ABA Two Day Event - Day 2 Big Marine + season ending updates

Going into the second day on Big Marine I really wasn’t to sure what to expect. As stated my practice was not too great and really I was just hoping to get a limit. After getting a limit, my plan was to find a way to get a couple better fish in the boat. I started out in a shallow bay full of pads and was able to put together a limit in the area within the first hour or so on my All Terrain AT jig in the new faircloth’s craw color. I had a few other matted milfoil areas located on the lake and worked my way through these areas with no kicker fish to be found. I caught plenty of smaller fish that would not help my overall weight. I basically stuck to my guns and fished shallow to whole day and in the end came up 3 pounds short of the winner. In looking back at the event the few things that could have potentially helped me was a good fish that I lost on Bald Eagle the day before and exploring some deeper water on Big Marine. However, with only 1 day set aside to practice on both lakes, I can’t complain about the outcome.

I ended the Angler of Year in 2nd place by 2 points! Had I finished one place higher in the 2 day event or had the winner of AOY finished one place lower, I could have taken the top spot. It just goes to show how all the little things make a difference when the points shake out at the end of the year. If I don’t miss the Clearwater tournament due to an overheated motor, my chances at AOY go up even more. However, that’s fishing and sometimes you need more than a few good breaks to be on the top in the end.

Since the two day event I fished the Viking invitation on Minnetonka and took a top 20 finished out of 80 boats in early October. That was a really fun and well run event where I go to spend a good amount of time in the boat with a good buddy of mine. My final club event was on Big Marine lake in mid October. I ended up taking 2nd place fishing shallow all day with yes you guesses it, an All Terrain jig.

Today is a sad day due to the fact that my boat will be going into storage for the winter. I’m looking forward to doing some ice fishing and have already had a chance to take a doe with my bow this fall. I’m still looking for that elusive buck to fill my other bow tag and will be hard at it for the next month or so.

I’ve begun thinking about next years tournament schedule already, but have not nailed down anything yet besides fishing a few club tournaments in an attempt to qualify for the state tournament next year. I may update my blog here and there throughout the winter, but the action will most likely slow down here until the spring season comes again.

Thanks for all those that have followed along this year, I hope you have enjoyed it. It was a successful season and a step in the right direction. Have a great holiday season and be well!

ABA Clearwater Lake & ABA TOC Preview

It has been more than a month since my last post so this is a little overdue. It has taken me a little while to digest and think about how my season ended up this summer before I wanted to sit down and write about it. I'll start with the last regular season ABA event on Clearwater.

Well... unfortunately, there never was a final ABA event on Clearwater for me. I practiced all day on Saturday before the event only to have my motor get clogged with weeds, overheat, and fry many parts inside of it. After a few choice words, a payment of $60 for hotel room that I didn't stay in, a long drive back home and thinking about how missing this tournament may have cost me a shot at AOY, I was back in my own bed that night not feeling so great. On the bright side, I only slid to 4th in the AOY standings even though I missed the tournament.

In other good news, insurance covered the $3,000.00+ expense that it took to fix my motor; man was I grateful for that! After spending a nice weekend up north at the Cabin over labor day I was recharged and ready to go for the tournament of champions for the ABA that would be held September 11-12.

The week after I got back from my cabin I scrambled like a mad man to get my boat back in time for the tournament of champions. I got my boat back from the shop on Thursday, and took off work on Friday to practice. The TOC is a two day event on a different lake each day. So on Friday I fished both lakes in the same day; about 6 hours each. It's all the time I would have for practice so I was going to have to continue practicing during the tournament if needed.

Check back soon to see how the TOC played out...

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!

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!

South Metro Slop Hawgs

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

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!

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 :)

Arkansas Tech Invitational - Final Day

Here is an essay I wrote for a class at school about our second tournament day, sorry its a bit of a cop out instead of writing a blog entry. Graduation and the process of moving out of Iowa City has been busier than I thought it would be.

All for a Little Green Fish

Dull yellow light spreads out onto the concrete from the tall street lamps disturbing the pitch black boat launch. Its 4:45 a.m. as college anglers from around the nation roll into the parking lot with big trucks and shiny bass boats in tow. Boat after boat is swiftly launched into Lake Dardanelle. The boats slip into the water, motors are started and smoke shoots out from the engines and rises into the cool crisp air. Seventy plus collegiate teams idle towards the long dock that parallels the bank and position their boats gunnel to gunnel. It’s the beginning of day two of the largest collegiate regional fishing tournament in the nation.

As I wait for the official take off at 6:30 a.m. my boat is tied to the dock. I sit in the driver’s seat with my legs and arms crossed and my chin tucked down into my jacket as I visualize the day ahead. Scenarios run through my head: If this happens, we’ll do this, if that happens, we’ll try this… We need to have a game plan, if the fish move we need to adjust with them. I’m trying to stay calm yet I abnormally have to pee every half hour. The butterflies in my stomach are growing to enormous proportions and want out.

“You boys from the Iowa team?”

I open my eyes, a bright light blinds me, naturally I shield my eyes with my hand. “Yeah, what’s up?” A man with a large TV camera stands on the dock looking down into our boat.

“We need to get some mics on you guys, your leading the tournament right?”

“Yeah, we are. You guys following us today?”

“Yes sir, the tourney is gonna air on the VS network next fall.”

My stomach turns again. I’ve never had a camera boat follow me around a lake before. It’s tough to catch an unpredictable fish with camera boat on you, especially when the camera men expect you to catch them. What if we fail? What if the fish don’t bite? That makes for a boring show. As they mic us up I take a look out past the break line, the wind is stiffly blowing against the current, creating huge rollers. Sweat begins to form on my palms as I wonder if we will even make it to our spot thirty miles upriver. Large waves and bass boats do not mix; think large pot holes in the road, only ten times worse.

The TV guy explains their plans, “The wind is pretty bad out there today, we’re going to trailer our boat up to your area and we’ll meet you there.”

Nodding, “I hope we can make it.”

