Snatchers Pelican Lake Tournament

Smitty's Bigs

Smitty's Fin

DJ's Bigs

DJ, Arnie, Smitty

2/9

Conditions: 62-82℉, Mostly Sunny, 0-2mph Wind

The Day:

We headed NW to a bay up there with a bunch of slop. Smitty had a bass in the boat in about 5 casts out of the pads. I had something follow my frog but not hit it. Smitty got another bass. I think I had something hit my jig back where the fish followed my frog too. We then came across some docks and Smitty would get a bite or two of off each one it would seem like. His 3rd or 4th fish in the boat was a 4lber. I got the skunk out of the boat with my biggest bass of the day (2.53) on a Livetartget Frog next to some cattails. We fished more slop and docks, with Smitty getting fish off of both. We ended up returning to where we started and I missed a bit in the pads and think Smitty culled with a 2lber. He had 3 quality fish off of the docks I think. Next. we headed NE to another slop bay where there was a lot of activity. I got a 24-inch dogfish on a Mag Fluke. Smitty had a big bass miss his frog. I think He caught one as well. I'm not sure if he culled. I got my second bass on Bobby's Perfect Frog. We fished farther East into another slop bay then fished our way back to the area where there was activity. I got my smallest keeper (1.36) that I was never able to cull on the LiveTarget frog. Smitty got a big dogfish. Next, we fished Smitty's favorite docks and they were productive for him. Smitty had mercy on me and offered me the craw tube he was getting them. I think he added two culls while I was getting my rod rigged with the proper weight while I was getting heckled by a guy on shore for not having my act together while my partner caught fish left and right.. Unfortunately, the best dock was occupied. I got a 1.82lb bass on the craw tube out of some reeds. Smitty got a few that didn't help. We ran South to one of Smitty's favorite holes, but there were not really fish around except on the last dock, where Smitty bird dogged me one (1.69) that I got on the craw tube. We then went North again to more reeds and Smitty pulled a 5lber out of the Cane. I missed a bite in the Cane because I set the hook too quick. Smitty wasn't going to fish until I got my limit. I got a short out of some reeds/pads. Finally, I got a keeper in the boat off of a dock (2.11). We went back to the dogfish bay. I had three bites on my frog, but didn't land any of them; Two never got the frog and I rolled the one that did get it on the pads on the hookset.  I ran out of energy shortly after my last bite on the frog. As we headed out Smitty had motor issues, so we went to the bay where we had the weigh-in and fished the final hour there, not getting any bites.

Results: 

My results, meh! But at least I got a limit. Congrats to Smitty for putting himself in the Snatcher record books with that outstanding bag of fish. Also congrats to Arnie and DJ. Dj was top Co-Angler. 

My Thoughts:  With that 2.50lber in the boat on a frog about 20 minutes in I thought it might be my day. But then Smitty put on a clinic above average size fish in the boat with a craw tube on docks. I tried switching to a popper after some activity in open water. Then we got to more docks and Smitty got more above average size fish and my jig wasn't getting bit. We got to an area with pads and I couldn't get bit on a frog or Jig, but Smitty continued to catch fish. It just seemed like all my choices were wrong in the first spot. I got two keepers in the boat at the second spot, but I don't think it held the numbers and size of bass to produce a great frog bite. When we got back to docks. It became clear the crawtube was the deal. So when Smitty offered what he was using I rigged up my dock fishing rod with a light Texas Rig. I was way too anxious fishing that crawtube. I needed to let it sit and give the fish a chance to eat it instead of immediately pulling the trigger. It was unfortunate our run South wasn't really holding a good school of fish or had already been hit by somebody else. Not getting any of those final frog fish in the boat sucked, but that is frog fishing. Catching one of them would have probably moved me up at least a couple of places.

Watching Smitty wreck 'em is the highlight of my year so far.

