Sunday, March 22, 2015

North/South Center Tournament

July 26, 2014; Today is the Renegade Bassers Tournament on North/South Center in Chisago County.  This is a lake I’ve never done real well on but my hopes were high since I had a good prefishing day a week before.  I was fishing alone again so at least if I had a bad day I wasn’t causing someone else to have a bad day also.  The weather was almost identical to Clearwater 2 weeks earlier so I was looking forward to a really good day.

We launched from North Center but my best spots were on South Center so I had to join the parade that would go through the culvert beneath Hwy 8 and then run to my spot.  Again I was feeling good when most guys turned right and I turned left.  Only one boater was heading toward my area of the lake but he pulled up short to fish a point a good ½ mile from where I wanted to fish.

I pulled up and started to throw a buzz bait and had a couple of blow ups but I was sure they were pike since I could see the movement of water just before the strike and they were just hitting it trying to knock their pray senseless so they could come back and eat it.  Once they hit they wouldn’t come back.  I was fishing in an area that had a community docks with pontoons and boats all tied up touching the water and I had similar luck prefishing a week before like I had on Clearwater 2 weeks ago.  I started skipping the pontoons where I caught a 3 pounder a week before hoping it was still there and would bite again.

Well the fish had other ideas since I didn’t catch a fish under any of them.  So I started throwing a frog in some pads nearby and it paid off has a 2.5 lb largemouth decided it wanted my frog and I was on the board.  I continued casting the frog but nothing else decided to bite.

After about 1-1/2 hours I decided to go fish my second pattern that I discovered a week before of fishing docks that did not have any boats or boat lifts on them.  Normally I would fishing these types of docks since there isn’t enough structure or shade on them with no boats or boat lifts but I caught a couple of nice fish a week before under a couple of these docks so I decided to go try it again.  This turned out to be a good move since I started catch bass and good bass under these types of docks.  Furthermore I found I wouldn’t catch them under the end of the dock I would catch them about midway out from shoreline to end of the dock.  I continued to fish the lone docks and caught at least one fish and sometimes two under each one of these docks.  Although I continued to skip docks with boats and boat lifts I only caught one fish all day under this type of dock.

With about 1-1/2 hour to go I was fishing a long shoreline catching and culling my fish in hopes of getting them all over 3 lbs when I ran into Ryan Ploof another boater in the club and started talking to him and he was struggling and only had 3 fish.  Ryan was throwing a Jig between the docks in week patches and we were converging on a loan dock and I was hoping to get by him before he through his jig anywhere near this dock.  Well just then he pitched about 5 feet from the dock and an 3-1/2 lb bass blasted his jig and my heart sank since that would have culled out a 1-1/2 lb fish in my box and would have upgraded me by 2 lbs.  O’well good for Ryan, he needed the fish to get closer to his limit.

With about ½ hour before weigh in and only 15 mins left to fish I ran to a row of about 6 docks I had not touched during prefishing or all day and figured I end on these docks.  This turned out to be a good move since on my first cast I set the hook on a 2-1/2 lb largemouth so I was able to get rid of that 1-1/2 and upgraded by 1 lb.  I continued down this stretch and was running out of time and decided I could only hit one more dock so I skipped once and didn’t get a bite but decided to make one more skip and BINGO, I caught a 3 lb largemouth that would upgrade about another 1 lb in my box.

Time for weigh in and I was feeling good.  I ended up with 13.00 lbs even however Daryl Larson ended up with 16.05 lbs and took first so I took second place again, which I will take since the points for second are great.

Looking back at the fish that Ryan caught in front of me wouldn’t have help me since Daryl beat me by 3 lbs and it ended up being the last fish Ryan caught.

Second place I’ll take it since it was keeping me high in the standings for the year.

Catch ya next time and remember “Just Fish”

Clearwater Tournament

July 13, 2014; Well today is the Renegade Bassers Club Tournament on Clearwater in Stearns Count.  I am fishing alone today as it is one of the tournament I do not have a non-boater.  The day was perfect, the weather was idea for my game plan on this lake.  Historically I’ve been successful fishing senko’s and frogs.  With almost no clouds in the ski the day was ripe for fishing in the pads, reeds and under docks so I was ready to go.

