FOM-Whitefish Chain

Sunrise over Whitefish

Steve and I headed to Whitefish chain for our 3rd FOM tournament of 2014. The drive up was though a nasty thunderstorm with really heavy rain. As we got Brainard the rain lightened up and the day was looking better. We put in and started the prefish process. Our first two spots were what we thought they were. Catch a few and leave them alone the rest of the day. We moved around hitting some new areas and checking our old stuff. We went to the meeting a drew boat 30 out of 32. We were not to worried as our starting spot is that just a spot. We had a plan of how we wanted to fish the day and it was time to go to work. Steve got us on the board right away with a nice close to 4 pound fish. But that was it nothing more. We worked the area and wondered what was going on. We worked down the weed line over the next hour wondering if we needed to move. Steve then set the hook and called for the net again. This time it was a nice 3 1/2 pound largemouth. We worked the area again with no more bites. It was 9 am and we only had the 2 fish but a couple good ones. We decided to run to our second spot and give that a shot. I finally got a fish for the box on a Outkast Finesse jig. But the fishing was slow. I set into another fish and got number 4 in the box. We fish through the area without another fish. We decided to run back to our starting spot since we were close and we caught bigger fish there. As we pulled up we started  a bit further down the bank and I picked up our 5th keeper. We had our limit but it took 4 hours to get it. We then moved back to the area that Steve got our second fish and he set into a fish he couldn't move. I was waiting with the net not knowing if it was a pike or a bass. Finally we got a look at it and it was a big bass. I netted it and culled out the baby I had just caught. 3 really good fish and 2 so-so fish. We fished through the area again catching a few that would not help. We fired up the big motor and ran to a spot we had found on Friday. We were able to cull up a few more times. We ran back to out starting spot to kill the last hour of the day. We caught a few more but again nothing that would help. We were thinking that we had a good bag but we were going to be just one more good fish short. We weighed in 16.26 pounds and our Big Bass was 4.75 pounds. We sat in first place and then had to wait for about half the field to weigh in. After what seemed like hours everyone had weighted and our weight held up. We had finally got a win in the FOM. Someone did weigh in a 5 lb smallie which beat our 4.75 largemouth to take the big bass honors. We had a tough day with not a lot of bites but the ones we did get we good ones. Steve was the big bass machine on this day and I was a great net man.We caught our fish with a variety of soft plastics and jigs. After the points were posted we moved up to 5th place for the year. We still have a chance. There are 2 tournaments left in the season on N/S Center and Lake Minnetonka.

First Place Whitefish Chain

Rush Lake-Renegade Bassers

Sunday morning the Renegade Bassers hit Rush Lake for our 2nd tournament of the year. It was a tough morning as I got back from Alex and had to repack my gear in my boat after spending 2 days in Steve's boat and hitting a grad party on sat night. My partner for the day was AJ Madison. He was worse off than me as he never went to bed Sat night. We started in a reed bed where the week before I had caught some nice fish flippin a punch rig. We made a pas around with only a short fish that AJ got on a swim jig. We then moved to a few more spots that I had got fish the week before. All we could catch were northerns and short fish. As the day wore on I just could not believe that we still had not caught anything. At about noon the weather turned bad and a thunderstorm rolled in and it just downpoured. We fished the last 2 hours in the pouring rain with nothing to show. We both zeroed. It was probably one of the worst tournament I have ever fished. The few good bites I did have I couldn't connect and missed or lost the fish. Not the way I wanted to end the weekend. Time to put it behind me and think about the next tournament for the FOM on Whitefish chain in 3 weeks.

This is what I hoped to do on Rush Lake.

FOM LeHomme Dieu

Steve and I headed to Alexandria  on Fri June 20th to prefish for our next FOM event on the Le Homme Dieu Chain. We started by hitting our spots that usually hold fish and we caught some fish on the first 2 spots so we went looking for new water. We covered the chain north to south catching a few here and a few there. In the end we figured our first 2 spots were the best we had so we decided to concentrate on those on Sat. for the tournament. We had an early boat draw and had no problem getting our spot. The fish were there and we had a limit by 6:30 but they were all small. We bounced around a few spots upgrading a few times but could just not get that big bite we needed. We weighed in 9.93 pounds at the scales which was 20th place. We really did catch a lot of fish but they were all the same size. We never got the 1 or 2 bigger fish you need to move to the top. Time to get home and repack the boat for a club tournament the next day on Rush Lake.

