Well, my partner for Day 2 was Paul Perovich and he was able to utilize a Skeeter iClass 20 footer with a 250VMAX, so we had the means to run the lake and that was the plan.  Paul had weighed 2 fish the day before, so he said we could fish my fish.  We had some intense fog on day 2 and did not get to take off until about 10:20am opposed to out 7:15am scheduled take off.

We were in the 3rd flight and boat #45 on day 2.  It took less then 20 minutes to make the same run today, as we averaged about 71.5mph in the Skeeter opposed to the 57mph in my Aries the morning prior.  I started in the same area as day 1 and was able to get a similar start, as I boated a 16″ largemouth on a Black Yum Tube.  I also caught a short smallmouth.  We went to area #2, I caught several short smallmouth on a fork craw and Paul was able to boat a keeper largemouth on a junebug swimjig.

I went to area #3 where I had caught and released the one 15″ smallmouth on day 1.  Things were quite a bit more intense this time.  I caught 3 smallmouth on the Yellow Magic that hovered around the 14″ mark right away, but I threw them all back without putting them on the bump board, as I felt I needed all 2lbs fish today.  It was easier to throw them back without knowing they could have been legal fish.  I finally got a decent 15″ smallie that I boxed reluctantly on the Yellow Magic.  Occasionally we even saw the fish busting shad in this area.  I started switching back & forth with the Barely Legal Vixen topwater and the first fish I caught on that was about a 17″ smallmouth, that fish of course went in the box.  That gave me 3 fish at about noon.  I caught several more fish that would have been keepers, but I really wanted another quality fish to ensure a good limit.  Paul caught two keepers in this area, one on a Rapala Skitter Pop and another on a White/Chart swimjig.

I decided it was time to revisit our second area.  It only took about 5 casts with the Yellow Magic and I hooked up with a dandy smallmouth.  I played her carefully and we finally got her in the net.  She was really long with a big head, but a very skinny body.  She was over 19″, I thought she had to go 4lbs for sure.  I felt at that moment that I had punched my ticket to the top 12, but I wanted again to find one more 15-16″ fish so that I did not have to weigh that small smallmouth.  We returned to my starting area, had a couple bites but could not convert.  We then ran several areas on the way back to Wabasha, never did get that last bite.

The 2 smallies that anchored my day 2 bag of 10.08lbs that elevated my to 3rd place
My total on Day 2 was 4 fish for 10.08 lbs and put me in 2nd when I weighed.  My gangly looking smallie only weighed about 3.5lbs.  After all the fish were weighed, I ended up in 3rd, which I kind of preferred over 2nd, as I have finished 2nd in the TOC twice before and I did not want to become the Aaron Martens of the MN Bass Federation

Talking to Steve Soukup on stage from Skeeter Boats about my day on the water
I am excited to get back to divisionals next year in Lake St. Claire near Detroit, MI.   After getting so close to qualifying for nationals, I wanted to get back sooner then later.  Now its time to focus on the last Bassmaster Weekend Series event on Lake Minnetonka at the end of September!

