Snatcher Tournament Pokegama (Grand Rapids)

Snatcher Ludenia Gets the W

Conditions: 55-67℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy, 0-7mph SE NE

Water Temp: 66-68℉

The Day:

We got a bit discombobulated on our way to the river. At one point, we lost power on Darren's console GPS. We did eventually find what we were looking for: the Hot Pond Convergence. I suggested we backtrack a bit and fish our way back, seeing how no one followed us into the river. About 20 minutes in, I put a small keeper in the boat that hit a ToadZ. About 10 minutes later, Darren had a pike steal his frog. Darren missed a bite from a good-sized bass along a mat in the rice. I pitched a Turbo FattyZ into the same mat and immediately caught one just shy of 2 lbs. Darren had a pike steal the LiveTarget Frog I gave him with a  huge blow-up. I think Darren had three frogs get bit off in total, along with a couple of jigs and Texas Rigs. I think I got bit off once on a Texas Rig.  Hammer and Jon showed up and fished a bit in the area we were heading for before heading farther upriver. 

Eventually, we got to the Convergence, and I got a nice bass on the ToadZ off of some isolated pads. A couple of minutes later, I lost a similar-sized fish. We then went into the hot, and Darren had his third frog get bit off. It was dead in there other than that. We went back to the convergence to talk to Hammer and Jon. They were catching more fish than us, and Hammer told us what was working for them. We fished back over the area where I had caught my third bass. Darren got bit off a time or two. I started pitching a Turbo FattyZ and got a pike, then a bass over 2 lbs. Darren caught a pike or two more. 

At about 1 PM, we decided to bail on this area just as it was clouding up again.  We fished some slop on our way back to the lake, where I got my final two bass of the day. The first on a swim jig, and my last bass of the day came on a LiveTarget Frog. Darren got a dink that he didn't measure. We got to Tioga Bay with about an hour and a half left. Darren's front mapping wasn't right. Despite that frustration, Darren did put three nice bass in the boat in the final hour. I missed one bite on a jig in Tioga. Turns out it was a tough day.

Results: My fish weighed 11/12, which put me in 5th Place out of 11 Anglers, and I won the Co-Angler Challenge for the first time in a couple of years. Snatcher Ludenia blew the field away with 19/4. Dennis got 2nd with 14/14, and Snatcher Chuck came in 3rd with 14/9. Snatcher Mick had Lunker with a 4/14 brown bass.

My Thoughts: I really thought the largemouth would be on fire, but it seems that was not the case. I also thought there would be multiple fish over 5lbs caught, but it didn't happen. My boater Darren has very little experience on this body of water, and we went in blind, with neither of us getting to pre-fish. That definitely hurt us. I should have fished a swim jig and the Turbo FattyZ more and a Frog less. On the positive side, it was my best finish of the year; I won the Co-Angler Challenge and have a shot at being in the Super 6 going into the last tournament. It could be worse. 

Grade: B 

I was energized and fished hard all day.

4/14

Bass Snatchers Gull/Crow Wing River Tournament

Chuck Fields wins 2nd Consecutive Tournament.

 

Sara & Herman with "Lunker Wood"

Sara with her 6lb Lunker & a 3/03

4/02 on Big Bite BFE

Pike on the Berkley Fusion19 Jig/KVD Shiner

What I caught fish on

Conditions: Periods of clouds and sun, 70's to upper 80's, a bit humid, light winds

The Day:
I was so disappointed that my Tackle Warehouse order did not arrive on Friday, but such is life. We blasted off as boat #4 and headed West, getting passed by Snatcher Dennis as we headed up river. Our first and second spots were slop areas on adjacent sides of the river, and we didn't get a bite at either place in about an hour of fishing. So we headed up river farther, and Bill got a quality smallmouth right away on a popper. He then got a rock bass and a couple of non-keeper smallmouths. I got a pike on a lipless Frenzy and a rock bass on a Jackhammer. I also had something that felt quality on for a few seconds on our second pass down by where Bill got the smallie.

From there, we headed up in sight of the bridge, and Bill popped a nice large on his first pitch. I think I got a pike and rock bass, and Bill got a couple of non-keeper smallies and rockies. I think we moved down the river just a little way. Bill got a nice smallie throwing a Senko by the shore and a fourth nice keeper smallmouth in the middle of the river. We pulled in behind Snatcher Al, where Bill got his first keeper; Bill got a non-keeper smallmouth.  We went down river a little way, and I got the big pike which put up a good battle. I took my time with it, and Bill eventually netted it and took pictures. I wasn't too pleased because the day was more than half over, and I didn't have a bass in the boat yet. We worked a shaded bank and didn't get anything. So next, we headed back to where the river narrows to the East of the public access. And started working our way West fishing wood. Bill got his 5th keeper pretty quickly. We continued working wood. Finally, I got a keeper in the boat out of some weeds and wood, and it was a good one, 4lbs.

