Bass Snatchers Little Boy/Wabedo Tournament

Conditions: 50-58℉, Cloudy to Mostly Cloudy with occasional drizzle, 0-4mph SE
The area received a pretty good rain overnight.

The Day: We started in the reeds just to the East of the YMCA Camp in Little Boy. I may or may not have missed a couple of bites. After about an hour and a half with nothing to show for it, we left those reeds and headed to some reeds on the NE side of the lake. Bill missed a bite along a tree in the water. I had something very pike-like attack my Fluke and get off quickly in the reeds. I had a couple other boils, but nothing hooked up. We then went to the dock by the outlet where Al had already taken a fish. We then headed to Wabedo. We started fishing to the east, right at the entrance to Wabedo. Bill was working the shoreline reeds, and I was throwing out with my orange Shower Blows knock-off. I had a 35 or so inch muskie jump over the lure and miss, thankfully. From there, we went and worked a weedline. Finally, I got the skunk out of the boat with 2.5lb bass on a junebug Piranha. Bill then caught a line burner on a Senko. Then he got a fish that almost went 2lbs. I got a pike on a craw tube. It was calm and overcast. Perfect topwater conditions. I started throwing a River2Sea Bubble Walker. Something boiled behind the lure. I let it sit for a few seconds, then popped it. Whoosh, the 6.5-pound pike took it. After putting up a good fight, Bill netted it for me. Thankfully, It didn't put up any fuss in the boat, and the hook came out easily. We fished Wabedo for maybe 15 more minutes, then headed back to Little Boy with maybe 2 hours left in the day. We went back to the YMCA camp area, starting to the West of where we did in the morning. There is a breakwater at the camp. I made a cast to it with a bone Shower Blows and good bass blasted it. It jumped, got down in the weeds, and came off. I was not happy. We worked the reeds again. I had something pike like take a shot at my Spro Sprinker knock-off and not hook up. Bill was pretty frustrated, as was I. I suggested we move in closer to shore into an area that was good for Al and me in the last tournament. We started working the pads and rice, nothing. Then we came to boat lane. I probably should have directed Bill on how to best approach the high percentage area. Sure enough, there was a couple of fish there. I got a decent hookset, but the fish quickly got off. It was 2 to 3lber. Bill put on the frog as I peppered the area. I think he got a bite on his third cast by a smaller fish that didn't hook up. We came to the next boat lane, and sure enough, there were two fish in the high percentage area. We both landed our bites this time. That happened right in front of Hammer and Checkbook, who were working towards us. We quickly ran out of slop. With 20 minutes left, we went to another slop area where Bill lost a fish, and I caught a pike. I was quite disappointed to only bring in two fish and thought I would be a bottom dweller for sure. But many guys struggled, so I reached my goal of a Top 8 finish.

Results: My fish weighed 5lbs 6ozs, putting me in 8th Place. The tournament was won by Tim Benson with 18/9, and he had lunker with a 4/8. Beau Bacon won the Co-angler Challenge out of Tim's boat with 14/03, putting him in 3rd Place. Al Steinbauer was 2nd with 15/8.

My Thoughts: I don't know what the fishes deal was. I would have thought everybody would have come in with limits under those conditions, but the fish were just not up and feeding like you would expect in the Fall. 2/3rds of the field caught 3 or fewer fish. Ouch

We figured out something that would work too late. Oh well, I am now in a three-way tie for 4th in the Angler of the Year. It looks like I stand a decent chance of making the Clubs year-end Super 6, provided I don't skunk at either of the final two tournaments, which are back to back the first weekend of October on Gull and Cedar Lake.

 

Pre-Fish Little Boy/Wabedo

11:00AM-1:30PM Little Boy
46-48℉, MC, 3-7mph  NW S E

We headed up to the NW corner of the lake just north of the Camp in the reeds. The very first thing to happen was the screw that held the trolling motor handle in place fell out.  I didn't think anything of it thinking it was a simple fix. As it was we were limited to full speed or nothing. We worked our way South for maybe a hundred feet or so and then stared back to the north. We came to a spot that just looked prime where the cattails and reeds met and sure enough, Bill pulled a two-pounder out of it on a jig. We then went out and worked in some of the deeper reeds and Bill got a 3lber out there on a Yabbie. We came on by shore and I got a bite on a craw tube that didn't hook up. We went back out to the deeper reeds and I missed a bite out there on a Hack Attack Jig. The shallow rice and pads had nothing going on.