Here are the standings from the Top 20:
MN Bass Federation Nation
Individual Results
9/04- 9/05/2008 MS River Pools 4&5, Wabasha – FINAL Standings
Participant Club Fish B/F Net Weight
1 Randy Wieczorek RIVER RATS BASSMASTERS # 6 8/8 4.08 21.17
2 Andy Nitchals WEST CENTRAL BASSMASTERS #23 8/8 4.54 20.53
3 Rich Lindgren GOPHER BASSMASTERS # 5 8/8 3.42 19.45
4 Dean Capra 10,000 LAKES BASSMASTERS #20 8/8 3.45 19.2
5 Matt Hanson ZUMBRO VALLEY BASSMASTERS #25 7/7 3.18 19.16
6 John Zvorak WEST CENTRAL BASSMASTERS #23 8/8 2.55 18.85
7 Jim Pinke BASS WACKERS #19 5/5 18.84
8 Doug Pietzrak GRANITE CITY BASSMASTERS #17 8/8 2.89 18.59
9 Brad Ballard RIVER RATS BASSMASTERS # 6 8/8 3.49 18.33
10 Brian Brown RANGE BASSMASTERS #10 7/7 3.23 18.08
11 Scott Fischer RIVER RATS BASSMASTERS # 6 7/7 3.41 17.9
12 John W. Schlee Jr. LOON STATE BASSMASTERS #22 7/7 3.15 17.39
13 Tim Vondersitt UPPER IOWA BASSMASTERS # 1 8/8 2.65 17.21
14 Chad Keller GRANITE CITY BASSMASTERS #17 8/8 2.77 16.84
15 Paul Shimek WEST CENTRAL BASSMASTERS #23 7/7 16.8
16 Trevor Rogge CLASSIC SEVEN BASSMASTERS # 2 8/8 16.49
17 Dan Bonneson SPORTSMEN BASSMASTERS #11 8/8 16.14
18 Jeff Mulholland ZUMBRO VALLEY BASSMASTERS #25 7/7 3.67 15.93
19 Dale Youngquist LOON STATE BASSMASTERS #22 7/7 3.01 15.89
20 Greg Halleland ZUMBRO VALLEY BASSMASTERS #25 5/5 15.69

Rich
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Per the usual the pairings meeting occurred the night before day 1 of the tournament.  We had a nice meeting, dinner and raffle to raise some money for the local food shelf of Wabasha.  I even won two spools of 17lb Vicious Fluorocarbon, which is a line I use all the time!  My day 1 partner was a young guy named Josh from the host club, Zumbro Valley Bassmasters out of Rochester.  This was his first state tournament and we were boat #31 in the 2nd flight.

The weather forecast looked very good wind wise to fish Lake Pepin both days, so I was pretty excited about that.  When our boat number was let out, we turned the bow north and ran up the river and lake to the tune of a 25 minute run up Lake Pepin.  We got to my first area all, no other boats.  I caught a 16″ largemouth on a 3/8ozFall Craw Tru-Tungsten jig with a green pumpkin Rage Tail Chunk and my partner got a 15″ largemouth on a 7″ power worm.  I also caught two short fish as well.

On to the second area and Josh got a nice 15″ smallie on a Shad colored Rapala Fat Rap.  This fish really did not seem to be clicking here, so on to the next area.  I caught a 15.5″ skinny smallie on a Yellow Magic popper, but I decided to let it go.  No more bites there.  The next area I quickly caught a fat 14.5″ largemouth on a Fork Craw.  I decided I better keep that one as time was starting to be an issue.  We continued to catch several more largemouth and smallmouth but all of them short.  I started to work down the bank a ways and I caught a skinny 17″ smallie and in the box that fish went, which brought me to 3 fish.  We worked the area for a bit more, trying to get another good bite and just more short fish.  We returned to my starting spot and I caught a nice 17″ largemouth on my jig.  That gave me the tournament limit of 4 fish, so we decided to run south in hopes of getting one more bite so I did not have to weight my 14″ largemouth and to get my partner some more fish.

Then things turned sour in a hurry.  About 2 miles south of Lake City my outboard seized up   Not good, it was about 12:45pm.  So what turned into a good position of having 3 hours to get one quality bite and have a very good bag became a struggle to get in to weigh our fish.  I was able to get a hold of the tournament director and get the alternate from my club to bring me a boat. (THANKS JASON ELMES!!!)  By the time we got the boat switched, we had about 30 minutes to fish.  We tried two areas, a duck weed spot of mine and a wood & grass bank of my partners.  We had a couple bites, but never connected on anything.  We had to weigh what we had.
Try to keep my spirits high after a decent catch but a blown powerhead
My 4 fish weighed 9.37lbs, my biggest smallmouth weighed around 2.9lbs.  That put me in 29th place out of a 149 competitors, but I was less then a pound out of the top 12 cut and about 3lbs out of the lead.  I knew I was very much in this thing and if I could match my catch from day 1 on day 2, I would have a very solid change at the Top 12.  And if I could get 10-12lbs I could make a run at the top 5.

