where I got my first keeper. I got my 4th keeper right before we were going to move on a spinnerbait. We went back to the starting area. I caught a short and a small keeper on the spinner bait. Went back up to Bongs Starting Spot. Got bit off twice with jigs and caught several pike on the spinnerbait. Had the craw tube get a bit off. Chuck caught a couple that didn't help and culled once or twice with minor upgrades, and then the day was over.

Results:  My fish weighed 10/09, which put me in 14th Place (2nd to Last Place). Beau Bacon won it with 16/14 and got Lunker with a 3/15. 2nd went to Snatcher Czech (14/11), who showed his face for the first time this season. And 3rd Place went, and Co-Angler Cash went to Snatcher Sarah.

My Thoughts: At long last, I finally got paired with Chuck Fields, and it was cool to do it when he clinched his second  Baxter Bass Snatcher Mr. Bass title. He accomplished the feat back in 1994. This was the first complete season he has fished with the club since winning it in '94. As for the fishing, I figured there was no way, under those conditions, I wouldn't be able to get a limit of keepers in the boat. Besides a half-hour window when Chuck caught most of his weight, it was really slow for us. Unfortunately, I didn't get any bites fishing on the bottom during that window, and when we returned to the spot, the pike had moved in. Whatcha gonna do? It just wasn't my year.  

Bass Snatcher Tournament Lake Edward

Mick Ziebell 19/03 Lunker 3/15

2/15oz R2S Bully Wa 2

What My Scale said I had

Conditions: 63-85℉, Mostly Sunny, 0-15mphSW

My Day: We got all the boats launched, then we headed to our starting spot, which was just to the South of the Public Access in the reeds. We worked our way South along the reed line with Beau pitching a jig and me throwing a frog. I think I got the first bite of the morning in some pads and reeds up by the shore. It was a small fish that got off after I had reeled it in about 10 feet. I am pretty sure it was a bass, but I'm not 100% certain. The reeds came to an end, and we worked the cattails and docks for a little bit with Beau catching two pike.  It wasn't happing, so we ran to some other reeds. I got the first keeper in the boat with the frog. Beau then caught a 2lber on a jig. Shortly after that, I got my final keeper of the day on the frog. As we worked the reeds. I would get hung up occasionally. I would put about 15lbs of pressure on my 50lb braid, and my line kept breaking, frustrating. After about the 5th time that happened, I switched to a different rod. Beau got his second keeper and missed some bites. Beau spotted what he swore was a muskie. I saw the fish but only saw its back.  I had a fish swirl on the frog but not get it. Neither Beau nor I could get it to bite again.  Beau switched to a Senko and got a couple of good fish. I switched to a Yum Dinger and missed one bite. The wind came up, and we headed to a weedline spot. I missed a couple of bites on the Havoc Pit Boss. Beau filled out his limit on the Senko. I switched to a Yum Dinger and got a couple dinks and a pike on that, and the day ended with me only getting two keepers. I thought maybe I was headed for a last-place finish, but it turns out lots of people struggled on this hot, windy day.

Results: My two fish weighed 4/05, which put me in 15th Place out of 21 anglers.   Mick Ziebell won the tournament with 19/03 and got Lunker with a 3/15 fish. Dave Smith got 2nd Place and won the Co-Angler Cash out of Dennis Lothspeich's boat. Great Job, Dave! Nate Steinbauer got 3rd. Beau came in 4th.

My Thoughts: What a frustrating day. I let the frustration get to me with Beau catching fish and me not getting bites. I think I just fished too fast and didn't concentrate on what I was doing enough. Once we left the reeds, I just couldn't get settled in mentally and didn't fish well at all. Thankfully we have two more tournaments this year for things to come together for me. On to Leech.

Mini-Bucks With Beau Bacon On North Long

Beau's Big Ba$$

 

Snatchers Win Challenge Cup! I Got Skunked

Tuma Get The Win

4/1 Pig for Beau

8:00AM-3:50PM NPBI, Green Cabin Bay, Chuck's Point, Reeds outside of Chuck's, West Access Flat to Melon Patch to Deep Melon Patch, NPBI, F Flat, North Reeds Across, GOMH, River, SW Intersection, NW Sullivan Reeds, NPSI, NW Juice all the way to the Starting Spot.

Conditions: 42-32℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy periods of sleet light snow, 4-10mph WNW
Water Very High

The Day: We blasted off at 8AM with Alan Steinbauer waiting at the dock for his boater who had overslept.  My boater Arnie Farber is a member of both the Range and Brainer Lakes Bassmaster Clubs and was fishing this one for the Range Club.  He only had found fish in one spot and we were boat 6.  Two boats headed in the direction of his stuff, so we went to the North of the Big Island at my suggestion starting at the NW Point.  When we got to the juice I made a couple of casts with the Poison.  I went to switch to the craw tube rod managing to get the craw tube and Poison tangled.  It didn't matter cause fish weren't there, but what a cluster.