We then went to the North end to try a few docks and the outlet area. I thought it was an inlet, but Bill told me the water flows out which makes sense as the Boy River flows to the North. Bill had a 3lber jump him off under the dock where I caught my lunker the last tournament out. The reeds in this area and basically everywhere we fished weren't nearly as thick as the last time we fished the lake. It looked like we were going to get some rain, so we headed back to get Bill's rain gear at 1:30 or so. When we got back Bill had to call Bruce to find out what he did with the keys. Bruce had left them in the cabin. Bruce wasn't that far away, so he volunteered to get them. I learned a knot from Bill while we were waiting. Because Bruce was there we pulled the boat out so he could fix the handle on the trolling motor. The mechanical aptitude to take it apart and put it back together correctly was shocking to me. Bruce and Bill eventually got it figured out, but then the troller didn't work at all, no power.  It was now coming up at 4PM and I was chilled so I called it a day.

Although the day was short I learned some valuable lessons. The water is more tannic than I remembered for one. And the difficulty of catching fish behind Bill is another. This will be my fourth Tournament with Bill as my boater. The last two have been disasters with 1 fish on Mission and 3 fish on Pokegama. If the fish aren't jumping in the boat I am going to need to bring my A-game. 

Snatchers Pokegama Tournament

2nd From Last, 2nd Place, 1st Place

Dave Smith 4lb 8oz Lunker

7:40AM-4:00PM Pokegama Lake (Grand Rapids) 14 Guys Fishing
Conditions: 76-58 degrees, Light to M NW wind, Mostly Sunny to Mostly Cloudy,  Water visibility about 5'

Pre-Tournament Thoughts:
I was due for a good tournament finish.

The Day:
We made the long run down to Sherry Arm and started on a large sunken Island with some cabbage where Bill had gotten a nice smallie in pre-fish.  Nothing was home except a small rock bass that I got on a craw tube.  We then moved to a wind blown point.  I pulled two pike on a chart/white Strike King Spinnerbait and Bill got the first keeper of the day, a small largemouth.  I had a good sized smallmouth head butt the spinnerbait right in front of me.  Why couldn't the fish bite it instead?

About an hour and a half in we went to the slop in the South end of Sherry Arm.  Bill got a couple more small largemouth.  We then worked the W shoreline and I got a 13.5" largemouth on Sweet Revenge Mad Maxx.  It showed itself and I got it on the second cast.  A little farther down I got a 13.75" out of some bulrushes on a craw tube.

We went to another point and Bill got another small keeper largemouth.  We went back to the point where I saw the smallie.  I had a couple dink bass grab the spinnerbait and get off.  Bill caught a 3-15 smallie on a jig.  That made his day.  We went back to the sunken island and didn't get anything.  With about two hours left to go we headed back towards Tioga.

I got a 14" in some reeds with rice on the craw tube.  We went into Poole Bay.  I lost a tungsten sinker to a snag in the reeds because I didn't retie my line which had been getting frayed.  Was not to happy about that.  We then moved across to the West side of the bay to some lily pads that Bill hadn't pre-fished.  I had fish miss the Horny Toad and Bill missed what sounded like a good fish just outside of the pads on his frog.  Then his trolling motor caught a bunch of braided line with a spinnerbait attached, so we lost use of the trolling motor for the final hour.

We moved into Tioga Bay and drifted with the wind along some reeds.  I had a good fish hit the Horny Toad but it swam right at me and I couldn't keep up and it got off.  Don't know what it was because I never saw it.  I had some dink bass hit the Horny Toad and had a couple good strikes not hook up. Bill got a small cull and the day was over.

Results:
My three fish weighed 4lbs 13ozs which put me in 13th Place out of 14 anglers.  Bill's fish went 11-7 and put him in 10th Place.  1st Place went to Tim Benson with 17lbs 8ozs and Dave Smith had the 4-8 Lunker.

