No rest for the weary!!!
It's been a crazy few weeks since my win at PDC. The following weekend Mary and I drove back down to Kentucky to finally put an offer in on a new home. After looking at another 8 houses we settled on a beautiful home over looking lake Barkley that we had looked at on our first down. Now with the house hunting over with we can start the fun packing part. The following weekend we left Friday for Escanaba, MI for the B.A.S.S. Federation Northern regional. After fishing Big and Little Bay de Nocs for a week we left Escanaba on Friday night to head back to Starbuck, MN and Lake Minnewaska for a Silverado Pro Am event Saturday morning.
Little and Big Bay de Nocs are not the same fisheries as Lake Erie and I unfortunately did figure this out until the third day of practice. Lake Erie you have a lot of 30+ foot flats with small rises in the bottom and throw a drop shot on it or drag a tube on it. Well not so much at the Bays. Here you are fishing gin clear water and catching fish in 4-10 feet of water. I tried for two days to find those little rises in the bottom and they for the most part don't exist. The third day I picked up a spinnerbait and jerkbait and had an absolutely fabulous day on the water. I throw a 3/8oz chartreuse skirt with double gold willow leaf blades on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluoro and X-Rap, Lucky Craft, and Smithwick jerkbaits all on 12lb GAMMA Copolymer. The wind was blowing perfect and the sun was finally shining after two days of clouds and on and off rain. Tuesday the fourth and final day of practice brought clouds again in the morning and fishing wasn't as good as Monday. I started the day where I ended Monday and started catching fish but not the same size but did catch fish but that was the end of the excitement with the rest of the day being a bust.
Day 1 brought the first day of flat calm and sunny weather for a week. My partner had a spot he wanted to check in the morning and then the rest of the day we would be fishing the same areas I had found on Monday. He started out throwing a stick worm and I decided to start with a jerkbait on which I lost a keeper in the first couple of cast. I then decided to pickup the spinnerbait and with in a couple of cast I boat a nice 3 1/2lb fish burning it just under the surface. After he missed a couple bites we moved over to Big Bay on to a shallow shoal where I boated two more quick fish on the blades. Being able to see the fish I started pitching a drop shot at them and was able to catch two more for my limit. My partner was finally able to work a limit into the boat and we started moving around looking for some bigger fish. I continued to chuck and burn the blade with good results being able to cull up with each fish I caught. With a hour or so left we ran back to his starting spot and after making one trip around it I noticed a big black critter swimming a long the boat. Reeling in my jerkbait and picking up the tube I pitched it out in front of the boat and that big black critter ate it up and was my biggest fish of the day a solid 4lb smallie. This gave me a solid limit weighing 16 1/2lbs.
Day 2 paired me with a partner that was on fish in Big Bay also. He and his day one partner caught a limit in one area in 50mins but were on able to upgrade throughout the day. So we decided to stop on a big fish spot first and he was able to boat a nice 3lber on a blade but that was it. We then decided to run to his limit spot from day one but it took a lot longer to get our limits today. In the end this was our down fall as we spent 4 plus hours of our day trying to get a limit in the boat and not going to other big fish areas. Today I was unable to boat a fish on the spinnerbait but caught everything dragging a tube on 8lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon. Todays limit was much smaller than yesterday weighing just under 11lbs.
Day 3 I knew I was going to need to weigh at least 22+ pounds to have a chance to win my states birth to the national championship. Our leader Randy was sitting with 33lbs and Dean was in second in our state with 30lb. and I figure they would both bring another 16lbs to the scales today which means I would have to catch 22 or better. My buddy Jim Pinke had found a spot that 3 bags over 20 had been caught on so that was the plan. I would follow him down to this hump he had been fishing and hope for a 5 big bites it was my only chance. The unfortunate thing for me my partner has a major bum back and doesn't want to be running the rough water and this morning it was rough with 5-6 seas already and forecasted higher winds in the afternoon. We did try to head down but Pinke had to turn around as he was unable to keep the prop in good water and not blowout with his three blade. That's all took for my partner to turn it around and head for calmer waters. We headed for a river and fished as hard as we could. My partner kept throwing at the bank so I decided to throw a jerkbait out over the deeper channel and was able to boat 3 short fish and 2 keepers my only ones of the day. As it turned out I would have had to catch 23lbs to catch Randy as he brought in another 17lb bag to win or state and take second overall with just under 51lbs, Dean brought 18lbs in to stay in second in the state and 4th overall with 48lbs. I ended the tournament with 12 fish weighing just over 31lbs good for 3rd in the state and 26th overall.
