Snatcher's Tourney On Upper and Lower Mission

 

3rd Darrren, 2nd Larry, 1st Chuck

Conditions: 75-90℉, Mostly Sunny, 5-35mph S SW

My boater was Al Steinbauer, who was also my boater the last time we were on Mission Lakes in 2020.

The Day:

We started in the NE Corner of Upper in the wind, where it was blowing 5 to 10 for the first couple of hours. I lost my first two bites most of the way in; both bites felt like good bass, but I didn't see either. I caught a 6" sunfish on a Dark Sleeper. I then got a keeper or two on the Bunker Hawg. I got a good-sized dogfish to the boat on the Bunker Hawg where I played it until it got off. I could have had Al net it, but I could see by how it was hooked that it probably wasn't necessary. I got one last small keeper on the Bunker Hawg and caught a non-keeper and a pike. I threw the spinnerbait for a while in the morning and got bumps and hits, but they were not hooking up. I think Al had a limit by the time we finally moved.

I think we then went to the point by the Upper Mission Access; it was blowing pretty good by now.  Al upgraded a time or two there. I got a pike, got bit off a couple of times, and caught a short bass or two. We then moved across to a spot on the South Shore. Al culled, and I got my biggest and final keeper of the day here. I also got a pike and bit off again. 

We went back to our starting spot. I can't remember if we got anything or not. We then went to a couple of places on Upper and didn't get any bites. We then went to Lower. Bill Ludenia was where Al wanted to hit. I got to fish some pads/reeds here with a frog, but only for about 10 minutes. We hit a dock, I suggested, and Al lost a bass he said wouldn't help him. We went to another spot, at which time Al's front graph became nonfunctional for the rest of the day. I lost something here on the Big Blade Chatterbait. We then went back to Upper Mission and fished reeds at my suggestion. I really should have asked Al to take over the front of the boat because his boat control wasn't precise enough;  I ended up catching a dink and losing a 2lb plus fish in the reeds on a spinnerbait; Al also lost something shortly after I lost that 2lber. We re-fished everything on the East end of Upper, and all I got was a few more dinks, a pike or two, and a 9" pumpkinseed on a spinnerbait. I thought for sure I was going to get a keeper on that spinnerbait but somehow, it didn't happen.

My Thoughts: Mission fricken lake! Mission Lake just kicks my butt some days. It's like I was fishing on a different lake from everybody else. The wind was something else, and I was just too far out of touch, having been bedridden for most of the month.  Had the wind been more reasonable I would have caught a limit.

Grade: D+

The day is saved from a F by the wind and my legs and back being at about 80%.

Results: I finished in last place 14th out of 14 Anglers

Pre-Fishing Little Boy/Wabedo with Snatcher Chuck

28" Dark Sleeper (Haze)

 

Snatcher Chuck 

He gave me a tutorial on boat flipping a 4lber

58-78℉, Sunny, 2-10mph WNW

Water Temp: High 60's low 70's

Nate's report to Chuck had us pretty jazzed up to get on 'em, but fishing was tough for us. We started in Little Boy looking for smallies. Chuck caught one little keeper and a rock bass on a Ned. We then went to Wabedo. I had a small pike follow on the Dangerous Swimbait . Chuck got a good keeper largemouth in some pads and a small larry on a point on a Senko. We didn't see much life in Wabedo, so we went back to Little Boy. Chuck got a couple of Larry's in the reeds with cabbage. He then raised a couple of good ones and we saw another on docks.  We then fished on a weed flat in the wind as it was building and I got the big walleye as Chuck had just said I needed to catch something so we could get out of the wind. We went to the Western shore and I had a pretty good blow-up on a frog, no hooks; That was the only blow-up I got.  We tried a couple other places and didn't get anything, so we called it a day. It was a nice day to be on the water even if the fish were stingy.

Me: 1Eye

Chuck: 1SMB, 8LMB, 1Rocky

Snatcher's North Long Tourny Recap

 

Caught Me A Good Speck on a Dark Sleeper

Tourny Champ Keith Tuma

Conditions: 60-78℉, Cloudy with occasional light rain, 3-15mph SE 

The Day:

We started on the South end of the Lake to the West of where Nate started fishing cabbage beds. We stayed in the same 150-yard or so stretch until about 11 AM. I had my limit in the first hour and forty minutes. Al put the first 3 bass in the boat. I'm pretty sure my first fish was a pike on the Big Blade Chatterbait. That Big Blade Chatter was my hot bite in the morning. I think I lost one quality bass after it buried me in the weeds. After I got my limit. I struggled to get bites from keeper bass, getting pike, and a couple of dinks. I should have thrown the Dark Sleeper as the fish Al was getting on the Craw Tube were better quality on average than my Chatterbait fish, with one or two exceptions.