Grade: C+

Snatcher Pelican Lake

The sun rises over a surprisingly fogless Pelican Lake 

Conditions: 60-73℉, Cloudy for most of the day, Light Wind WSW
Water Temp: 76℉ maybe

1st Fish of the Day Caught on a Jackhammer

The Day:  The first spot we stopped at was at a hump offshore somewhere where Dwight caught a good one while pre-fishing.  We both started out throwing topwaters, but with there being a bit of a breeze I quickly put the popper I was throwing down in favor of a junebug color Evergreen Jackhammer.  On about my 5th cast, it was fish on.  I could tell it was a good fish, but it wasn't exactly fighting like a bass.  Turns out it was a nice walleye, maybe 23-inches long.  About 5 minutes later I got a pike.  That was it for the starting spot.  We tried briefly aways off of a point, not getting anything.  Then we tried close to some reeds.  No bites there.  Then we headed out to where I had the big bass miss my topwater in pre-fish. 

On my very first cast with the same smoke colored tube I used to catch some fish on my first ever tournament on Pelican Lake in 2009 I got the skunk out of the boat for myself with a 1.75lb bass.  That was the only bite we got out there.  Next, we went to the reeds on the South side of the island.  Dwight had we thought was a 2lb smallmouth hit at his lure, but not get it.  We then briefly fished off a point and on the north side of the island not getting anything.  Next, we headed to the reeds on the south side of the entrance to Breezy Point Bay.  I had a good fish take my Hack Attack Jig, but it came off as I tried to bring him through the reeds.  Pretty quickly after that Dwight got the skunk out of the boat with a nice one.  Dwight then added a small keeper after missing a couple of bites.  I had a fish hit the Jig, but I swung and missed.  I pitched right back to the spot and got a small keeper.

Next, we were gonna fish some other reeds, but another tournament boat was fishing out in front of them, so we fished a sunken island instead.  Pretty sure this was the spot Dennis started us on back in 2009.  It was calm, so I got out the good old bullfrog color Frenzy Popper I used to catch some fish on back in 2009.  Sure enough, I had a fish hit it, but not hook up.  I threw back to spot missing it by several yards.  A bass that was just over a pound and a half was on it.  Not sure if it was the same fish or not, but that was the only bite I got on the popper for the day.  We next went and tried the reeds, but Dwight didn't like them and we quickly left for a cabbage area somewhere on the eastern side of the lake.  There was a bit of a chop and I elected to throw a swimbait and was quickly rewarded with a small keeper.  Next, we went back to the area where I got my first keeper and I got a 2lber there on the swimbait.  We tried running South, then back to the starting spot.  With about an hour left we went back to the reeds where we caught fish.   They now had the wind blowing on them and we didn't get any bites.  With about a half hour left we ran some docks.  Dwight got a small keeper and a short.  He also had a what was probably a small keeper come off.  With 10 minutes left, we were getting over towards a large swimming area when we came to a dock that was right on the break.  Dwight got a good keeper.  I then briefly had a fish on.  A few casts later I got a 2lber on a green pumpkin Jackhammer.  I was pretty pumped.  My last bite of the day was a nice pike that hit the junebug Jackhammer.  And then time was up.     

Results: My limit weighed 10lbs 4ozs and put me in 10th Place out of 21 anglers fishing. 
Dennis Lothspeich won with 19/2.  Chuck Steinbauer had "Lunker" with a 4/12 largemouth.  Beau Bacon was the Co-Angler Challenge Winner with a 18/6 bag, which was 2nd Place for the tournament.

My thoughts:  There were only 8 limits caught of which mine was the smallest.  I am pretty darn proud that I managed to catch a limit.  With two tournaments remaining I still have a shot at finishing in the Club Super 6, but it's an outside shot with 4 guys ahead of me right now for the 6th Spot.  One more finish in the Top 8 should pretty much guarantee I reach my goal of finishing in the Top 10 for the year.

Full Results:

Pre-Fishing Pelican With Snatcher "Hammer"

11:30AM-3:00PM Pelican Lake
82℉, Heavy Smokey Haze, 0-3MPH Sw
78℉

With the heavy haze, one would have thought the bass would be on the chew.  But all we caught was one bass; at least it was a good one.  Hammer caught it on our second stop on a craw tube. It hit on the fall. I did have a big bass miss my topwater, which I threw about 25% of the time.  Hammer caught a couple of pike and we missed a few hits that felt like bass.  The lake really has Dwight befuddled right now.  It's a lake he has fished a lot over the years and it's never come together for him in a Snatcher tournament.  I figure he is overdue for a good finish on the lake.  He has been catching quality fish for the most part, but it's been hours between bites.  I will be mentally prepared for the tournament to be a grind. 

