2nd Bowfin of the Yeat

2nd Dogfish of the Year
Got a 21incher tonight on a white Stanley Phantom. May have had another follow.

1st Dogfish of the Year

1st Dogfish of the Year!
Yesterday I went to Mille Lacs for a little bit of multi-species angling. I started in the Isle Island Canal for panfish. I caught 2 small crappies 1 sunfish and one milting perch. There were tons of baitfish in this canal along with several muskie; At one point I had two 40 something inch muskies swimming side by side right under the boat. Apparently the crappie had been going good in the canal up until the cold weather a couple of days ago.

As the day wore on I decided to try "Dogfish Nirvana" which is a very small bay over by the State Park Isle Bay. For some reason there always seems to be dogfish in this particular cut. I got in there and started tossing a 1/2 White Jig and pig. As I made my way in I spotted a nice doggy right in front of me. I was able to make a couple of casts and bounce the jig off his white nose, but he didn't bite. The boat then passed over the fish and I had to spin around. I re-spotted the fish and cast passed it. I then hopped the bait closer and closer, sure enough it struck and I set the hook. I fought the dogfish until it was plum wore out and then I netted it. It was a dark fish (looked a lot like doggy drawing above) that measured 30 inches. YES! What a way to start for doggies this year.

I think I saw another smaller fish in "Dogfish Nirvana" too.

Fishing Goals 2006

Crappie:
1. Catch 14inch or bigger
2. Find the Crappies this spring on Platte

Dogfish:
1. Repeat as MN Bowfin Grand Champion
2. Catch a State Record Doggy (Current Record 10lb15oz 32"/15"- 31"/14.5")

Walleye:
1. Catch a 30inch fish.

Pike:
1. Win or place in the money in Hillman Lions Platte Lake Pike Tournament (August)

Bass:
1. Catch a 21plus inch or 7lb Largemouth
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth
3. Catch 40 Bass@ or over 19inches or 4lbs.
4. Catch 60 Smallmouth.

Team Bass Trail:
1. Win 2 Tournaments (1@Horseshoe)
2. Win Big Bass 2 Times
3. Place in the Money 4 times
4. Never Finish below 10th place
5. Limit every tournament
6. Average over 2.25lbs per fish
7. Make the Super Stars Tournament

New Lakes to Fish:
Osakis (Team Bass)
Bordon

Rock Off

April 9th
Got the boat in the water at Rock, and the engine fired right up. Unfortunately, I forgot the Garmin and the GPS.

I fished around by the Bulldog inlet and the RPRO, nothing doing; there was some activity in some shallow water. I thought I saw a sucker.

Rock Again

April 8th
About 5PM I headed over to rock. Right away I got a 16"bass on the Silver Panther. About an hour later I got a 22" Bass on the green flu flu and a minnow. The fish had a huge head but thinned down by the tale. I don't think it was a 6lb fish, probably middle high 5. First piggey of the year.

After 7PM I headed to the GOMH. The same guys as last night were there along with a father and his two sons. One of the kids caught a decent sized bass. No Crappies, but I did think I saw some baitfish moving. The guys from last night had lighted bobbers and it sounded like they were going to stay out a while.

Rock ON

April 7th
I slept in late today. Around 5PM I thought I would see if the Rock Access was open enough for fishing yet; As it turns out the whole lake was open.

I got up on the back of the pick-up and gave it a try. The access area was protected from a faily stiff NW wind and the air temp was a cool 50 or so. I caught one sunfish on green flu flu and a small pike on the silver panther.

I went on a drive, Bulldog Open, Long Open, Sullivan Open, Platte Open. People fishing at the GOMH, I thought I saw one guy real something small in, but I'm not totally sure.

Goings on at GOMH

For those who don't know, GOMH is short for the "Grumpy Old Man Hole," which is the bridge and channel area where Platte and Sullivan lake connect.

4/4- The Second GOM sighting, GOM#3

I went to the GOMH, and darn it if I didn't get a hit on my second cast or at least what I thought was a bite on the White panther. After a few more casts, I decided to see what a jig and a minnow would do.

About that time, a van pulled up with "Lewis," aka GOM#3. He got out and caught me up on some GOM things. Lee Ander, aka GOM#2, got gangrene from stepping on a nail last July and had his right leg cut off just below the knee. That kept him cooped up for the summer, but he made it out ice fishing almost every day. Willard, aka GOM#1, did lots of the ice fishing with GOM#2. Lewis informed me that he and Willard are brothers, which I did not know. I didn't see much of Lewis at the GOMH last year. Also, Willard just had foot surgery himself and went into town shopping against the doctor's orders because he wasn't feeling any pain in his foot. Lewis was glad to hear I haven't had any heart trouble recently.

Sometime during our conversation, the guy on the NW corner of the GOMH started a grass fire. It started getting smokey, so Lewis and I left.

4/5 The First Bullheads of the season
I arrived at the GOMH at about 6:15PM and started fishing with a green flu flu and a minnow. Lo and behold, I hooked into one of those famous GOMH "jumpin bullheads" that I would say went 15". Nice, pretty, looking fish. A few casts later, I had another bullhead coming in.

Around this time, a Pick Up truck pulled up and started watching me. Not knowing who it was, I didn't bait up and hoped they would leave. Someone lady was walking along the road and started talking to the guy in the truck whose voice I thought I recognized as Lee Ander's; Sure enough, that's who it was. Soon after Lee Ander stopped, a younger guy in a car also stopped. I had to go to Bible Study, so I picked up my stuff and headed to the truck. I asked Lee Ander how he was doing, and he gave me the whole story about his leg. He also told me about his winter fishing success on Platte and Sullivan. Just as I told Lee Ander I was heading to Bible Study, up drives Willard with an offer to give me a shoe. He was talking about the shoe brace they gave him after his surgery. Naturally, Willard had to tell me all about that ordeal and how much pain he had been in. The surgery was a big success, and his recovery was speedy. Willard said he hadn't even needed to take one of the pain pills his Dr. prescribed. After about another 15-minute delay, I was off to Garrison Alliance.

Looks like I'll be hearing a lot from the GOM this spring. One can only hope they will be as entertaining as ever. Actually, it's really only Willard who is fun; he almost never stops talking.

Skunk Ice Fishing Platte

Ice Conditions Platte Lake: 10inches of honeycombed ice.

I went out fishing today and the ice was rotten from top to bottom. It never got below freezing last night and the wind worked the water on top of the ice through the ice column. The lake has even turned dark at this point. Open water could be here within a week if the correct conditions prevail, which they just might.

BTW-Didn't catch anything but saw a pike go by high in the water column.

3 Days

Rock Lake 3/18
I fished from about Noon till Dark, it was sunny but cool with Temps right at freezing. I tried the spot I've been wanting to try on the SE part of the lake. I would mark fish occasionally but I think they were nothing but small crappie and perch. That was all I caught any way a few small crappie and perch. At about 3 I tried heading to the northern basin where I encountered dead water and a few small perch. I drilled holes close to the small NW point and saw sunnies on the Aqua View. At dusk I headed back to where I started and landed a couple of small crappies and 1 sunfish. Overall a disappointment.

