If you are interested in fishing a few laid back weeknight tournaments this summer consider fishing with the South Metro Slop Hawgs! This is a small tournament series that will feature small entry fees and a jackpot style payback. These will be very laid back and enjoyable events where we hope the tournament participants will be able to meet some new people as well as learn a few new things about bass fishing.
Schedule for July and August:
Crystal Lake – July 7th - 5:00 pm-9:00 pm
Prior Lake – July 21st - 5:00 pm-9:00 pm
Lake Marion – August 4th - 5:00 pm-9:00 pm
Crystal Lake – August 18th - 5:00 pm-9:00 pm
If we find that people are interested in fishing more events, we will accommodate for the interest by extending our schedule into September.
There will be a $10 entry fee per boat. You can fish by yourself or with two people in the boat. The payout will be per boat, not per individual.
These will be weigh-in tournaments. There is no length limit on boats as long as they have a functioning livewell.
If you are interested in fishing these events please send an email to southmetroslophawgs@gmail.com so we can send you a more detailed spreadsheet regarding the tournaments.
If you are not able to send an email for confirmation, that is fine, please just show up by 4:45 pm on the designated tournament date so we can take care of the entry fees and give you a quick run down of a few rules.
Additionally, if you are not able to arrive at 5:00 pm due to other obligations, please just call either me or Sam when you get to the lake so we can confirm your attendance.
Bob Cell: 651-276-1910
Sam Cell: 612-306-2675
If you have any other questions or concerns, feel free to contact us through the email address, phone or here on my blog.
Thanks!
- Sam and Bob
Friday, June 25, 2010
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Lakes Area Bassmasters - Lake Minnetonka, MN
On June 19th the Lakes Area Bassmasters held the first annual Tonka Cup on famed Lake Minnetonka, MN. The Tonka Cup was an idea brought up by Ted Weigand, a member of the club. Ted also supplied the now imfamous silver cup. I thought the idea was great and would also put a little more at stake than a normal club tournament; something more to shoot for.
With the cup up for grabs I made sure to spend some time on the lake for practice. However, it was probably the worst practice I’ve ever had on Minnetonka. I found a few little things, but nothing very solid and nothing with a whole lot of size. My plan was to run a few areas in the morning that I had found and then just wing-it from there.
In the morning we were greeted with a fairly strong wind already coming from the northwest. This wind would prove to be disaster for my shallow spot that I had found around the big island area. I wasted about an hour and a half running down and back to that area only to find out that it was blown out and not productive first thing in the morning. After I got settled down back closer to where we launched I began to put together a small limit on a jig and a t-rigged beaver fishing milfoil in 3-7 ft of water. After I had my limit I went looking for some bigger fish offshore in 10-12 ft of water.
In practice I had one key bite out deep that was around 3lbs. This single bite clued me into a bigger fish pattern. I fished deep in the area that I got the 3lb bite, but nothing ever materialized. I continued to move down the weedline with my t-rigged beaver and finally ran into a small school of fish. My first bite was a small 1.5lb fish, but on my next cast in the same spot a solid 3lb fish took my beaver on the initial fall. If I let this spot rest for about 30 minutes they would replenish on it regularly, but unfortunately they continued to be only 1-2lb fish that kept biting.
In an attempt to run a pattern in this particular bay I sat down and picked out another offshore spot on the ‘bird that I had not fished in practice. This proved to be a solid audible and yielded another 3lb fish and a 4lb 4oz fish as well on the beaver. I was fishing the beaver in the scattered coontail grass that was out past the milfoil. After I had beaten up that spot I found one more point on the GPS that I didn’t fish in practice, ran to it, and pulled a soild 2.75lb fish off of it on an All Terrain football jig with a double tail grub for a trailer.
The day turned out a lot better than I had anticipated, especially after the slow morning I had. Scrapping everything I had found in practice, starting over and just fishing with instincts proved to be the right decision. I ended the day with 14lbs 8oz which was good enough for first place and claim to the first ever Tonka Cup. I was also able to earn some much needed club points towards the state tournament that will be later this summer. I have missed quite a few tournaments this year and last fall due to being at school. I am hoping to make up for lost time in the final two tournaments that count towards this season in the coming weeks. Follow along to see if I can get it done!
With the cup up for grabs I made sure to spend some time on the lake for practice. However, it was probably the worst practice I’ve ever had on Minnetonka. I found a few little things, but nothing very solid and nothing with a whole lot of size. My plan was to run a few areas in the morning that I had found and then just wing-it from there.
