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.

Green Lake (Spicer)-RB

Green Lake Smallies

On July 24th the Renegade Bassers tournament was held on Green Lake in Spicer. Friday was a prefishing day and I scouted the spots we fished this spring for the FOM. I had limited success at a few of the spots and had some good bites at others. I decided to start on the north end of the lake on a spot that was rocky and had some good drops. Steve also started in that area as well. My draw partner for the day was Mike J, so at least I could get a good laugh all day if we did not catch any fish. I started throwing a Pop-r and it was not long before I was hooked up with a good smallie. mike netted it and I was on the board. We worked down the break and I was working the deeper side. I saw some surface activity and threw at it and another bass just exploded on the Pop-r. After 1 more on the topwater the bite seemed to have died. I started throwing a tube on a Outkast Money Jig. I caught number 4 for the well and Mike caught 2 as well. The action just went away and was time to move. I hit a deep weedline that is better known for largemouth and finally got number 5 for my limit. I caught it on a crankbait and it had 4 or 5 bigger smallies chasing it to the boat. We worked the area and were never able to catch them. The wind really picked up as the day went on. We moved to the south side of the lake which was the windy side to kill the day. With about 20 minutes to go I yelled net and a 3.63 smallie replaced the 2 pound largemouth. At weigh in I weighed 14.72# good for 2nd place. Congrats to Chris A for the win with 17.36 bag of smallmouth and for Big Bass with a 4.47 beauty. The next day we fish on Lake Koronis.

FOM-Minnetonka

We drew the 32 take off position and were off to our first spot. We got off on the right foot with 4 fish in the first 15 minutes. Steve got 3 on the drop shot and I had 1 on top water. We moved to spot number 2 and quickly got our limit and culled a couple times. we moved around to our different spots and were culling up ounces at a time. We finally made to one of our better spots and with a couple hours to go I set into a good fish. Steve grabbed the net and it just came un done. It was a 4 lb plus fish that would have helped a ton. Made another pass thru and got bit again. This time the fish jumped and threw the lure. Not a good way to end the day. When it was all said and done we weighed 12.74 pounds for 23rd place. We managed to hold on to 8th place in the standings with 2 tournaments to go. We hit Gull Lake on the 7th of August. We hope to have a better finish there. Those 2 lost fish were a killer.

Green Lake-FOM

I need to get caught up here. It's been a month since I posted anything. So I will do a few here over the next few days. We fished the FOM on Green Lake in Spicer on June 17th. On our practice day of Friday we notice a few fish still on beds. The water was much dirtier than normal which made it hard to spot the bedding fish. The wind was blowing from the southwest at about 20 mph which made it harder to road hunt. We tried a few things in different parts of the lake and decided to start on the same area we started the past few years. We had a middle of the pack draw so we were surprised that we were able to get our spot. Things started out good as we had a double. Steve boated his and mine broke my line at the boat. We then just moved around trying to just get a limit. We finally were able to that and culled up to 11.09 pounds which was good for 23rd place. Our big bass was 3.13. We were able to stay at 11th place in points for the year. Our next FOM tournament is on Lake Minnetonka on July 17th.

RB-Medicine Lake

Saturday June 12th was the first tournament of the year for the Renegade Bassers. We fished Medicine Lake in Plymouth. My draw partner for the day was Mark N. We were boat 3 to take off. Mark started the day off by putting a nice 3 pounder in the boat on a spinnerbait. I was struggling to put a fish in the boat. We moved shallow then deep but just could not get them to go. I finally got number one on a spinnerbait. There was a stretch of docks that I wanted to hit but someone had started just ahead of me. I waited for a bit then went in behind them. I fired a Lake Fork Ring Fry in the dock and the line started swimming away I set in to it and knew right away it was big. Mark got the net under it and a 5 pounder was in the boat. Between docks I was burning the spinnerbait and got another 2 1/2 for my 3rd fish. we moved to some mid lake humps and Mark caught number 2. we then hit some shallow milfoil patches and I was able to fill out my limit. We spent the rest of the day covering water. I was able to cull up a few times but in the end I ended up a bit short. I weighed in 13.50 pounds and a 5.01 Big Bass. Mark ended the day with 4 fish for 7.89. Congrats to Guy K for winning with 15.04 pounds. The next Renegade Bassers tournament is on Green Lake in Spicer in July.

FOM-Clearwater

So much for improving on last years 3rd place finish. We started the day on a familiar spot that gave us four keepers. 1 was a three pounder. We mover to another spot that I caught some nice ones prefishing the week before. We did catch our fifth fish and culled one time for a small upgrade. After moving around to a few other areas we had we tried some new water and struck pay dirt. I caught three fish in three casts that all went in the well. We stayed in that area the rest of the day catching fish after fish. It got down right silly at times. In the end we were able to weigh in 13.43 pounds that was good enough for 11th place. .07 pounds out of the money. That was a tough way to end a great day on the water. Our next FOM tournament is June 19th on Green Lake in Spicer. I can't wait to get out there and tangle with the smallies.

First Tournament of the Year

Tomorrow is the first tournament of the year for the Fishers of Men. Steve and I are hoping to better our 3rd place finish of last year. We prefished last Saturday and did OK. The weather looks good for most of the day. So its time to get it done. I will post our results and tactics next week.