Platte Lake 3/17
I headed out to the CollegeOutdoorsGuy Hole and did nothing but mark fish which I never did catch. Probably small sunnies and perch. Arrived around 5 done at dark.

Sullivan Lake 3/16
Headed out to the West Access Hole at Dusk. Got 1 small Crappie and 2x10" Keepers on Demon's and minnows. That was it.

2005 BP Big Bass Review

2004 Big Bass Review

2005:

21.5" Caught 10/12/05

Largemouth:
Measured by length:
21inch 1Bass Platte Lake White Sizmic Frog

20inch 7Bass
Lakes: 4 Sullivan, 2 Platte, Rock
Baits: 3 Green Deadstick Rogue, White JigNPig, BrownChart JigNpig, Glow Demon and Minnow, Red Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog

19inch 17Bass
Lakes: 9 Sullivan, 2 Platte, 2 Bone (WI), 2 Towline, Blackwater, Rock
Baits: 3 Blue/Black JigNPig Denny Brauer 3x Chunk, 3 Brown Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog, 2 Green Deadstick Rogue, 2 White Snag Proof Frog, Chart Cubby Mini Mite, Beetle Spin, Silver Deadstick Rogue, 4" Senko, White JigNPig, Black SnagProof Frog, Brown/Chart Jig.


Smallmouth:
Measured by Length:
19inch 3Bass
Lake: Mille Lacs
Bait: Skitter Prop Blaze, Gold Frenzy Popper, Purple Frenzy Popper

Measured by weight:
4-00 Koronis Berkley Frenzy Popper Bullfrog


BP's Thoughts: I consider a big bass in MN as anything bigger than 19" or over 4lbs. Generally Tournaments in MN will have the Big Bass be a 4 to 5lb fish with an occasional 6lber.

The way the year started out I really thought I was gonna slay the big bass but the results ended up just being OK and just about the same as 2003 and 2004; (I didn't keep track of big fish in 2003). In 2004 I caught 26, in 2005 the number is 29 or so. I just could not find the big fish or larger concentrations of fish in Platte this year either. By the numbers it is clear that Sullivan was again my best bet for big bass.

My biggest Largemouth in 2005, 21.5inches, was one of the last bass I caught for the year. The Biggest Smallie was a 19.75" Chunk out of Mille Lacs Lake.

Here's some Pics of this years fish (Click to enlarge)

Solid 19" from the Pro, caught while fishing with my brothers Steve and Todd.


These two 19"ers were caught out of the Pro on a Black and Blue Jig


This 19.75" was my biggest Smallie of the Year 2005, I got two others that day that were 4lbs or bigger.


Caught this 20inch fish in June. I am pretty sure it came off a dock on a jig.


20 incher caught on Cubby Mini-Mite in the Spring.


Bone Lake 19+


2nd Bone Lake 19+


A Grumpy Old Man Hole Lunker.


18.75" Dock fish caught on the MN openner.


20+ Fish caught on a swim jig at the PRO


Two hefty dogs. 1 dock fish, 1 slop fish, both on Frogs.

Mixed bag

It was sunny and so I decided to head out even with a chill in the air. I thought it wasn't windy but it kind of was out of the NW. I got out around 3:30 or so. I first set up on the point out front where I quickly learned that the battery for the Aqua View needed a charge. I caught a couple of perch and a small pike.

At 5:30 I headed out off the N side of the Big Island and found a pre-drilled hole in 9ft of water; Somebody had been fishing there earlier in the day. I think there were sunfish in the spot that I couldn't catch cause I had no grubs. I caught 2 8-9" Crappies and a bullhead before it got dark and I gave up.

Hopefully it will warm up this week.

Fishing With Cyb on West Rush

West Rush Lake Report: The Cyberfish secret spot was only good for Cyberfish and that for about 5 minutes. The schools of Crappies really seemed to be on the move today and the action was there for sporadic bursts, the average crappie size left something to be desired too. Overall we had a good time and when the sun was out, and there was no wind, it was a heck of a nice morning and early afternoon. Thank goodness it wasn't a BP vs. Cyberfish competition day because he pretty much cleaned everyones clock. Maybe I'll have to challenge him to a big Crappie Contest at next weeks G.E.M. Outing.

Ice Bassin 2006

I headed out this afternoon about 2PM to try and catch some bass. Lo & Behold I actually caught 3. I was fishing almost right out front of our place.

I got this first one on a Fat boy and maggots. I saw him come in on the camera and take it. Up to that point I'd been seeing and catching numerous medium to small sunfish and little Perch.
This next Bass hit on a small red Angel Eye with a red plastic attractor. Both this and the first fish were about a pound. Caught over bear bottom in about 10feet. When this one came in I first thought it was a bigger sunfish.

This last bass, both pictures, was about 2lbs and also hit on the Angel Eye. I had moved in a little shallower and saw a mark come in and hang there, I let the spoon sit and sure enough it was my third bass.

A little later I got a small pike.

I went out after Crappies on Sullivan at Dark, caught 1 8"er and missed another bite and that was it.

I need to do something about getting another camera, obviously.

BP's 2005 Fishing Goals Review:

Crappie:
1. Catch 14inch or bigger Nope
2. Find the Crappies this spring on Platte Nope but I did do pretty good at the Grumpy Old Man Hole.

Dogfish:

1. Repeat as MN Bowfin Grand Champion Nope
2. Catch a State Record Doggy (Current Record 10lb15oz 32"/15"- 31"/14.5") Nope by biggest doggy was caught at Mille Lacs and was only around 5lbs.

Walleye:
1. Catch a 30inch fish. Nope, but I had a hot and cold Fall Trolling season, once again catching an 8lb, 27.5" fish.

Pike:
1. Win or place in the money in Hillman Lions Platte Lake Pike Tournament (August) YES! I think it was 4th or 5th place. I got the big fish and Mike Davis got the numbers. We won all of $25 or $50 dollars

Bass:

1. Catch a 21plus inch or 7lb Largemouth Yes! on the 21 incher. My last big bass of the season.
2. Catch a 21plus inch or 6lb Smallmouth Nope, I did get 2x19.5"
3. Catch 40 Bass@ or over 19inches or 4lbs. Not even close, my total was 29 which was 3 better than 2004.
4. Catch 50 Smallmouth. Yes! I managed to land 52 total smallies.

Team Bass Trail:
1. Win 2 Tournaments (1@Horseshoe) Nope, my best finish was 2nd at the Guy/Gal w/ Partner Erin Sutter-Maas. Beyond that I had 5th place showings at Koronis and Horseshoe #2.
2. Win Big Bass 2 Times Nope, my best fish was a 4lb Smallie at Koronis.
3. Place in the Money 7 times Nope, not even close, in the money once and that was unexpected.
4. Never Finish below 10th place Nope, I had dismal finishes as Bone, N/S Center, Platte/Sullivan, and the TOC.
5. Limit every tournament Nope, that went out the window at Bone.
6. Average over 2.25lbs per fish Nope, but close at 2.17.

New Lakes to Fish for Bass:
Lobster (Team Bass) Yes. This a tournament I let slip through my fingers. Liked the Lake.
Sauk (Team Bass) Yes. I like the lake even though it kicked my butt in TOC day #1.
Bordon Nope!
Erskine Yes, not impressed.
Camp Nope
South Long Nope, only from shore.