Prior Lake- FOM

Saturday June 7th Steve and I fished the first Fishers of Men tournament of the year. We were on Prior Lake in the south metro. We prefished a couple weeks ago and caught a lot of fish but they were all small and we hoped that things changed a bit since then. The forecast called for thunderstorms to pass through in the morning and showers the rest of the day. They sure nailed the forecast for once as about the time we got to our first spot there was thunder and then the downpour started. We caught a few shorts before Steve put a small keeper in the boat. We kept working back and forth shallow to deep hoping to find some bigger fish. I was catching them on a Outkast Money Jig with various soft plastics. Steve was throwing a finesse jig and catching them as well. We finally put a limit in the boat around 8:30. We then just moved around hoping to find a school of bigger fish. On one stop I caught a small upgrade on an Outkast RT Jig. Steve connected with a 4.13 bass that would be our biggest of the day. We were able to cull out 1 more of the really little ones before heading to weigh in. At the scales we weighed 9.08 pounds. That was good enough for 11th place. We caught a lot of little fish all day long. The future of Prior looks good. We came out of it with a good finish for the points and we hope the the next tournament on the Le Homme Dieu chain on June 21st will be a good one for us.

Washington/Stella Renegade Bassers

My 2014 Tournament season started Saturday morning on Washington /Stella. Ryan G wash my draw partner for the day. We were boat 3 for take off and headed straight for Stella. Last week prefishing I found a bunch of nice fish that I figured would still be there. I was throwing the Outkast Tackle Swim Jig in Boldgill color with a cane thumper trailer. As I worked toward the area where I had my best bites last week my rod loaded up with the first bite of the morning it was short lived though as it jumped and came undone. Next cast loaded up again and just about had it to the boat and again it just pulled off. Next cast and again load up and set the hook a few times as I was getting a little peeved at loosing fish. As Ryan is standing there to net the fish it jumps and comes unbuttoned just out of reach. 3 casts and loose 3 fish between 3 and 4 lbs. That was going to hurt at the end of the day. I finally got one to stick a nice 3.63 largemouth that would my big fish for the day. Ryan got his first fish and I added 2 more before we moved on. We then hit a spot where I had caught come smallies that were on beds last week. Ryan caught a small one but the weeds had come up and the beds were scarce. We then moved up and fished shallow where there were fish everywhere. We both filled out out limits and culled a few times.Ryan was catching them on a stick worm and I was getting them on Outkast Finesse Jig or tube. We then moved to Washington during a downpour to fish some other areas I had. We each culled a few more times as we worked down the shore. Just never getting the bigger bites we needed. I was able to cull up 1 last time just as a nasty thunderstorm rolled in and basically killed the last hour of the day. At the end of the day I weighed in 13.53 good enough for 8th place. The 3 I lost early in the day may have added 3 lbs or so so it was not that big of a deal. It just put a little more distance on the points I need to make up. Ryan ended up with 9.80 pounds. Congrats to Steve O on the win with 18.83 and a big bass of 4.37.

I'm Back

Boy it has been awhile since I have posted anything on here. This year I intend to keep up to date with my tournament results and fishing in general. With my first tournament scheduled for Sat.on Washington/Stella I hope to post some good results early next week.

Warner's Dock

If your looking for something fishing related to do over the weekend. Come on out to Warner's Dock in New Richmond WI. They are having a Customer Appreciation Weekend Jan. 6th thru the 8th. They will have some seminars and local tackle vendors on site. I will be there on Sat at the Outkast booth so stop by and see the new jig colors for 2012. Check out the link for times and directions. www.warnersdock.com/OpenHousePromotion2012.htm Hope to see some of you there.

Gull Lake-FOM

July 16th Steve and I fished the Gull Lake Fishers of Men tournament. We traveled up on Friday and were delayed getting on the water by nasty thunderstorm that rolled in just as we got to the landing. After getting on the water we decided to try some new water for us this year and headed north. We found fish just about every stop we made but the size was not there. Finally we found some better fish and had spot to start. Friday night we got a decent boat draw and were confident we would be able to get our spot. On Saturday morning we had 2 boats head the same way as we did and they both stopped short of where we wanted to start. It didn't take us long to start putting them in the boat. We had a limit in no time but as usual they were not as big as the day before. We did catch a nice 2 1/2 before moving on. We then moved though the spots from practice and did upgrade a few times. We then moved back down toward the launch area to a spot we always catch one good one and this time we did as well. I fired my tube on Outkast Money Jig to the target and it just kept going. I set into our biggest fish of the day a 3.13 Largemouth. It was time to head to the scales. We weighed in 11.02 lbs which was good for 13th place and moved us up in the yearly standings. The next FoM tournament is in August on the Whitefish Chain.

Wow

I cannot believe it's October already. I really have fallen behind on my posts. Over the next few week I will get up to date on the tournaments I have fished this summer and report on the fall fishing as I get out. This really is my favorite time of the year. Fishing gets better and better and the big ones are packing it on for winter. Football is going strong both the Packers and Badgers are looking really good. But then the time comes to put the boat in storage for the winter and a well received time away to recharge the batteries for next year. But spring will soon be here and it's time to start all over again.

