Tournament #5 signifies going past the halfway point for our club season.  Exciting times!  I managed to get on Fish Trap and drive around for 15 minutes before the off limits began at 6pm.  Between map study and what I saw.  I was debating to start on the Island Reeds and weedline in front of the landing or some nice looking cattails halfway down the lake.  Neither area was I able to drop a line on.

I mulled it over with my partner Patrick, we decided to try the Cattails first thing.  We started out throwing topwaters around the front edge, I threw a Vixen and he worked a Pop-R, no action.  We then moved in and covered the edges and pockets with Jigs.  Patrick got one on a brown All-Terrain jig.  I tried a Snag Proof Tournament Frog up in the middle over some matted grass and pads, not even a boil.  I then broke off on a Texas rigged LFT Flipper on the other end.  We then hopped around a little trying some reeds, docks and other visible cover.  I caught one keeper on off a jet ski lift and the other off a sunken log, both came on a Fall Craw 3/8oz Tru-Tungsten Jig.

Around the corner we hit some pads and Patrick got a nice fish on a Bronzeye, he also had a couple more on that he lost.  I had a few strikes on the Vixen, but could connect.  I caught a couple shorts on a Chat/White SWL Spinnerbait.  We hopped out onto the weedline in that area and got a couple northerns.  We then hit a long stretch of docks, and I got one more keeper.  Things were a little slow, so we headed to the island where we thought about starting.  We each got one quick keeper.  I got mine on a Red Bug Lake Fork Twitch Worm on a 3/16oz Tru-Tungsten Ikey Head Jig.  Patrick got his on a drop shot with a Main Vein Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm.  We then cruised across the lake to another area I had highlighted on the map and drove over quickly the evening before.  I caught 3 more keepers on this weedline, allowing me to cull, all on the Twitch Worm and Ikey Head Jig combo.

With about 20 minutes left, we hit some docks and I culled two more times with the Tru-Tungsten Jig.  My total for 5 fish was a measly 7.6lbs.  I was hoping to get closer to 10lbs on the day.  I ended up in 8th out of 14 for the day and lost more ground to the club leader and it left me 5.3lbs out of first.  Luckily I had a bye in the Match Tournament.  Two guys tied for 1st with 10.9 lbs for the day.  In review, sounds like we should have went to the island, as one boat both got their limits there.  Oh well, those cattails just looked so good.  See Full Results.

Looking forward to Shamineau, I have fished that lake before and I started in the 4th hole, and my last hole is where I caught the big fish in my previous tournament.

Rich
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Sitting at work and leaning towards the door.  Got the boat hooked to the SUV in the parking lot, just begging to head up HWY 10.  I am meeting two club members at the Maple Grove Gander Mountain, we will ride up together, hopefully they are both on time, so that I can at least drive around Fish Trap tonight, as I have never been on the lake.

This is a pivotal weekend for the Gopher Bassmasters.  For guys looking to fill the last state team spot and the alternate spot, these two tournaments decide that.  It is also tournaments 5 & 6 out of 8 for next year’s state team.  And probably the most exciting thing….. we kick off our Match Tournament fishing this weekend. 

I am looking forward to these tournaments, sounds like both of these lakes have good fish, and everyone should get fish.  Size is the key.  A few years back, we had a tournament on Shamineau that I won with 20.5lbs for 5 bass.  That was about 5 weeks earlier and I cost of those fish pitchin’ & flippin’ a Lake Fork Craw Tube in the Reeds & Cattails.  The trick will be to locate those fish this time of year.  An added dynamic is that we are fishing it as a hole course, which will make it even more exciting.

If all goes well, I will catch my father who is in first place y 2lbs.

Have a great weekend!
Rich
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It was another 7:00am launch, which limits the early bite and being that it was supposed to be a 100+ degrees out, it would have been nice to been off the lake by 2:00pm instead of 3:00pm.  It was very calm and sunny to start the morning.  It took about 25 minutes to our starting area.  Before I drew boat 50, I thought I may stop at the reeds that are near there and see if I could get some quality bites there early.  I was amazed to see that nobody else was there as I was going by, so we swung in quick.  We fished the outside edge quick, my non-boater (Dave) threw topwater and I pitched a Tru-Tungsten Jig.  Not a single bite, so after 15 minutes we were on the weedline that I was planning to start on.