My Thoughts:
I thought for sure I was getting last place in this one, but Art saved me from that fate.  We just weren't on anything as Bill having the smallest limit of the tournament with a 3-15 kicker proves.  I should have thrown the jerk shad some, but was to lazy to switch the spinnerbait for a speed clip.  That smallmouth bumping the spinnerbait and not eating it got in my head a little bit.  They usually crush it and are hooked up solid.

Next Tournament Rabbit Lake in two weeks.    

Pre-Fishing For the Pokegama Tournament On the Mississippi

Heading Up River

9:00AM-2:00PM
Conditions: 86-68 degrees, Windy out of the South, Mostly Sunny, Water level falling.

We put in at the 6 Bridge Access and headed up river past the 2nd bridge to an eddy that had some 13" bass in it.  We went up river some more and found another eddy with some 13" bass in it.  We went up river farther and started getting pike.  We went back to the 2nd bridge and Bill got a decent bass.  We didn't get anything else but a few missed bites.  We did go down by the Power Plant.  A lot of running without much to show.  We ruled out the river for tournament day.  I got 4 bass total and Bill got 6 or so.

I should have waited a minute to get the power plant in the background

What A Disappointing Tournament!

What I caught My 3 Fish On (2 Bass, 1 Pike)

My first big mistake was thinking I would be able to get a limit no problem.  My boater Bill B. had a good history on the lake and we as a club caught the fire out of them here two years ago in June.  I thought the fish would be everywhere and on the feed, boy was I wrong.  Less than half the field caught a limit and about half of us had 3 fish or less.  It was tough.

My second mistake was not calling to check if my boater pre-fished, which he did end up doing.  I didn't bring my dock skipping rod because I didn't know we would be fishing docks.  Oh well.

Conditions: Post cold front, cool in the morning getting to about 70 degrees, Sunny, light winds for the first 3 hours then getting to be about 10-15mph in the afternoon out of the WSW, about a foot of visibility maybe less.

The Day: We started in the Lower Lake in some maidencaine.  Bill missed a bite on a spinnerbait.  We spent maybe half an hour, than moved up the lake to try some docks.  Bill got a squeaker out of some sparce reeds.  And I got a 11.75" of a dock on the Craw Fatty.

Next we moved to the Upper Lake.  We fished outside of some reeds, then went in to try some docks.  I got my only keeper on the Horny Toad.  I then missed a fish on the HT and Bill also missed a fish on the same dock.

Next we moved to a weedline spot outside of the reeds.  Bill picked up three descent one's on this spot on a Senko.  The last of which he got when Chuck Steinbauer was close by, which gave Bill quite a thrill to do.  The wind came up while we were on this spot.

Next we went to the NE corner of the lake and got nothing, then we went to the reed point by the Upper Lake Access and Bill got an OK fish on the Senko.  I switched to a Grass Pig Jr on a Texas Rig.  I should have put it on a mushroom head jig instead as I got a couple of bites but didn't get hook into them at this spot or at the place Bill got the 3 fish.

Next we went to a spot outside of a reed point on the NW shore.  I got my pike there.  Then we moved in to fish docks.  I missed a bite that took the Horny Toad when I let it sink at the back of a pontoon and another fish that hit the HT as I brought it out of a thick patch of reeds that was out from a dock.

I think Bill got a hammer-handle off an under water point.  With about an hour and a half left we went back to the Lower Lake and retraced our steps back to the docks then maidencaine.  Bill pulled his biggest bass there on a Yabbie.  I missed a hit on the Craw Fatty, but the line was frayed a bit so it was probably a pike.  We then went over by the access where Bill got a small pike on a swim jig with a swimbait.

Results:  My fish weighed 1lbs 8oz, which kept me out of last place by an ounce.  I finished 19th out of 20.  Bills fish weighed 12-13 and put him in 7th Place.  1st Place went to Chuck Johansen with 17-15 after a 2oz dead fish penalty.  Lunker went to Darren Kiefer with a 4lb 6oz fish.  He was fishing with Johansen.

My Thoughts:   I just wanted to go out and catch a bunch of fish.  What a disappointment!

I didn't get a bite on a chatter jigs, Chigger Craws, Red Eye Shad, buzzbait, or a Vixen.