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