Fishers of Men Ice 1

Today I went out fishing with a group of guys from the Fishers of Men Fishing Club (Twin Cities) . In the most recent newsletter, I wrote an article proposing that we get out fishing more as a club and so we went fishing. It was a modest turn out of 7 guys and 1 daughter on this cold February morning. Cold mornings like this one, below or at zero, have been a rare thing in Minnesocold this winter.

We met at Eddy's on Mille Lac's at 8AM where I found out we would be fishing in an Eddy's House with, Launch Captain and Pastor of Onamia Alliance Church, David ________ I forget his last name. Maybe I'll have pictures later. The fishing was slow with only a few medium sized perch brought up. Frankly I didn't care, I was just glad to be in a warm fish house and to monkey around with my underwater camera. We had the house till noon.

At noon the group split up with myself, Tom Goodrich, Tom Hayes, Mike & Abby Cummins going to Platte Lake to try for Pike and Panfish. Although cold the sun made fishing bearable. In the afternoon, we managed to get 4 Pike, 1 decent Crappie and a couple little one's, and the same with sunfish. At one point I was jigging for two pike on the Aqua View, but I got neither. I also spent some of the time riding around the lake on Mike's snowmobile. Overall Goodrich went home with a mess of fish and I unloaded two slabs that had frozen solid in the cold weather we've been having.

Over all Fun Day!

Slab Slow Down

As that I had other errands to run today, I only got out at dusk trying to get into those Sullivan Slabs that I found yesterday. The long and short of it is I caught one perch, and 5 Crappies, only 2 of which were slabbers. However the night ended a little early for my taste due to the fact that I ran out of propane for the lantern. It's too bad that happened because I was prepared to stay out several more hours on an evening that was rather warm for this point in the season. Oh well, that's fishing.

Hard Luck Slabber Dady

The Aitkin Jaycees Ice Fishing Contest was a bust for me. I couldn't even bring up a little perch. I had two quality bites on minnows and whiffed on both hooksets, should have let them have it longer. Pout were 3 out of the top 4 places with a walleye in 3rd. I think there was 1 tulibee in the top 10, one other walleye in the top 20 and the rest were perch, including a couple that bested a pound.

Afterward I decided to head to Sullivan and try for some slabbers. I put in at the West Access and by accident ended up working a hump for eye's. In the process of doing that I accidentally had my St. Croix Avid Ice Stick, my best ice fishing pole, get to close to the Coleman Lantern and the blank got weakened but didn't break. I think if I put some kind of splint on it that maybe it can be saved. At that point I was one frustrated dude. I did manage to get off the break and find 6 solid 10" slab crappies and missed several more on bad hookset and probably also not feeling the bite. They were biting really light. What finally tripped the trigger was a big minnow on a Custom Jigs Glow Demon beneath a glow dropper as an attracter. In my other hole I had a small minnow on a Glow Demon. I would jig the big minnow and they would inhale the small minnow and just sit with it.

Now that I've found these dudes, look out.

Last Night's Low Light's

Well sometimes you get em N sometimes you don't. Last night I didn't.

I took the "Slop Slip" out on Platte from about 4:30 to Dusk on a gorgeous fall night, but the bass were not hitting but the Pike were swirling. I saw stuff including my Sizmic Toad getting whacked at, but those Pike were just trying to scare that Toad; I never did catch a pike and I didn't lose a hook either (a few legs off the Toad's yes, but hooks no thank goodness). I did get one 14/15" bass, I missed another that size when my hookset sent him rolling, and I think I had a shot at a big one that promptly buried me in "the straw and hay."

I then went to Eddies on Mille Lacs to meet the guys coming in on the 6-10PM launch. It was very slow and only Capt. Shrink Wrap caught anything among the guys and gal with FOM. They had 19 people on the launch and only 8 or 9 were caught in the 4 hours. The later launch had better success by the sound of it. The Jetti was a dud, but it sure was nice out and I stayed until after 1AM. Some guys gave me some leaches and I talked to a guy who was out the night before and got into em.

It looked to me like IP was going with a perfect W SW wind and bright moon.

Tonight it looks like Cyb and I will be getting out.

Big Bass On The Sizmic Toad

Actually this:

...Is my biggest bass of the last couple years. She measured in at 21.5 and I would guess was in the high 5's; She hit a Sizmic Toad fairly close to the boat. It is the second biggest I've caught out of Platte. I caught a 21.5"er that was much thicker and probably went mid-6's two years ago.


This bass was one of those fish that fools you. I thought I had a little pike swirling at the frog in a tease. Fortunatly I decided not to pull it away and kept baiting it. I did this for a good 30feet, before it finally sucked it in; all the while I thought it was just a slimer. It was about 10 feet from the boat when it took the frog and I set the hook, all I saw was head and mouth of a big bass. I was using heavy tackle in fairly heavy but dying cover and so I horsed it right to my awaiting hand.

As long as I'm on big fish Here's two I caught on Platte the night after this years September Tournament debacle on Platte/Sullivan:


The big fish was only 19.75 but weighted 5lbs4ozs. The smaller fish is a regular sized mid 3lb 18" Larry. I got the big one under a dock that I just hammered to no avail on the previous tournament day; Got her on a SnagProof Bobby's Perfect Frog on one serious swirl. Sometimes you know they are big and sometimes you don't.

Sizmic Toad Night

It was a long day out at the "New House" which is actually now after long last on the property. I video taped the thing. Watching a modular home get put on it's foundation is interesting and I am sure my commentary and videography skills made it even more so. My one regret is that I didn't interview "the guys." A little Leno'esk "Dave Walking" would have been cool.

Anyway I headed out at dusk on this perfect mid fall day and slammed 5 topwater bass, but none were pigs.  I had several pike blow ups and one was from a huge'n. But it missed the Sizmic Frog. Oh to be out all day on a day like this, the fish were shallow and ultra aggressive; another day that you could pop a state record.

Eddy's Jetty

I'm gonna try Eddy's Jetty for a time tonight.

Update, didn't get there until 10:30. The wind had come up nicely out of the SE, but the clouds were cutting out the 1/2 moon. I only got one that was under 14", one of the few small guys I've ever got off the Jetty.

Team Bass TOC Sauk and Knife

The Tournament of Champions lakes are kept secret until the day before the tournament, thus if you want to pre-fish you either have to hit a lot of lakes or guess. I was thinking about hitting Horseshoe and Sauk in addition to Platte/Sullivan but I didn't do either, I ended up regretting my sloth.

Saturday September 24th Sauk Lake
Conditions: It was overcast all day with a slight wind out of the south. Temps were probably in low to mid 60's.

I basically started this tournament on Sauk the way I started the tournament in August. I hit the same shoreline with a fluke. No luck. I then proceeded to hit some wood with jigs, no luck. Then some pads with the jig, no luck. Then weeds and pads, no luck except a bunch of pike on a slow rolled spinnerbait. I tried docks no luck except a couple more pike, one of which broke off a swim jig. Every once and a while I would bring out the storm swim bait trying to catch a monster. It just was not my day.