There was a slop area just upriver from where I got my fish, and in the next 10-minutes, I had my bag for the day, catching two quick fish on a frog. We then went back up river to our second stop working that slop bay better than we did the first time. I got one 11-inch largemouth on a frog. Then we crossed the river expanding on our first area of the morning. Bill had to miss 5 or 6 bites on his frog before he finally got his limit fish in the boat, which was a quality largemouth. I think he then caught one that didn't help him. For the final 20-minutes, we worked the slop area by the access. I had a fish boil on my frog but did not get it and didn't try again. And then the day was done.

Results: My 3 fish weighed 7/13, which put me in 13th Place out of 17 Anglers, two of which blanked. Chuck Fields made it back-to-back wins with a 17/01 bag, and my boater Snatcher Ludenia made it back-to-back as runner-up with a 16/12. Lunker went to Snatcher Sara with a 6lb Pig.

Thoughts: I should have thought more about what it would take to catch some smallmouth. I should have thrown a football jig and brought some swing heads and square bills. I really think my lack of forethought cost me a limit. At a minimum, I should have been able to catch at least one smallmouth.  

 

Snatcher Farm Island Tournament

Co-Angler Champion for the Day

What my scale says I had.

Thoughts Coming In:  We had a very good pre-fish.  I was a little concerned because it was a deep jig bite.  While I can catch fish that way I know it is an area of weakness as I miss a lot of bites.  My boater Bill Lundenia is a jig master.  I figured I would see if they would hit a craw tube, which I'm much more comfortable with, and switch if Bill was catching them on a jig.

Conditions: 83-66℉, Some clouds in the morning turning sunny, 0-4mph WSW
WT: High 70s

The Day: We went South to start where the fish were bigger on average in pre-fish.  I started by throwing a River2Sea Bubble Walker over the calm lake.  A pike jumped about 5-feet in the air and was my first fish in the boat.  After about 10-minutes it was clear that any area fish didn't want it on top, so I switched to the craw tube and pretty quickly got a 2lber.  I got one other 2lber, but it was not happening so we went to the "Smallmouth Hole".  I picked up a quick keeper as did Bill.  Then Bill had a 3lber throw his jig. I got a couple more 2-pounders on the craw tube.  We then went to a hump and I got 2.66lber on the craw tube.  The sun came out.  We tried one more spot in Farm Island then headed for Little Pine.

Bill got a bass in Little Pine on the jig, so I switched to the jig immediately.  I missed 3 or 4 bites.  Bill was missing bites and getting bit off.  It was dead calm and minnows were skittering around above the milfoil, so I thought I would throw a few casts with the Bubble Walker.  On the second cast, a 3lber took it but immediately jumped and threw the bait.  Bill then had a good fish break off at the rod.  He was looking for his line; The fish he lost jumped and immediately my lunker of the day (3lbs) struck the topwater.  I got a bass that didn't keep on my very next cast.  That all happened in the span of about 6 casts for me.

We went back into Farm Island and fished some docks.  I tried out the Neko Rig like I said I was going to do.  I got one that almost helped me breaking my Techna AV rod in the process. I got a couple of dinks as well.  We went back to everywhere we fished in the morning and I had a few fish pick up a brown/green pumpkin craw tube.  We ended the day watching Checkbook snatch a good one.  Bill only got 5 keepers in the boat.

Results: My fish went 14/8 which put me in 4th Place and allowed me to be the Co-Angler Champion.  The tournament was won by Tim Benson with 16/2 and Tim got "Lunker" with a 3/08 fish.

My Thoughts: A good day for me, some tough luck kept it from being a good day for Bill as well.  I may not switch a thing up for the next tournament at Rabbit Lake.