The wind continues to pick up as an orange light breaks the tree line and the sun begins to rise above the Ozark Mountains on the horizon. College anglers sit in their boats, others pace up and down the long dock, while the hungry munch down breakfast sandwiches complimentary of the tournament staff as they all wait in anticipation for day two to begin. As takeoff time gets closer the boats dislodge themselves from the dock and a flotilla of watercrafts begin to fill up the small bay inside the rock break line that separates the boat launch from the main river.

As we drift out into the bay I prepare for our thirty minute ride up river to our spot. My old, silver mirrored, Spy snowboarding goggles made a resurrection from my youth this week to keep the wind and bugs off my face while we race up the river. To keep my hands from freezing during the cold ride I put on my leather gloves lined in a soft warm fabric, these usually only see the light of day during a Minnesota winter. Anglers and spectators rise and remove their hats in the final moments before takeoff. The colors are presented, the national anthem is sung. Anglers take one last moment to make sure everything is securely latched down before the boat numbers begin to be called off through the loudspeaker. As takeoff numbers begin to be rattled off, tournament boats quickly shoot out from behind the break wall towards the main river. College pride takes off 60 mph down the lake as school colors and logos on flags attached to the boats by steel poles flap in the stiff breeze. A lake wind advisory has been declared for the tournament anglers as they fearlessly make their runs to the best spots on the river.

Boat 48! That’s us, it’s our time. We clear the calm water behind the break wall and my nervous thoughts of catching fish and winning the tournament rapidly shift to controlling the boat in the large rolling waves that blanket the wide river. I lean forward and grip the steering wheel tight. My rain jacket flaps ferociously from the wind causing a loud beating noise that deafens any other noise around me. We make the first turn around a corner and the wind settles a little bit. I open up the throttle and we hit 61 mph, the beating from my jacket gets louder and the air flying by my ears sounds like I stuck my face in a wind tunnel. I turn the boat again to go around another point, the wind is streamlined down this stretch of the river and the waves get taller. The ride gets worse as I begin to bounce in my seat, a few inches in the air each time. My body feels like a rag doll getting tossed around at ease. A headache is setting in from the pounding that my body is taking. I slow the boat down but keep the speed up enough to stay above the big waves. Nearly every twenty yards the boat smashes into a big wave. My back is becoming tense and sore as I begin to question my passion for this sport. We nail another large wave going 40 mph and this one jacks the front of the boat vertically into the air. The front end points back down towards the water. I have a split second to realize what is happening before I get nailed right in the face with a five foot swell. My body is jolted back from the force of the water hitting my face and chest. Our ride becomes halted. Everything goes silent. The engine kills. We speared a wave and are under water in the cold muddy river.


Seconds later we surface with the boat just beneath us; my breathing is heavy and uncontrollable, my eyes blink rapidly. The water clears from my face and shit is floating all over the place. My beanie, goggles and shattered pieces of my windshield float right in front of me. Rods are strewn all over the front deck of the boat and tackle floats all around us. I stand up in the bottom of the boat and water still reaches my waist, the boat is completely full of water. Panic sets in as I fear for my life. I’m certain that my boat is going to sink. It’s completely submerged in the river and is somehow staying afloat just under the surface. I’m completely soaked, freezing cold, and shaking feverishly. I turn the key once, the engine doesn’t start. I’m seconds away from activating my life vest by the pull of a strap. I try again and it fires up. We plow forward with the tip of the boat in the air hoping to keep the boat afloat and out of the other waves that are crashing into its bottom side. I flip on the bilge pumps and water pours out of the boat. We plow forward with water still in the back half of the boat.

I yell over to Tyler, “You alright!?”

“Yeah man, that was ridiculous! Ya lose anything?”

“Looks like the windshield smashed, besides that I think everything is still here, which is amazing.” I pause for a second still in a state of shock with thoughts flying through my mind. I begin to question what I put myself through just to catch a little green fish, it’s ridiculous.

Tyler looks out at the river, “Dude, it’s gonna take forever to get to our spot.”

A pause, “I can’t believe the boat didn’t sink…”

Heavy breathing, “mother nature’s a bitch man!”

“We’ve gotta go, if it takes an hour to get there, it takes us an hour. We’ve gotta be mentally tough, pick yourself up, we have a tournament to win.”


Since I don't explain it in my essay, me and Tyler ended up in 5th place. Our fish either moved or were not interested in what we were throwing on day two - it still eats me up inside and I still have yet to figure out exactly why they were not there on day two. With the bad wind it also forced us to stay up in Spadra when we wanted to run to the strip pits, this was very frustrating. The main river was so nasty that they had to bring my truck 30 minutes up river to pick us up and trailer us back to the weigh-in. Talk about going from the best fishing day ever to the worst.

Stay tuned to the blog as I will be writing an entry about the National Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship very soon. I leave for Texas on Sunday May 23rd and will be down on Lake Lewisville for the week. This will be my fourth and final time there so we are hoping for the best. Until next time, keep those lines tight.

Arkansas Tech Invitational - Lake Dardanelle, AR

After our first few very cold stops at Lake of the Ozarks and Table Rock Lake I was more than ready to get to Lake Dardanelle for the Arkansas Tech Invitational. This is one of the biggest, if not the biggest regional collegiate events in the nation right now. We took 38th last year out of a field of around 60 boats. As I said before, we learned a lot last year and we were hoping for a much better finish this time around.

After last years tournament, we decided that this year we were not going to run around the lake like mad men in practice. We were going to put ourselves in high percentage areas that have been known to produce year after year. On the first practice day we started in the lower end of the lake. We tried the Illinois Bayou area as well as in the strip pits. The strip pits are very unique in the fact that they have deep and extremely clear water in them, much different from anything else you typically find on Dardanelle. Basically it is and old mining pit that is now connected to the lake. We were satisfied with out first practice day after catching plenty of fish and enough keepers to have a limit.