Now the trick, would be to solve my boat issue for Day 2…..

Rich
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It would take too long to break down every day of practice in to a separate entry.  So I will bundle all the practice into one entry and then each tournament day will get their own entry.

Day 1:
I left my house in Lakeville at 5:30am and met fellow club member John Fairbanks in Lake City.  I figured I would start my practice on Lake Pepin since it was on the way to Wabasha and it would save a little time & gas.  We spent the early part of the day checking spots that I have had success on last September during the Weekend Series tournaments.  The water was quite a bit lower and the current way slower then last fall, so I was anxious to see how that affected the fish.  The first stop resulted in each of catching a nice largemouth and we pulled on a couple more bites.  The next stop produced just one keeper smallmouth bite, not so great.  The next smallmouth area produced a 15″, 18″ & 20″ smallmouth, time to leave there.  The next area gave up a 16″ largemouth and 17″ smallie, kept moving.  The rest of the day was a bit hit and miss, but I found some isolated cover in a couple areas that we caught some fish on and I felt it would make good back up stuff.  We got off the water around 5pm and headed for the AmericInn.

Day 2:
Day 2 I fished with club member Rick Brennhofer.  According to the weather forecast, that morning would be the last time the wind would be calm enough to run the lake without beating yourself to death.  We checked a few rocky areas on the MN side just north of Wabasha, caught one keeper smallmouth and a few short fish.  We then hit a couple isolated areas on the MN side on the way back and found two small areas with some keeper fish.  We spent the rest of the day working our way south in the river.  The first area we checked looked liked a promising eel grass line with lots of bait, but no bites.  The next area was a nice duck weed mat, Rick caught a nice keeper on a frog and we both pulled on a couple.  We spent quite a bit of time looking and idling some areas after that.  We found pad fish way down near Alma, but not many keeper bites.  Got off the water around 5pm as well, I was completely wiped physically as I had a terrible sinus infection and the heat just beat me down.

Day 3:
I practiced with Gopher teammate Josh Douglas as he was having his water pumped fixed.  First thing we fished a wing dam north of Wabasha, no fish at that time.  We then worked some wood in the back water and were able to catch some fish on Black Neon Chigger Craws, Tubes and White SWL Buzzbait.  We then went to find some more wood, caught one fish and pulled on another.  Fished some eel grass in Robinson, no bites.  Checked some pads and duckweed from last year on bottom of big lake, not too much happening there either.  Found some great looking wood further north, but no bites.  It was 1pm and time for Josh to go, I dropped him off, and went back out until 5pm.  I fished some different areas around Peterson Lake, but just caught a few shorts, got off the lake and headed home so that I could work Tuesday & Wednesday.

I gave up a day of practice to save a vacation day.  Overall I felt decent about my practice.  Some of my old stuff was clicking when I checked it other areas not so much, but I also found some new stuff.  My plan was to fish my Lake Pepin fish as much as the wind would allow and take it from there.  Based on my practice and the 4 fish limit and no culling, I figured 9-10lbs a day would be the target to shoot for to qualify in the top 12 and move on to divisionals.

Rich
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Well I arrived at the Fortune Bay Casino RV Park around 4:30pm, just enough time to tie up some last minute stuff and walk down to the dock for a few minutes before it was time to head to the pre-tournament meeting.  The meeting was at BayView Lodge and it was packed with anglers for the meeting.  With my limited experience on the water, which is 5 hours, 3 weeks prior to this tournament, I was hoping for a late boat draw, so I would get the extra 30 minutes of fishing.  As it turned out, I was boat #2 and drew a guy from Hibbing, MN who actually fishes the lake occasionally.

The morning was cool, windy and a bit of a misty rain.  I decided I would stick with a shallow stretch that I had found late in my mini-practice.  I was the first boat there, but I was not alone very long.  It did not take long before Brad Leifermann and Josh Douglas started just down the bank from me.  I caught a 3.5lb smallie pretty quickly on a Black Yum 3″ Tube and then a 1.75lbs largie a little further down as the weeds started to show up, my partner got a 13″ largie as well.  I then met up with Josh Douglas and he said he caught one 4lb largemouth from where I was headed.  As soon as he left, Seth Feider pulled in just down where Josh left.  I fished for a few more minutes and Brad & I fished past each other, so I decided to hit some other spots across the bay.  About the 4th dock I fished over there, I boated a largemouth close to 4lbs on the tube again.

