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

2023 Bass Club Clash at Mission Lakes

2023 Snatcher's Team, Victory Achieved!

 

The Brainerd Area Bass Club Clash is an annual tournament for bragging rights among the three Brainerd Area bass clubs; The Baxter Bass Snatchers, The Range Bassmasters, and Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters.

Bass Snatchers Won With 83-8 

Brainerd Lakes 70-12 

Range  63-13.  

Snatcher Dennis with the Challenge Cup

3-13lbs Bunker Hawg (blk/blue)

My Boater Ranger Smude

Conditions: Low 40's to mid 50's, Sunny to Cloudy, 0-5mph NE the wind couldn't make up its mind

My Day:

I drew Brian Smude who I fished with two years ago at the Bass Club Clash at Serpent Lake. I was determined to fish better than that poor performance and did. Brian has a history of success on the lake, but this hasn't been his year, and he wasn't able to pre-fish. He also hadn't been sleeping well due to sciatica. We were boat 2 and headed to the NE. I got a small keeper pretty quickly on a Texas rigged black/blue Powerbait Bunker Hawg and added two more small ones to the well in short order. I then got my big bass of the day, which weighed in at 3-13 which had me flabbergasted because my scale had the fish at under 3lbs. I've never had such a mismatch in weights. I had my 5 and culled once before we left for Smude's Juice.

He got two fish there and I didn't get a bite until we were making our second pass. I think it was a pike and then shortly after that I got a 2lber. They both bit on a Powerbait Craw Fatty.  We then worked our way West along the South reeds. I missed two bites on the Poppin Frog before I stuck a good 2lber. I thought it was going to be AWWWWWN, but that was the last bite in the reeds. We then went back to the starting spot and Brian put on a jigworm and filled his limit. I hit a mid-day wall with my energy levels when the fish just weren't biting on anything I tried. We went and worked the cabbage flat behind the reeds as it clouded up and I finally started getting some action again on a spinnerbait, but they were either pike or bass that didn't help. I was bending my spinnerbait wire and it broke. I put on a bluegill Big Blade Chatterbait as we made our way back toward the starting spot. After fishing fruitlessly for about 5 minutes I made the change to blue/black with a FireCraw Big Blade Chatter. It wasn't long and I caught a couple of pike. I culled 2 or 3 times with the Big Blade, but never got that kicker bite I needed.

Results: My fish weighed 13/7, which put me in 8th out of 20 anglers. Smude only had 10/4. I thought he was much closer to me than that. I ended up beating all but two Rangers and two of the Brainerd Club. I think I may have been the top non-boater. The tournament was won by Ranger Arnie who beat out Snatcher Dennis on the tiebreaker but Arnie wasn't actually on the Rangers Clash Team, so Dennis won the Challenge Cup. Jim Eide of Brainerd Lakes took 3rd. 

Snatcher Hammer and Arnie tied for big bass with a 4/15 fish a piece. Arnie originally weighed the wrong bass and wasn't going to reweigh because he didn't think it was going to beat Dennis's fish, but was goaded into it by fellow Rangers. Arnie was also the Weigh Master for his own fish. Not sure how Snatcher Chuck and Dennis let him get away with that, but it's water under the bridge now.

The score sheet

What my scale said I had.

Snatcher Darren left me a selfie
or
two

Snatcher Goofball