Coon Lake - Tournament Day

This past Saturday I had a club tournament on Coon Lake. We launched from the East Lake at 6am under clear skies with an air temp of about 60 degrees. As I took off for the West Lake in the morning I got to see one of the best sunrises I’ve seen this summer coming up behind me. A nice big red sun to start of the day, just perfect.

I had pre-fished the lake on July 20th only to find out that there was an ABA tournament the same day. I was fortunate enough to still find some fish that day and had about 18-19lbs. It was by far the best practice I’d ever had and I felt like I didn’t even put a dent in the areas I had found. I was just praying the whole week that the fish would stay in the same areas and be willing to bite on tournament day.

I started off the day in the west lake around some cattails with a black spro bronzeye frog. After about 15 minutes into the day a fish inhaled the frog. It buried itself in the cattails, but I was fortunate enough to get it out. It ended up being a nice 4 pound fish. I continued to work my way around the cattails and stuck another good 3lb fish on a green pumpkin texas rigged Gander Mountain brand beaver. After awhile with no more fish in this area I moved to another spot with cattails and caught one more 2.5lb fish on a frog.

In my next spot I filled out my limit with two smaller fish on the beaver. This was an area with pads that had produced a 4lber during practice. I stuck around this area hoping for a big bite, but it never came. Next I moved back into the east lake to a pad spot where I stuck a 5 pounder in practice. I switched my beaver color to black/blue here since the water was much dirtier in the east lake than the west. On about my third pitch with the beaver into the pads, I saw a flower from a different pad stem move about 5ft from where I put my lure. I lifted up my bait, felt the weight of the fish and laid into in. After a good battle I had landed a nice 4lb 12oz fish and big bass for the day. On the next pitch I caught a solid 2.5lb fish on the beaver. I had now culled out the smaller ones from the other pad spot. After working the spot once, I went back over it with a 3/8oz blk/blue All Terrain Jig. On my 2nd pitch going back over the spot I stuck another 4lb fish about 10ft from where the 4lb 12oz fish came from. This spot had now given up a 5lb, 4lb 12oz and 4lb fish in the two times I had fished it that week. It was just one of those magic spots that you need to win a tournament.

I now had a 4lb 12oz fish, two 4 pounders, a 3lb and 2.5lb fish. This is what I would end up with for day. I was pushing hard to try and get that 2.5lb fish culled, but that 3lb bite never came. I ended up with 18lbs 6oz for the day and it ended up being my best 5 fish limit to date. I felt good to finally get a 1st place finish this year after three 2nd place finishes so far. If you asked me whether I thought I could duplicate what I caught in practice, I would have said no way. I just didn’t think I could catch that much again. But it happened. That’s now the 3rd tournament I’ve won out on Coon. That lake and I have a good thing goingJ.

Sorry about the lack of pictures….I really need to get a camera!

Here are some notes on the gear I was using:

Frog:
7’ MH Fenwick HMG Casting Rod
Pflueger Trion Casting reel
50lb Power Pro braided line
Spro Bronzeye Frog (black)

Jig:
7’ MH St.Croix Avid Rod
Pflueger Trion Casting Reel
40lb Stren Superbraid line
3/8oz black/blue All Terrain Tackle Jig w/ Gander Mtn. brand craw trailer

Beaver:
7’ MH St.Croix Avid Rod
Pflueger Trion Casting Rod
50lb Power Pro Braided line
1/4oz Tru-Tungsten bullet weight
3/0 Gamakatsu Superline EWG hook
Gander Mtn. Brand Beaver (Blk/Blue and Green Pumpkin)