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.

RB-Lake Waconia

Sunday morning we hit Lake Waconia for the 5th Renegade Bassers tournament of the year. I was glad to be on Waconia. It is one of my favorite lakes to fish. I was needing to get some confidence back after the beating I took the day before on Rush. The was not starting out very good as the wind was howling before the sun came up. It would make it tough to fish some of mt better spots. Brian was my partner for the day. Brian grew up near the lake and he and I have spent many a day on Waconia. We started near some cabbage beds where we had both done well in the past. Nothing was working and the wind was blowing harder. I finally caught a keeper on a Outkast stick worm to break the ice. We then went to the spot where I had done so well last year. I managed to catch one on a tube craw but that was it. I wanted to try a off shore spot but lasted about 10 minutes as boat control was an issue in the wind. Back to the shorelines we went. I picked up another for the well on a jig worm. Brian had yet to put one in the box. We then moved to the cat tails to try the flippin bite. That was where Brian finally put his only fish of the day in the boat. I struggled to catch my last 2. At the scales I weighed 10.58 pounds good for 3rd place. My big bass was 2.54. The wind really controlled what we did as we could not fish the areas we wanted to. Congratulations to Pat P. for the win with 13.85 and to Ozzy with the big bass at 4.03. Our last tournament is in Sept. on Clearwater. The Angler of the Year points battle is getting close and any one of 6 guys have a shot.

RB-Rush Lake

Saturday Aug. 14th brought the Renegade Bassers to Rush Lake. I was scheduled to fish alone but Guy had to leave early so he jumped in with me for the 3 1/2 hours he could fish. We started fishing a shallow reed bed in the west side. I was flipping a Texas rigged tube craw and a jig. Finally I connected with a good fish and had one in the box. Guy followed up with one of his own. We moved to a new area and Guy scored right off the bat and followed with another. Guy had to leave so we weighed his fish and he was off. I then ran to a few other spots that I had caught fish pre fishing but all I could catch were short ones. I ran to some new water but could not get anything going. Finally I ran back to where we started and put a 3rd fish in the box. That was it for me for the day. I weighed in 3 fish for 5.91 pounds. My big fish was 3.75. It was just one of those days where everything I did was wrong. I had to put it behind me as on Sunday we fished another club event on Waconia. Congrats to Chris A for the win with 12.45 pounds and Steve W for a 3.85 Big Bass.

FOM-Gull Lake

Steve and I headed to Gull Lake on Friday morning to pre fish for Saturday's tournament. We put in and headed for areas we had each fished before. We caught fish at each stop but finding bigger fish was the days task. It was a task we never really accomplished. We were confidant we were going to get our 5 but getting the kickers we needed was going to be a chore. We had a middle of the pack draw and ran to out starting spot and put 5 in the well to get started. Of the 5 we had only 1 that was decent. We ran to few spots and kept up grading but weren't getting the ones we needed. We went to some new water that we had not fished the day before and Steve tied in to a good one that went 4.16 on the scales but that would be it for the day. We ended up 15th with 11.17 pounds. We fished hard and sorted through a lot of fish. We just never could get another big bite.

2010 Viking Tournament-Minnetonka

6.94 Lake Minnetonka Largemouth

Sunday Oct. 3rd my cousin Greg and I fished the Viking Invitational on Lake Minnetonka. Saturday we hit the lake to pre fish and spent the day trying to figure the fish out. We were having little success at doing that till late in the day we found some active fish and hoped they would be still going on Sunday. We had boat 33 at take off and were able to get to our spot and get after them. The fish were still there but not as active as they had been the day before. We got our limit by 9:00 and then started to move around looking for bigger fish. We went to a spot where we had in the past put a few bigger fish in the boat. We worked the area flipping jigs and soft plastics in the reeds. Just about to the end of our run I flipped in and felt the tell tale thump and set into something solid. Before I could yell net, Greg was standing there ready to net it. We got it in the net and a 22" beauty went into the well. It was the biggest bass I have caught in a tournament and one of the biggest I have ever caught. A true Minnesota trophy. We ended the day hitting a few points on the way back to weigh-in and were not able to cull out 2 of the smaller fish we had. At the scales the Big Bass went 6.94 pounds and our total weight was 15.34. We finished in 3rd place and took home the Big Bass pot. What a way to end the 2010 tournament season. Thanks to Greg for being "extreme net man" for the day. The bass was caught on an Outkast Tackle RT jig with a beaver trailer.

Lake Koronis-RB

Sunday morning we traveled up the road to Lake Koronis. I had never been on the lake until Friday when we stopped to prefish it for a few hours. On Sunday I had drawn Daryl as my partner for the day. I had two spots that I caught some fish prefishing so we picked a big main lake point to start on. I was starting to question myself on the spot then a 2 1/2 pound smallie destroyed my Chigger Craw. That was it and it was time for move to the other spot. My second spot was of the edge of a large rock and gravel flat. I quickly put 2 largemouth and 2 more smallies in the box for my limit. Daryl was getting frustrated as he was fish less still. We the moved to another point without any action. I asked Daryl if he wanted to hit some docks and we went and hit a stretch. I gave Daryl the front of the boat and it was on. I caught a nice largemouth and was able to cull. Daryl then put 3 in box on the next two docks. I threw to an overhanging willow and pulled another 2 1/2 largemouth for another upgrade. Daryl had caught 2 more for his limit as well. We decided to finish the docks. The next one I pulled a 4.08 largemouth for my big fish of the day. We both caught more as we worked to the end. Daryl was able to upgrade a few times. We then ran to a spot that held some bigger smallies that finally had no boats on it. Daryl whacked a 3 lb smallie and then a 3.83 smallie for his big fish of the day. I was not able to find one and finally it was time to weigh in. The scale said I weighed 13.78# which was good for 2nd place. Daryl weighed 13.17# good for 3rd place. Congratulations to Ozzy for the win with 15.82# and Brian for Big Bass with a dandy 4.78 smallie. Daryl and I had a great day on the water and were able to do so well by changing on the fly. We tried some stuff that had not really paid off on friday. I guess we didn't get stuck on one pattern and kept looking till we found the active fish.