Finally in the last hour I missed a good fish 3-4lbfish and caught a 2lber. So basically my TOC was over on Day 1.

Saturday September 25th Knife Lake
Conditions: It was cloudy and cool turning into a light breeze and steady rain.

As that I was basically eliminated from the running, I was fishing for big fish. My heart was not in it. I did catch several fish including a smallie in the rice. The rain got to me so I gave up and released my fish. I went back to the car and listened to the Vikings game while waiting for the weigh in.

Last Place both days.

Team Bass Platte/Sullivan

Report Done: 5/25/06

I'm not going to report except to say that I quit early because I was so frustrated. It was windy out of the south, my trolling motor was giving me trouble and I was on nothing on my home lake. Can you say Disaster!

Update: Now that time has passed 1 fish for 2lbs 20zs for 17th Place out of 20 boats.

Next Tournament: TOC

Team Bass Knife Lake

Report done 5/25/06

Pre-fish: I don't think I pre-fished this one due to having a GEM camp.

Tournament Day Conditions: Morning it was semi cloudy calm around 70. Afternoon the winds picked up out of the west and it was near 80 with sun then thickening cloud cover.

Started in the same spot as last year which is basically right across the lake on the western shore from the blast off point. I think I got one small one in the box right away and missed a good hit as I worked the shore south. I only went so far then headed back north eventually running along the Island as I was working that shore some old timer and his wife passed by me and parked up the shore line about 70 yards and out about a good casts distance. I kept working the shore line and when I got down by this guy he starts talking about how I have no manners even though it was he who parked right in my path but far enough out for there to be plenty of room for me to continue working the shore line. I was like "whatever!" I worked around the North Side of the Island and got nothing into the weeds.

Another tournament boat was just working it's way around a mini-point on to the run of docks just North of the Island. I decided I would hit the first dock and then I would blast out. I immediately got hit by a solid 17"er. I then caught two more small keepers out from that dock. I worked to the next dock and got another solid 16"keeper. The other boat and I passed each other. They were pitching jigs and I was throwing a topwater Zoom Horney Toad. They caught fish behind me and I caught fish behind them with me getting the better of it with a solid 18"er and I think my first cull out. I worked up and back on the run of docks getting one or two that didn't help me.

I then ran to the east shore farther North on the lake. There was a solid algea bloom in this area but it didn't matter because immediately I got another keeper from under a dock. I then proceeded to miss a good hit and then another. I went until the algea just got too thick and headed North a little farther than where I started before. I missed a good hit from a 3 to 4lb fish. That was several quality chances in a row gone. The wind started coming up and the eastern shore turned tough.

I then headed to the river inlet and got nothing. I went under the bridge and tried the far south end of the lake. I missed another solid blow up. The wind was coming in good now. I worked my way north with no luck. I then headed to the run of docks were I had done so well and got 1 more slight cull up. I then headed to the weigh in knowing I had blown a shot for a pretty good bag with missed fish. As it turns out I would probably have had a tough time breaking into the top 4 which all had 18lb bags.

I ended up in 7th place with a 13lb 6oz bag

Stats:Knife
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.23lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 13.37lbs

Mistakes: I was worn out from the week of camp and I struggled to keep my focus. I outright missed fish because I didn't have my A or even B or C game. For the last few hours on this one I was a hurting unit.

After Thoughts: This tournament was very hard on me. I was just wiped out. At the end of the day I went back to the launch and took a nap on the deck of the boat before loading up the boat and going home. This one pretty much sealed my fate into not being able to break into the top 10 for the year but I kind of feel fortunate to have caught what I did. After all I got my best fish behind one of the clubs top boats and I did much better than last year.

Next Touranment: Platte/Sullivan

Team Bass Horseshoe Chain 2

Report done 5/10/06

Pre-fish: I don't believe I pre-fished for this tournament.

Tournament Day Conditions: Clear to hazy sun, NW wind at 15 mph, Air temp 80, Water temp lower 70's

Tournament Day: It was one of those calm warm and humid tournament mornings. As I was running to "the starting point" I noticed panfish dimpling the surface and I decided to start on the wooded portion of "the starting point". There was a school sitting there on the wood and I think I must have boated 4 fish plus one solid miss and 1 or 2 more misses where I'm not sure of the quality of the fish. I broke my jig off at one point and went scrounging around and got it back. I headed around the point nothing, then I fished fast all the way down to Tracy's Channel getting nothing.

Tah Dah, there was fish in "Tracy's Channel" this time and I filled my limit with the Zoom Horny Toad. I had a blow up miss on the toad, so I pitched back in with the jig. WHACK! I set the hook into a 5lber, Dogfish! Ohh well. I think I caught a couple of other bass, maybe culling up a little.

I then headed over to the other cuts, nothing around to and past "Break off Point". Into the next point I got smacked on that one dock by the biggest bass of the day (Zoom Horny Toad). I think I got a couple of other fish in this cut that may or may not have slightly culled. I worked into the next cut without any success.

I am pretty sure it was getting to be late in the day at this point. I did try some docks on the way to "Kicker Break off Cut" where I think I may have gotten a small cull up. Then to the weigh in.

My bag was 13lbs14ozs, my biggest Horseshoe Bag yet, which was good enough for my best Horseshoe finish so far 6th Place.

After the tournament was over I stayed around and fished some stuff down the river with mixed success.

Stats:
Horseshoe 2
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.31lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 13.87lbs

Mistakes: I had a bad pitch or two that ended up costing me fish. I think one of those lost fish was a good one of at least 3lbs.

After Thoughts: I really enjoy fishing the chain and it's hard to complain with my best performance on the Shoe so far. I just can't seem to find or land the kicker fish that will vault me into the money.

Next Tournament: Knife Lake

Team Bass Sauk Lake

Report Done: 5/8/2006

Pre-Fish: Went into this one lake unseen.

About Sauk Lake: This was an all new lake for me and the Team Bass Trail. Coming in Sauk Lake had a reputation for tough fishing, great looking water and big fish; would that hold true or would we find something else?

Sauk is basically a river/lake like the Horseshoe chain. The lake had a pretty good algae bloom and thus stained water.

Tournament Day: Sight unseen my goal was to get a limit and just hope it was big enough or that there was a kicker in there. My basic strategy was to put the trolling motor down and cover water until I figured something out.

Conditions: Warm, the morning with a slight overcast clearing in the afternoon. Wind out of the south 5 to 10mph.

I went under the bridge heading west put my self on the calm south shore and started fishing with a Bubble Gum Zoom Super Fluke. It didn't take long and I landed my first keeper, just under 2lbs. A little farther down I landed another then another and then I missed a solid 3-4lb fish on a poor hookset. These fish were all shallow related to wood. I went through I fairly long dry spell before I caught one and then missed a good fish on the fluke in a tangle of wood. I worked that piece of cover over pretty good and eventually caught that fish I missed on a jig. I then went through another long dry spell. I moved East of the bridge on the North side and started fishing slop with a frog and a jig.

The limit fish was proving elusive as I missed a few blow ups and bites on the jig. I didn't get frustrated, I got mad. With about 10 minutes left I nabbed a good 2lber on the Zoom Horny Toad. I felt really good at that point and headed in.