We then went to 371 Bay when the wind was howling around 11AM. I got my big bass (2/15)  in 371 on the Dark Sleeper on our first pass in 371, I was a bite machine with that Dark Sleeper pulling in small pike, rock bass, dink bass, and I culled up a couple of times and one nice crappie on our second pass. We went back to the starting area. The wind calmed down considerably shortly after we arrived. Nate showed up shortly after and thought we had been there the whole time. Not much was going on until I put on a Neko Rigged Dinger, which caught me 5 bass in about 15 minutes. I culled with  3 of the fish putting all, but one fish over 2lbs on my scale. I could have sworn the second to last fish I got on the Dinger was three plus when it wallowed on the surface, but it buried me in the weeds, and when I got it in, it didn't even help me. Al got us out of there to head to Merrifield Bay. I got a dink on a buzzbait and on a Dark Sleeper, along with a couple of pike in Merrifield. We fished for about 15 minutes in 371 Bay to end things, and I got a pike or two, maybe a rock bass as well. I was hoping my fish would go 14 lbs, and indeed they did, right on the nose.

18Bass 16Pike 3Rock 1Crip 

Results: My fish weighed a respectable 14lbs, but on this day that was only good enough for 13th Place.  The winner was Snatcher Tuma with 18/05; Second Place went to Snatcher Dennis with 17/01 and Lunker (4/08), which edged out Snatcher Fields who also had 17/01. Everybody caught a limit today and the average bag was 14.94lbs.

My Thoughts: Should have gone to the Dark Sleeper at the first stop. A couple of lost fish cost me in this one I think.

Grade: B

Sure 13th Place out of 17 Anglers is C-/D+ territory, but I was just ounces behind my boater on a day when Co-anglers got stomped on and I was only one quality cull away from a Top 10.

  

Snatcher Tourney At Bay Lake June 4th

2/8 on Jackhammer/GOAT (Purple/Black/Blue)

The small of Nate's two smalls
(Pretty sure he weighed this one as his lunker as well)

Conditions: 

70-84℉, Mostly Sunny to Partly Cloudy, 0-5mph ESE 

Water Temp: Low 70's

The Day:

With only 6 boats and it being a Sunday, everybody was in the water in no time, and we blasted off early. We went to the spot that won the last couple of tournaments, and it was slow. I picked up a few dinks, rock bass, and hammer handles. Nate got a few small keepers on a craw tube and maybe a jig as well. He had me down 5-0 when I got my first small keeper on the KVD 1.5. I got bit off and caught a couple of dinks, pike, and rockies on a craw tube. We fished some docks. Nate got one quality 2lber and a few dinks. I got dinks and rockies on the Dinger. We went west of where we started, probably known as an altogether different bay. I picked up a couple of keepers, including my big (2/8), and some dinks, rockies, and pike. I got two pike in a row, and the skirt on my Jackhammer came off, killing the bite for me. We returned to the starting area, where I got another keeper on the Craw Tube.

We then ran some beautiful docks and a slop bay and only ran into something once we came out to the docks on the other side of the bay. Nate was getting bit on almost every dock, and I picked up a keeper out on the inside weedling on the Bagley Crank. All I got on the docks were rockies and dinks. We ran into Nate's dad, Snatcher Chuck, and he spilled the beans that he had a good bag anchored by smallies. We returned to where we started seeing fish on the docks, and I quickly picked up my limit fish. After about 15 minutes of nothing notable as Nate looked for smallies. He asked me if I knew of any areas smallies might be in. I told him about a large sand flat with reeds, so we headed there. We saw beds but no fish. Next, we went to the rock area, and Nate hit pay dirt, getting two quality smallies on a dead sticked Senko. We ran another rock area and got some rockies and dinks. We tried a couple of other areas, getting the same. We went back to where we got the smallies. I got a rock bass and about a half-pound cull with a largemouth that fell to the Dark Sleeper. We finished on a point off an Island by Rutgers, where Nate made a small cull. I had a pike-like feeling hit that didn't hook up and got a rocky. Day Over!

Results: My fish weighed 9lbs 11ozs which put me in 8th Place out of 12 anglers.

 

It was a massacre for Snatcher Chuck

First Place and Lunker went to Snatcher Chuck with 19/01 and 4/03

Second Place went to my boater Snatcher Nate with 12/13

Third Place went to Snatcher Tuma with 12/06

My Thoughts: If Nate's Plan A had worked, I think I would have been right up there, but the quality and quantity were not there on this day, so we had to scramble. Me losing that Jackhammer skirt to the pike didn't help matters.  Not having my dock-skipping game on point was an error on my part as well. One would have thought on such a nice day, the fish would have been on fire, but it was just a mediocre bite for Bay.

Grade: C, Another pound would have moved me up to 5th Place. It wouldn't surprise me if I lost the fish that would have gotten me another pound on the Jackhammer, Dark Sleeper, and Craw Tube. Any way I slice it, not getting at least 10 lbs on Bay Lake is a disappointment.

 

Skunked At Eddy's

 8:00-10:00 PM North Jetty

43-46℉, Cloudy to PC, 3-8mph SSW

Skunked (Shined a good fish at the North Corner on my way out. Also, I later shined quality fish at the Harbor Mouth and Standing rock. Had a few fish follow and even get right up on me, but I didn't feel a hit except right away on the Dark Sleeper, and that was just a tail bite. There were quite a few little guys swimming around at the harbor mouth and in the shallow north. Was pretty still. Something got busted beyond casting range at the Harbor mouth and maybe something as well at the North Corner, but it may have been a muskrat or otter. I was up toward the harbor mouth. I decided not to try the South Jetty because a SUV pulled up and parked over there and was shining the water in by shore.)