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

Pre-Fishing Mission with Alan and Taylor Steinbauer

Fishing with Pete & Gordy at Camp Lebanon

Pete talked me into heading out to fish with Gordy today. I think we arrived at Cedar Lake in SW Morrison County a little after 4PM. The lake has pretty clear water, and it was sunny. We fished shallow in some reeds where I got this 13" largie on a big sexy color Mad Maxx frog. We then fished up shallow along the South shore in the shade of overhanging trees. I made a good cast and was distracted by something. I felt a tug immediately looked up saw my Mad Maxx frog was gone, so I set in this 14"+ fish. A little way down, we came to a dock where Gordy got 2 bass yesterday, and he pulled out this dude on a Senko. Gordy had a couple more bites but was unable to land the fish. I think I had a fish pick my Crawtube, but before I could set it dropped it. Gordy had to go in to head home at about 6PM. Pete and I went to the GOMH and got nothing, then to Jenny's and got nothing, then to Don's Dock where Pete got a nice 15"+ bass and small pike on his pink spinnerbait. I didn't get a hit on the Crawtube, and I really wished I would have brought my topwater stuff down as it was dead calm.

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.

Bass Opener with Cyberfish.

MN Bass Openner 2005! May 28,2005
And it's Cyberfish on top so far.

Morning went somewhat according to the plan.

I did get out slightly later than I wanted and I spent too much time with little fish at the GOMH. I only got a couple decent bass at the GOMH with the biggest being 15+". Caught numerous little ones from 6-13" all on Senko's or 10 Husky Jerks. I enjoyed watching a bass boat parade at the GOMH overpass. The Range Bassmaster have a club tourny here next weekend.

By the time I got to the PRO it had been worked over by at least 2 boats both bass fishing. I got a 16" on a BSF right away, but it was tough. I did manage another 16er and missed one that was in the 17inch range. The fish were skittish and barely taking a pink 10HJ. I headed in at 10 to pick up up Cyb, but he hadn't arrived.

I then went to fish the East Dock row in our bay. Got a strike from a sickly looking Pike and that was it. Didn't do the full row and I went in for lunch and Mike still wasn't there.

Here's a pic of my morning fish.

Cyb showed up about Noon on Sat. as I was preparing to take a nap and watching FLW outdoors. We headed out and went to the Back Bay and there were no crappies or bass. We then headed to the GOMH and nothing in the immediate area. We headed up the East side to the intersection...

...where Cyb got a 17.5" and 18.5", both of which boiled on my bait first with me getting a couple of little ones. I was getting hungry and tired and so we headed in.

We decided to nix the plan about going to Bordon or ML even though it was calm the water was cold and we decided the action wouldn't be very good. I took a nap and Cyb went gill fishing but managed to land lots of little bass and what he described as an absolute football of a 16.5.".

Cyb got me up around 6PM and we were on the north end of Platte by 7. Mike was catching Pike and gills on a Mini-Mite while I got pike on a BSF and Popper. I had one super vicious hit from either a Big Dog or Pike on the Popper but it missed the bait. We ended up having Pike for dinner and sunfish and 1 bass going to the widow Olson.

Bass Openner Day 1 Brings a Cyberfish Victory

Sunday May 29, 2005


The BP was one tired dude. To tired too get up and fish at 5AM, too tired to get up for church with Cyb and BP's Dad, too tired to get up and fish @ 11AM, Noon, 1PM, 2PM, or 3PM. Cyb went for a walk, played guitar, and mellowed out during this time. Finally I did get up, but we didn't head right out but ate sandwiches then went to the Pole Barn for a visit.

We didn't get out until after 5PM when it was threatening rain and had gotten very windy. Cyb was picking some nice gills and small bass off the dock.

Yes, I meant SMALL Bass. (He actually got a smaller one when we went out in the boat)

We eventually headed to the other side of the bay to check docks for bass and Crappies. We got pike and gills and perch instead. Mike got 1 mini Crappie. We then went to the Back Bay where the pic with the Rainbow, Loons, and Boat was taken. As it turned out the rain pretty much missed us and it calmed down quite a bit. Not a bad night. In the back bay we got mainly Pike and Gills. Maybe Cyb got a Crappie. Where are the bass?

As it got dark we headed to the GOMH for Crappies, and Cyb landed a few small ones, I got a bullhead (for real) on jig and power twister.

Day 2 was a Draw (no credible bass for either)

Bone Lake Pre-fish and Tourney Recap

Pre-Fish:


5/10: Was tired after the Teen Challenge Weekend at Wapo and so I didn't get out to Bone until the late afternoon. I think I got out after 5PM. I started by doing some Sonar and GPS work then went to the entrance to the Boat Channel. Fish were in there pretty thick and I popped a bunch on topwater and a wacky rigged Senko including a hefty 19" inch fish. Water temps were upper 50's main lake to mid 60's in the channel. Saw a bunch of Eagles, they are all over the place.



5/11: I decided that a week and a half out was plenty of time for the lake to change and I wanted to catch something so I started the morning by fishing the channel entrance and then go inside. It was sunny and warm and I Popped a bunch of fish on the wacky senko's and on a white jig n pig. Got another hefty 19" on the Jig pitched to the base of an isolated pad. Lost the jig to a big muskie that wrapped me in a boat lift; I played the fish all wrong and really should have landed it. The muskie jumped and swam by or under the boat many times in the 10 minutes I fought it. On my pass out I did get a couple of more nice bass. I then went out and did some GPS work and then fished the area by the little island and landed several more keeper bass there on the wacky rig and with a swim jig. Overall a very good day on the water, my 5 Best were easily 13+ and might have gone 15+. I explored much of the East Side. Feeling Good about Bone as I went home.