In the morning we were greeted with a fairly strong wind already coming from the northwest. This wind would prove to be disaster for my shallow spot that I had found around the big island area. I wasted about an hour and a half running down and back to that area only to find out that it was blown out and not productive first thing in the morning. After I got settled down back closer to where we launched I began to put together a small limit on a jig and a t-rigged beaver fishing milfoil in 3-7 ft of water. After I had my limit I went looking for some bigger fish offshore in 10-12 ft of water.
In practice I had one key bite out deep that was around 3lbs. This single bite clued me into a bigger fish pattern. I fished deep in the area that I got the 3lb bite, but nothing ever materialized. I continued to move down the weedline with my t-rigged beaver and finally ran into a small school of fish. My first bite was a small 1.5lb fish, but on my next cast in the same spot a solid 3lb fish took my beaver on the initial fall. If I let this spot rest for about 30 minutes they would replenish on it regularly, but unfortunately they continued to be only 1-2lb fish that kept biting.
In an attempt to run a pattern in this particular bay I sat down and picked out another offshore spot on the ‘bird that I had not fished in practice. This proved to be a solid audible and yielded another 3lb fish and a 4lb 4oz fish as well on the beaver. I was fishing the beaver in the scattered coontail grass that was out past the milfoil. After I had beaten up that spot I found one more point on the GPS that I didn’t fish in practice, ran to it, and pulled a soild 2.75lb fish off of it on an All Terrain football jig with a double tail grub for a trailer.
The day turned out a lot better than I had anticipated, especially after the slow morning I had. Scrapping everything I had found in practice, starting over and just fishing with instincts proved to be the right decision. I ended the day with 14lbs 8oz which was good enough for first place and claim to the first ever Tonka Cup. I was also able to earn some much needed club points towards the state tournament that will be later this summer. I have missed quite a few tournaments this year and last fall due to being at school. I am hoping to make up for lost time in the final two tournaments that count towards this season in the coming weeks. Follow along to see if I can get it done!
Thursday, June 17, 2010
ABA - Big Marine Lake, MN
This past weekend I fished an ABA tournament on Big Marine Lake. This lake is notorious for being full of fish, yet getting anything over 2lbs can be challenging. In practice I was able to find fish both shallow and deep and I was shooting for 10-12lbs. The shallow fish were caught on frogs and the deeper fish on a dropshot, jigworm, and crankbait.
I started the event out on a deep point that had a little bald spot in the weeds in about 13 feet of water. The area had a hard bottom and had plenty of fish on it in practice (aqua vu’s work well in clear water…) My high hopes of this spot quickly ran out within the first hour after I had only pulled two fish off of it. However, one was a solid 2.5lb fish which gave me a decent start. I caught the other one up on top of the point where fish were busting suspended sunfish in the morning.
In practice I had marked about five areas that I was able to get better bites on out deep and proceeded to hop around to each one throughout the next few hours. On my second deep spot I was able to put a 2.75lb fish in the boat on the drop shot, another good addition to my bag. My goal was to try and get a limit of 2lb fish in the boat before I went shallow looking for frog fish.
After fishing a few more deep areas I was able to round out my limit with smaller 1-1.5lb fish. With a few hours left in the tournament I decided to go shallow. The shallow fish that I caught in practice were tucked way back in a bay that was barely accessible. However, the fish that I caught back there were all 2.5lb plus fish. The reason I didn’t start back there is because I was not getting many bites in that area. It was about a 1 or 2 fish area; a spot where I was planning on going to get a kicker fish.
I fished through the shallow bay and proceed to miss 2 blowups on my frog. I never saw the fish and don’t know if they would have helped my bag. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
At the weigh-in my bag was 8.58lbs and I believe it only took 10lbs to be in the money. The winner had around 13lbs and I believe the winning fish were caught deep on a jigworm. This tournament was a tough one to swallow. I felt that for sure I could get five 2lb bites out deep and then take a chance at a big fish shallow, but sometimes a plan doesn’t pan out.
So now it’s on to the next one this weekend on Lake Minnetonka with the Lakes Area Bassmasters club. I spent a few hours on the lake last week, but did not find a whole lot. However, I did have a “Carl Spande” moment when a 40” musky ate the small northern that had eaten my crankbait! That was quite the fight and possibly the biggest fish I had ever caught. Come tournament day I might be hopping around the lake fishing some memories so we’ll see how it goes…
I started the event out on a deep point that had a little bald spot in the weeds in about 13 feet of water. The area had a hard bottom and had plenty of fish on it in practice (aqua vu’s work well in clear water…) My high hopes of this spot quickly ran out within the first hour after I had only pulled two fish off of it. However, one was a solid 2.5lb fish which gave me a decent start. I caught the other one up on top of the point where fish were busting suspended sunfish in the morning.
