Snatcher Lake Alex Tourny Recap

Snatcher Herman With The W

 

(2/04 Powerbait Bunker Hawg Texas Rigged)

Conditions: 60-73℉, Partly Cloudy to Cloudy, 4-18mph WNW

Water Temp: Mid 70's 5+ water clarity 

The Day:

We got to our spot, and no other anglers were around. About 10 minutes in, Herman had the first keeper in the boat on a spinnerbait. He then caught a dink, and I got my first keeper in the boat with the Turbo FattyZ. Herman got another keeper on the spinnerbait. I got a keeper on a Big Blade Chatterbait. Herman switched to a jig and got a couple of quality keepers pretty quickly, then filled out his limit with a couple of fish. Herman had his limit by 8:30 AM. We had a short lull, and I suggested we take a quick look in the nearby reeds. They were dead, so we just slid back out to the weedline. Herman got another quality bass and offered me the Powerbait Bunker Hawg he was using; I put it on a Texas rig instead of as a jig trailer like Herman was doing. It wasn't long, and I filled out my limit with keepers by 9:15 AM. My first cull was with the Bunker Hawg and was my big bass (2/04). That was also my last cull with the Bunker Hawg; I think I caught a few more fish on it that didn't help. I think Herman got another quality fish on the jig, so I threw out a jig and got a two-pounder on my first cast. I think I culled up one more time with the jig after lunch. 

We finally left our spot to drift in the wind so Herman could make sandwiches. I lost something on a spinnerbait and caught one that didn't help. We ate our food, and after fishing for another 15 or so minutes, unfruitfully went back to our area. I put my fleece hoodie back on because it clouded up, and I was getting chilled in the wind.  Herman got another quality cull on the first pass. At this point, I thought Herman was definitely in contention for some wood, 1st through 3rd Place finish. I thought one more quality bass would definitely have him in contention for the win. I think I got a couple of fish that didn't help. Maybe one on a jig that did.  We went and tried by an Island. I somehow backlashed my Tatula SV and busted my line, which Herman was able to retrieve. I caught a couple that didn't help on a Dinger. We then headed North, and I got a bass that didn't help on a buzzbait just out from a dock and on the Dinger on a weedline. We ended by fishing some docks just to the West of the Anchor North. It was a good day on the water, and I don't think I ever went longer than about 45 minutes without catching a bass.

24Bass 2Pike 

Results: My fish weighed 11/06 which put me in 7th Place out of 16 anglers. My boater Herman won the thing with 15/11. Second Place went to Snatcher Ludenia with 13/06 and 3rd went to Snatcher Dennis. Snatcher Notsch got Lunker with a 3/15 smallmouth. 

Big Jon Takes Lunker 3/15 SMB

My Thoughts: So cool to be in the boat for Herman's second-ever tournament win. He joined the club before I became a teenager, and this was his second victory in 149 Tournaments. Herman thought his best finish was 3rd Place. Herman just enjoys the fellowship and being on the water. Winning is not a priority. We found a school of the right ones in pre-fish, and Herman, with a swim jig, dredged them up. I don't know why I didn't get one of those better 2.5 to 3lbers in the boat. I should have thrown a jig sooner.

Grade: C

7th Place is better than a sharp stick in the eye, but not having a 2lb average cost me a Top 5 finish. I think the fish were there to do it, I just didn't trigger the bites.

What my scale said I had

Bass Snatcher Rabbit Lakes Pt. 5

Snatcher Dennis Gets The W

 

Snatcher Notsch Gets the $ (Lunker and Co-angler)

Conditions: I arrived at the access just in time to do my stretching outside. I got back inside the car, and it wasn't more than a couple minutes before the thunderstorm hit. It stopped raining at about 6:30 or so. Conditions during the tournament were cloudy to mostly cloudy, 67-77℉, And mostly very windy out of the SE with a little break in the afternoon when the winds settled down under 5MPH.

The Day: We fished on the pit side all but for about 20-minutes. It was windy right from the get, and our first spot didn't go. We didn't stay long. Next, we hit some reeds on the East side of the lake. I had a swim jig get bit off right away. I would lose 3 jigs and 6 Texas Rigs on the day, dang pike. I put the first bass in the boat, pitching a brown/orange Hack Jig in the reeds. We then worked a weedline. I had a 30-inch pike break me off. It put on quite a show before it did.

I then caught a couple dinks on a spinnerbait, and Baily got a few keepers throwing a Senko on docks. Bill started getting better bites fishing a swimbait on the weedline, filled his limit, and started culling. We ran west, and I picked up a line burner on the Billy Goat Grub in some reeds. We worked our way back to the weedline, and I finally put a craw tube on (watermelon/red). I missed a bunch of bites, caught a few dinks, and had two keepers, including my big. The wind slacked off, so we went over by the East Island, and I got a bass throwing the Billy Goat to the cattail island. The wind came up. Bill got two good culls, and I got my last fish of the day on a black/blue Hack Jig. We moved to one more spot on the pit side, then went to the lake for about 15-minutes. I fished in the access area as well, and that was it.

Results: My limit weighed 10/6 minus 2oz dead penalty, so 10/4, which put me in 12th Place. Snatcher Dennis won with 16/12. Snatcher Fields got 2nd with 15/14, and Snatcher Darren 3rd with 15/02. Lunker was 3/13 and caught by the top Co-Angler, Snatcher Notsch, who had a 12/8 bag. 12 of the 17 anglers had limits.

My Thoughts: I figured with conditions being what they were, the fish would be on fire, but the weights in this one tell a different story. The weights last time had 14lb bags down to 10th Place; this tournament, there were only 3 bags over 14lbs. I gambled on a big worm on my Texas Rig rod to start and lost. When I finally put a craw tube on around 11AM, I got bit immediately. It took me a while to get comfortable with the craw tube; I missed quite a few bites. Not my greatest tournament execution-wise. I will have to step it up in the final two tournaments to have any hope of finishing in the Top 10 for the season.

 

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.