5/15 Headed to Bone after the MN Opener with GEM at the St. Louis River. Got to Bone about 1:30 on Sunday which was Sunny and Cool after a windy and wet Saturday. Took my time launching and talked with WI Federation guy who was pre-fishing for 8Bone 8Deer 2day split tourney the same weekend as us. They would be launching at 6:30 and so would have first crack at the Channel if any of them wanted it. Just what I didn't need. Got on the water and did GPS work and fished a bit on the North End. Started to rain as I was getting off the water. Found something interesting.

5/16 The start of the Weathermen being dead wrong. Waited all morning for it to get warmer than low 50's. I headed out about 1PM when it finally got over 60 and it looked like it was gonna warm up. Worked down the lake on the West Side and got into a 35or36 Muskie on PinkHJ along with several small bass. Worked the West side as it got cloudier, cooler, and more windy. Popped another muskie this time on craw Frenzy Jerk, this one was bigger, maybe 38". Both muskies unhooked at boat side. Water temps now in mid to low 50's.

5/17 Once again cloudy, windy, cool. The weatherman had predicted 70's and sun every day and was wrong every day. I did some GPS work on the upper West Side. The water was getting colder not warmer. Also did some work on the East Side. Was only catching small fish. I was not satisfied and the weather predictions were still for warming so I decided I would be back Fri.

5/20 Got out a bit late and arrived about 3 or so. Shot the bull will Jack Kiffe and Brad Seiwert and then went out to do some Aqua Viewing. Didn't see a single bass out deep but did find lots of pannies in certain area's. As the sun went down the water had warmed in shallow and there was activity and I found something in super shallow. Would the night temps hold them in? Main Lake Upper 50's North end shallows low to mid 60's.

Tournament Day:Watched 2 boats from WI FED club go right to NBC. Team Bass had 19 Teams and I drew out 17th. It did get into the low 50's but stayed calm and warmer for much of the evening. Was threatening to rain and storm as we launched. I headed right to a shallow area I thought would be good. Much of the North Bay was covered. I immediately landed a 12" on topwater. With boats close I played some defensive fishing and didn't go super shallow right away (this was a mistake as I think I had a good hour were I could have gotten into some better fish super shallow). Caught 3 more on topwater with one just under 14". Just after 7:45 the wind started up a bit out of the SE and the fish moved out. I went super shallow when I had some breathing room 8:30 but by then they were gone.

The wind eventually started really blowing and I headed toward the channel in rollers. Caught a few shorts on a spinnerbait over the flat as I headed to NBC. Nick and Doug were in there working it hard. I fished the entrance with the HT and a ways into the channel. Did miss something by a dock, but got no other bites. As I headed out I decided to work the entrance with the BSF and caught several more shorts.

I then headed out to crank the L in the wind. Out on the Tip did get 2 close shorts on consecutive casts while ripping the weeds with a Bluegill DT 10. I thought I might be onto something but that was it. Worked the inside windblown along the windblown out side and backside without anything. Was 1 PM and nothing in the Well so I headed to the Glass House. Worked the glass house West with a crank and Jerk and got into some shorts. The wind was blowing pretty good and it was getting warmer and got a few shorts on a spinnerbait. Went back and decided to work the Glass house break with a tube and promptly landed a nice fish but it was really blowing and my anchor wasn't holding, got several more shorts. Watched Wick land a couple on Docks, for goodness sakes. Got a few more hits from shorts and a Rocky Rocco, but no more keepers. Time was running short and so I did a quick hit in the Deer Playground, I then remembered I was 10 slow and had to head in. 1 stinking keeper.

Bone Stat Line:TLA: .000
LCP: .200
FWA: 3Lbs
BBP: .000

After Thoughts: It's tough when you are catching short fish on everything you try and have a history on the lake of popping shorts along with good fish in the same area's and techniques together. I kept believing the next bite would measure but they kept being short.

I can't believe the winning team did it on on docks.

Mistakes (What I wish I would have done differently):
1. Not going supper shallow and fishing with the HT right off the bat. I think the fish were there, but I was trying not to tip others off. Plus I was expecting a front/storm from the west not wind out of the SE. I thought the water was gonna be protected and there would be a spree when the front arrived. Instead of playing the weather the weather played me all the way on this one. The weather forecasts being wrong played havoc with my game plan.

2. I recognized the fish moved out and was just to slow in getting to the NBC. I could have beaten Doug's boat in there and could have shared the area with Nick and probably landed at least a couple of good keepers.

3. Should have thrown a jig on the L Tip after the bite stopped.

4. Spent too much time shallow and probably on the L, which meant I left some water on the table. I should have gotten to my spot on LBSKI point even though it would have been roller city there and throwing a spinnerbait off the buoy flat may have been good too.

5. Jack and I should have teamed up. Together we very well might have won it as that he was on better fish and I was using techniques that were getting bites and I almost certainly would have pulled a couple from the back deck.

Parting Thought:
Which is better: A 16th Place(worthless35Pt)3LB FWA and .200LCP
or a 9th Place(42Pt) Skunk?

I'd take the Points and the skunk.

Next Tournament: Koronis/Rice June 4th with Nick Graupe