Next, we went to the reeds in Green Cabin Bay.  I had something pick up my craw tube and quickly drop it.  Couldn't get it to hit again.  Then I had a small feeling fish on for about 10 feet, but it got off in the reeds before I saw what it was.  We worked our way around to Chuck's Point where Arnie caught the big pike.  We talked to Emmitt and his partner who both had a bass apiece.  We worked out to the reed bed off of Chuck's Point, I think I got a pike there.  Then we went to Arnie's spot starting at West Access Flat Reeds.  I got 3 pike on a spinnerbait.  We worked our way down to the Melon Patch.  This where Arnie's juice was in the sporadic rice.  He figured the cold weather drove the fish out.  We ended up taking a second unproductive trip to NPBI to CPBI.  From there went to F Flat and couldn't even get a pike.  We tried the inside edge of North Reeds Across, nothing.  Then we headed to the GOMH, nothing again.  So then we went to the river.  A boat came out of the SPRO while we were fishing the GOMH.  Not sure if they fished the river or not.  Arnie lost two fish in the river but he thought they were pike.  We fished for a little bit in the NSPRO rice line.  Then we went to the SW Intersection.  Somebody caught a bass that didn't help him in front of us along the reed edge of a boat lane.  We control drifted through the deep reeds not getting anything.  We went back to Platte stopping briefly at NPSI.  Next, we went to NW Juice and fished our way all the way across to the Starting Spot where we ended the day.  I did get a pike on a spinnerbait over by double cane point.  I was just dumbfounded that one of us didn't come across a single bass.

Results:
Bass Snatchers: 53lbs 9.5ozs 21 Bass
Brainerd Lakes: 42lbs 8.5ozs 17 Bass
Range: 23lbs 4.5ozs 9 Bass

Snatcher Keith Tuma: 14lbs 8ozs
Brainerd Lakes Jason Schmitt 13lbs 9ozs
Snatcher Beau Bacon 11lbs 13.5ozs

Only three five-fish limits were brought to the scales.

My thoughts:  Due to me not being able to get out and pre-fish by myself because of the weather and then having Pete up meant I was fishing this one pretty much blind. Basically, lake levels had come up a foot plus and the temp had dropped at least 10 degrees since I had last fished the lake by myself.  Unfortunately, we just were not able to get a bite to clue us in.  I think I was a little too keyed up which resulted in me reeling to fast when I was throwing a spinnerbait, chatterbait, and swimbait.  I caught the same amount of weight as my boater, so there is that.

Snatcher Leech Lake Tournament

2/11 Evergreen Soft Shell Frog

Sarah getting prepared to teach Chuck Steinbauer how it's done

Beau Wins 4th Co-Angler Challenge of the Year.

Tuma Wins and Got Lunker As Well

Conditions: 37-57℉, Sunny turning mostly Cloudy around 2PM, 0-4mph NE

The Day:
I forgot to bring my sunglasses. Fortunately, my boater had an extra pair in his glove box.  Also, it was nice to draw a partner with dual consoles so I didn't freeze on the ride to Boy Bay.  We started in the reeds on the North end of Bear Island.  I got the first bite of the day on a junebug Craw Tube, but it got off.  I thought it was a bass, but my line was frayed so maybe it was a pike.  I got two other bites in the reeds.  The first one dropped it immediately and the second had me into a reed before I could even set the hook.  Wasn't able to get either fish to hit again.  After an hour of that, we headed for some rice.

We started shallow working our way along the rice line to deeper rice.  Ruff had a couple fish strike at his frog, but not hook up.  The second fish was 2/3lb bass that jumped completely out of the water but didn't get the frog.  Once we got to the deeper rice Paul but the first small keeper in the boat on a craw tube.  I think slightly before that Dennis showed up and started fishing about 50 yards up or so in the direction we were heading. I took that as a positive sign.  Paul got the second fish of the day as well.  He only got one more non-keeper for the rest of the day.  He had about the same number of bites as me.  Over the next couple of hours, I managed to get 4 keepers in the boat on the junebug Craw Tube.  I missed a couple of bites on a frog and a few on the Craw Tube.  By noon my upper back was sore.

At About 1:30PM we left the rice for the northern Shoreline of Boy where we fished a couple of docks, some rushes which transitioned into rice.  We didn't get anything.  So we went in search of reed beds on that northern shore.  Ruff got his short there. With an hour of fishing time left, we headed back to the rice and Dennis was there again.  We put into the rice about 50 yards away.  Paul missed a fish and then I got a keeper on a Green Pumpkin/Brown craw tube.  Shortly after that Dennis motored in much closer to us and informed us we came right in on the juice.  He also reported his non-boater Snatcher rookie Jon Notsch was kicking his ass.  I asked Dennis what size weight they were using.  He was using 1oz and said Jon used a 1/2oz, but Jon said he was now using a 1oz as well.  I ended up getting bit off so I switched back to the junebug Craw Tube and upgraded to a 1/2oz weight: I had been using 5/16th.  We motored back on the other side of Dennis and I quickly got my limit fish in the boat.  I got a fish that wouldn't help and got bit off two more times.  With 20-minutes left I got two culls on an Evergreen Frog including my big fish of the day.

The Results: My bass weighed 11/04 which put me in 10th Place out of 20 anglers. 1st Place and Lunker were caught by Keith Tuma (20/02) (4/01).  The Co-Angler Challenge was won by Beau Bacon for 4th time this year with a 3rd Place finish out of Tim Benson's boat.  Three anglers blanked and only 8 limits were caught.  Tough bite.

I ended up in 9th Place for the year

My Thoughts: I didn't fish particularly efficiently because I struggled with casting accuracy all day long thanks to a poor night's rest coming in and the really long day I spent on the water on Thursday. Other than that I thought I fished pretty well.  We spent at least half the day where there were no fish.   Once again a kicker fish eluded me.