All my tubes & brushhogs were texas rigged with 3/16oz Tru-Tungsten Sinkers

I switched to a 4″ tube same color and hopped down a little further.  I threw up next to a dock and got a nice largemouth probably a touch under 3lbs.  He swam very quickly out from the dock, so I had a hunch there were more fish there, so I quickly boxed the fish and got my tube back in there and was rewarded with a 4lb largie.  That fish ate it aggressively as well, so I kept throwing back.  I got one pitch way back and felt some heavy pressure, I reared back and the line broke, felt like a good fish, tough to say.  Well that gave me a limit with about 4 really nice fish and one small one.

I went back across to my starting area, where I had a pick up and reared back on another really nice smallmouth that was a dead ringer for the first one, right around 3.5lbs on the tube.  It was 8:10am and I had 5 really nice fish, guessing my weight was nearly 17lbs already.  We refished a few areas hoping some new fish moved in or others were ready to bite.  Nothing doing.

We started working some docks out on the main lake, that I had never fished before, but they had a little wind on them and had the right structure around them.  On the second dock, my partner Mark got a nice 3lb smallie on a green Yum baby Wooly Hawg.  A little further down, I was sawed off under a lift on my tube, and on the next dock I got a smallie approaching 3lbs on a baby brushhog.  I put her on the balance beam with my smallest largemouth and the largie was still heavier.  We then tried some areas up near St. Mary’s Island with out any action.

We started working our way back, we got into an area where my partner Mark boated two more 3lb class smallies on the Wooly Hawg. I then caught another nice smallie, but the cull beam showed it was lighter then the green fish in the well.  Then I got a bigger smallie on the baby brushhog, that finally culled my smallest largemouth at 12:10pm.  I figured that fish at about 3.25lbs and that was my smallest fish.  We fished hard the rest of the day, running some new water and revisited some areas where we got big bites earlier.  Caught a few more fish but nothing that helped us.

Talking to Tournament Director Mike Wells as the scales zero in.
We hit a few docks back by Bayview and I actually got sawed off two more times on a brushhog.  Tough to say if those bites would have helped.  Either way, I was excited to see what my fish weighed and how I would fare.  Having never fished a tournament here before and not really any major tournaments being held here in recent time, I did not have much clue.  I was probably the 15th boat to weigh-in.  My partner weighed before me and Mark had 9.44lbs for his 3 nice smallmouth.  I weighed in next and my 2 largies and 3 smallmouth weighed 17.33lbs, with my big largemouth weighing 4.0lbs.  Neither lead at that time, I think was in 3rd at that time.

Holding up my two biggest largemouth that anchored 17.33lb bag
More & more nice bags crossed the scale.  I ended up 6th out of 47 boaters.  I was a little shocked that the weights were that big and consistent, it took over 17lbs to get a check.  See the full standings here.
It would have been nice to get a win or a higher finish to get a bigger check, but I was still happy with my limited practice and the outcome.  I also was able to move from 7th to 4th in the overall points with one tournament to go on Lake Minnetonka in late September.

A shot of my 4lb Largemouth and my biggest smallie before releasing the fish to be caught again

Well next week is the MN Bass Federation Nation State Tournament of Champions down on the Mississippi River out of Wabasha – Pool 4, I am pretty excited for that.  Mainly because I was so close this year at divisionals, I really want to qualify for next year’s divisionals and get another crack at making Nationals.  I also will be at the State Fair doing a Bass Tournaments 101 Seminar at the DNR stage on Thursday Aug. 28 – 1pm.  So if you are at the fair, check it out & say hi.