Stats:
For Sauk Lake
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.11lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 12.69

12lbs 11ozs for 7th Place

After Thoughts: It's a good thing I got that limit fish or I would have been highly frustrated. I must have lost at least 5 bass before I finally filled out. Overall I felt good about getting 7th place as it could have been far worse. I was a ways out of the money but plenty close to falling far had I not caught that last fish.

I don't know if pre-fishing would have helped or hurt me in this one as that I feel I had a fairly productive day. I don't think the fishery has an overwhelming abundance of fish to begin with. Having that attitude that it might be tough helped me to keep my head in the game. My early success was a big bonus.

Mistakes: Missed fish just killed me in this one.

Final Thought: The big fish and big stringers just didn't show up, the tournament was won by wood pitching jigs.

Next Tournament: Horseshoe 2

Team Bass North & South Center Recap

As that this report is written on 5/8/06 I don't remember much about this forgettable tournament.

Pre-fish: The plan was to hit South Center early to mid morning than pre-fish with Dave Smiddle in the later afternoon. I didn't get to the lake until after 5PM and Smiddle got off early and had been fishing out of his boat for most of the afternoon. He took me around to show me his spots then we fished for a little while before he had to leave. I then proceeded to look for some stuff on my own catching a few quality fish. I stayed over night at the access and did pre-fishing for a second day on South Center. I tried all sorts of things and caught fish here and there with nothing great but enough for a good feeling heading into the tournament as I headed home.

Tournament Day: Since the culvert between the two lakes was under construction we had the option of fishing either lake with two separate weigh ins. Naturally I chose South Center as that is where my pre-fishing was concentrated.

Conditions: The weather was partly sunny to overcast with a bit of a southern breeze.

Blast off came and I headed to my starting area, nothing. Secondary spot nothing, Third spot nothing, Fourth area nothing. Tried some docks, nothing. Tried some slop, nothing. It was now late morning and I had nothing to show for it. I then went inside a shallow bay to an isolated spot where I thought I would be able to get at least my first keeper, nothing. Finally some time after noon I got my first keeper in some pads, I worked the area and got a second fish and that was it. I did try and work a couple of Smiddles spots with only a bite off and a couple of crappies on a drop shot to show for it.

As if the day wasn't frustrating enough, at the end of the day I got harassed and threatened by a dock owner for fishing to close to his boat and dock. If my cell phone still worked I would have recorded his every word and took the time to turn the guy in. As it turns out he harassed a couple other of our guys.

All and all a second year in a row with a miserable showing at N&S Center. 2 fish for 2lbs15ozs and 19th place out of 22 Teams.
Stats:
For Sylvia/Twin
TLA: .000
LCP: .000
FWA: 1.47lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 2.94lbs

After Thoughts: Can't believe what I caught was all I caught, tough day and I'm embarrassed on a pretty good bass fishery.

Mistakes: I think I was fishing just too fast. Mike Daloia , 8th place, said he caught lots of fish, plus tied for big fish senko fishing docks and pads slowly.

I didn't stay positive and fish to the best of my abilities. At the end of the day I was just frustrated and going through the motions.

Drop shotting: What was I thinking? In that stained water a texas rig should have been the way to go.

Final Thought: It was just one of those days, N&S Center kicked my butt for the second year in a row. Maybe next year.

Next Tournament: Sauk Lake

Team Bass Sylvia/Twin Guy Gal

Note: Report done 3-27-2006
Pre-fish: None do to not taking this tournament seriously and my familiarity with the lake. I would have loved to pre-fish but it just wasn't in the offing.

Tournament Day: Note my Gal was sister in-law/sponsor Erin Sutter-Maas
I arrived at the lake far before Erin and I's agreed meeting time. I headed out to do a little early morning fun fishing and did get into a bunch of small bass. Technically I think this was against the rules but it's the guy/gal tournament and so I didn't think it mattered. I wasn't pre-fishing. I knew this spot holds bass in the early morning and that I would not visit the spot in the tourney, and probably nobody else would as well.

Eventually it was time to meet Erin and Jeff. We got squared away and headed to the check in. There were 12 other teams.

Conditions: Warm and becoming more overcast, maybe a slight wind but I don't remember.

At Blast Off we made our way past the starter mansion that sits on the families old property and headed to "My Island" and "Turtle Bay." After a quick lesson on frog fishing in the slop, Erin and I were casting away. The bass were in the area but we were having a hard time hooking up. The size of the fish was OK but not great. We fished the general area for a long time. Getting a blow up ever now and again with a fish every once and a while. Just before the thunderstorm hit, I got the best fish of the day, a solid 2lber, down towards McGregor's towards the end of the rice. Conditions got perfect just before the storm hit and I think I landed our 4th bass at that time.

The Storm hit and we went across to the 1st Dock inside "My Island" to wait it out. It rained, it poured, it blew, and it thundered. We were protected pretty good from the wind, but it rained cats and dogs. The Storm must have lasted a good hour. FYI the guy/gal tournament fishing hours are shortened, so an hour or more off the water is a big deal. Finally the storm slowed a bit and we headed back out covering the same area, I think I missed a couple of opportunities and didn't catch anymore.

We then headed to the channel. It was starting to clear up at this point and we were into post frontal conditions. We started fishing around the Twin Channel entrance and around "Bullhead Bay" At some point I think it was Erin that caught our limit fish and I think she got another that didn't keep, while I caught a few more smallish one. I think she got her fish on a spinnerbait. I had and missed a solid blow up on a frog, through persistance I managed to catch what was another quality 2lber (maybe this was our big fish). At some point the wind started really whipping up out of the South. We fished along the North shore of the channel and across the channel flat over to the camps beach.

We headed over to the Sylvia channel entrance point and braved the waves. I think I manged to catch a cull fish off the wind beaten point. We fished into the lee and then quickly went over and finished up at the pads where the channel turns North towards the camp. Erin had a quality blow up that we just didn't land there. At this point it was time to go and so we headed to the weigh in.

We had a 6 fish limit for 9lbs 13ozs which was good enough for 2nd place. 1st Place went to Jack and Mary Kiffe @ 10-11. Erin got the trophy and I got the $100. I didn't know they paid out in this tournament so that was a nice surprize. Over all Erin and I had a good time and got very wet.

Stats:
For Sylvia/Twin
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.63lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 9.81lbs

After Thoughts: Wish we could have had a full day as that I definitely didn't get to all my spots. Erin kept in good spirits despite the drenching and she was able to contribute at least 1 fish to the bag which is good. I pretty much stuck to my plan and we had an OK day. We were just one solid fish out of first place. Things did get tough after the storm passed.

Next Tournament: North and South Center

Mille Lacs Cemetery Jetty

Is to go and float tube in Mille Lacs for Smallies along the West Side. There is a mild wind and I haven't been out in the tube in forever.

Hope I don't tie into a big Ski or Pike and get taken out to sea.
(Actually I have a plan, if one of those huge dudes bites I will freespool until I get up into shallow enough water to stand then fight him from there.)

