Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tournament Day - Lake Waconia

Going into this tournament I had very high expectations of catching a good bag of fish. When I practiced the week before I had found fish up shallow in the reeds and cattails on the north side of Waconia. I caught a couple 2 pounders a 3lb fish and also a 5lb 2oz piggy. I wasn't pounding these spots either. I would catch one fish, start up the motor move down the patch of reeds 100 yards, catch another one and do the same thing. At times I find there are sweet spots in the patches of reeds, this is what I was looking for, but it seemed like in practice they were just all over the place.

We launched at 7:00 with a little breeze already stirring up the lake. I started the morning in a patch of reeds on the north side and put together a small limit by 8:30. I caught all these fish and the rest of the fish I caught that day throwing a green 3/8oz All Terrain jig with a blk/blue trailer. As the morning progressed I began to upgrade my limit. A half pound here, a couple ounces there. I could never get that big bite! I tried moving to a different patch on the NE side of the lake, but the wind was pounding into this area and the water was pretty muddy. I caught one little fish there, but nothing else. I went back to my starting spot and continued to catch fish but they were all cookie cutter 2lbers.

I tried out deep some, but with the wind and my small boat, I just wasn't being very efficient. I know there are some big fish out deep on this lake, I just didn't have to time to find them. I truly beleive being efficient is one thing that you have to be at all times during a tournament. I constantly ask myself throughout a tournament day whether I believe I'm being efficient with my time. Should I zig or should I zag. Am I around the right kind of fish? Am I giving myself a good shot at winning?

Well, during that day I felt I was around the fish, but they turned out a little smaller than expected. It was really cold the night before and we were left with a sunny, windy, high pressure system during the tournament that I beleive shut off the some of the bigger shallow fish. I just couldn't get even a 3lb bite!

However, to my surprise, most everyone else in my club had a tough day as well. I ended up winning the tournament with 10lbs 6oz. For Waconia, thats not that great. It took 19lbs to win out there the weekend before for a Fishers of Men tournament with many other bags over 10lbs. But, I won't complain about a win. It was a great way to finish off my summer in Minnesota. I really did have a good time out there and caught a bunch of fish, just nothing over 2.5 pounds.

I will now take a little bit of a break from writing in my blog now that school has started up again... If I happen to get on a good bite down here in Iowa, I will be sure to post about it. And make sure to check back in mid September to see how the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship is going. I will possilby post about practice and will definately be giving updates during the actual tournament. I'm really looking forward to getting down to Texas. Last year I couldn't have done worse, and I'm looking to turn it around this year.

Thanks to all who have been reading throughout the spring and summer!!

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Silverado Pro/Am - Alexandria Chain of Lakes

This past weekend I had my third Silverado Pro/Am tournament on the Alexandria Chain of Lakes, also known as Le Homme Dieu. My pro and I drew boat #58 out of 59 boats so we were just a little bit behind everyone else. However, on a chain of lakes as big as this one it shouldn’t matter too much.

We started off the day throwing crankbaits on a weedline. I ended up catching 4 small bass before I got one that finally kept. After this spot we had 2 fish in the livewell that I had caught on a crankbait. On the next spot my pro got a decent fish on a t-rigged craw tube. We then proceeded to hit docks, reeds, and pads the rest of the day without much to show for it in terms of quality fish. We finished out our limit and culled twice but still only ended up with 8lbs and some change for 6 fish which is pretty brutal.

I wasn’t very happy with how the day turned out and would have probably done some things differently had I been in charge. This tournament kind of left a bad taste in my mouth and motivated me even more to try and fish as a pro next year. If I can get a suitable boat and afford the entry fees I might take a run at it.

I stayed at a friend’s cabin on Friday before the tournament and brought my boat up there to do a little fishing. I was catching a lot of fish on frogs way up under trees in about 1-2 feet of water which was really fun and made the weekend a little better. And wouldn’t you know…one of the top finishers in the Silverado tournament on saturday caught most of his fish up under trees in very skinny water.

I was also graced with the presence of 14 Skeet Reese Revos and 14 Elite Tech Rods when I got back to my house Saturday evening that Pure Fishing had sent to me. Talk about being excited!!! These rods and reels will go to our bass fishing team down at the University of Iowa. I went out to Lake Waconia on Sunday to do a little prefishing for this upcoming weekend and that skeet reese revo is awesome! The fishing wasn’t too shabby either.

I will write about the Waconia tournament next week sometime when I will be in Iowa and back at school. Summer break has come to an end and I’m not liking it! :)

Monday, August 11, 2008

Tournament Day - Miss. River, Wabasha, MN

When I first saw the Mississippi River tournament on our club schedule earlier this year I was a little worried because I had never been on the river before. I was scared the current would be strong and that I wouldn’t know how to run the river and avoid the wing dams. However, when my uncle took me out and showed me around a little bit my worries were gone. It’s easy to run the river if you just be smart about it and stay between the markers. The current for mid to late summer wasn’t that strong either; which is probably the norm for this time of year.