Green Lake (Spicer)-FOM

Saturday June 18th Steve and I were back on Gren Lake for the second Fishers of Men tournament of the year. We got on the water Thursday evening for a few hours to look around and see what was going on on the water. We found a few things we liked and were back on the water Friday morning to expand on what we found the night before. We only were able to fish till around noon when a storm blew up and kicked us off the water. At the tournament meeting we drew boat 10 so we felt we could get our best starting spot which we did. I got us on the board right away with a top water fish on a Pop-r. I switched up to a tube and got 2 more with one being our big fish of the day at 3.41 pounds. Steve finally joined the action getting our 4th fish. We then ran to our next spot and quickly finished out our limit and culled two more times. We then kept moving to our other spots looking for upgrades. We caught a lot of fish just not any more that would help. We weighed in 14.95 pounds of smallmouth and a big bass of 3.41 pounds . That tied us for 7th place and got us a check. We moved to 12th place in the standings which is huge after our dismal showing on Clearwater. We caught most of our fish using tubes on Outkast Money Jigs. We also caught them on lizards, crankbaits and top water. Our next stop is Gull Lake in July.

Fun Fishing

Saturday morning I had few hours to go hit a small lake near home just to fun fish. I started out fishing deep and was not catching much at all. I moved in shallow and worked a tube around rocks. The action started to get better. I caught a 4.32 and a couple 3 lber's and a lot of smaller bass. After I had worked down the shore I went to another area I had like that and all heck broke loose. I was on them big time. As fast as I could cast out there I would get bit. The smallest fish I caught in the hour feeding frenzy was 2 1/2 lbs. The two in the picture above are 4.85 and 4.78 lbs. On my Rapala touch screen scale my 5 biggest would weigh 20.98 lbs. Not a bad few hours of fishing. I went back out on Sunday morning as well and did not do as well but still caught a couple that went over 4 lbs.

Maple Lake-RB

Sunday June 5th was the first Tournament of the year for The Renegade Bassers. We fished Maple Lake near Annandale. I was next to last to take off and was partnered with Darin one of the guys in the club. I started in the big shallow bay the west side of the lake. I was chucking a frog over the mats. It dadn't take long and was putting my 5 in the livewell and Darin was starting to get the hang of frog fishing. We made the pass through and went to the back lake to a spot I had found the week before and got a few that would help and Darin secured his limit. I the went into the middle lke and fished a row of docks that good the week before. I worked with a tube and a senko and got a few more that bumped up my weight a few ounces at a time. we then hit a deep weedline with the hope some of the post spawnwers had moved out. It started out good as I landed my big fish of the day 3.08 largemouth. We kept catching them but they were all small and you had to get through the toothy critters to even get a bite. We went back to froggin and Darin caught one that would help him and I lost a giant that got tanlged in the mat and pulled off. At weigh in I weighed in 9.85 pounds and that put me in 5th place. Congratulation to Pat P for the win with 14.19 and to Chris A for Big Bass at 4.16. Our next club tournament is in July at the Whitefish Chain.

Clearwater-FOM

Steve and I fished our first Fishers of Men tournament of the year on Sat. June 4th on Clearwater. We had been out the week before prefishing and the results were so-so. At the Friday night meeting Steve won the Boat take off position 1 in the raffle. To bad we didn't have a great staring spot. We hit our first spot and put 5 in the boat in no time at all. It was the challenge of the day to upgrade. As we worked through or spots we could cull up ounces at a time until Steve got out big fish of the day a 3.53 largemouth. That was it for big upgrades. We ended up in 35th place with 11.62 pounds. Not a good way to start the year. Our next FOM is on Green(Spicer) a lake we tend to do well on. I am looking forward to that as it is an awesome smallmouth fishery.

Wisconsin Opener 2011

Friday May 6th Guy and I headed to Wisconsin for our annual trip to the Cable area for the opener. Once we arrived the group formed the morning plans. Our first stop of the day was to the "Nam". It didn't take long and Guy put the first walleye in the boat and he followed up with another nice one. I finally got in on the action but mine pulled off at the boat. A short time later I got one for the well and the walleye action all but stopped. We decided to go look for some smallie action. I was working a jig and minnow down a point when I got a tap and set into a nice fish. As it would turn out it would be my best fish of the weekend a 18 1/2" smallie. We worked the area some more but couldn't entice another. We left the Nam for our secret lake. The water was cold and the bass just were not ready for our assault. We would get a few here and there but it was slow. That was pretty much the story for Sunday and Monday morning as well. We had a fun trip and enjoyed hanging with the sconi boys again. I am already looking forward to next year.