Got myself 4 smallies and a few misses, nothing bigger than 16.5" 2on a 3/16oz White/Chart Strike King Spinnerbait, 1 on a Frenzy Pop, and a little dude on the Sammy, YES the Sammy of big price point catcher of little fish.

Fished the Cemetery Jetty down to the Rum outlet and back. There were less rocks than I thought in this area. I should have Jetty jumped as that the fish were on rocks. Live and Learn. It was tons o fun and a beautiful night with huge moon rising in the SW.

Team Bass Horseshoe Pre-fish and Tourney Recap

Pre-fish: I just could not get my act together even with leaving GEM Camp directly from Black Water Lake. I slept in and then putzed around getting ready. I was not onto "the chain" until 7:30PM, not much for Pre-Fishing time. I headed to a row of docks and got nothing, I then went to my starting area from last year and popped a couple of fish and figured all the stuff I've had success on in the past was good to go. I then went to GPS the entrance to the "river section" and went to a bay I've wanted to try on Horseshoe where I caught 1 fish but that was it. Went back to the landing and read through the New Bassmasters Magazine and then set up the boat for bed.

The boat was not nearly as comfortable as at Lobster. It was too humid and dank under the boat cover and I could not sleep. When I opened the cover mosquitoes were buzzing me. My alarm clock was ahead by about 2 hours and so at 3am I thought it was 5am and I figured I'd just stay up until the tournament started. Man it took a long time for it to get light as I finished off reading the Bassmaster and waited, I even got a bit of sleep in the truck before people started pulling in.

Pre-fish Analysis: Not enough sleep bad, bad, bad! I wished I hadn't come for pre-fishing at all.

Tournament Day:
I made a morning day decision to start at "the starting point" rather than in "Tracy's Channel." I did get one fat 13incher out from under one little tree on a jig but that was it. I made my way down the way to Tracy's Channel getting nothing. A boat was in the Channel and they said nothing was in there and they were not kidding. I didn't even get a bite and there were no carp or sunnies really and that place is normally full of life and worth a limit. I then headed around to "the carp cut" area around to "Break Off Point." I luckily managed to land a good bass on a fluke off a tree on the point even though I was out of position when it hit.

I went into the next cut and got nothing off the entry docks. I went back further into the cut and found a school of fish holding under slop along a retaining wall. I worked the whole area and filled my limit.

Onto the next cut and it's docks where I got nothing. I went to the other side and flipped trees and culled up just a little bit and missed a couple. All the fish seemed to be about 13-14inches which is weak for the Chain. I then headed to "Kicker Missed Cut" and got my last cull fish. Headed to the cut across the way and the day was over. I had my worst Horseshoe bag yet for a Team Bass tournament and a worse bag than on Lobster for goodness sake. Normally I've had a limit with a nice fish pretty early in the day, but it was tough to get bites on this hot and hazy day. I figured I was headed for a dismal finish in the mid to high teens.

I hung out at the weigh in and the weights were way down this year. My bag of 10lbs15ozs was good enough for an 8th Place finish (tie for my best Horseshoe finish last year when I had a couple of more pounds)
Stats:
For Horseshoe
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.82lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 10.94lbs

For Season
TLA: .750
LCP: .826
FWA: 2.21lbs
BBP: .053
TDWA: 10.52lbs
(TLA-Tournament Limit Average, LCP-Limit Catch Percentage, FWA-Fish Weight Average, BBP-Big Bass Percentage, TDWA-Total Daily Weight Average)

After Thoughts: What's with the shoe? All it took to win was 17-1 which is quite low for Team Bass, but the real story is the low average of weights. My 8th Place weight of last year 13-12 was good enough to make the money this year. I guess I am happy with my finish as that it could have been far far worse. I lucked out in that Craig and Roger, the winners at Koronis, were one short of limit when I was 10oz's in front of them.

Mistakes: I could have used more sleep. Fatigue did become a factor for me in that hot weather and the lack of sleep made focusing a conscious struggle. I did amazingly well at keeping my focus but I would say I fished at about 85% of what I would have done rested.

Otherwise I fished alright and nothing comes to mind.

Parting Thoughts: Even though I was worn out I decided I wanted to check out some more of the chain and so I headed out after the tournament. I ran into this guy, who's name I don't recall, who was pre-fishing for the Midwest Sportsman Bass Tournament and he said he just got out but had been pre-fishing a few days during the week. He bragged about how he had and been catching nice fish left and right in his pre-fish and he went on to brag about how great this Midwest Sportsman Trail is and how good their fisherman are and how it was gonna take 20lbs with a 5 bass limit to win next week; He was off by about 5.5lbs and there is no way their top team would have beaten the Team Bass top team if they could have brought in a 6 fish limit. Sure their average weight per fish was maybe a bit better than what Team Bass as a group had, but we were a week closer to Post Spawn and they fished a different day, a day on which Team Bass guys and gals were whacking 20lb stringers on Maple Lake. My guess is that we fished the tougher day.

I guess there is something in fisherman and tournament fisherman in particular that makes us prone to want to brag and be the one's who are catching the most and biggest. The great thing about the end of the tournament day is that "the scale" don't tell very big lies, if it lies at all.

Next Tournament: Team Bass Guy/Gal on Sylvia/Twin.

Lobster Lake Pre-Fish and Tourney Recap

Pre-Fish June 24th- My research indicated that this was a Sylvia/Twin like fishery with clear water, lots of bass, but difficult to catch bass with any size. I got a late start and was not on the water until about 10am. Talked with Jack Kiffe briefly at the ramp.

Started out by running around the whole lake for a quick look at everything. The lake reminded me a lot of Clearwater in Wright County with lots of reed beds and bullrushes along with some good dock runs, and slop, there is also some good wood in the water. The day started out sunny and hot with only a little bit of wind. I started out by putting a tube through matted weeds and getting fish, mostly 12's except for a 4lb dogfish. Was observing lots of sunnies and carp.

I then went to Fluke weed flats and inside weedlines. I got a couple of nicer fish. I threw a topwater popper and got lots of little dudes. Threw in the slop and got a couple of blow ups. Started pitching a jig on rushes, reeds, slop and wood and got more bites mostly small. At some point it started clouding up pretty good. I hit some dock areas and got more dinks mostly. Ran into, Koronis partner, Nick Graupe and John Larson for some small talk as it was sprinkling a little bit. They reported lots of dinks deep or shallow.

A little while after talking with Nick and John, I found a little something by catching 3 quality mid 2 to almost 3lb fish in as many casts and went up to figure out why they were there and there WAS a reason. I just wish I hadn't hooked em to find this out. I decided this would be my starting spot.

I then went to check a similar area and had a muskie or pike steal a topwater frog but there wasn't much here except little bass. As the sun went down I did some fun fishing with the popper and some topwater frogs in the reeds. I had a quality bass jump me off in the reeds. As it got dark I went back to the launch and set up the boat which was my motel room and that worked out great.

Pre-fish Analysis- I like the lake and Sylvia/Twin knowledge experience would be a definite advantage. The key would not be just getting a limit (getting a limit would be easy, I succeeded at catching keepers every way I fished) or needing a BIG limit (getting a 3lb plus average probably is a very long shot), but finding a limit of 2lb fish and finding any fish 3lbs or more would be a big deal.