There was another boat working the weedline and he was on the best area.  We started fishing down from him with soft plastics.  I threw a mojo rigged Ring Fry and Dave was wielding a Culprit on a jig worm.  We watched the other boat catch two small keepers as we approached and then we hopped around them and Dave got a keeper and I caught 2 shorts.  The other boat left, they had caught a handful of keepers.  We went through where they were and I missed a couple bites, I think they were small fish.  We then hit about 7 docks that were on the bank, no bites.

We then headed out onto Swedes Bar, we both limited out on that area.  I got most of my fish on a drop shot rig that consisted of a D.S. Creature tipped with a 3″ watermelon red  Fluke.  He got his on a Culprit Jig Worm (Black).  I had tried the same jig that I was getting all kinds of bites on in practice and only had one bite to this point.  We decided to hit a shallow area with a mix of pads and docks.  I fished the docks while Dave threw his Snag Proof Bobby’s Perfect Frog (tweety) over the pads.  He had two blowups and caught one keeper, I had only a few bluegill pick-ups on my weightless Ring Fry.

It was around noon, so I thought we would go target some coontail clumps on upper whitefish to find some bigger fish.  Dave caught about 4 keepers (Black Culprit)and culled his entire 3 fish limit and I caught 2 keepers to get rid my barely keepers.  It was about 1:30pm and I had lost all confidence in getting my bigger deep fish to bite.  I told my Dave that I felt the only way either one of us are going to get a check, is for me to head to the docks and hope to get a couple good bites.

We hit a calm set if docks near a weedline that I knew had good fish on it from time to time and I got one small keeper that I could not sue on a Ring Fry.  We then hopped down a ways to where the wind was starting to below and we had to skip several docks to people in the water around them.  I ended up catch 4 nice keepers of these docks, including my biggest, which was about 3lbs.  I got the big one with about 5 min before we had to start back to the weigh-area.  I got  all 4 keepers on Tru-Tungsten Jigs.  3 on a 3/8 Fall Craw with a Zoom Super Chunk (grn pumpkin) and 1 on a 1/2oz. Blk/Blue paired with a Black Sapphire Zoom Ultravibe Speed Craw.

We headed back and made good time across the lake despite all the recreational boat wakes.  Though the slow wake zone, I retied my jig.  We were about 15 minutes ahead of schedule.  I felt much better about the day and felt that last fish probably at least gave me a fighting chance to cash a check.  From what the fish were telling me, I knew it would tough for almost everyone.  I also thought to myself, if I could cull that last weedline fish, I would feel a lot better.  We came out of the channel and I started scanning the shore for some wind swept docks.  I spotted some straight across the lake, we buzzed ac cross and on the 2nd dock I picked up a nice 2lb fish on the jig.  We threw our life jackets on headed towards check in.
Click on Jig for More Product Info

As we idled up, we had 5 minutes left and I quick jumped up on the deck and on the 2nd dock I threw my blk/blu jig under there and got thumped.  I set, dragged the fish half way to the boat and he came unbuttoned.  From the quick glance I got, he looked smaller than my smallest bass in the livewell.

We both weighed our fish, my total was 11-09 and my partner had 3 fish for around 6lbs.  We both finished in 8th place.  I was very happy with my finish considering how terrible I was doing with 2hrs to go.  Looking back, I wish I would have went to the coontail clumps earlier and also started dock fishing earlier.  This finish on top of my 10th place in the first tournament put me in 5th place for the year with two tournaments to go!

Rich
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I managed to get up to our campground early enough on Friday, that I got out on the chain on Friday evening.  To this point I had mainly practiced on the West end of the chain and Friday night I decided to check a few of my Cross Lake spots to see what was happening.  Rick, Ryan & I launched in Echo Bay.  I check a coontail point that I had got nice fish off of in year’s past.  We caught several fish on Lake Fork Tackle Flippers and Sweet Beavers.  I also caught a few fish on Tru-Tungsten Ikey Head Jig teamed with a LFT Zig Zag.

We had time to hit one more area, I caught a couple bass on a Fall Craw Tru-Tungsten 3/8oz Jig with Grn Pumpkin Chunk and the other guys caught them on the beaver baits.  Nothing of any size to draw me away from my other fish, so Saturday morning we were going to head out to Upper and Lower Whitefish to refine patterns and find more spots.

