GHB-Pokegama

After Saturday's disappointing day on the water I was looking for a lot better day. I was paired with Mark N one of the newer guys in the club. We were boat two this morning. As I didn't get to prefish Pokegama I had no idea where to go so we just found a weed flat and I started with a buzzbait. We moved up the channel to Jay Gould and I had a blow up on a frog but didn't hook up. Mark got one for the well on a worm on a deep weedline and there was no more to be found. We then went up the channel to the small lake. We were throwing spinnerbaits over the weeds and all we could catch were northerns. We moved further up the lake to a deep shoreline that had rock and wood where I finally got a 2 pounder on a RT jig flippin the wood. But no more takers there either. We worked down the opposite shore throwing spinnerbaits. I got what would be my biggest fish of the day a 2.81 largemouth. So we took off from there and headed to the main lake. At noon I was still really struggling with only 2 fish in the livewell. We fished down a shoreline that had a steep drop with a few inside turns on the weedline. I finally got a 3rd fish in the boat and Mark got his second. We decided to work the area as there was only an hour or so to fish. Mark hooked up with a Rattle Trap and I failed to get the net under it and it came unbuttoned. (sorry Mark) I was using a 3" Chigger Craw on a money jig. I then caught 2 more 15" to fill out my limit and Mark got 2 more to give him 4 as time was running out. On what was our last casts I was stowing everything and getting ready to go. My line jumped and I brought my last fish to the boat. It would help so as I culled Mark finished getting ready to go. At the weigh in. I weighed 9.35 which was good enough for 6th place. Mark ended up with 4 fish for 4.52 pounds. Again congratulations to Ozzy for sacking 14.26 pounds and beautiful 4.04 pound smallmouth for Big Bass. He is just on fire right now. Pokegama looks like an awesome fishery and I wish I had gotten out to prefish. There was just so much good looking water. Full results are here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourny4.htm Our next GHB tournament is on Big Birch lake on August 22nd. I hope to get a few practice days out ther to make up some ground I lost.

GHB-Wabana

This past Saturday the Golden Hook Bassers were on Lake Wabana north of Grand Rapids. A few of us traveled up early Friday as most of us had never been on the lake. After driving through the rain and storms on the way up we got to the lake with the sun shining. The prefishing was so-so with alot of small fish caught. I found a few spots that were candidates for starting locations. Saturday is paired with Wayne Pacyga and we were using my boat. We had take off position two. We decided to start in a reed bed right at the take off spot. I dropped the trolling motor and we were off. About half way around I put the first fish in the boat a 13" largemouth followed quickly by another 13" fish. They were both caught on a swim jig. We then moved to sheltered bay as the wind was really blowing and I had broke the rope on the trolling motor. As I fixed that Wayne was working some pads and a deep break to no takers. We worked around the island working wood and reeds. I picked another 14" fish on the swim jig and Wayne finally got a 16" fish in the weeds. I proceeded to hook into a big northern that broke my rod so I was not a happy camper from that point on. We started to work pads with buzz frogs and Rage shad baits. Wayne caught a couple more and I caught 2 more to fill my limit. All my fish were small. I did get to cull one out with another 14" fish caught on a craw tube. Wayne filled out his limit finally around noon. We then ran back to the reeds were we started. Wayne got a really nice smallie and a another nice largemouth. All I could get was fish that wouldn't help. As time was winding down we hit some pad fields by the landing. I missed two really blow ups on a Rage shad and Wayne was able to get another to cull a small fish. In the end I weighed in at 6.39 and Wayne had 10.68 good enough for 2nd place. Congratulations to Ozzy for winning with 10.92 and Big Bass of 3.30. Complete results are here: www.goldenhookbassers.org/index_files/tourney3.htm.
The unstable and windy weather did not help the day. It was hard to fish any offshore structure as the wind usually would blow you right off it. It was time to re rig as tomorrow we would be on Pokegama for day two.

FOM-Minnetonka

Saturday was the 3rd tournament of the year for the Fishers of Men. I met Steve at the Maxwell landing so we could drive across Lake Minnetonka to the take off spot at Maynards. The morning was cool and a little breezy. I drew boat number 13 at the Friday night meeting so we would not have to wait long to take off. With our game plan finalized all we had to do is wait. When our number was called we took off for our first spot. We got started and another boat just pulled in behind us and started fishing. We pulled around the other side of the point and continued to fish. Steve got us on the board with a 12" fish but that would be it there. We moved to a point we had caught some fish on pre fishing last week. We gave it a 20 minute try and didn't get a bite. We moved to another tried and true spot. The only thing we got there was a 5 pound toothy. At this point we made the decision to hit our best spot a little earlier than we wanted as it usually is a later bite there. We fished a string of docks going in. We quickly caught four 12"-13" fish to fill out our limit. But on Minnetonka you need a lot more than that. We then hit our good spot and Steve got a 3 pounder and I quickly followed with a 2 1/2. In the next hour we had culled out all the smaller fish and were getting a respectable bag. We still needed one good fish to put us where we thought we needed to be. I had that fish on but as it rolled to the surface it came unbuttoned and we were still searching. With the bite shut down there and 20 minutes to fish we had one spot to hit on the way to weigh in. We pulled up and had less than 10 minutes to fish. Steve then called for the net and soon a 3.85 largemouth was aboard. We culled out our last questionable fish and it was on to weigh in. We weighed in 15.76 pounds with a big bass of 3.85 pounds. Then the waiting started. We finally settled in the 7th spot which was a huge improvement over last year. We moved up to 3rd in points only 1 point behind 2nd and 13 points out of 1st. We put our fish in the boat using a variety of soft plastics on Outkast money jigs. Our next FOM tournament is on the Le Homme Dieu chain in Alexandria on August 1st.

Back at it

After a nice 4 week break from fishing tournaments and doing a little fun fishing. Saturday we'll be back on Minnetonka fishing the 3rd stop of the Fishers of Men series. We have been out pre fishing a few times and caught fish just not the kind needed to do well on Minnetonka. We have been fishing new water and not fishing our normal stuff. We have confidence in our normal stuff that we should do ok and hope to catch enough to stay close in the point standings. Next week is the GHB two day tournament Day 1 will be on Wabana and Day 2 on Pokeagama. I have not fished either of these lakes so I am going up on Friday to spend 4 hours or so on each lake to see what they are about. The next weekend is Le Homme Deiu for Fishers of Men. It will end a long 3 week stretch of tournaments. But in Minnesota with the limited fishing weekends you have to fish them as they come. I will post results and tactics after each tournament. Keep checking back for updates. The break has been nice but am looking forward to being back on the competitive waters.