Tournament Day:
Think I had a take-off number in the low teens. Not that it mattered even with boat 1 my run was long enough that almost any boat was gonna beat me to my starting spot if they wanted. I was happy to see that no one was anywhere near that part of the bay where my "something" was. I started out catching fish immediately on flukes and a popper. Within 15 minutes I had 5 fish in the well but they were all disappointing 12-13.5 inchers. Finally I got a solid hit on a jig but it turned out to be a 2.5lb pike that only fought like a solid bass. I hadn't even seen a pike the day before and so I was disappointed. Left this spot with 5 dinks in the well.

I then headed for quick stab at a reed point, nothing. Then to where I lost the big one in the reeds, nothing. On to the far east side, tried this good looking deal but it didn't have anything. Fluked an inside weedline and filled my limit also had a walleye follow of all things. Decided to keep on the inside weedline in the other direction and I ended up missing a solid fish somehow, but I changed to the "Smoke" fluke and luckily I think I hooked it, a 15"er. I didn't get anymore and headed to the outlet were I got a bunch of little one's.

I then headed back to my morning spot and culled up 2 fish with 1 being another quality fish at or around 2lbs. I stopped by some wood in the slop and missed an opportunity for something that MAY have been a good fish because I wasn't paying attention like I should have been while pitching a tube into holes. I then tried around some docks and wood but didn't get anything there.

I then went to area I pitched mats and tried that but nothing really was going on. I did eventually manage a couple of culls with on 14+ fish off some slop. When into the last 2 hours I headed back to my starting spot and got another quality 14+ fish. I then ran for the NE "Claw" but screwed up and was in NW "Claw" so I decided to run that slop quickly and managed to luck into a 14+ bass. I got another solid strike which turned out to be a 4lb pike, doggone it. I then headed to the NE "Claw" which looked awesome with the wind blowing in stained water and carp playing playing but all I managed was few dinks. I then spotted something that I had not noticed in my lake scouting. Time was running short and I wanted to get back to my starting spot one more time and so I didn't have a chance to explore. I ran to my morning spot and got yet another good cull out of it. I had to quickly head off to the weigh in spot on the East side. I figured I had the 2lb average I wanted and had a solid shot at fishing in the money, I figured I was 1 quality 3lb+ bite out of the win.

I was disappointed that my cookie cutter bag of 14.5 to 15.75" limit was only good for 11lbs 5ozs. I thought I was much closer to 12lbs than that or even over 12lbs, Damn skinny fish! My big bass 15.75inches was only like 2-6. I ended up in 7th Place just 2lbs even out of 1st, 14oz's out of 2nd, and 7oz's out of the money in 4th. Dropping to 7th place was an Ouch! cause I thought my bag was better.

After the tournament I decided to check out that little deal I spotted there at the end. It took a bit of effort on my part to figure it out but when I did immediately I was greeted by my first 3lb Lobster bass and then another and then another within 12 casts. If I had found this in pre-fish, I would have won going away, darn it. I ended up with 4 at least as big as anything I had in the tournament and a shot at a big dogfish too. If only...

I guess one can only hope that Lobster is drawn as a TOC lake and the two things that I have there hold up as that they are not quite the same but similar.

After Thoughts: Frustration! On my starting spot, I burned some of it's better fish in finding it and not thoroughly scouting enough left a gold mine untapped when I really should have found it. I could have had a 15+lb limit, but that's the way it goes.

Looks like Clearwater, fishes like Sylvia Twin.

Mistakes:
#1: Missing what I missed in my pre-tournament and pre-fish scouting.
#2: Lack of concentration and good technique for a moment that may have cost me a good fish.
#3: Catching that 3rd fish in a row in the same spot pre-fishing, two in a row should have told me something was up and I should have checked it out a little closer.

Stats: Lobster Lake
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 1.89Lbs
BBP: .000
TDWA: 11.31Lbs

For Season Stats and Next Tournament See Horseshoe Chain Above...

(TLA-Tournament Limit Average, LCP-Limit Catch Percentage, FWA-Fish Weight Average, BBP-Big Bass Percentage, TDWA-Total Daily Weight Average)

Erskine Lake

My final night trip to Rock may have produced a couple of doggy strikes and follows, but all I caught was Bass. So the one pictured below is my entry.

Last night I fished Erskine in open water for the 1st and last time. I caught a few bass and I'm sure it has a Toad or two, but I'd much rather fish Rock, Platte/Sullivan, Bulldog, Long, or even Peavy. The one good thing was that I got to work on flipping and pitching to wood which should help me at Horseshoe Chain.

Platte Lake 20 Incher

Ahh finally one of them Platte/Sullivan toads decided to eat my lure. I got it off a dock in Platte. The Docks were not really going all that well. I fished a bunch of docks and got the "Twenty" yes but beyond that I only got two 15's and missed one nice fish at the boat (17-19er). Also had a 5lb pike eat my jig and got a couple of other hammerhandles.

As it got dark I tried some slop and got a 17" a couple of pike and had a few misses.

It was a beautiful day. I didn't get out until after 4PM and then I had to come back when Lilah fell in the water and while fishing her out my line caught on the trolling motor. Would have been a great day to chase smallies on Mille Lacs , oh well.

Here's the Twenty next to a 17" which is a low 3lb fish.

June 6th Mille Lacs/June 7th Platte

Monday June 6th:
Heard about a hot smallie bite on Mille Lacs and headed out at 3:30PM to Cove Public Access. Decided to try largemouth 1st right by access. Missed several fish, caught zero. Moved to fish docks and caught a Rocky. Moved to Reeds, saw doggy no bites. Moved to Isaty's Reef, saw nothing. Moved into Isaty's Marina mouth nothing. Sun was going down 9PM decided to beat the 10PM traffic and get to ramp early; Big Mistake.

I get to access park at dock and go to car. 1 boat at ramp, 1 boat waiting. If you don't know Cove P.A. has 1 main ramp and a smaller ramp that boats like mine can land and launch at just fine. I pulled out a little bit and was gonna wait until the waiting boat was in place at the ramp before pulling out and into the 2nd ramp. As the boat that was loading was just about to pull forward, a guy who was at the dock runs to his truck jumps in and starts backing towards the ramp area right behind the guy that was waiting and now backing into the ramp. This yahoo ends up backing right in front of me and so I roll down the window and tell him I was next in line. He says to me, "Settle down" and continues backing up and then add's "I was before you."BS it's who is in their truck and established position with "in line" with the truck that determines who gets the ramp when, not who landed the boat first. He proceeds to back right in front of the second ramp and block the space, get out of his truck and run down to the main dock.

I was mystified by this moron, what was he doing now? So I get out of my truck and go to look for him. The guy loading his boat was quick and started pulling up from the ramp and Moron Man comes hustling off of the docks towards his truck. I point out to him that he was blocking an access, the access I was gonna use. Moron Man says, well why didn't you park your boat over there? I didn't even bother to answer that when I pulled up to the dock not a single boat was on the ramp and only when I was tying up did a trailer back down. Anyway you don't block access to an access, WHAT A FRIGGEN MORON!