We checked my intended starting area, I caught one nice fish on a Vixen  and the Ryan & my father each pulled on a few fish with plastics, and we got out of there.  We then started checking some old waypoints where we had found good coontail clumps.  About the 4th spot we checked I caught a 2lb’r and a 3.5 that set it self on my Tru-Tungsten Jig.  We pulled on a couple more, hit the next patch down and got slammed there but did not set the hook.

We spent the rest of the day checking docks and tried some new areas on Swedes Bar and Big Island.  Big Island had a ton of fish, no size.  We found some good fish on Swedes bar, I felt that was a good secondary area.  We found one good stretch of docks where we each pulled on a few bites.  We also checked the slop in Arrowhead and only managed a few blow ups on our Bronzeyes.

Overall, a good practice day.  Learned some new areas, found some bigger fish, and had a lot of options.  I drew boat 50 out of 67 at the meeting last boat 3rd flight.  My plan was to hit my starting weedline, hope to get a limit and then hit some coontail clumps and docks with Jigs to try to upgrade.  I should have the tournament summary tomorrow!

Rich
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Its Friday afternoon and I am already mentally checked out of the office for the day and hopefully will be gone in body soon as well.  Hoping to get a little prefishing in this evening on Cross Lake and I had spent most of my prefishing time on the West end so far.

I feel like I have good lures and areas for numbers of fish, now I really need to focus on quality fish areas tonight and tomorrow.  I got some old stuff to check and I have been studying the map and have a few more spots identified that seem to have potential.  I can see myself fishing both deep and shallow in this tournament.  Probably start deep and get a quality limit and then bounce back and forth from shallow to deep to cull up.  I am guessing it will take 16-18lbs for 5 fish to win this tournament.

Check back Monday for practice reports and tournament results!  Have a great weekend!
Rich
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PICTURES ADDED!!!

Ryan & I got up at 4:30am and headed to the ramp, launch and checked in with plenty of time to enjoy the rolls provided by the MN Pole Benders.  I left drawing the boat number up to Ryan, he picked a respectable 16th out of 40.  As we pulled up to our starting point, there was another boat setting down about 75yds to the right and we ended up each fishing one side of the point, 3-5ft.  I quickly got one about 3lbs on a finesse carolina rigged (pegged Tru-Tungsten 1/8oz sinker 24″ from hook) baby watermelon Ring Fry.  The other boat caught a couple small keepers on a black chatterbait.  After fishing awhile we started working the flat over the next point.  I caught one small keeper on a blk/purple Outkast Swim Jig with a Black Gulp Minnow Grub trailer.  Then Ryan & I each got on keeper on a the baby Ring Fry off the point and I lost one that we saw jump, probably 1.5lbs.  We fished one more mid-depth point in the rain and headed out to a deep spot on the main lake.

We pulled up to my primary deep hard bottom area and there were 4 tournament boats working up shallower.  Within 25-30 minutes we boated 5 really nice keepers (including our big fish of the day), 3 on Carolina Rigged Lake Fork Creature (Bull Bream) and 1 on a C-rigged Senko (Cinnamon).  The keys to the c-rig seemed to be the Tru-Tungsten weights and crawling it slower than slow.  You could really feel the gravel and small rocks in 10-14ft with the tungsten weights.  When the Carolina Bait slowed, I switched to a  DT10 (Bluegill) and got another 3lb plus fish.  I got one more bit that pulled an appendage of my creature and then the action stalled.  We worked the area with jig worms, drops shots, 10″ Lake Fork Worm and other baits with no more bites.  It was 10:45 and we decided to leave and try some other areas.

We hit a couple other weedlines and rows of docks, caught several keepers, on Swim Jigs & Tungsten Jigs, but nothing big enough to cull out our 2.5# small fish.  I figured by working the docks we were playing good defense even if we did not manage any big bites.  We eventually returned to our deep spot at around noon, we worked it over again with several baits including creatures and jigs, but no more action.  We were having some starting battery issues so we opted to work the bar next to the landing for the last 30 minutes.  No more bites, and we headed in about 10 minutes early to get a good spot on the beach and to ensure we were not late as we figured to have 20+ lbs in the well.

