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

Lake Alexander Bass Snatcher Tournament

Conditions: 84-65℉, Sunny to start then partly cloudy to cloudy, 3-6mph SE
Water Temp: Low to mid 70's (just a guess)

The Day:
My boater Tim was confident we would crush them.  The fish had other ideas.

We started outside a small cove along the South shoreline.  Nothing there.  I started topwater, then went to spinnerbait, then to a jerkbait, then back to a smaller topwater.  As we got to a rocky shoal at the cove entrance Tim got his first keeper a small smallmouth.  I'm not even sure what he was fishing with.  We started approaching some docks.  I think Tim caught a fish and needed to re-tie so I went to the front of the boat.  I had a fish hit my Shower Blows when I wasn't paying attention and lost it half way to the boat.  It was just a small keeper, no big deal right?  A little way down the shoreline I got my big bass of the day on the Shower Blows.  It was a smallmouth that went about a pound and 2/3rds.  That was it for me for quite a while.  We jumped to a couple of reefs.  Tim had a good smallie break him off because he had his drag set too tight.

Tim was drop shotting and hardly getting a bite.  That really played with me mentally because I just was not prepared for the day to go down like that.  Finally, about 3 hours in we headed for some bullrushes.  Tim got a good largemouth on his second cast and then quickly missed one.  I missed hit on my frog in some small pads.  I then got a small keeper off the back side of the rushes.  Tim started culling and I got one that barely went over 12-inches.  I missed a couple more bites in the rushes.

We went and tried some other spots.  I got a couple shorts off of a small point.  We went back to the start spot and Tim got his big bass, a 3lb smallmouth.  It just wasn't happing there so we jumped a couple of offshore spots.  Tim had a smallie get snatched by a muskie when he was bringing it in.  He fought it for a couple of minutes before the muskie let go. Then the smallie got off Tim's line just like that.  It wasn't a very big one and when it got off the muskie was in hot pursuit. We went back to the bullrushes to end the day.  I missed one bite on a frog and I think I missed a couple that hit the craw tube but could have been rock bass.  Who knows.

Three small fish, what a disappointment!

The Results:
My three fish weighed 3/12 and put me in 18th Place out of 20 anglers.  Tim's fish weighed 12/04 and put him in 7th Place.  He was only 9oz out of 3rd Place so breaking off that fish really hurt.  The winner was non-boater Beau Bacon with 16/7.   Lunker went to Chuck Fields with a 3/14.

My Thoughts:  I didn't fish well.  For some reason, I was checked out mentally for most of the day and just couldn't get comfortable with what I was throwing.  I just think I was so unprepared for fishing to be so difficult.  For at least the last two weeks of June catching bass for me became a difficult proposition.  Not sure what it's gonna take for me to get out of this rut.  I better find my mojo quick because the next tournament is less than two weeks out. 

Bass Snatcher Lake Alexander Tournament

My Boater Chuck Johansen, 1991 MN B.A.S.S. Nation T.O.C. Winner 

The Weather- Calm, cool/cold and overcast in the morning, turning sunny with some wind out of the NW in the afternoon.

The Day- Thankfully, the rain had stopped by the time we blasted off around 6:45AM because we made a long run up to the NE corner of the lake to fish some reed beds, floating bogs, and docks.  The reeds hadn't started coming out of the water yet.  As we worked our way East I started out throwing a Pure Poison, but in the calm conditions quickly switched to the chart/firetiger Stanley Phantom.  I had what I'm 90% sure was a muskie come up and wake behind that.  Eventually I switched to a gold Frenzy Popper.  I made a long cast out to some reeds.  I'm not sure if I had a little over run that I started taking out or what, but a fish hit the Popper.  I quickly, set the hook but I couldn't reel in because the line was caught on my reel.  It felt like a good fish, but by the time I got my line out of the reel handle it had come off.   I managed to catch a 9" dink on the Popper and missed another one that swirled on it.  We went into some docks and passed by a decent smallmouth that was on a bed.  Next I got a rock bass on a Yabbie and another 9" dink on a bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke.  Then Chuck got  the first keepers along the dock. We had to be at least an hour into the tournament when Chuck got the first keeper.  I finally got a 12" squeaker and we both got some that didn't measure and more rock bass as we worked our way along the bogs and docks on Flukes and the Yabbies.  Chuck got a couple of small keepers and  I got a 13.5" and a 13" off the docks, then we ran back to approximately where we started.  When we got close to the area where we had seen the smallmouth bed I threw my Fluke into the general vicinity and the fish crushed it.

15"

  That was pretty much all we got on our 2nd pass except for a few dinks and rock bass.  We ended up hopscotching with a couple of boats on the docks on the East side of the lake.  We got down to the SE corner and there was a prime looking area of an old reed bed.  I took a 14.5" on the Fluke and then I missed a good fish that may or may not have been a bass up by shore.  Chuck thought maybe it was a dogfish.  We ended up pulling a double much to the dismay of Chuck Steinbauer who was fishing towards us.  Mine was a 15.75" largie.  Steinbauer left and we worked the water he had been fishing.  Then we made the call to go back over the area again.  I tied on a Zoom Horny Toad with a purple head and chart. legs.  I caught a 24 or so inch pike on that.  The wind came up more than it had been and the sun came out.  Chuck thought we should move, but I suggested we fish down to a pontoon boat.  My suggestion paid off for Chuck when he landed a quality fish just on the other side of the pontoon.  We decided to keep going and I think Chuck got another good fish off of a bog point that had the wind blowing on it and I missed what felt like a good fish on a green pumpkin Lake Fork Craw Tube.  I got a couple of rock bass and missed a couple of bites on the Craw Tube before connecting with a 14" fish that culled out my 12".  I think Chuck got another keeper as well.

Next we went a little to the West of the area we started in and headed West.  I culled a 13" for a 13" and caught some that didn't help as we worked our way through the reed stubble.  We started working some docks and we both got some that didn't help and some rock bass.  I had a good smallmouth follow my Fluke out from a dock.  I let the fluke drop when I saw her. It turned to swim away. I jigged the Fluke again, the fish whipped around, eyed it for a couple of seconds than took it.  I set the hook and landed my biggest fish of the day 16"/ 2lbs 3ozs and final keeper bite.  Got several more that didn't help including one on a Gambler Ninja Spin as well as several rock bass on the Craw Tube.  I think I missed 1 that would have helped at least a little bit on a Craw Tube.  Chuck got one last quality cull off of a dock.

The Results- My 6 fish weighed in at 10lbs 1ozs and put me in 19th Place out of 26 fishing.  Chuck's fish went 12lbs 4ozs and put him in 8th place.  Jim Smith won easily with 16lbs 5ozs, more than 2lbs over Guy who got 2nd Place.  Big Bass only weighed 3-8 and was caught by Dave Branum; I think it was a largemouth.  Only 1 guy failed to catch a limit and weights were up an average of around 2lbs per person over the last two tournaments on Alexander (6-25-06, 9-22-12)

My Thoughts-   Other than the first hour which was fairly slow, it was a fun day on the water with a lot of setting the hook.  Had I got all my bites I guess I would have had around 12lbs as well.  For neither of us getting to pre-fish I thought the day went pretty well.  Chuck was a great guy to fish with, very considerate, and asking for my input from time to time.

Next Tournament- Serpent Lake June 22nd