On the second practice day we trailered the boat way up lake to an area called Spadra. This is the area that we concentrated on last year, however, last year we were actually up spadra creek. This year we went past the creek and fished in and around the islands up by spadra creek. If you ever watched the Elite Series event from last year on Dardanelle, this is where a lot of the top finishers were fishing. We had some luck in the spadra area around dead pad stems and left the area soon after catching a few keepers to make sure we didn't burn up the spot. After that we ran upriver a little further to the same exact area that Mark Menendez won the Elite event last year. We were able to float across the road that he went under last year; the water was up a few feet higher this spring. We caught a few keepers in that area and then left it alone.

On day three of practice we concentrated in the midsection of the lake. This day was cold, windy and rainy; much different conditions from the previous two days. Once again, we caught our limit in practice that day and I also landed my personal best largemouth of 7lbs 1oz on a rapala DT3 Flat crankbait, it was ridiculous! Unfortunately the only picture we have of it is on a cell phone right now. If I ever get the photo from Tyler's phone, I'll be sure to post it. After we had enough of drifting around in the wind and rain we called it a day and went back to prepare for the first day of the tournament.

After analyzing our practice our game plan was to run up to the spadra area first thing in the morning to see if we couldn't get into some fish on spinnerbaits in the dead pad stems. It was a perfect morning besides some thick fog on the way up to spadra. The wind was nonexistent which made for a smooth ride. We got to our area with only one other boat up there already, however, they were a little farther back in the cut than we were fishing. After a few casts in we had our first keeper of the day in the same area we got bit in practice. We cut through to another spot between some islands and I landed our second keeper of the day on a spinnerbait again, a solid 3lb+ fish. We continued to mosey our way in and around the islands slinging spinnerbaits at every clump of pad stems available. As we made our way out of the cut into a deeper ditch we hit the mother lode. I caught our third fish on the spinnerbait, another solid 3+. I then retied, grabbed a sandwhich for something to eat, held in in my mouth and made another cast. Instantly another good fish nailed my spinnerbait. I fought it to the boat, sandwhich in mouth. One more and we would have a limit. We turned the corner around another clump of pad stems and I hooked up again with a solid 2.5lb fish on the spinnerbait, that was our limit and we were pumped. Not 10 minutes later further down the bank that was lined with a deeper ditch another good fish smoked my spinnerbait. Right as it hit I knew it was a good fish. After a short battle we landed one of our biggest of the day, a 6lb plus fish!

After deciding that we had done enough damage in that area we decided to make a 40 minute run back down river to the strip pits to finish out our day. We got into the area and it was full of other tournament boats, but most of them were up close to the bank fishing in shallower water. We backed off the bank some and as we were working our way out of one of the strips another 6lb plus fish ate my All Terrain Finesse jig. That was an awesome cull and would put us right in the thick of things going into day two. We fished one more small stretch on bank in the strip pits and made another good cull catching a 3lb plus fish using the finesse jig.

This day was becoming unreal and we couldn't seem to do any wrong. Its pretty cool when a plan comes together, but rarely does it happen like it did that day. With about 15 minutes left we made our way back to the launch site to weigh our fish. When our fish hit the scales it read 20lbs even! We had two fish that weighed over six pounds and we were both ecstatic about our day. After the scales closed, Tyler and I were leading the event out of 70 boats with a 4lb lead going into day two. You could say I was a little nervous...

Some pictures of our bag from Day One:

Lake Oz and The Rock

It's been awhile since I've updated my blog. I decided to give myself some time to think about my 10 day fishing extravaganza before I wrote about it. Here goes...

My tourney partner Tyler and I started our trip south on March 19th, we were headed for the second Central Collegiate FLW event on Lake of the Ozarks. We had practiced two weeks before and only came up with one fish, however it was 4lb 12oz. Tournament day brought nasty cold weather and put simply, the fishing was brutal for us. We ended the day cold, soaked, and with a big goose egg for the event. I was happy that we weren't going home yet, that would have made for a bad fishing trip. Luckily for us, that was only the first day on our long trip, we had plenty of time to redeem ourselves.

After the tournament on March 20th, we headed a few more hours south for Table Rock Lake (we may have stopped at the Bass Pro Shops on the way too...) I was excited to get on Table Rock for the first time in my life. Its a lake that I've read about many times and to be able to fish it was pretty cool. The first day on "the rock" brought highs in the 30s, sleet, and wind. However, with the weather also came the fish. Table Rock is such a clear lake that the fish tend to bite better in nasty weather conditions. We fished rogues and lucky craft pointers in main lake pockets for most of the day and ended up catching a fair amount of fish. Tyler nailed some good spots right off the bat and eventually I got this 4lb+ largie later in the day. I just about got frost bit on my toes, but it was a fun day none the less.

A few pictures from Table Rock Lake

Our second day on the Rock was nothing special. The weather was awesome and I could finally feel my fingers and toes, but the fishing was terrible. Tyler boated the only fish of the day on a Lucky Craft pointer in the table rock shad color. Nice day to be on the lake, not such a nice day for fishing in a lake with extremely cold and clear water. However, I learned a lot those two days. I've never fished a jerkbait much in the early spring besides on Bull Shoals about a month ago. After catching fish on the jerkbait the first day, I gained a lot of confidence in that bait and its just another presentation to add to the arsenal. We got off the lake around 3:00pm, got everything latched down and we were now on our way Lake Dardanelle on the Arkansas River for the Arkansas Tech Invitational, I couldn't wait to get there.

It's been four days into an unforgettable fishing trip and the best is still yet to come...

Exciting Week Awaits!

First an update of our first FLW college tournament.... On March 6th my buddy Tyler and I fished our first event of the year on Bull Shoals in southern Missouri. The fishing was difficult to say the least. 40-44 degree water temps made it tough to get bit. We only caught 4 fish all day. Tyler landed our only keeper in the last half hour of the day on a custom painted lucky craft pointer, it was a solid spotted bass. We only weighed in that one fish and ended up 16th out of 40 boats. The winners only had 3 fish which also shows how difficult it was. It's too bad we couldn't scratch out a few more keepers, those tough tournaments are always the easiest to win.

Even though we had a tough day on the water, I learned a tremendous amount about fishing in cold water. I learned more than I ever knew about jerkbaits and custom tuning them to perfection which will help me in future events.