In practice I had marked about five areas that I was able to get better bites on out deep and proceeded to hop around to each one throughout the next few hours. On my second deep spot I was able to put a 2.75lb fish in the boat on the drop shot, another good addition to my bag. My goal was to try and get a limit of 2lb fish in the boat before I went shallow looking for frog fish.
After fishing a few more deep areas I was able to round out my limit with smaller 1-1.5lb fish. With a few hours left in the tournament I decided to go shallow. The shallow fish that I caught in practice were tucked way back in a bay that was barely accessible. However, the fish that I caught back there were all 2.5lb plus fish. The reason I didn’t start back there is because I was not getting many bites in that area. It was about a 1 or 2 fish area; a spot where I was planning on going to get a kicker fish.
I fished through the shallow bay and proceed to miss 2 blowups on my frog. I never saw the fish and don’t know if they would have helped my bag. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
At the weigh-in my bag was 8.58lbs and I believe it only took 10lbs to be in the money. The winner had around 13lbs and I believe the winning fish were caught deep on a jigworm. This tournament was a tough one to swallow. I felt that for sure I could get five 2lb bites out deep and then take a chance at a big fish shallow, but sometimes a plan doesn’t pan out.
So now it’s on to the next one this weekend on Lake Minnetonka with the Lakes Area Bassmasters club. I spent a few hours on the lake last week, but did not find a whole lot. However, I did have a “Carl Spande” moment when a 40” musky ate the small northern that had eaten my crankbait! That was quite the fight and possibly the biggest fish I had ever caught. Come tournament day I might be hopping around the lake fishing some memories so we’ll see how it goes…
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Lake Area Bassmasters - Forest Lake, MN
I was able to get out and practice for this tournament on Memorial Day. I spent a full day on the water trying to find a few key areas that would put me near the top in the standings. I was very surprised how far along the fish were in this lake already. I found some fish shallow, but not as many as I expected to find for this time of year. My best bite was actually on an offshore point in about 10-12 feet of water cranking an Academy Sports crankbait (A $3 bait that looks identical to a lucky craft! sweet deal).
We launched from lake #3 at 6:00am. I started off fishing shallow around a bed of cattails and was able round out my limit on an All Terrain Jig by 6:45. 2 of them were solid fish, the other 3 just swimmers. I then went out to the offshore point and fished right along side another guy in our club. I'm not sure if the school shifted or wasn't biting, but I was on one side of the point hauling water while the other guy was hauling in fish after fish. I finally caught one keeper that would cull a small fish on the crankbait, but thats all I would get off the point.
For the rest of the day I ran around the lake like a mad man trying to cull my two smaller fish. I ended up catching two more decent fish on an All Terrain Stick worm under docks that would round out my final limit that I weighed in. I had 9lb+ and ended up in third place, not great, but not too bad. First place (the angler who was fishing the other side of the point) was 11lbs, so I wasn't too far behing that mark; one 4lb bite and it would have been close.
It was a good first event for my 2010 club season and I was able to earn some much needed points since I have missed 3 events already for this season. Our next tournament is on Lake Minnetonka in a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to that one with the potential of a big bag coming from Tonka. Stay tuned and keep your line wet!
We launched from lake #3 at 6:00am. I started off fishing shallow around a bed of cattails and was able round out my limit on an All Terrain Jig by 6:45. 2 of them were solid fish, the other 3 just swimmers. I then went out to the offshore point and fished right along side another guy in our club. I'm not sure if the school shifted or wasn't biting, but I was on one side of the point hauling water while the other guy was hauling in fish after fish. I finally caught one keeper that would cull a small fish on the crankbait, but thats all I would get off the point.
For the rest of the day I ran around the lake like a mad man trying to cull my two smaller fish. I ended up catching two more decent fish on an All Terrain Stick worm under docks that would round out my final limit that I weighed in. I had 9lb+ and ended up in third place, not great, but not too bad. First place (the angler who was fishing the other side of the point) was 11lbs, so I wasn't too far behing that mark; one 4lb bite and it would have been close.
