Fished a team tournament on Maple Lake in Wright county last Saturday. The day started out less than desirable because when I got to the launch I found out my cranking battery was completely dead after having it on the charger all night long. Luckily I had a spare battery in the boat however I didn't know when the last time I charged the spare (probably a couple months ago). After fooling with the batteries I finally got it working and we ended up lauching 15 minutes later than everyone else.
My fishing partner for the day was my girlfriend. She enjoys being out in the boat in the summer and will cast for panfish from time to time but I don't think she has the same passion (or disease ~b~) for bass fishing as myself. Unfortunately Saturday was far from a sunny summer day. We had overcast all day long a high temp of 48*F and water temps around 47*F.
I generally struggle to locate fish in that fall time although everyone says its one of the best times of the year to fish. However, I went fishing earlier in the week on a different lake and noticed bass were relating to any weeds that were still remaining near deep water. Armed with that information I was able to eliminate alot of unproductive water during out tournament. The first place I started was a long run of shoreline that tapered into deep water and had some milfoil that was starting to die off and pull away from the surface of the water. I generally throw a spinnerbait in areas like this when searching but I had set my partner up with one and I decided to throw something a little different. Since the milfoil was almost to the surface I opted for a black buzzbait (even though I never catch fish on the stupid things). Well, that day the bass gods were shining down on me because it wasn't more than 10 minutes in and I had a strike and caught a 16'' bass which gave me the confidence to stick with the buzzbait throughout the day. After bagging two fish I went to the other side of the lake that had similar structure. The only thing this spot was missing was the milfoil. There was some curly leaf weeds going out to about 10'. I opted for a confidence bait in this situation. A purple jigworm near the weed edge (were the weeds were still nice and green). The great thing about the jigworm is that it has an exposed hook so you'll catch alot of fish without even feeling them bite, the rod just loads up when you start reeling in. About half way through the day I had my limit. I decided that the buzzbait spot was were I was going to finish out my day. I only caught 4 more fish in that area however 2 of the fish were solid upgrades including the big fish of the tournament a 4.52# MN toad. We ended the day with 14.6#s good enough for 2nd place. Winning weight was 15.7#s and after talking to the team that won it I learned they caught all their fish in the last 2 hours....all on a buzzbait. So I had the winning pattern and I was on it first... Moral victory!
(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt69/CraigP83/IMAG0174.jpg)
(http://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt69/CraigP83/IMAG0175.jpg)
Seeing how winter is just around the corner I dropped my boat off to get winterized :'(
My open water season is officially over unless I can hitch a ride in someone else's boat. Ended with a bang though ;D
Very cool! Congrats!
Nice job!!! I'm going to hold out winterizing the boat for another 3 weeks or so. I caught some of my biggest fish of the year here in MN last year the first week of November. I'm heading out this weekend on Tonka for the first time ever. Let's hope I can find some hogs.
Quote from: bassfshin24 on October 22, 2012, 10:09:21 AM
Nice job!!! I'm going to hold out winterizing the boat for another 3 weeks or so. I caught some of my biggest fish of the year here in MN last year the first week of November. I'm heading out this weekend on Tonka for the first time ever. Let's hope I can find some hogs.
No Mille Lacs this weekend?
Nope. This past weekend was my last trip up there for the open water season. Now it's time to concentrate on getting some big largemouth in the next couple of weeks. I have a couple of smaller lakes that usually produce a couple of 5lbers for me in the fall. Im hoping I can touch that 6lb mark!
Quote from: bassfshin24 on October 22, 2012, 10:51:57 AM
Nope. This past weekend was my last trip up there for the open water season. Now it's time to concentrate on getting some big largemouth in the next couple of weeks. I have a couple of smaller lakes that usually produce a couple of 5lbers for me in the fall. Im hoping I can touch that 6lb mark!
Cool, make sure you post a report here. I'm going to try to convince my buddy to take out his little aluminum boat. It's only got a trolling motor though so we will have to try to find some metro "puddles" to drop it in
Congrats to you and your partner on the second place finish and big bass!