We also prefished lake of the ozarks and found the bite to be tough there too. We found one area that coughed up a solid 4lb 12oz fish, but that's all we caught that day. We are hoping for warmer weather which may force more fish to move into the area we found. We'll see how it goes.

Now a look ahead... This Friday March 19th Tyler and I will be back on the road heading to Lake of the Ozarks for our second FLW college tournament set for Saturday March 20th. This will be my last FLW college event that I will ever fish, so we definitely need a top 5 to make it to regionals.

After the FLW tournament we are heading back down to southern Missouri to fish Table Rock Lake for two days. The is no specific reason we are fishing this lake besides for fun and to take up a few days. We're hoping for a good bite and with the warm weather they have been getting down there, we could hit it just right.

After Table Rock, we'll travel a few more hours south to Lake Dardanelle for a college regional tournament. We will be practicing for three days and then the tournament is Friday and Saturday. We fished this tournament last year and faired alright, but still not that great. We learned a lot last year and I expect to perform much better this year.

We've got a busy week ahead, but I couldn't be more excited. I've never taken a trip where I'll get the chance to fish 3 top notch lakes withing a week period. Hopefully the fish gods are with us next week. We're hoping for safe travels and even better fishing! Check back for a report once I get back.

Fishmas Season Eve

It's almost here... I'll be leaving tomorrow morning for southern Missouri and the start of my 2010 fishing season. This will mark the earliest I have ever fished for bass in my life. Hopefully we run into a few fish so I can mark down the earliest I've ever caught a bass too, in open water.

My tournament partner Tyler and I will be fishing Bull Shoals lake on Saturday to kick off the FLW College Central Division qualifiers. The goal is to finish in the top 5 in order to qualify for the regional tournament. Last season we were fortunate enough to hold onto a top 5 spot on Lake of the Ozarks. After getting a taste of the regional event last year, we would reeaaally like to return. It could be tough on us this weekend seeing to the fact that we have never laid eyes on the body of water and will not be able to practice. However, this won't get us down and you can bet we will be giving it our best to try and compete for the top spots.

A cold winter has kept bass still somewhat in their winter patterns from what I've been reading. The forcast is showing a warming trend, so we will have to be open minded on the water to determine if the fish are making a move. We have a game plan set in terms of lure choice, it's more so just a matter of finding the fish (Like always right?!)

After Saturdays college tournament we will travel a few miles up to Branson, Missouri to watch the final day weigh-in for the FLW Tour pro tournament that is taking place on Table Rock Lake. That should be very fun and exciting, I'm looking forward to it.

Once the FLW Tour weigh-in wraps up we will be traveling a few more hours north to Lake of the Ozarks. In a few weeks we have our second FLW College event on Lake Oz, so we will be stopping there on the way home to spend a little time on the water on Sunday. I'll be towing my boat down to Bull Shoals so we will be able to use it on Lake Oz.

It should be a jammed pack weekend full of nothing but fishing, fishing, fishing. My reels are all spooled with fresh new line, the boat is ready to go, and I've got a terrible case of cabin fever. It should be an awesome weekend to kick off the season and scratch the itch!!

Back at it!

I hope every ones winter season is flying by faster than mine has, spring can't get here soon enough! I was doing just fine dealing with the cold weather up until about a month ago; now it's really getting to me.

Hunting season has come and gone and I'm becoming tired of starring down through a hole in the ice. Luckily for the Iowa Bass Team and I, we will be heading 9 hours south in two weeks to fish the first FLW College Fishing event for the central division on Bull Shoals Lake. It has been an unusually cold winter for the southern states this year so hopefully it will warm up a tad bit by the time we get there.

Whether the fishing is good or not, it will at least scratch the itch a little bit until the ice thaws here in Iowa. Recent Bull Shoals local events have been kicking out some decent fish, so hopefully we can find enough to do well.

I'll also be towing my boat down to the event. On the way back to Iowa after the tournament, Tyler and I are going to prefish for the 2nd FLW College Fishing tournament from the central division on Lake of the Ozarks. It should make for a fun little trip to start off the year!

The Iowa Bass Team has scheduled a busy spring semester in terms of club, regional, and national events. I will do my best to try and give updates on how things are progressing with the bass team throughout my last semester here at the University of Iowa. The last four years have flown by, but I plan to make the best of it while it still lasts!

A year in review, recent happenings, and future plans....

The colder weather is beginning to set in and in a month or so our lakes in the upper Midwest will be covered with a large sheet of ice... awesome. I will be hanging up the rods for year now that my tournament season is over and bow hunting season is now in full swing. First, an update on how some of my recent fall tournaments went.

On October 11th we had our annual Big Ten tournament on on Lake St. Clair in Michigan. What a massive lake! It was definitely overwhelming to begin with but we ended up finding some fish in the end. The hard part about this tournament is that I brought my own boat to use while most other Big Ten schools had volunteer boaters for practice and tournament day. The volunteer boaters (locals) were able to help out the college anglers in practice while we were left on our own with no help whatsoever. Basically whatever we found in practice, all the locals knew about these spots. In hindsight I would have left my boat at home and gone with a volunteer boater, but that's just how it goes sometimes. Here is a smallie from practice, you can see how big the lake is in the background!

In the end my boat caught 13lbs for 3 fish and as a school we had 19lbs and took 6th place out of 8 boats. Here is a picture of a 4+lb and 5+lb smallmouth that I caught during the tournament day. We were on quality, just couldn't get the quantity.

On October 30th-November 1st my buddy Tyler and I fished in the FLW College Central Division Regional Tournament that we qualified for. It was held on the famous Kentucky Lake. In practice we found the topwater and rattle trap bite to be very good in the backs of the creeks where ever bass we busting and chasing shad. On day one we caught 25-30 fish, but only two that went over 15 inches. We caught all these fish on spooks and red eye shads. We were left in 16th place out of 20 boats and decided on day 2 to run all new water that neither Tyler or I had ever seen in our lives. We ended up getting onto some better fish in the northern part of the lake on rip rap transition areas. We didn't catch as many fish, but we had three keepers for 7lbs 8oz which moved us up to 10th place in the tournament. I was happy with how we were able to scrap everything and make our day fairly productive. If we had only 4 more pounds we would have cracked the top 5 and made it to nationals... so close, yet so far. I can't say enough about FLW outdoors and the National Guard for these awesome college events that they have put together this year. I had an absolute blast fishing these events and will definitely be back next year. Oh yeah, they also gave us Z520 Rangers to use for the event, how sweet is that!? Here are some pictures of the boat, a 4lb practice fish and some of the tournament fish from day 2....