We weigh in with about half the field already weighed, had to wait to make sure Laura (my wife) was there before we brought the fish up.  Our total for 6 fish was 20.85lbs with a big fish of 4.87lbs.  When we weighed it was top weight and big fish so far.  We ended up in 3rd, the same two teams from the previous year took 1st & 2nd, but our big fish held. 

We were a little more than a pound out, we need one more 4lb bite.  Those two 2lb fish held up back.  I think we may have been a little late getting out to the deep spot, I think we only caught the tail end of the bite.  Overall we fished very well and you can hardly complain about 20+lbs, the only fish we lost would not have helped.  Looking back I wish we would have moved deep a little earlier.

See Results

I republished this posting to add pictures that had been missing for a long time
Rich
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I tried to get an early start knowing it would be a busy independence day on Lake Marion.  Launched the boat around 6:30am and I headed out to my favorite deep area to test it out and hardly a nibble from panfish, let alone a bass bite.  I then went up on top of the flat and started pitching a Gambler B.B. Cricket with a 1/2oz Tru-Tungsten worm weight checking to see if they were up in the weeds, no much happening there either.  I then buzzed across the lake to check a sand shelf, I first probed with the Reaction Innovations Vixen and then a jig and then a  Ring Fry.

I then went though the narrows and checked some of the mid-depth areas Ryan and I found fish on just a couple days ago.  The very first spot I got two fish on a Carolina Rigged Lake Fork Creature in a Bull Bream color.  I then hopped around and found some fish on Swim Jigs, chatterbaits & senko type baits.  I was feeling pretty good about getting quality fish, but not finding and 3lb + fish, which are important on this lake.  It will likely take over 20lbs to win on Saturday.

I then tried flipping some weed clumps again, but went quite awhile without any bites.  Then right around 1pm, I found an area where I got one about 3.5 and 2.5 in just a few minutes on a Tungsten Jig.  By that time, it was time to get off the lake and get read for a 4th grill out at the neighbors.

Looking ahead, I would feel much better if m deep fish were going, as they can be really good fish out there.  None the less, I believe we have a solid pattern that we should be able to get 12+ pounds fairly early and then we can give some of my deep areas a go and try some other shallow cover to get a couple kickers and we will have shot at a high finish.  If any of you are interested, head out to Casperson Park on Lake Marion for a 1pm weigh-in.

Rich
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John (club member who is fishing as non-boater) and I tried to get an early start from the cities, but we still did not manage to get on the water until 9:30am.  The action was still quite good when we first arrived.  We started on a weedline in Lower Whitefish where we caught 13 on a DT6, mojo rigged Baby Ring Frys and Texas Rigged Baby Brush Hogs.  We then moved up shallower and I caught 3 nice fish on a jig.  We then spent some time graphing a few weedlines.  We fished another weedline and caught 5 keepers, drop shot Fluke and Baby Brush Hogs.  We then checked some slop, not much action there.  Few small fish on a Bronzeye Frog.

We then hit a few shallow pockets on the way back the landing and boated a few more keepers.  I caught 3 nice fish on a 5/16oz Bluegill  SWL Spinnerbait.  36 keepers later, it was time to get off the lake and get back to the hotel, and Famous Dave’s for dinner.

Day 2 we were on the lake a little after 6am.  We headed up to Trout Lake.  I started with a DT6 and got a few quick fish and John picked some up on a Baby Brush Hog early.  I switched to a Reaction Innovations Vixen topwater in the bluegill pattern and caught a couple short fish.  The area produced several bass, but not much for size.  We then hopped over to another point, not as many fish, but some better quality.  Caught those fish on a drop shot Fluke and texas rigged baby brush hog.  We then worked a bunch of docks, it was slow going, I caught several fish on a jig but not the quality I was looking for.  Not going to get it done in this tournament.  We had to head home early today, so we hit one more area towards Pig Lake on the way back the Hay landing, managed one keeper on a jig.  This day eliminated more water where as Sunday I found some areas that I will probably use.

I will get to prefish one more day on Saturday before the tourney, I will be concentrating on deeper weeds to find a more consistent big fish bite.  I expect to probe some coontail clumps with Tru-Tungsten Jigs.

Tomorrow will be final day of Marion practice and Pan-O-Prog preview.

