Friday, August 27, 2010

Forest, Marion and Tetonka Tournaments

The end of August is near and come September the Minnesota bass tournament scene will be littered with series championships and AOY titles. This means fall is soon to come and along with it the fish will be putting on the feed bags for winter. It feels like just yesterday I was taking off for Branson, Missouri for my first college event of the year.

In the last few weeks I’ve had three different events; an ABA on Forest Lake, South Metro Slop Hawg tournament on Lake Marion and a Lakes Area Bassmasters club event on Tetonka Lake. I’ll touch on each one a little bit and then fill you in on my upcoming schedule.

Forest Lake - ABA
On August 15th I had an ABA event on Forest Lake. I have a love/hate relationship with this lake. I have won an event on this lake in the past but I still do not like to venture out there unless I am forced to. My first practice day on the lake was very inefficient sue to the fact that my Trolling motor was not working at all. I would use the big motor to position myself on a spot and then would try and drift as best as possible… “As best as possible” was not working so well so I cut my day short after only finding one small area that would prove to be fruitless during the actual tournament. The Saturday before the event I had renewed confidence with a new trolling motor switch and fully charged batteries. However, after a long day on the water from 6am – 6pm and only 7 bites total, I was anything but enthused for fishing the tournament the next day.

Sunday morning on the drive up to the lake I was seriously worried about catching a limit, which doesn’t seem to happen too much in MN with our lakes that are for the most part full of fish over 12”. I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t worth it to beat myself up thinking about how tough the tournament could possibly be. My plan was to go into the event not putting any pressure on myself to perform well. I didn’t have any expectations and thought that if I just fish the conditions and work hard at it, then I’ll let the chips fall where they may.

I started my day on a steep weedline bank with a dropshot and quickly boated my first two keepers; they were just little ones though. The wind was pounding the bank and getting stronger and stronger by the minute. I had to act quickly in this spot before it got to the point where I would no longer be able to fish it. I pulled out a crankbait and began working it down the edge of the weedline. Within a half hour I had a limit in the boat. Two good ones ate the crankbait and I was stoked to have a limit in the boat this early!

I continued to work my way around to different areas fishing them as fast as I could while still trying to be productive. On a lake that was fishing tough I was looking for those bites that were going to happen as soon as my bait got into the strike zone. I felt like if I hit enough areas and spots that I would eventually run into some better fish. I made a few “hail mary” runs across the lake to hit specific docks and small areas that ended up resulting in a few good fish including two over 3lbs. Your confidence shoots through the roof when you make a 10 minute run from one end of the lake to the other just to fish one specific dock and on your first pitch you stick a 3lb fish that was sitting under the walkway in not much more than a 1/2ft of water.

I made one last move to a dock that was tucked way back in a canal, pitched my All Terrain jig up under the dock and landed one more solid 2lb fish that culled out my last smaller fish. I weighed just under 12.5lbs for the day and took 2nd place. I was more than happy with how my day went and would have never expected to finish that high with the way my practice went. This helped me tremendously in the AOY race and I now sit in 3rd place for the year with one regular season event left and then the two day championship in the held near the middle of September. I will have to have a couple more good finishes to stay near the top to compete for the AOY. The guys fishing these ABA events are top notch anglers with a lot of experience on the lakes we fish so it will be no easy task. I’ll work as hard as I can and see how things end up.

Lake Marion - South Metro Slop Hawgs
This past Wednesday August 18th we had our 4th South Metro Slop Hawg event on Lake Marion in Lakeville, MN. I do like this lake at times, but it has been stingy this year due to the amount of weeds that have been depleted from the main lake area. I teamed up with my good buddy Sam with the intention of having some fun running and gunning in the few hours that we had on the lake that night. We started on a point and Sam put one in the boat quickly on a drop-shot. We then ran to another spot with some coontail with nothing to show for it. After flying down a row of docks with no results we found a little back bay that was full of matted milfoil and coontail. Within the next hour and a half we put fish after fish in the boat from 2.5-3.75lbs on All Terrain black/blue jigs. It was a really fun evening with a really good buddy; it just doesn’t get any better than that. We ended up weighing in almost 17lbs and took first place along with a little cash. It was by far a top 5 fishing trip so far this year and was a nice change from the stress of fishing larger events.

