Tuesday, July 8, 2014

E/W Rush Tournament

Sunday June 26 - Well I am a little late on writing this post and in the end it was probably because I was trying to forget the tournament.  The Renegade Bassers held our second Club Tournament on East/West Rush Lake in Rush City, MN.  The day started out picture perfect with clear skies and very little wind and with E/W Rush being a lake I like to throw Frogs on I was excited to have the weather conditions it looked like we'd have.

My non-boater for the day was Mike Juskiewicz who is an absolute side splitter to fish with because he has so many stories that just make you laugh you arse off that by the end of the day your sides hurt.

Mike and I launched second and we were headed through the channel from West Rush to East Rush to hit the South Bay to throw some frogs.  We got to our spot and on Mike's 3rd cast of a Senko in the Pads he set the hook and was ready to start is bag.  However, to our surprise he pulled a 14" Walleye with an Identity Problem since it was living in Bass Territory.  I started throwing my Ribbit Toad in Green Pumpkin/Orange and had a couple of blowups but nothing that would commit to taking it.  I switch over to a Live Target Black and Yellow Hollow Body Frog and within a few cast I had my first attack about 10' from the Reed line I caught my first Bass of the day a 15-3/4" Bass that although was not huge but it was a start.  Less then 5 mins later Mike pulled in a 17" Bass on a spinner bait so we were both on the board and ready to catch more.

Well although we were ready the Bass didn't seem to want to cooperate.  We caught a few small fish but nothing that would measure so we let em go and told them to grow up fast.  Mike set the hook on a few Bass that would have measured for his bag but the fish were just determined not to go for a boat ride to weigh in and would shake off before he could get them into the boat.

Now at about 10:00am mother nature decided to rub salt in our wounds and she start the rain and it rain for the rest of the day and the fishing didn't get any easier.  We through just about everything we could think of to see if we could get the fish to bite and finally at about noon I caught my second keeper a whopping 12-1/8" Bass, just big enough to put in the box provided it didn't shrink over the next couple of hours.

That was it, the only other fish Mike and I caught were either too small or the wrong species, as I caught 3 Pike that were all about 4 - 5lbs each but didn't help me and only added to my frustration.

It appeared that most of the club members were able to figure out the fish as most came in with limits but there were a couple of fishermen that blanked for the day so Mike and I were not the only ones baffled by the lack of activity.

I ended up with a total weight of 3.0lbs and 16th place, not my best day but not my worst either even the Elite Series Fisherman blank sometimes.  It is a good thing we get to throw out one of our tournaments and I can look forward to the next tournament on Clearwater on 7/13.

Catch ya next time and remember "Just Fish!"