When launch started it got even better since no one was heading toward my starting spot and the excitement was building.  When I launched I turned left watching everyone else turn right and it was game on.  It only took me a couple of mins to get to my starting spot that is on the North Shore of Clearwater which is a very large patch that covers 10 acres and I was ready to slam’em.  There was almost no wind at all and most of the area was like glass so I started fishing a buzz bait to see if I could wake up some fish just waiting for something to make some noise on the surface.  Well after about 15 mins it was clear that the bass had no interest in my buzz bait so I decided to start flipping a Black Neon with Chartreuse tail senko into the reeds and would see movement in the reeds near my senko but no takers so I switched to a June Bug color senko still nothing and I was starting get get discouraged since I’d been fishing for about an hour and still did not have a bite.

Well after about 2-1/2 hours of throwing a number of different colors of senkos and tubes with the same result, nothing.  Since the sun was no high enough yet I wasn’t sure if the Frog bite would be on yet in the pads but I figured what did I have to loose.  I started throwing a Frog in the pads in hopes that maybe the fish we in the mood for nice big frog.  No so much, I casted my frog for about a ½ hour in a number of patches of pads I was near.  Not a single blowup and it was now 9:00am and I still didn’t have a fish.

It was time to go to my tried and true backup plan of some docks.  There was a row of about a dozen docks near me that had some boat lifts with boats on them lifted out of the water so I thought I would give it a try since nothing else seemed to be working.

Well on the first dock I finally caught a bass but it was a 10 inch fish which wasn’t going into the box but it was at least a fish and I was able to remember what a Bass looked like.  I continued down the shoreline and caught another 8 inch bass but that was it, 2 fish and both too small to measure.  It was now 10:30am, 4-1/2 hours into the tournament and I didn’t have a fish in the box.  All I kept thinking was I going to have another E/W Rush and end up no having a limit or at this point.

At 11:00am with only 3 hours to go and no fish in the livewell I decided to go try another row of docks since I at least had determined the fish under the docks would at least bite and if I couldn’t find any keepers I at least could get some bites. 

Well I started fishing the docks and came upon a dock that had a pontoon that was beached and the back end of the boat was only in about 2 feet of water and I skipped under it and no sooner did it hit the water my line jumped and I set the hook on a 3.5 lb Largemouth and I was shocked I had a fish to put into my livewell and it was nice fish.  I continued to fish the row of docks with very little luck, a 9, 10, 11 inch fish but then I camp upon another dock that had a pontoon that was not on a boat lift it was just tied up to the dock in the water.  I skipped under it and low and behold I pulled a 2.5 pounder out from under the pontoon and the wheels in my head started turning.  I scanned the shoreline for Pontoons that were either beached or in the water next to the docks.  I determined that the difference between the normal docks and boat lifts and these pontoons were that it was pitch dark under the pontoons that were touching the water and there instead of just some shade from the dock or boat lift.  I put my trolling motor on high and started hitting only pontoons in the water and I would catch a fish under each one of them, some keepers and some too small but every one of them had at least one fish under it.

Once I finished this stretch of docks I started riding around the lake looking specifically for pontoons touch the water and I find a shoreline with only or two pontoons but I would catch a fish under each one of them.  I had filled my limit and culled a number of them but I was racing against the clock since by the time I figured out this pattern I only had a couple hours to fish and I had to race around looking for the right place on a shoreline to fish but I was now having fun since I was catching fish.

Time for weigh in and I felt good since I had figure out a good pattern and I had decent fish.  Not sure if I had enough to place high but at least I was not coming in short.

As tournament director I have to weigh in everyone else’s fish and I weigh last.  As each fisherman weighed in it was clear that I wasn’t the only one the struggled as some guys didn’t have limits and some blanked.  I was feeling really good since I know I had between 12 & 13 lbs and so far only a couple guys had broke the 10 lb mark until Nick Madison weighed in and Nick had 13.76 lbs which I knew was more than I had but I was still sitting good for being in the top 5.  After weighing everyone in it was time for me to weigh in last and I pulled my fish out of my livewell one a time with everyone watching seeing I had figured out where they were.

I ended up weighing 12.79 lbs which was good enough for 2nd place which felt good considering I didn’t catch the first keeper until after 11:00am.  The day proved to me that Mike Iaconelli’s chant of “Never Give Up” was very true and I didn’t give up and I was able to find fish and the right fish.

Catch ya next time and remember “Just Fish”