Bass Snatcher Pelican Lake Tournament

Waiting to Blast Off

Note:  This being written more than half a year later so the details may be a bit sketchy.

Conditions: Cool in the morning (54 degrees) getting to 82 degrees, very little wind, and hazy sunshine for most of the day.

I think my sleep schedule was messed up for this tournament.  I either woke up super early or didn't get any sleep at all.  I ended up arriving at the ramp in Jones Bay at least an hour before sunrise.  I was the first one there, but not by as much as I thought I would be.  My boater for this one was Roger Ubl who has many years of experience on Pelican Lake.  Unfortunately I was unable to get out to pre-fish with him.  He told me he wasn't getting a lot of bites, but the one's he were getting were nice one's.

The Day:  I brought my Ipod to wear during the run, set to my Tournament Playlist I had been listing to all morning.  As the picture shows it was a beautiful morning.  We blasted off at around 6:50am.  The run North listening to tunes as the guys raced up the lake was one of my highlights of the year.  We went to a hump or maybe humps quite a ways off the SE of Gooseberry Island.

On the way North I saw fish breaking on top and conditions were perfect for topwater, so I started by throwing a Strike King KVD Sexy Dawg in chrome sexy shad.  Sure enough within my first 10 casts I had a quality fish come up and blast it.  Unfortunately, after being hooked briefly it jumped way out of the water and flipped me off.  I'd say it was at least 18 inches.  A few casts later I hooked and caught a 14.75" largie.  Unfortunately that was it for my topwater bites for the day despite the fact we were around fish busting on the surface for most of the morning and for the last hour of the day as well.  I think Roger got a couple on some kind of plastic and I got a 16.5" on a Blue Bruiser Lake Fork Craw Tube.  Roger was really disappointed with the size of the fish we got here.

After about an hour to hour and a half we left and went off the western tip of Gooseberry Is.  Dang breaking fish that were either out of range or wouldn't hit what I was throwing.  Roger managed a few on the worm he was throwing.  I managed to get a small hammer handle on small Bomber Fat-Free Shad and a 17.25" bass on a breen Chigger Craw.  We went to a weedline off the SW side of Gooseberry and I got another 17.25" on the Chigger Craw.  That was it for my fish for the day.

We ended up going and fishing some cabbage beds, going back to our starting spot, and some deep weedlines.  I tried every rod in the boat including a Carolina Rig, which is something I rarely throw.  I had some bites from sunfish but that was it.  Roger managed to get a respectable limit by the end of the day.

Results:  My 4 fish weighed 10lbs 1oz, which put me in 21st Place out of 26 anglers.  My lunker went 3lbs even.   Rogers 6 weighed just under 14lbs, which only put him in 15th Place; I guess the  quality fish were snapping this day.  The winner was Chuck Steinbauer with 19/1 and his son Nate got "Lunker" at 4/10.

My Thoughts:   Getting that first bass in the boat would have been nice.  I was really wiped out by the end of this one, but I didn't really let it effect my fishing.  I felt like I fished strong for most of the day.  I just don't think we ever found a good school of fish.  The weights were way up from the tournament we had back in 2009 when I took 4th Place with 14lbs even.  If I had it to do over again I wouldn't have thrown a Carolina Rig and a lot less topwater.  Fishing with Roger and hearing his stories is always enjoyable.  

Snatchers Pelican Lake

The Weather: Morning light fog with a 5 to 8 MPH breeze, the fog lifted around 10:30AM but it was a heavy overcast until about 1PM when the skies cleared and the wind died.

Pelican is an 8,000-acre lake just a bit North of Brainerd MN and it has clear water. We launched out of a small bay on the SW corner of the lake. I was in the first boat out but we were making a long run North in one of the slowest boats in the tournament, so my boater Dennis was worried about possibly not being 1st to where he wanted to start. We had a total of 12 boats and 23 guys fishing. As it turns out his worries were unfounded. We started by what I think is a big sunken island where a sand flat met a breakline with some weeds. Dennis had found a good school here during prefish and was quite confident in the spot. It didn't take long and I got a bite on my smoke tube but the bass was not a keeper at just over 11 inches. I think Dennis then caught a rock bass and things slowed down, Dennis was kind of miffed the fish were not cooperating but he eventually did bring the first keeper into the boat.