Pre-Fishing Farm Island With Snatcher Bill Ludenia

Chunk Smallmouth

Dang Mist

2019 Minnesota Bowfin Club Grand Champion Showing How It's Done

He caught two of them

9:30AM-4:00PM Little Pine and Farm Island Lake
76-68℉, Cloudy to Partly Cloudy some mist, 4-15mph SW W
WT: High 70's

We started off in Little Pine.  Somebody was on where Bill wanted to go first so we went to a weedline.  The bass were there and biting on Bill's jig.  They were quality 2 plus pounders as well.  I got a 2 plus pounder next to shore off of some rice and Bill got a dogfish off of a dock then in some pads.  We tried a hump and got a couple of pike and Bill got a bass.  The spot Bill wanted to go to first opened up so we went there and Bill caught another good one.  We then tried some docks and didn't get a hit.  Next, we went to some slop and I got the hawg of the day.  A solid 4 plus.  I forgot to pack my scale, doh!  We got out of Little Pine.

We went to numerous places in Farm Island and Bill pulled a nice bass of of most of them including that surprise smallmouth.  I missed a few solid hits, got bit off a few times, caught a couple of pike and pulled in a rock bass or two.  The bass were definitely on Bill's jigs this day.  He had somewhere between 16 and 18 pounds.

Hope they bite like this on tournament day.

Snatchers Leech Lake

This is the tournament I was looking forward to more than any other on the schedule and I ended up with a great partner draw for the lake. I rode up from Baxter to the Horseshoe Bay resort with my boater Bill Ludenia. Horsebay Resort on the map above is by the Y in Agency. There was some pretty good fog on my way to Brainerd, but it really wasn't too bad until we got up to Leech. Despite a fairly good fog, we blasted off early at around 7:30AM. It turned out that after we got out a couple of miles the fog disappeared.

Our starting spot was a reed bed towards the NE side of Bear Island (Bear Island is the big Island on the SE side of the lake). Another club boat also started in this reed bed. I didn't even have my rods organized and Bill was pulling his first bass into the boat on his 2nd cast. We worked in the area for about 30 minutes and I think Bill got one more fish.

Next, we moved to some of the heavy cover in Headquarters Bay, which is South of Boy Bay. I think it was our third stop in Headquarters that I had a massive explosion on my white Zoom Horny Toad and I landed a thick 17" bass. We were fishing rice and the fish bit close to a nice sized clump of rice that had a pretty good open lane beside it. As we worked for this rice bed, Dennis, my boater from Pelican, pulled in a pretty good distance in front of us and Dwight, my boater from South Long, was also fishing in the general area. I had a couple of fish swat at my Horny Toad and one solid blow up that I should have hooked up with as we worked the area. I think Bill got 1 fish and we say Dennis land a bass and his partner catch a big dogfish. To be honest I think we worked through this rice a bit quicker than we should have because fish were definitely there. After about 45 minutes we moved a little way to some undercut banks with pads and rice, but that was dead. We kept moving North along some good looking rice and I think Bill landed a fish or two before we made a move to some rice on the East side of Bear Island. There were lots of signs of fish in this rice but we didn't catch any. The day was bright and sunny and the fish on this particular spot were spooky.

We moved North to the reed bed where we started the day and I got a bite on my tube jig but missed it. I cast right back to the same area and got hit again and this time I landed a 13.75" largemouth. I don't remember if I got one more fish in these reeds or not. I don't think Bill got a fish this time.

Next, we moved up to Boy Bay to try some docks. On the very first dock, my bubblegum Zoom Super Fluke got bit off. On this same dock, Bill landed a 3lb bass. I think Bill got a 2nd dock bass before I connected with a 12.5" bass. I think Bill got another dock bass before I had a fish that I thought was a bass swim out and take the Fluke but when I set the hook and I was bit off clean, so it was actually either a pike or muskie. Once we got to the end of the docks we pretty much kept working East in a mix of rice and reeds. Bill in the front of the boat was pulling an occasional fish while I was throwing the white Horny Toad, a brown Bobby's Perfect Snagproof Frog, and a tube jig hauling water. One time when Bill was culling and I was in the front of the boat I cast the tube ways into the rice and pulled out a 15". We jumped around and worked some reeds and then more Rice with Bill pulling more fish and me getting blanked. We were working rice and I threw into an open area with a Bobby's Snagproof frog and got a strike which I landed but it was under the 12-inch minimum. You don't catch shorts on Snagproof frogs very often.

We moved to the Southside of Boy bay into some awesome looking water and I landed another short on the Snagproof Frog, what is with that. After a long lull, Bill moved us to an area where he thought I could fill my limit with some small fish. I managed to get a 12.5 on the Snagproof frog on this water.