When I look back at the year I had it's definitely had its ups and downs, I've had a blast through it all though. In the end it's just fishing and you can't beat that! I feel like I have gained a great amount of experience in terms of fishing other larger bodies of water throughout the nation because of the college tournaments that I have had the opportunity to fish during the season. The fact that most of the college events are non-entry fee tournaments makes it that much better. I have been able to fish some great bodies of water this year including Lake Dardanelle, AR; Lake Lewisville, TX; Brookville Lake, IN; Arkansas River, AR; Pool 19 Mississippi River, IA; Lake St Clair, MI; Lake of the Ozarks, MO; and Kentucky Lake, KY. I basically got a crash course of what it would be like to be on the tour as a pro. It's a grueling lifestyle, but it's something that I would like to try and pursue after college is done. Once again, I can't say enough about how well run the college events are. It gives us as students the experience we will eventually need down the road if we have aspirations of becoming a pro someday.

I have already began planning for next year and have a few ideas of which tournaments I would like to fish. I know for sure that I am going to be fishing some more of the college events in the spring of the year and possible a couple in the summer. I will also be fishing with my bass club, Lakes Area Bassmasters, throughout the summer. In terms of larger events my goal is to fish some of the ABA events again, and if I can come up with the finances I would like to try my hand at the MN/WI Bassmaster Weekend Series. I like the looks of that schedule and its something that I have my sights set on if things fall into place.

Well, the deer are running like crazy in the woods right now. The rut is in full swing and I've passed on a couple opportunities to take some smaller bucks and does this past week. I'll be hunting hard for the next week or so to see if I can't put a big buck down. So stay tuned.

Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who takes the time to sit down and read these posts every so often. I enjoy sharing my trials and tribulations that make up a season of tournament fishing and it also helps me to really study and learn things from each event that I fish when I can go back and re-read my old posts. Thanks again and have a good rest of the fall and winter; spring can't come soon enough!

Quick Update - It's been awhile!

It has been awhile since my last post, with school starting up I've been a little bit more consumed in my studies rather than being on the water. However, even though the air temps are beginning to drop, my college tournament schedule is beginning to heat up again. I've got a full schedule of tournaments up until the first weekend in November and hope to write a little bit about each one. Here is an update of what has occured in the last month and what will take place in the month ahead.

During the last week of my summer, 3 of my college roommates flew up from Chicago to spend a couple days up north at my cabin. To say the least we had an absolute blast! They had some fishing experience before they got up there, but not a whole lot in terms of fishing "the way we do". It was really fun putting them on some fish, it was a trip I will soon not forget!

In late August I fished my first FLW college event on the Mississippi River out of Fort Madison, Iowa the weekend before school started. My tournament partner practiced for the event a couple weeks before the event and fared well. However, if you have ever fished rivers you know how fast they can change, and change it did. We didn't make the right adjustments and ended up with a big goose egg for the tournament. The fact that 21 other boats out of 40 zeroed as well made me feel a little better, but not a whole lot better,.

If you read my last post about Big Marine you know that my motor wasn't working after that event. Well, it ended up being that my starter went out on me. Thankfully I have an awesome Dad and he was able to replace it and install a new one himself! So, last weekend I went home to get my boat and do some fishing back in Minnesota. Friday the 25th was pretty good fishing on a south metro lake. My best 5 would have been 16+ mainly caught on jigs and frogs. On Saturday I went to visit my buddy in Winona. We spent the day fishing down there on the Mississippi River on Pool 5a. We fared alright, but it was a little slower than normal; swim jigs proved to be best that day.

This past weekend I fished in my second FLW college tournament down in Missouri on Lake of the Ozarks. This time we fared much better than the first tournament. Me and my teammate, Tyler, ended up using All Terrain finesse jigs, t-rigged baby paca craws, spro dawgs, and shakey heads to catch 5 keeper fish for 9lb 5oz. It proved well enough for a 5th place finish out of 40 boats and $1000 cash for the bass club here at the University of Iowa! Also, if you finish in the top 5 in any of the FLW college tournaments you qualify for the regional tournament. Therefore, we will be competing against 19 other regional qualifiers for a top prize of $50,000 on Kentucky Lake from Oct. 31st - Nov. 2nd. To say the least, I am absolutely jacked to fish this event!! I cannot wait! A big thanks goes out to Chuck Campbell for helping us get started on fishing Lake Oz! To follow these college tournaments, you can check it out at www.collegefishing.com

Coming up this weekend from Oct. 8th - Oct. 11th is our annual Big Ten Championship. This year it is going to be moved to the fall season and will be held on Lake St. Clair in Michigan. Both smallmouth and largemouth could come into play during the event. Whether or not the wind blows on this massive lake is really going to determine which species we will target.

So as you can see, I've been a little busy this past month and it won't slow down too soon. However, I wouldn't want it any other way. Be sure to check in frequently this fall on updates from the Big Ten Event and the FLW Central Regional tournament that will take place here at the end of the month. Also, I just purchased a new bow recently and am really looking forward to getting in the woods down here in Iowa once these tournaments are over and November rolls around. I may be giving some updates from my experiences in the woods so stay tuned!!

Club Tournament - Big Marine

My club tournament on Big Marine Lake a couple weeks ago was definitely one to remember and not necessarily because of the fishing. I would describe it as a crazy, frustrating, scary, yet still rewarding tournament. I didn’t pre-fish for the tournament since I helped my buddy move into his college house down in Winona the weekend before. We may have also taken a cast or two into the Mighty Mississip while we were down there… fishing wasn’t too stellar though.