Rich
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Day 3, my partner convinced me it would be to both of our benefits to use his boat, as he had a ton of waypoints for good smallies out on Winnebago.  It took some convincing and some considerable thought on my part before I gave in.  We discussed, that we would go back and forth on our water which was actually close to each other if needed and that he would have about an hour to prove the worth of his smallies reefs, before I would go back and forth on my largemouth water.

There was a pretty decent wind from the Northeast coming down the lake, but we made it to our starting area.  Chris worked the boat off the edges of his prime area trying to get some bigger bites for about the first 30 minutes or so, nothing doing.  We then worked our way towards the sweet spot, he immediately boated a 14.5″ smallie and reluctantly put in the box.  I then caught a smallie on a Green Pumpkin Copper Flake tube that only the slime of his tail touched and I tossed him back.  I then caught a barely over 14″ and reluctantly boxed him.

Then we started whacking bigger fish, 15-18″ fish on almost every cast.  We had a nice double where both of us had fish close to 3lbs.  As Chris netted his 5th fish, I boated a skinny 16″ smallmouth, but decided to toss back to make up for that 14″ runt.  I caught another 16 incher and convinced Chris to let me throw it back and try to get a little bigger one.  Next cast I caught a fat 16.25″ fish and I was done.  We both double counted out 5 fish limit in the well and then we left to find his WI team members to put them on the fish.  Luckily we came across one of my team mates and practice partner Ryan Brant and I was able to send him to my are in South Asylum.  Also, one of my other team mates was in the back of the WI boat we found first I was able to throw him my other tube that I had rigged.  (He ended up getting 4 fish on that tube on that spot and his WI partner got none )
The tube I was using was about a 3/8oz Zone Bite Me rattle headrigged exposed with a 4″ Mizmo Tube.  It seemed to be the deal that day.

After we found a couple more WI boats, we cruised through Miller Park bay to see if anyone else was tied up and done for the day.  In just that short 15 minute ride through that bay we almost lost a couple fish.  After some quick attention to the fish with fresh lake water, Rejuvenade and Ice we got them back in good shape.  We then decided to moor up in the river in front of the Park Plaza as the water in the river would have good oxygen levels.  After sitting there for 4-5 hours, we slowly made our way to Miller Park, got checked in and tied up a little early and waited to get our weigh bags.  I must admit I was very anxious.  I knew I had a decent bag, and that I had at least caught enough to keep Rick Billings & Bill Ludenia honest in the fact that they would both at least need a solid limit to beat me.  That 14″ fish haunted me all day to, thinking what could have been if I had one of those 16″ fish instead of that one.

Day 3, John Stewart announcing I had taken team lead
We weighed early, I had 11lbs 4oz and that put me in first at the time, so now I just had to wait.  It did not take long, Bill Ludenia brought 12lbs across the scale and put me in 2nd.  I am almost glad that he put me out of my misery early, otherwise I would have had to wait until the bitter end to get told I was not going to Nationals.  At the end Rick Billings had 10lbs and overtook Bill as well.  Congrats to Rick Billings, he will represent MN at Nationals well.  MN took remained in 2nd as a team, we passed OH, but WI leap frogged us both, much to thanks of Chris Johnson’s honey hole reef that produced a few additional limits after we left for his team.  But we only beat OH by 6 ounces, so the fish that I was able to put my 2 guys on, was big there.  I think we get to split $11,200 as a team, so that is not too bad.  I ended up slipping one spot to 7th overall, not too bad.  I was one of only 5 anglers out of 96 to bring a limit to the scales all 3 days.

Final Leaderboard
In retrospect, I guess I needed to fish to win a little more, and thrown back the 14″ fish that I kept on both days 2 & 3 to have  a shot.  Live & Learn, good thing is, I am young and I will have plenty of more shots at Nationals.  As soon as I congratulated Rick Billings, he said “Thanks, don’t worry you’ll get your National trip soon enough”  Then I said, I know

Saturday, I fish the 4th Weekend Series stop for MN on Lake Vermillion.  I got a total of 5 hours or practice on the lake about 3 weeks ago, so wish me luck!!!!

Rich
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