As Mr. Moron is backing in I pull out and put my trailer in the water. As I get my boat I notice that the 3 people with Mr. Moron are doing nothing to help him load the boat, What is with that. I get my boat and pull it out just after Mr. Moron pulls his boat out and pull into the spot I had parked in for getting the cover on and boat ready for trailering.

I get out of the truck and start preparing things when the guy next to me starts pulling his truck out; it was getting quite dark at this point. As he started turning his trailer around my trailer I noticed it would be close, but he was going slow and it looked like he had room if he was being careful. He kept movingly slowly and was almost past the end of my trailer when he cut the wheel sharper sped up and ended up clipping my back tail light. The light holder bent and the lights still worked but he broke the side red light shield along with part of the black plastic light housing. The guy and his friends were very apologetic and rectified the situation immediately. Personally, I hold Mr. Moron responsible because if he was not such a TOTAL MORON I would have been gone by then.

Tuesday June 7th:
Went down to watch thunderstorm pass to the North. Caught some nice Gills and Pumpkinseeds off the dock. Was quite windy out of W SW.

5PM Eventually went out in boat to fish docks and in North Bay. Started on Rock Inlet Bay Point Docks, missed a good bite, got a nasty backlash that took a while to work out, caught a small bass, then had to run home cause nature was calling. Wind had shifted to NE and it was cooling down.

Had dinner, went out to PRO Bay North and went in by Pontoons going West. Got a couple as I headed to the PRO. At Pro got a bunch of bites, working into river as it got dark and missed one.

I'll be back out in a little bit.

Koronis/Rice Pre-fish and Tourney Recap

Pre-Fish:The Plan was to Pre-fish Rice on Thursday and Koronis/Mud on Friday. I just could not get things together Thursday and at 1PM I decided it was too late to go and have a productive day and so I went to Rock lake by me instead which I thought resembled some area's of Rice and the river. I got my Snagproof and HT game on with numerous bass, the biggest being a 19"+. I was hoping for a big doggy , but got none.

Friday: I got out when I wanted but detoured in St. Cloud at the Verizon store and Sportsman Warehouse (Nice Store and Snagproof Pro Tournament Frogs for $5.99). I was on the Lake around 11:30 and proceeded to eliminate lots of water and find some potential spots. I caught a couple of nice 5lb Pike, several 2-3lb and smaller bass and had a couple of hints of possibly some bigger fish. It rained but not really hard enough for me to put the rain gear on. For the most part I was trying not to hook fish. Lots of Milfoil and CurlyLeafPond Crap in Rice. Towards the end of the day I took a river tour down to Mud within sight of the Koronis Bridge. I managed to get a few biters in the river and then ran up the river in the dark. Headed into Paynesville to get my gear set up and slept at a Way side Rest.

Tournament Day:
Dropped the boat at Camp Koronis and headed to the Koronis Access to meet my partner for this one Nick Graupe. He spent Fri. pre-fishing but wasn't sure he found anything. His best area didn't have the smallies yet and he found only a few fish on beds. We cruised out to flat and started with topwater. I landed about a 12" right away that I didn't even bother to measure and threw back. Dale and Roger had also pulled onto the same flat and Roger nailed a nice smallie on topwater right away. After about 45min with neither us or them getting anything we headed to Island 3 where there were some beds. Nick had a blow up and I followed with a wacky Senko and got a pick up; I set the hook, and got back a hook because it must have only taken one end. A little ways down I got an 11" smallie. Of all the smallies on the lake I had to catch two dinks.

We then headed to the river to the area that I had found that happened to also be what Nick found. Nick missed the first few hits but then put a 14" in the boat. We worked around the whole area and caught a few more. Nick on topwater and me on my secret bait. I had a good one smash it out of a hole in the grass that I'd gotten a smaller one out of the day before. We then ran a long run of unproductive water, it started to rain and headed back into Koronis.

Nick started getting bit by some nice largemouth but they kept flipping us off. He lost a solid 3lber about 1 foot before it was in the net. Nick was getting quite frustrated. He lost one fish when the hook or split ring broke off. I think Nick landed our limit fish and then I got our first culling on a Lucky Craft Sammy. A short time later I had a large Smallie come up under the Sammy but it didn't take it; It was a big dude. We may have gotten one or two more on the stretch before it got slow.

We headed to a stretch of water across the bay which was similar and where I had found some smaller smallies pre-fishing a couple of years back. Nick got a rock bass. It started pouring hard and I decided to put on that bright colored Bullfrog Frenzy Pop and work the flat by casting out towards the lake. Almost immediately I hooked into that Smallie in the pics. I didn't know it was a good one until it jumped cause it took it fairly light and was swimming at the boat, but there was little doubt after that first jump what kind of fish it was. It went airborne 2 or 3 more times and we landed the bronze beauty that went 4lbs even (Last year I had two 4-2's and lost a bigger one). I was surprised it went 4 cause it was only a little over 18" inches long, can you say "CHUNK." We didn't get another strike in that area.

We then went back to the stretch where Nick missed those fish and I saw the Smallie. We managed to cull out our 3 bass that were 14.25inches. With about 1/2hour left we headed to our starting spot. I had a good blow up on Spook but it didn't hook up and was probably only slapping at it. Time was up and we headed in.

Nick and I both guessed we had 15 something and Nick thought it would be good enough for 6th. As it turns out we were just shy of 17 with 16lbs13oz. We came in 6th Place.

Here's our two Best.


Congratulations to Craig Sanders and Roger Ellwein
for their win and Craig for getting Big Bass.

BP's Note: This was Craig's 1st Team Bass Win and probably Rogers as well. At my very first Team Bass tournament I teamed up with Craig and we had a fun time even though our results were not great. Craig is a really nice guy and loves to fish tournaments and it was great to see him come out on top. At the dock I watched him pulling fish some nice fish out of the well. I asked him if he thought they 20 and he said more like 15-16 and I guarantee he wasn't sandbagging me, he was truly shocked they had what they had. That a Boy Craig!

Stats:
For Koronis
TLA: 1.000
LCP: 1.000
FWA: 2.80Lbs
BBP: .166
TDWA: 16.81Lbs

For Season
TLA: .500
LCP: .500
FWA: 2.83lbs
BBP: .143
TDWA: 9.91Lbs

After Thoughts: Had a good day on the water with Nick and it's hard to be disappointed with a nearly 17lb bag when not everything was going our way. It's interesting to see how different fishing styles work out as that I would have fished the day probably much differently than we did as a team.

Mistakes: Most of what we did worked or could have worked to a great degree, so it's really hard to find anything glaring like at Bone. Probably one of my bigger ones was not throwing that bright colored bullfrog Frenzy Pop sooner. Maybe that smallie that looked at the Sammy would have crushed the Frenzy. Who knows.

The only thing I can really come up with was that after we got a limit we could have spent more time trying to dig up big smallies, but as it was we culled up several largemouth and probably gained more than a pound on those last 3 keeper Largemouth, would we have tied into a couple of smallies is an unknown and what we did worked.

Parting Thoughts: 6th place points should be good for help in the end of the year standings. I love the rain, baby. Man did catching that Smallie make my day! It was a leaper.

Next Tournament:See below Range Bassmasters

Next Team Bass June 25th @ Lobster.