In past years I have had decent success on Big Marine and figured that I would just fish this one by the seat of my pants. I got to my first spot pitching a jig into reeds and cattails. It took about 15 minutes to get the first fish in the well, but it was a peanut. About five minutes later some major storms were on the horizon; in no time they had cleared the horizon and were right overhead. It started pouring rain and a bolt of lightning struck what looked to be the lake about 500 yards away, only problem was that I couldn’t get my big motor started! Other club guys were able to make it back to the launch, but I was stuck. Lightning continued to strike overhead and by this time I was a bit freaked out to say the least. With no big motor I crawled up onto the front deck on my stomach, put the TM on high and pushed the power button with my hand leading me into a mess of cattails. I figured it was the closest and safest place until the lightning passed. I laid on the bottom of my boat for about 45 minutes until the lightning started to disappear. As I laid there with my head under the console of my boat I couldn’t help but laugh and think to myself, “man, what a way to spend a Saturday morning!”

After the first storm passed I was a little shaken and un focused, but was able to get back to fishing. After a little while more in the cattails with no success I moved to a deep weedline that has been good to me in the past (finally got the big motor started). I caught one keeper right away on a jigworm, another swimmer though. I continued down the weedline catching a small fish here, small fish there. This weedline usually has held better fish in the past and no longer did that day. Before I got to the end of the spot another storm full of lightning was approaching. I got off the lake in a hurry this time and watched it from the bank before a nice guy named Dan let me come in his house to wait it out. Lightning once again came crashing down for a good 30-45 minutes. So there I sat, watching the weather channel, with Dan. Dan was a good guy, we had a lot in common which made for good conversation. After this storm let up I returned to my weedline with no success. The clouds cleared and now it was getting hot and really windy (what a goofy day weather wise).

With my weedline not producing I moved to a point close to the island. It was tough getting the motor started, but eventually it fired. With no success on the point I was going to move to the south end of the lake to get out of the wind. Well, this time my motor didn’t start. Two lightning delays, only two dinks in the box, and now a motor that wouldn’t start… I was a little frustrated. What happened is I ended up running down my cranking battery therefore ruining my chances of starting the big motor. In hindsight, it was probably a godsend that I didn’t get it started because my plan was to run to the south end of the lake, opposite of the launch ramp. If I had done that and then had the motor not start on me I would have really had a problem getting back to the launch. Thankfully I was only about a 2.5 hour trolling motor ride away from the launch and would be able to fish my way back. With the wind behind me and my trolling motor on high I just took out a big crankbait and fished my way back. The best part about it was that I was able to put a limit in the livewell on the crankbait and even cull a couple times! They were still all small, but it made me feel a little better. I hardly ever fish cranks and it gave me some much needed confidence in them.

With our weigh-in sight being at a different location than the launch ramp I needed to call our tournament director to let him know I wouldn’t be at the weigh-in. However, with all the rain we got in the morning, my phone got wet while in my pocket and wouldn’t work! I couldn’t dial out, but I could receive calls. Knowing there was no way I could get to the weigh-in with my predicament I just weighed my fish in a bag with a hand scale. My total came to a whopping 6lbs 2oz!

As I was driving home a club member gave me call to see where I was. Told him what had happened and also told him what I had caught. To my surprise they counted my weight and even more surprising, I came in 3rd place!?!? I was very surprised. It was a tough fishing day with powerful storms in and out of the area all day, but I didn’t expect it to be that tough.

So in the end it all ended up working out just fine and I was able to gain some confidence in another technique. I’ve come to the conclusion that sometimes it’s just not your day and when it rains, it pours…

Chisago/S. Lindstrom and Coon Lake Tourneys

This past weekend I had back-to-back tournaments on Saturday and Sunday. One good thing is that both tournaments were fairly close together; one on Chisago/S. Lindstrom and the other on Coon Lake. I was able to spend the night in the forest lake area in between tournaments which gave me a little extra time in bed before waking up on Sunday. I was able to also get out on Coon one last time the evening before the event after I had my club tourney on Chisago.

The club tournament on Chisago didn’t go nearly as well as my practice went one week earlier. On the Saturday before the tournament I had a total of 87 inches and fell much shorter than that on tournament day with a total of 75 inches. I was able to catch a lot of fish, probably close to 25, but any fish over 16” didn’t want any part of being in my boat. I fished deep the first 2 hours of the day and had one 14” fish to show for it. I resorted to moving shallow the rest of the day in about 3-5 ft of water. I caught 70% of my fish on an All Terrain swim jig just burning it over the top of milfoil patches on windy banks and also caught some other fish on an Argon jointed crankbait in a bluegill color and a t-rigged beaver. I took 7th for the day and was a little unhappy to say the least. I just couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong in terms of getting a bigger bite. Some of the guys who finished higher were fishing docks and buzzbaits around milfoil. It sounded like I was fishing the same type of stuff that the top guys were fishing, but just didn’t find bigger fish like the week before. I’ve come to the conclusion that when it’s not your time, it’s just not you time. My justification was that I was just saving my big bites for the ABA on Sunday.

After my club tournament I went straight to Coon Lake to practice for a couple more hours. I found one deep spot right away that I thought had great potential. I was pretty pumped when I found that spot because practice the week before had been real spotty and inconsistent.

One tournament morning I drew boat 15 out of 25; not great, but not terrible. My plan for the day was to start on the deep spot I found the day before and then go from there. Well… I got to my deep spot first thing in the morning to find two other boats right on it. I stuck around and casted around the sweet spot for about 20 minutes, I couldn’t get to where I needed to be without crowding the other boats. I decided that I needed to make a move. I needed to get away from that spot and go to my shallow water and fish my strengths.

I went into the canal between the two lakes and picked up a small fish in the pads on an AT jig. A small start, but a start nonetheless. From there I went to my matted milfoil bank only to find two other boats also on it. My initial thoughts were “man… not again!” I pulled in behind the guys and tried my best to pick up the sloppy thirds. My better mat was at the opposite end of the bank that I started on, but I didn’t pull in there because the other boats were moving towards it. To my surprise, after the boats got past the docks with matted milfoil, they just ignored the milfoil out past the docks about 200 yards; my better area.