With my worries about the river behind me, it was now time to catch some fish. My uncle fly fishes the river for smallies, so we fished the main river quite a bit during practice. I had a 4lb smallie in practice a couple 1.5-2lbers and also a solid 3lb largemouth. My practice day went pretty good and I felt fairly confident that I could catch 5-10lbs to wrap up the AOY title for my club.

I started the day on a wing dam in the main channel hoping to get into some smallmouth. I was throwing a silver zara spook and a rapala skitter pop. I fished a wing dam that had fish on it during practice for about 45 minutes with no luck. As I was pulling away from the wingdam going upriver I threw one last long cast with my popper and a good smallie nailed it. I was happy to have one in the boat. I was hoping to have about 2-3 in the boat after that spot, but the top water bite just wasn’t happening like it was the prior week.

I next went to an area where I caught the 3lb largemouth in practice. It was really a sweet spot that gave up a lot of fish for me in the tournament. It was a channel off the main river channel that had some good current flowing though it. It was 2-3ft deep on top and quick dropped of into 10-15ft of water. On the drop was both rocks and weeds. I ended up finishing my 4 fish limit (wisconsin rules on the river) in this spot with an All Terrain Finesse Jig and an All Terrain Rattling Jig. One went 18inches and the others were about 15-17 inches. I also caught fish in this spot on a drop shot with a white fluke and a texas rigged white tube with and EZ-tube inserted weight.

I would throw my lure up on the rocks or in the grass that was in the stronger current. They would either hit the bait on the initial fall or as the current washed the bait into the deeper water. I probably pulled 10-12 fish of this little spot. They were just schooled up in the current right on the steep break. Now, this spot wasn’t phenomenal, but it definitely has some potential. I was able to finish the day with a little over 9lbs for 4 fish. On the river I’d say that’s mediocre to decent. I lost one good 2.5-3lb fish on a drop shot that jumped off right in front of me that would have helped, but I still had enough to earn my second consecutice AOY title for my club which felt really good. I didn’t have as flashy of a season this year as 2007 when I won 4 in a row, but I felt I fished solid this year and scrapped out decent limits during the tougher events.

Carl Spande took first in the tournament with 10+ pounds in the countless backwater areas. He really had a nice bag for 4 fish and I believe some All Terrain Stick worms caught some of the fish he weighed in J. Nice job Carl!

I really had a fun time out there and will definitely be going back in the future. I won’t be able to fish the state tournament down there this year, but really wish I could.

Here is a list of lures that worked for me:
All Terrain Jigs: both finesse (1/4oz) and regular pitching (3/8oz) jigs
Colors: brown/amber/blk and black/blue
All Terrain Tubes: rigged with an ez-tube weight insert in 1/16oz. I really felt this inserted weight helped to keep me from getting hung up on rocks, grass and wood. I used a 3/0 EWG Gamakastu hook.
Drop Shot: 1/8oz weight, stand-out hook, white zoom fluke (“the fluke”, not the super fluke or the fluke jr. the mid-sized one)
Rapala Skitter Pop: Had a white underbelly like the minnows and shad in the river.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Upcoming Tournaments and Report

My summer is beginning to wind down and come to an end with school approaching much faster than I want it too. School starts in a couple weeks here on August 25th for me. However, my tournament season is not quite wrapped up yet.

This weekend I have my final B.A.S.S club tournament on Pools 4 and 5 of the Mississippi River for the current year. My uncle and I went out and pre-fished for the tournament this past Saturday. He loves to fish just as much as I do and I really enjoyed being out on the river with him. He used a fly rod all day which was pretty cool too. I had never been on the river before and I had a blast. We caught a good amount of fish, but I think just having a change of pace besides fishing lakes all the time is what I liked so much. Getting a couple big bites will (as with any tournament) be a big factor down there this weekend. I’m shooting for my second consecutive AOY title and hope to wrap it up granted I don’t stumble too badly. The MNBF state championship is on the same water this fall, but I won’t be able to compete in it for the third consecutive year because of school which is kind of a drag.

The following weekend I have my 3rd Silverado tournament up on the Alexandria Chain of Lakes. This is another area I have never fished before and look forward to learning some stuff about the chain and making a good finish. I’ll finish up this tour in September when we visit Lake Minnetonka.

The last weekend before school starts I have another club tourney out on Lake Waconia which will count towards next years standings. I really like this lake and have won a tournament once out there before which always help in terms of confidence. After this tournament I will be making the drive down to school and my summer will be complete!

Here’s a quick report: I’ve been able to get out a couple times this week since the weekend and have found the fish both deep and shallow. A drop shot with a 4” zoom finesse worm has been good to me by deep weed lines and rocks. An A.T. jig has been the ticket up shallow around pads. Check back next week for a report on the Miss. River tournament!