It was a good first event for my 2010 club season and I was able to earn some much needed points since I have missed 3 events already for this season. Our next tournament is on Lake Minnetonka in a few weeks. I'm really looking forward to that one with the potential of a big bag coming from Tonka. Stay tuned and keep your line wet!
National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship - Lake Lewisville, TX
A few weeks ago I fished my last collegiate event in my college fishing career. It was the Boat U.S. National Collegiate Championship held on Lake Lewisville in Texas, just north of Dallas. I have fished this tournament for the past 3 years so you would think that I would have learned a thing or two about this lake. I have learned some things, but this lake still seems to get the best of us every year. Last year we fnished 36th out of 129 and we were looking to improve on that this year.
We had a mediocre practice for Lewisville. We were able to manage cathing a limit each day, but we were not on the fish to win the tournament or even be in the top 5. Going into the tournament I was looking for a limit each day and hoping that we would get onto something during the day that would allow us to get some bigger bites. We only had one bite in practice that was 3lbs+.
We started off day one throwing reaction baits around floating boat houses and only managed one keeper before we left the area. In practice, my tournament partner Tyler caught a solid fish off one of these docks on a swimbait, but that bite never materialized that morning. After hopping around the lake for the rest of the day we were only able to scratch out two more keeper fish and finished the day in a dismal 105th out of 150 boats.
With a not so good day one in the books, we were going to change it up big time for day two. We decided to run to some shallow bushes way up north in the lake. This was the same area we fished last year when we took 36th. In hindsight, we should have fished there on day one. The frog bite was on fire and we had our limit by 9am. The morning bite was very critical due to the fact that our bite significantly slowed down later in the day. After the weigh-in we were left in 79th place overall, about middle of the pack. We definitely expected to do better, but thats how it goes sometimes. It was a good last college tournament and I can't say enough about the organizations and sponsors that help to put this event on evey year. It is by far the best tournament I have ever fished and may ever fish, I'll definitely miss going to Texas each year. To top it off, Forest L. Wood even spoke at the banquet the night before Day 1, that was really neat to hear and see such a pioneer of our sport talk to all of us.
Now it's time to more on beyond my collegiate fishing career and try my hand at some larger tournaments in the next few years around the midwest region. My plan is to first try and find a stable job and see if I can't make this fishing thing work in the next 3-5 years. Who knows, I may get a year down the road and decide to just fish local events for the rest of my life, but right now I would love to try and make a run a doing it full time. It can't be done in one year, a plan must be set and hopefully I can make a dream come true years down the road. In any case, I'll be fishing, so it can't be that bad :)
We had a mediocre practice for Lewisville. We were able to manage cathing a limit each day, but we were not on the fish to win the tournament or even be in the top 5. Going into the tournament I was looking for a limit each day and hoping that we would get onto something during the day that would allow us to get some bigger bites. We only had one bite in practice that was 3lbs+.
We started off day one throwing reaction baits around floating boat houses and only managed one keeper before we left the area. In practice, my tournament partner Tyler caught a solid fish off one of these docks on a swimbait, but that bite never materialized that morning. After hopping around the lake for the rest of the day we were only able to scratch out two more keeper fish and finished the day in a dismal 105th out of 150 boats.
With a not so good day one in the books, we were going to change it up big time for day two. We decided to run to some shallow bushes way up north in the lake. This was the same area we fished last year when we took 36th. In hindsight, we should have fished there on day one. The frog bite was on fire and we had our limit by 9am. The morning bite was very critical due to the fact that our bite significantly slowed down later in the day. After the weigh-in we were left in 79th place overall, about middle of the pack. We definitely expected to do better, but thats how it goes sometimes. It was a good last college tournament and I can't say enough about the organizations and sponsors that help to put this event on evey year. It is by far the best tournament I have ever fished and may ever fish, I'll definitely miss going to Texas each year. To top it off, Forest L. Wood even spoke at the banquet the night before Day 1, that was really neat to hear and see such a pioneer of our sport talk to all of us.
Now it's time to more on beyond my collegiate fishing career and try my hand at some larger tournaments in the next few years around the midwest region. My plan is to first try and find a stable job and see if I can't make this fishing thing work in the next 3-5 years. Who knows, I may get a year down the road and decide to just fish local events for the rest of my life, but right now I would love to try and make a run a doing it full time. It can't be done in one year, a plan must be set and hopefully I can make a dream come true years down the road. In any case, I'll be fishing, so it can't be that bad :)
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