Time was starting to run short, so we headed back to the area where I got my big fish. Unfortunately, the long day in the sun was wearing on me pretty good at this point and I wasn't at my best. Right away I had a bite on the Horny Toad and missed it. About 5 minutes later I had another great bite on the Toad and I came up empty again. A few minutes after that there was a massive explosion on the Horny Toad but I didn't hook up this time either and that was my last bite of the day.

On the way in we did throw a quick hail mary for me in the reeds where we started. I was worn out and highly disappointed in my execution.

Results:
I ended up one short of my limit with 5 fish for 9lbs 4ozs which got me 17th out of 24. If I would have landed my bites I probably would have been 14th or better. My partner Bill had 13/11 and got 10th. The winner was Dennis with 19/13 and big bass was only 5/0 and went to Art Becker who will be my boater at Gull Lake.

Analysis: I just did not have a very good day on the water. Lousy execution.

Snatcher Pokegama Tournament

I had a close call with a deer on the North end of Mille Lacs lake on my way North to Grand Rapids, no harm no foul. I got to Grand Rapids a little quicker than I thought I would but that was OK as my partner Bill and some of the other guys were already out in the motel parking lot. I got my gear into Bill's boat and then spent probably an hour shooting the breeze before we left.

The access we went out of is on the NW end of the lake and we headquartered out of a public beach just North of there that is right by where the Mississippi flows into Pokegama lake. Our plan was to head up the river and try to catch some big fish, but if that wasn't working to go back down into the lake and fish cabbage.

We were boat #2 out of the gate and boat #2 heading into the river. By the time we got to the spot where you can run the river at full speed, we were the #1 boat. We ran all the way past the Hwy 6 bridge to a spot Bill calls "Dogfish Corner". We started out pitching jigs and I got messed with by a small pike. I also threw some slop frogs and Zoom Horny Toads having a small pike strike on the toad. We got nothing on this spot and so we headed up the river some more to another great looking area with rice, rushes, and wood, but we could not get anything. We then made our way back down the river. The story from all the river boats was slow fishing. A few guys had some small fish. We stopped at the Hwy 6 bridge and I caught a small pike there.

Bill got his first bass in some reeds on Jay Gould Lake (at least I think that is where we were). We then headed to the lake to fish weedline/weedbeds. Bill quickly landed two keepers before I got number 1 on a watermelon tube. I don't remember if I got another keeper bass on the tube before I had a pike break it off. I put on what turned out to be a grey tube, I thought these tubes were watermelon too, but it was just the green packaging. I may have got 1 more bass off of this first spot in the lake.

Next, we hit some reeds and I missed a couple of hits on topwater. We then went to another cabbage weedline spot and Bill filled out his limit while I got to fish #4. It started to sprinkle while we were on this spot and it continued to lightly rain until the last half hour of the tournament. We headed in to try some slop and I got #5 on a Snagproof Bobby's Perfect Frog. Next, we worked some rushes and reeds and I got my limit fish on the Bobby's Perfect Frog.

Now with two limits in the well, it was decision time and we decided that our best shot for kickers was in the river and so we made our way back there. We started working the Power Plant area and I missed a bite that I probably should have caught on the Horny Toad as that I saw the fish wake towards the bait before it hit. It could have been a dogfish though. We turned a corner and started working into the wind. After quite a while of fishing, Bill landed a nice dark mid 3lb fish. A little while later he got some pike. Bill was pitching a jig into the weed edge and I was casting out the front of the boat parallel with the weed edge. A fish showed itself and so I was careful to cover the spot and I was rewarded with a 17.5" largemouth. We worked our way down the stretch several hundred more yards, then we turned around to hit it again. Now with the wind at my back, I was really able to cover the water. I was distracted by a boat running the river and took my eye off the Horny Toad and I missed a hit. A little while later I got a solid strike and landed another 17.5" in largemouth. That was the last fish of the day. I think if we would have gotten another hour in the river I could have caught some more nice fish.

Results:
I ended up with my best weight of the year so far with 6 fish for 12lbs 8ozs. I tied with a guy for weight and big fish and lost the coin flip tiebreak, so I ended up in 15th out of 25 guys. My partner Bill was 13th with 13lbs 5 ozs. Winning weight was 20lbs 3ozs and he spent the whole day in the river and didn't catch his limit fish until the last 1/2 hour. The guy in 2nd also fished the river all day. Big fish was 5lbs 10oz and there was one other 5lber caught.

Overall I had a really enjoyable time. It was nice that the cool overcast and rain kept the horse and deer flies away because I hear they can get quite bad in the river.