Monthly Archives: August 2011

Announcements, BASS Tour, Fantasy Bass Fishing Corner

My thoughts on 2012 Bassmaster Elite Series Schedule

Looks like 8 stops again this year, nice mix of venues.  Although, I have reason to believe some/all pros knew some of these venues ahead of time as several Elite Series pros were sighted fishing in La Crosse a few weeks ago.  Also, nothing about an All-Star week as of now, so maybe details still to come or maybe gone all together.

Also note, several conflicts with FLW Tour, so no chance of full time 2 tour pros in 2012.  But with only 8 event, many pros will have to supplement with PAA, EverStarts or Opens to make a full schedule to support their families and sponsor obligations.

BASSMSTER ELITE #1
Dates: March 15-18
Venue: St. Johns River
Host: Palatka, Fla.
Notes: Back to St. Johns, should be another fun event and sight fishing should play a role again.

BASSMASTER ELITE #2
Dates: March 22-25
Venue: Lake Okeechobee
Host: Okeechobee, Fla.
Size: 470,000 surface acres (about half the size of Rhode Island!)
Impounded: Natural with many levees and dikes
Notes: The Big O is on fire right now, should be an awesome event and expect a century belt or 2 to be handed out here.  Very exciting to have a BASS Tour level event on Okeechobee.

BASSMASTER ELITE #3
Dates: April 19-22
Venue: Bull Shoals Lake
Host: Arkansas
Size: 45,000 surface acres
Impounded: 1951
Been awhile since BASS has been here on a Tour level, but Bull Shoals is a historic fishery and adds a nice flavor to the mix of events for the season.

BASSMASTER ELITE #4
Dates: May 3-6
Venue: Douglas Lake
Host: Dandridge, Tenn.
Size: 30,000 surface acres
Impounded: 1943
Notes: Not much history here, but they did have an Open event last year.  Good to see the best anglers on some new water.  Good lake, but will provide some challenges, not a whack fest by any means.

BASSMASTER ELITE #5
Dates: June 7-10
Venue: Toledo Bend Reservoir
Host: Many, La.
Size: 185,000 surface acres (fifth largest man-made reservoir in the U.S.)
Impounded: 1969
Notes: Toledo Bend has been a very popular stop on the Bassmaster Tournament Trail over the years. Thirteen professional events have been held here, including the 2011 Bassmaster Elite Series Battle on the Bayou won by Arizona’s Dean Rojas with 70-15. Should be a good time to be there, deep bite should be heating up and anglers  should catch some monsters and heavy bags!

BASSMASTER ELITE #6
Dates: June 21-24
Venue: Mississippi River
Host: La Crosse, Wis.
Notes: I think this event will open some eyes, these guys are really going to catch them here.  Expect majority of anglers to weigh limits and lots of 3lb fish to be found, both largemouth and smallmouth.  They will probably launch out of the top of Pool 8, probably an even split of anglers will lock up to Pool 7 or stay in Pool 8.  You will learn about the home of the “Swim Jig”.  This section of river has everything.  Watch out for Frog anglers to potentially dominate here!  Put this on my list to either bring boat down to watch or enter as Marshall.

BASSMASTER ELITE #7
Dates: June 28-July 1
Venue: It’s a secret … for now.
Host: We’re not saying, but they’ll be ready.
Size: Big enough!
Impounded: Some time ago.
Notes: I think it is pretty safe to assume, this event will be a easy day’s drive from La Crosse.  So I predict the western edge of Great Lakes like Sturgeon Bay or Escanaba (most likely destination).  Possibly a few lakes in Minnesota like Mille Lacs, Leech, Vermillion or Minnetonka.  Winneconne/Winnebago in Wisconsin.  Or maybe a swing back through to Missouri.  Either way, I think you can count on another event close to us upper midwest anglers.

BASSMASTER ELITE #8
Dates: Aug. 23-26
Venue: Oneida Lake
Host: Syracuse, N.Y.
Size: 51,072 surface acres
Impounded: Natural
Notes: Frequently referred to as “the thumb” because of its proximity to the New York’s famed “Finger Lakes,” Oneida has been a very popular B.A.S.S. stop in the last decade. In fact, B.A.S.S. has been here 7 times since 2003, including 3 Elite tournaments. Should be exciting as the Bassmaster Angler of the Year award and more than 30 Bassmaster Classic berths are finalized in New York.


What are your thoughts on schedule?  I do like that its a bit more stretched out as well, gives me more time to get my Fantasy Fishing lineups set!




Tournament Info

MFBA Southern Open

In some what of a last minute deal, I decided to fish the TBF/MFBA Southern Open so I could potentially qualify for their state tournament in late September.  With limited time, I only had Saturday to practice, the day before the tournament.  I got up super early and drove down from Lakeville so that I was fishing on Pool 6 of Mississippi river by 6:30am.