Tetonka Lake - Lakes Area Bassmasters
On August 21st I fished with my club the Lakes Area Bassmasters on Tetonka Lake in Waterville, MN. To say the least, this event was brutally tough on a brutally scummy lake. I had never seen a lake that looked and smelled like such a slime hole. I’m not sure what kind of stuff was getting into that lake, but it was not pleasant especially when your white shirt is covered in green splotches at the end of the day. Without any practice, I was just fishing by the seat of my pants. I started out on docks and basically fished docks the entire day. There was not much of a weedline and I didn’t want to waste time finding deeper rock with the little amount of time that I had. I caught three decent fish off docks before I went to check out the channel between Tetonka another lake. This lake is part of the Cannon River so there was significant current flowing through the channel. After fishing through the channel I was working my way back underneath the bridge to Tetonka. I tossed my All Terrain jig up under the bridge behind one of the pilings, my line started to move off, I set the hook and much to my surprise a big smallie came up a jumped! Trying the control the boat in the current and having to duck underneath the bridge with a fish on was quite the fiasco I had going on. I boat flipped the 3lb+ smallie into the boat as my boat drifted out from under the bridge. After recollecting myself and getting lined up again I put my boat in a back eddy and made long casts up under the bridge with an All Terrain Finesse Jig. I would let the current do the work, my jig would swing by the pilings and on back to back casts I caught two more decent largemouth! It was a cool way to fish and thankfully I found that spot otherwise I would have been in trouble with how tough the rest of the lake was fishing. I ended up being the only one to weigh in a limit that day and took first place with just over 10lbs. I never got a bite after 11:00am and even though I won the event I’m not sure I will be heading back to Tetonka anytime soon. It looks like it could be a fun lake in the spring with all the overhanging willow trees, might be a better time to fish it then.

I’ve got my final regular ABA event this weekend on Clearwater Lake near Annandale, MN and then I’ll be off for a little bit until the two day championship in September. I’ve never fished Clearwater before so it should be fun to try and put the puzzle together on a new lake. Have a good weekend and a good Labor Day weekend. I’ll be sure to update sometime in the next few weeks!

Friday, August 6, 2010

Sugar, Coon, and Crystal Lakes

It’s been a busy couples weeks since my last post. I’ve had three different events since then and will cover each one briefly. We have hit and passed the climax of summer, the days are getting shorter and fall will be on its way in just a few months. However, the fishing should stay just as good, so continue to check back for updates!

Lakes Area Bassmasters - Sugar Lake
My first tournament was July 24th on Sugar Lake up by Annandale, MN. I had not been to this lake since I had a junior tournament out there close to 6 years ago. Without any practice I would be fishing by the “seat of my pants”. I started off the day fishing the first few patches of pads that I came by, dropped the TM and started chucking a frog. I missed a few quality blowups before hooking up with my first solid fish. After scratching out one more small squeaker I moved up the lake to a good looking point with some deep water close by. The wind was blowing into the point and the 12-13 inch fish were STACKED right off the steep drop. I rounded out my limit on a drop shot, but like I said these fish were not too big. I proceeded to shift around to the other side of the point tossing a beaver to the weedline. I made a pitch to a bare spot on the steep drop, my line started moving off and my rod doubled over as I set the hook on what would be a solid 4lb fish. On a lake like Sugar where smaller fish are the norm, this fish was like gold. I now had 2 good ones in the boat and 3 swimmers. I hopped around to some other good looking areas and culled with another solid fish coming from some cattails on a beaver. With about an hour to go I made one last adjustment to a new area with cattails. I needed two more solid fish to have a good finish and I didn’t want to waste away my bag that had potential with that 4 pounder sitting in the livewell. I got right up close to the cattails and began pitching my All Terrain jig way back in the cattails. I was not getting many bites, but if I got one, it was a good fish. I ended up culling twice in the last hour and also lost another good fish.