Once they moved through the area I went to my better mat and stuck a solid 3.5lb fish right off the bat. In practice I caught one fish off this spot and had another bite, then moved on, not really knowing what was completely there. I pitched in there again and once my AT jig hit the bottom another good one sucked it up, a 4lb+ fish. The mat that I had found had deeper water in one spot, a drop from 3 to 5 or 6ft, and the bigger fish were loaded in there. The deeper area was only about as big as two boats sitting next to each other gunnel to gunnel. I sat on that spot for 4 hours and culled my way to a goo limit, left it for 1.5 hours to see if I could get a kicker, then came back and picked up two more 3lb+ fish in the last 1.5 hours. The big fish were just concentrated in the area, which made for quite a fun day. I basically just sat my boat in one spot and as long as you didn’t disturb the milfoil you would get a bite every so often. It was like fishing an offshore spot where you consistently get bites throughout the day, except this was a spot in shallow water.

I ended up with 17.90lbs and took 4th place for the day. This tournament on Coon was different and a little more satisfying than past years when I could run to my old faithful shallow pads and cattails. With the water being down quite a bit I had to re-learn the entire lake this year. It felt good to have “fished the moment” and to find new areas that were holding fish which led to another good finish on Coon. Not sure why I seem to do well on that lake, but I really like it! First place had 22lbs and a 6lb+ fish doing the same thing that other top finishers and I were doing. 22lbs!! Talk about fun…

Under Armour College Bass National Championship - AR River - Little Rock

On July 5th I left my cabin up north in northern Minnesota and drove 7 hours to Iowa to pick up Tyler for the Under Armour College Bass National Championship. We left for the Arkansas River at Little Rock on the morning of the 6th and 10.5 hours later we finally arrived. We made a quick stop into an awesome tackle shop called “fish N stuff” owned by Vince Miller. It’s probably the best small tackle shop I’ve ever been to, they had everything! Not to mention the fact that Vince was letting us borrow his boat for the week of the tournament, what a guy! It was awesome not having to worry about towing a boat down to the tournament.

As one can imagine, it is much easier writing about a good finish in a tournament than a bad one, so I’m going to keep this one kinda short and sweet…foreshadowing? You betcha.

The first evening we got down there we put the boat in and took a quick stroll down the river to the areas that Tyler fished when they took 4th two years ago on the same pools. Pools 5, 6, & 7 were the tournament waters. After seeing similar grass still in the areas, we felt confident going into practice. First day we went north of little rock, and the 2nd and 3rd day we went south. We stayed in the Little Rock pools all three days of practice, found some stuff, but it would be a grind.

We faced 95-100 degree days without much wind all 5 days we were down there with water temps anywhere from 85-92 degrees. It was steamy... Complaining? Yes and No. That’s just AR in mid-summer, and it resulted in the most difficult fishing conditions I’ve ever fished in; ever… It was a grind everyday, but everyone had to face the same conditions.

The most difficult thing that I found about that river is that it was hard to run a solid pattern that produces bigger fish. You could go down the bank and pitch wood and grass all day long and catch fish, but they had to be 15 inches to keep, which was a back breaker for us. The river was full of grass and wood, but you had to put your trolling motor on high and cover a bunch of water in practice hoping to fall upon better fish. Its kind of like fishing milfoil clumps and mats back home in Minnesota, you can go a long time without a bite and then happen upon a pack of fish, why they are grouped up their? Who knows. Unless to came across said pack of fish, you were hurting (at least we were).

We tried the same weed clumps where Tyler did well two years ago and came up empty handed for keepers. We ended up catching 16 fish on day one with none over 15 inches and had less bites on day 2 with the same results. Teams that did well found small sweet spots in the backwaters and a couple teams found fish along the many rock and wood jetties on the main river.

If I were to fish the tournament all over again I would do a couple things different. We went into the event thinking it was going to be tough, so we didn’t set the hook on anything, unless we couldn’t help it with moving baits. I would set the hook until we caught a keeper fish. We stayed in the Little Rock pool the whole time; I would lock through next time. Not sure if those things would have made a difference, but who knows.

It was a long week in Arkansas, but if I can fish it again next year, I probably will. Even though the fishing was tough, these events are always fun in terms of the many perks the college anglers receive. We had a cool Q & A session with Scott Rook, Kevin Short, Mike McClelland, and James Niggmeyer. Also got to talk with k-pink a little bit about his win in the mighty mississip, which was very cool. Our banquet was in the “fish factory” where they film “The Bassmasters” TV show for the elite series, also very cool.

As you can possibly imagine, I was eager to get back to Minnesota and catch some fish. I’ve been out quite a bit since I’ve been back, fishing lakes such as orchard, chisago, and coon. I’ve got a clubber on chisago this Saturday and an ABA on Coon on Sunday. Coon has been very good to me in the past, but practice wasn’t to stellar, water is down quite a bit and has left my better areas too shallow, we’ll see how it goes, I’ll be sure to give reports. Until then, may your line be tight!

ABA - North South Center - June 28th

This past weekend I fished my first money tournament as a boater in an ABA event on North South Center. I was able to practice on Friday afternoon after work for a half day and found some fish that left me feeling somewhat confident for the tournaments. I wasn’t getting a lot of bites, but the ones I did get were better fish. Looking at past results from other ABA tournament on North South Center it looked like it usually took 11-13 pounds to either win or finish in the money. I thought if I worked at it I would have the potential of catching that weight.

In practice I was catching post-spawn/early summertime fish anywhere from 3-12ft of water. The area needed to have either rock or weeds to hold fish. Some fish were up shallow under matted weeds that had been uprooted while others were offshore or on steep sloping banks. As some may know, our lakes here in the metro part of the state are under a drought . The boat launch at North Center was ridiculously shallow which made for quite a sight during the launching and loading for our tournament. Someone should have had a video camera… some good footage to be had. Definitely a lack of water in that lake.