First Trip 2011

I'm off to Wisconsin for the first trip of 2011. Here's hoping for nice weather and lots of bass action. Look for a report next week.

Cabelas-Rogers

If your in the area this coming weekend March, 19 & 20. Stop in to the Rogers Cabela's and say hi. I will be there Sat. and Sun. to answer questions and sell Outkast Jigs. It will be a good time to fill up that jig box before the season gets going. Cabela's carries the RT Jig, the Finesse Jig and the Pro Swim Jigs in the most popular colors and sizes.

Renegade Bassers Banquet



Renegade Bassers 2011

Saturday Feb. 26th The Renegade Bassers held their first club banquet at Angeno's in Maple Grove. After dinner we had a short meeting to discuss our jerseys and club business. It was then time to hand out the 2010 awards.
14th Place Dave McCrone
13th Place Ken Krass
12th Place Mark Nistler
11th Place Brian Burandt
10th Place Daryl Larson
9th Place Mike Juskiewicz
8th Place Steve Walker
7th Place Nick Madison
6th Place Steve Oswald
5th Place Chris Asbeck
4th Place Jason Titus
3rd Place Pat Porter
2nd Place Guy Knudson
AOY for 2010 John Pozarski

Thanks to all the guys who helped get the banquet set up and to our sponsors for donating for the gift bags. Outkast Tackle, Leena Lures and Culprit. Thanks to my wife for the work she put in on making the flowers for the wives.  

Clearwater-RB

The Renegade Bassers last tournament of the year was Sept. 19th on Clearwater. There were up to 6 guys that could win Angler of the Year so the fight was on. I was holding on to the lead that I had held since the 2nd tournament of the year. I really just needed to go out and catch 5 fish and hope nobody caught a huge bag. I was paired with Guy as he was boatless still. We prefished on Sat. the day before and found two really good spots that we would hammer the next day. We had a middle of the pack take off spot and no one went our way so we got to our first spot and I took me 2 casts to break the ice and box my first fish. I was throwing a texas rigged Lake Fork Tube Craw. I proceeded to catch my limit over the next 25 minutes. Guy was struggling unable box a fish. We moved as the bite slowed to nothing and tried another spot that had produced in the past. Guy finally was able to get a fish flippin some bullrushes. We left that spot and moved to our other hot spot from Sat. I caught 1 on a frog on my first cast but it would not help. Guy then started to catch them flippin shallow cover. He was able to catch his limit and we went looking for some biggins. As the day went on the bite slowed big time. We finally moved to the bay where the access was to kill the day. We caught some fish but nothing that would help. With about 2 minutes to go Guy yelled net and I netted a 3.93 dandy for him that he was able to cull a 1 lb fish out. It was time to head to the scales and see how we all did. I weighed in 12.26 lbs that was good for 2nd place. Guy was the winner with 13.39 and had Big Bass at 3.93. With my 2nd place finish I was able to secure the Renegade Bassers "Angler of the Year" title. Guy made a charge and went from 5th to 2nd. Thanks to all the guys in the club who made our first year a success. I am already looking forward to next year and defending my title.

2010 MNBFN TOC Day 2

Day 2 of the TOC I meet Aaron at the dock at Fletcher's. I told him it was his day to do as he needed to win the TOC. As we talked it seems we fish very similar spots. We started fishing a deep weedline and Aaron started the day off with on and I got bite and broke off right away. That really set the tone for my day. I got rigged back up and we moved on. Each spot Aaron would catch 1 but that would be it. About noon I finally caught one but that would be it for me for the day. Aaron got his limit and was able to secure 2nd place in the TOC. My one fish went 2.09 giving me a 2 day total of 11.89 pounds and a 98th place finish. Final standings are here:
http://www.mnbfn.org/TOC/2010/2010finalind.pdf
Congratulations to Aaron on his finish in the TOC and good luck next year at divisional tournament.

2010 MNBFN TOC Day 1

September 9&10 the Minnesota Bass Federation held their TOC on Lake Minnetonka. The TOC is 2 day total weight tournament. You qualify through the federation bass clubs. At the tournament meeting you are paired with another angler for each day. Its up to the two of you to decide on boat and fishing strategies. I was paired with Larry R from the Lakes Area Bass club on day 1. We decided to use his boat and we mapped out a game plan. We started the day on one of my spots and we were able to each get one keeper. We then moved to another on of my spots as it was close. I had a few docks that had produced some big fish in the past and they did again as boxed a 5.15 largemouth. we moved around to Larry's spots and had little going on. We finally made the call to finish the day where we had started. I managed to finish out my limit and Larry was able to get 4 fish. My day 1 weight was 9.80 pounds putting me in 60th place. After weigh in I found my Day 2 partner and we decided to go with what he had as he was in 4th place overall. I then headed home to get ready for tomorrow.