At the weigh in I put 12.5lbs on the scales and ended up with my 3rd consecutive club tournament victory and enough points to win the AOY for our 2010 season. This win was probably the most gratifying of my three club wins this year due to the fact that I was able to fish the moment and make the right adjustments that day. Most guys in the club had limits and seemed to have a day full of catching a lot of fish. Sugar was a fun lake, however, it was also a little bittersweet in the fact that I still was not able to garner up enough points to qualify for the state tournament this September on Lake Minnetonka. I was really hoping to make it this year, but only fishing 5 events and missing meetings in the winter due to being in Iowa at school killed my chances on doing so. It really stinks, but that’s just how it goes I guess…

ABA - Coon Lake
My next event was an ABA on Coon Lake. If you have read some of my posts from the past, you will find that Coon Lake is one of my favorite lakes in Minnesota. However, it has changed drastically in the last 4 or 5 years. In the past the pad and cattail bite used to be awesome. With the lake being sprayed for grass and the lake level dropping about 2 feet, the areas where I used to catch them are now void of any fish. Even the area that I found them in last year was unproductive this year due to the lack of milfoil in the area. It was time to re-learn the lake again, the fish were still there it was just a matter of relocating them.

To put it simply, my practice day was tough, brutally tough, the toughest it’s ever been for me on Coon. I got a few good bites here and there but it was spotty and inconsistent. I went into the tournament day planning to hit a few areas to see if I could generate a few good bites right off the bat and then I would continue to practice in hopes of getting on some better fish.

After spending about 3.5 hours fishing a few of my starting areas with only 4 smaller fish and a newly found trolling motor problem, I knew I needed to make a move, settle down and try to find some better fish. I ran down to an area where I had a few bites in practice. This area had lots of matted milfoil and matted coontail in about 5ft of water. I only spent about 15 minutes in the spot in practice and didn’t think too much of it. However, on tournament day, the better fish were biting in this area. I caught a 4lb 2oz fish within the first 10 minutes I was there. Then another 3lb fish right after that, both on an All Terrain jig. After those two fish, I settled down and knew I would most likely spend the rest of the day in this area picking it apart. So I continued to move from mat to mat, pitching either my All Terrain jig in the ‘less thick’ mats or a t-rigged beaver with a 3/4oz weight into the thickest and nastiest mats. Over the course of the rest of the day I was able to continue to cull and up my limit pound by pound. By the end of the day I felt like I had a decent bag that would give me some much needed points, but I wasn’t sure if I’d be in the money.

Come weigh-in time it sounded like it was a tough day for most for Coon Lake standards. I weighed in 16.58lbs and was leading the event through the first few flights of guys that had weighed in. I continued to dodge bullet after bullet from other top guys that were weighing in after me until the last angler plopped 18.5 pounds on the scales…. It was bittersweet. It would have been great to get a win, but I will take a good check and 2nd place any day, especially after the way my morning started. It was a fun event that was mentally challenging at times. My next ABA event is on August 15th on Forest Lake. I need another good finish to make a run at a good showing in the AOY. I’ll be sure to have an update on how that event went.

South Metro Slop Hawgs - Crystal Lake
My third event in the last few weeks was just this past Wednesday August 4th on Crystal Lake in the south metro. We had our 3rd South Metro Slop Hawgs tournament that night. It was a fun event with a decent turnout. Out of 6 boats I ended up in second with around 11 pounds for 5 fish. Carl and Tim Spande took home top honors and a little cash with a solid bag of 13 pounds for 5, nice job guys!

Have a good weekend and go catch ‘em!