We launched at 7:00am on tournament day under bluebird skies with a decent amount of wind already churning up the lake. I drew boat 13 and took off towards the north end of the lake. On about my third pitch to a deeper weedline I stuck my first keeper of the day on a blk/blue t-rigged tube. Next pitch, same thing, another good one. This was a decent surprise, didn’t even have a sniff on this weedline in practice. I moved down the bank to a spot where I caught a good one in practice and put two more in the boat; one good one and one swimmer. I worked my way back to my starting weedline and put another good fish in the boat. I had my limit by 8:00am and had about 11 pounds in the boat; not great for most lakes, but for NSC I felt good about it. All these fish came on the blk/blue t-rig tube. At this point I felt that if I could get a 4lb bite and maybe one more solid fish I would have a chance at the money.

After I caught that quick limit I proceeded to run around the lake for about 3 hours with only smaller keepers to show for it. In practice I had fished a long, deeper point in NC that came way out into the lake, hooked up on my first two casts, and left. At the beginning of the tournament there was about 4 boats on the spot already so I decided not to fish it right away. After running around the lake catching a bunch of runts I decided to finally fish it. There were still 4 boats on it when I pulled up, but it’s long enough that many boats can fish it and have their own space. On about my third cast with my all terrain finesse jig I hooked up with a good fish. I was able to cull out the small one from the morning and now had at least 12lbs. This point was loaded with fish. You could literally watch other guys on the point catch fish after fish. Once you got the school fired up they really bit. However, I wasn’t able to get many over that 2.5lb mark. I was forced to fish the shallow part of the point with the other boats out on the deeper end.

After my trolling motor batteries just about died from trying to stay on the windy point I had to move off it and go try my other starting spot. I didn’t get another bite there and had to end the day with what I had. After pulling up to the weigh-in I found out that the guys that were deeper on the points really caught them good… 19lbs good. Wow, I was a little disheartened after hearing that and soon found out that I probably didn’t have enough to be in the money. I weighed in with 12.94lbs, which on any other year at NSC would have been a money finish. However, the fish bit pretty good that day and many guys brought in 14-15lb bags. I think the fact that we had some really warm weather the week prior to the tournament finally got the fish schooled up on deeper summertime spots. It looked like most of the fish out deep had just got out there (empty bellies). You couple that with a lake that hasn’t got fished much this year because of low water and its going to kick out better than normal weights. The standings have yet to come out, but I think I’ll finish in at least the top 10 out of 26 guys so I can’t complain too much.

After having time to think about this one, I definitely have learned a lot:

#1: never be satisfied with what you have. I didn’t feel like I had the fish to win, but with past results I thought I would be in the money.
#2: start on your best spots and stay there. I should have started on that point and fished it all day long. Those deep fish seem to turn on at random times and you need to be there when they do.
#3: I have a lot to learn. I realized that I had a lot to learn before the event started (if you know everything about bass you’d be a millionaire), but now I realize that I have a LOT more to learn, primarily about fishing deep water.

These guys are good and I’ll have to step up my ‘game’ if I want to try and contend with them. I’m glad I fished the event and will hopefully be back for more!

Be sure to stay tuned. I’m heading down to Little Rock, Arkansas on Monday to fish the Under Armour National Collegiate Bass Championship on the Arkansas River. This is another one of our National Championships for college fishing. My partner took a top five on the same pools were fishing two years ago and so I feel a little confident going into the event. It will probably be a very tough bite, basically like every other lake they put us on for college events, so I’ll try to stay “cautiously” confident. As we all have experienced, this sport sure can humble a fella pretty good.

Lake Independence - June 6th

A couple weeks ago I had my first club tournament of the year on Lake Independence in the northwest metro. My club had already fished two tournaments in Wisconsin prior to this event, but I was unable to fish them since I was still at school. This tournament was the first weekend that I was back from school so I didn’t have any time to pre-fish, nor had I ever been on the lake before. Needless to say, I hadn’t a clue of where to go, but it ended up being alright.

If you can recall the weekend of June 6th was a cold and wet one. I don’t think the temps got about 55 degrees and you could see fog coming off the water in certain areas all day long because the water was warmer than the air for a good part of the day. I had good rain gear and luckily brought a warm hat, but another layer of clothing and some gloves would have done me some good!

I started off fishing a cattail island that was close to the YMCA island. It was surrounded with shallow water and thick milfoil. It didn’t look to productive because of the lack of deeper water close by so I made a move to some docks close by. After cruising down a row of docks without a bite it was time for another change. I moved across the lake to a slop and pad filled bay. The water was noticeably clearer here and looked much more productive. On about my third cast in the area I landed a decent keeper. I proceeded to fish the bay with a frog, swim jig, spinnerbait, and a t-rigged beaver. I ended up filling out my limit with a bunch of runts and also lost a couple good fish on a frog that may have helped. After getting through the bay I continued down the bank to some other pads that had some good wind blowing into them. I caught two more keepers on a spinnerbait on that bank and was able to cull for a couple ounces.

After fishing the windblown bank I moved to a spot behind the YMCA island and started pitching a blk/blue t-rigged tube in the cattails. After a couple minutes I laid into a nicer fish. It ended up being about 2.75lbs and my best fish of the day. I continued to pitch the cattails thinking that I was finally on to some better fish, but it never panned out.
I ended the day with about 8.5lbs which was good enough for 2nd place. I wasn’t too pleased with my bag, but I can’t complain with that for never being on Independence before and especially under the colder conditions.

Fishing Report/Update: I’ve been fishing the south metro lakes quite a bit the last couple weeks since I’ve been back from Iowa and have still been finding fish shallow until about the last week or so. My best lures have been swim jigs and plastic stick baits on the inside weed lines. I’ve caught some fish in deep water on jig worms and texas rigged beavers but it’s been very sporadic. I’m looking forward to this hot weather to continue which should help in getting the fish stacked up on the deeper summer spots. It will also put some stability in other shallow water patterns throughout the lakes such as docks, pads, and slop.

Stay tuned for another entry sometime this week. I fished an ABA tournament this weekend and will be sure to let you know how it goes!