It didn’t take me long to start finding fish and actually found fish all day long on several patterns.  I caught them main channel & backwater, pads, grass, & wood.  Also found good largemouth & smallmouth.  No real giants but found some real good quality.  I figured if I could get a good average bag and find one kicker I could do real well in this tournament.  Below pictured is my first frog fish of the year, good to get off the snide and it would not be the last of the weekend.

Tournament day came, we launched out of Dick’s Marina in Winona.  All the boats in front of me appeared to be headed to the lock and Pool 5A.  I ran to the spillway, very frustrating as I lost 2 really nice largemouth on topwaters, but boated one decent one on an Ima Square Bill.

From there, I ran to a silted in wing dam that produced nothing, but I found some smallies on an adjacent sand drop, where I dumped a good’un and caught a decent smallmouth on the square bill.  I also flipped up a small keeper smallie on a beaver.  The next area produced a keeper largemouth on the Square Bill and another on a Fork Craw.   We kept hunting, the next area produced several shorts and about a 3lb largie for my co-angler on a jig.  I also failed to convert on 3 nice bites on a beaver, weird deal, seemed like they were eating it funny. Good thing we’d bought ourselves a couple extra AR-15 upper receivers, for after so much hunting, you would need to change the components of your gun.

Hit a few more spots, between us we flipped a couple small keeper bass on a cut/wood bank on beavers, and then headed to the slop for the last 90 minutes or so.  Took a little while to locate where the fish had repositioned in this large slop field.  I managed to add three 2.5-3lb largies on frogs to my creel.  Time as short, so we started the run back to Dicks.  We made it out of the backwater and through the side slough and were in the main channel headed north.

Then in an instant, our day was over as we went from 53 mph to a 360 spin and dead in the water in an instant and my motor was hanging from the back of my boat by just the steering cables.  It all happened so quick, but I believe I made contact with a submerged dead head.  I am just glad we both stayed in the boat and neither of us were hurt.

Got back to the landing too late to weigh my fish, but thankfully several of my competitors were nice enough to help me lift my motor on to the back of my boat and thanks to the friendly recreational boater who gave me a tow.  Here are few pictures and see all the pictures here.

I figured I had around 13lbs in the well, more then enough to move onto the state qualifier out of Wabasha and maybe on the fringe of a check.  Don’t know the final verdict yet, but I believe the boat may be a total loss at this point.

Caught a lot of good fish in this boat!



Fun Fishing, Multimedia

Long hiatus from my boat

Because of a family vacation and being super busy, I had not been in my boat since my last tournament on Minnetonka (July 17).  So when I had a few hours free on Sunday morning, August 14th, I had to take the opportunity to get the boat out.

I debated where to go, but since I was fishing a river tournament on Pool 6 the next weekend, I thought my short window of time would be best spent on the  Mississippi River, so I headed to Pool 2 for a little fishing.  I figured I may see some tendencies or patterns that would give me some clues for the following weekend.

In less then 3 hours, I ended up with 10 smallmouth and 3 pretty nice white bass.  I got one fish on a tube, the others were an even split between a Yellow Magic Popper and a Chartreuse Shad Ima Square Bill crankbait.

Check out the video, explains it easier then writing a blog, besides I am behind on my blogging.  You may see a few rapid fire blogs to get caught up!

Enjoy the video, may be the last time you see that boat catch any fish…..

Fun Fishing, Sponsors

Evening on Lake Champlain

My travel schedule has been ridiculous lately, but on a recent trip to Burlington, VT I was able to get out on Lake Champlin.  Internet bass buddy & Virginia Tech Bass fishing team member, Jody White was a gracious host and went out of his way to help get me on Champlain for the first time.  If you go back in the blog archives, you will see an entry I wrote about must fish bass destinations, and Champlain has been  on my list for quite some time.

Time was limited, we had right around 4 hrs to fish so we stuck fairly close to spots Jody knew around the Burlington area.  It did not take long for Jody to boat a couple fish on a Gulp Leech on a drop shot.  After getting a rod setup and retying after losing a drop shot in the rocks, I finally got a nice smallmouth on the drop shot as well.

Soon I switched over to a back home smallie favorite of mine, which is a Fork Craw on a mojo rig.  I ended up catching 4 smallmouth on that and a drum, all but one of the fish was a very nice fish.

We also tested some of the new Top of the Line swimbaits from Optimum Baits, got a few smallies to follow but could not get them to commit on this evening.  Right before dark Jody converted on a few smallmouth throwing an Ima Skimmer topwater.  To see all the pics, check out this facebook album.

Jody does some guiding on the side in the summers, so if you are in the area, look him up!

Thanks Jody!