Rich
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Ryan & I got a bit of a late start on Saturday morning, probably did not make the first cast until almost 7am.  We started out by checking my #1 deep spot and I got a small keeper on a Carolina Rigged baby Ring Fry using two small tungsten sinkers to add extra noise.  Ryan then picked up a short fish on a 3″ Fluke rigged on a drop shot.  That was all the action we got there and I was very disappointed.  We tried two more deep spots and all we got were a few nibbles from some panfish.

We then went and checked out the shallow areas where Ryan won our club tournament a few weeks ago.  We got a few small keepers and I caught a really nice fish off a piece of shallow isolated cover with a jig, close to 4lbs.  Ryan got a decent keeper on a albino Bronzeye Frog out of some weed mat.  We then decided to head under the bridges to the west side of the lake where I had caught a some nice fish back in June.  Ryan ended up getting two decent keepers on a Albino Bronzeye Frog and I got zero bites.

We then came back out to the main lake and backed off the areas where we fished this morning into some mid-depth zones.  I caught a really nice fish and lost another one very quickly on a mojo rigged baby Ring Fry.  We then hopped around trying duplicate this area and caught several more nice keepers, I caught them on the mojo rig and Ryan boated a few with a Killer Craw Ring Fry worked Texas on a 1/4oz Tru-Tungsten Sinker.  A pattern was finally starting to emerge and it was time to head home.  Although, these might not be winning fish, its seems to be a much more stable pattern to getting a quality limit and then we can gamble for a few big fish from there.  This was a productive day on the lake and I had one more practice day to figure out some more.

Rich
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What a difference a day can make!!!  Crystal Lake was a bass bonanza and Marion was tougher than I have ever seen it.  The day started with light winds and bright blue skies.  After making about 10 casts with my carolina rigged Baby Brush Hog on my #1 deep hard bottom spot with a tap, I knew it was going to be a tough day.  It ended up being tougher than I could imagine.  I shortly there after lost a Carolina Rig & a Jig Worm to some northerns.  I covered the area with a DT6 as well, nothing.

With no additional action, we moved to another area with a nice inside turn on a weedline.  After a few minutes with nothing, I moved up on to the flat and threw a bluegill colored SWL Spinnerbait and brown/purple Swim Jig with no action.  My partner Dave tried a Bluegill Swim Blade with no takers.  We moved back out to the turn and I got a good bite, the rod loaded up nice and somehow the fish just came off.  It felt very good, probably a bass, could have been a pike.  I then tried a drop shot in the turn and caught a 10″ bass.  I started to follow the weedline down and pulled a nice 2lb fish out of a coontail clump on a texas rigged Fork Special Baby Ring Fry.  I dropped a buoy as I landed the fish.  We seined this area for about 15 minutes with no additional bites.  We worked this weedline all the way to the original starting area, caught one dink on a Parrot DT6.  I start working my starting area with a drop shot and quickly lose it to a pike.  I then picked up a another nice keeper on a Red Shad Yum Ribbontail Jig Worm and then a few casts later a northern ate that as well.  We continued working this area.  I tried a 4″ chompers worm, drop shot 3″ Fluke, 5″ Reaction Innovations Flirt Worm , mojo, and just about everything else with no bites.

I headed to the East side of the main lake to try some docks, fished about 15 docks without a tap.  I then dragged a carolina rig across a hard to soft bottom transition area, nothing!  I then worked a weed point and turn in the same area with no bites, my partner said he got slammed on his senko, but came up empty.  We then headed into a shallow area with weedy docks, pads and weed mats.  I caught a short fish under a dock, a couple more shorts out of the weed hole.  I could see some keeper fish cruising up in the sand, but could not get any cooperation at all.  We headed back out to my #1 spot hoping for the fish to turn on and tried a variety of lures without any bites again.  We hopped around to a few other weedlines and got no more fish and time ran out.  What a brutal day of fishing.   I think it has been about 6 years since I did not catch my limit in a MN tournament, ouch!  Ryan in our club, was the only guy to get his limit, 10.1lbs fishing shallow around bluegill beds with a Ring Fry.  One one guy had 4 fish and everyone else had between 0 and 2 fish, my total was 2 fish for 4.1 and that landed me in 6th out of 16 anglers.  I think prior knowledge of the lake hurt me, because I kept thinking those deep fish would bite.  Had I had no previous experience, I would have most likely junked fish my way around the visible areas and done better.

See Tourney Results

Rich
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