I decided conditions were conducive to a topwater bite so I put on a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. After about 5 minutes the popper was smashed by a 21-inch pike. After fishing for about 10 minutes with nothing I tried a white Spook, but that hauled water and Dennis decided it was time to move to a new spot. We moved to a depression in a flat that had weeds in it. I started throwing a bullfrog Frenzy Popper thinking I might need a little brighter bait in the heavy overcast. I had a fish miss the popper but it came back for a second try and hooked up; It was a 14.5" bass, so I was on the board. A little while later I had a fish miss the Popper 3 or 4 times before it finally hooked up and I landed the 15.5 incher. I think Dennis caught a couple on a Texas rigged tube, so I went back to throwing the smoke tube and I caught 12.25" squeaker. Dennis had a nice bass follow a blue/black tube to the boat which got me thinking that maybe the fish would be willing to chase something swimming so I put on a black/blue Strike King Pure Poison chatterjig, however, I didn't get anything on it at this spot.

Eventually, Dennis decided to move and we went to a weed bed on the Northside of an island where the wind was blowing in pretty good. I thought it was perfect conditions for the Pure Poison and I was right. I nailed a 15" on my second or third cast. A few casts later and I was reeling in 18.25 that just engulfed the Pure Poison. Dennis was not quite pleased that I pulled a big fish off one of his big fish spots, so he was giving me crap. A few minutes later I was hooked up with my limit fish which was a quality 15.25" largemouth. We worked back over the area a second time and I had a couple of bumps that didn't hook up and I think Dennis missed a bite too.

Next, we were off to another one of Dennis' big fish spots but a pontoon was sitting right on it. The next two spots Dennis wanted to hit were covered up by Bass Snatcher boats and we ended up fishing a little ways from 3 Bass Snatcher Boats. I think Dennis got a fish on the next couple of stops while I caught nothing.

Eventually, we ended up at our starting spot and I started chucking a gold Berkley Frenzy Popper. I believe Dennis filled his limit and started culling which gave me confidence fish were in the area, so I kept throwing the Popper. On one of the retrieves about 20 feet out from the boat I had a strike and was able to land the barely hooked fish that went a little over 15 inches, which got rid of my squeaker. At this point, I was pretty pleased that I would be weighing a pretty good bag of fish. Things kind of got slow for me for a while.

Around 1PM the sun came out and it got calm. We quickly tried the area by the Island again before the pleasure boaters would start to show up, but we didn't get anything. Next, it was back to one of the weedy depressions.

I got a fish that didn't help then I got another hit that didn't hook up so I threw right back to the same area. I got another hit and it was a good fish that just inhaled the smoke tube; this fish went 17.25 inches. A little while later I had another good hit from a bigger fish but it got off before I was able to see what it was, I think it might have been a pike. About 2 minutes later I had another hit on the tube and brought in a chunky 17.00-inch bass. Dennis thought I was probably 1 more quality fish away from winning. I did get a couple more fish that didn't help and it turns out Dennis was right on the needing 1 more good fish.

My 6 fish went 14 even which ended up putting me in 4th, just 3 ozs out of 3rd place. 1st Place was 15lbs 7ozs and 2nd was 15lbs 6ozs and they came from the same boat; They spent a lot of time in one of those depressions on water Dennis wanted to fish. My partner Dennis was not so unhappy about getting "back seated" when he found out his 12/11 put him right behind me in 5th place.

Analysis: I owe my success in this one to my boater Dennis who was on good fish and made good decisions about where we should be fishing and when. Dennis also kept me entertained all day with his curmudgeonish trash talk. It is possible that I had the bites to win with that one good fish getting off but I'll never know because I never did get a look at the one that got away.

I am now tied for 11th Place in the club standings (32 fisherman club) but I am 9th overall in terms of weight of fish caught for the season which I think is maybe a better barometer about how you actually fished for the season.