Now with the Federation Northern regional over and Randy being crowned the MN champion and Wes being crowned overall champion and WI state champion it was time to head to the room for a shower and something to eat and hit the road back to MN. Back on the road to Starbuck, MN around 6pm we had an 8 1/2 trip ahead of us so we pushed it straight through only stopping for gas once and arrived in Starbuck at 2:30 am. I grabbed a quick two and half hour nap before getting up at 5 to get boat gas and figure out where the ramp and weigh-in were located. I also need to respool and repack the boat for Lake Minnewaska versus fishing the Bays. I ran into Scott Bonnema at the gas station and was able to get me sent in the right direction as to the ramp and blast off and check in location. My buddies Josh Douglas, Ryan Otto and Brent Carlson were all there to try in guide me in the right direction fishing wise as this was the first time I've ever seen Lake Minnewaska or the Starbuck, Glenwood areas. I started the day running down the lake to a flat on the Glenwood end. My partner lost a key 3lb+ fish on a rattle bait on the flat and then put the first fish of the day in the boat of a reed patch also on the rattle rap. I then decided to throw a 3/8oz spinnerbait on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon around the reeds and also boated a nice 3 1/2lb fish. This made me decide to stay with the reeds a bit longer which was a good decision as I added to more very quality fish along with a couple small keepers that at least gave us a limit. In the end it was a good move as we weighed 6 for 14.16 good for 8th place, which with the one lost fish of the day would have been second and a $4000 payday rather than a $600 one. Nothing good ever comes from a lost fish but that is why it's called fishing and not catching!
Little and Big Bay de Nocs are not the same fisheries as Lake Erie and I unfortunately did figure this out until the third day of practice. Lake Erie you have a lot of 30+ foot flats with small rises in the bottom and throw a drop shot on it or drag a tube on it. Well not so much at the Bays. Here you are fishing gin clear water and catching fish in 4-10 feet of water. I tried for two days to find those little rises in the bottom and they for the most part don't exist. The third day I picked up a spinnerbait and jerkbait and had an absolutely fabulous day on the water. I throw a 3/8oz chartreuse skirt with double gold willow leaf blades on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluoro and X-Rap, Lucky Craft, and Smithwick jerkbaits all on 12lb GAMMA Copolymer. The wind was blowing perfect and the sun was finally shining after two days of clouds and on and off rain. Tuesday the fourth and final day of practice brought clouds again in the morning and fishing wasn't as good as Monday. I started the day where I ended Monday and started catching fish but not the same size but did catch fish but that was the end of the excitement with the rest of the day being a bust.
Day 1 brought the first day of flat calm and sunny weather for a week. My partner had a spot he wanted to check in the morning and then the rest of the day we would be fishing the same areas I had found on Monday. He started out throwing a stick worm and I decided to start with a jerkbait on which I lost a keeper in the first couple of cast. I then decided to pickup the spinnerbait and with in a couple of cast I boat a nice 3 1/2lb fish burning it just under the surface. After he missed a couple bites we moved over to Big Bay on to a shallow shoal where I boated two more quick fish on the blades. Being able to see the fish I started pitching a drop shot at them and was able to catch two more for my limit. My partner was finally able to work a limit into the boat and we started moving around looking for some bigger fish. I continued to chuck and burn the blade with good results being able to cull up with each fish I caught. With a hour or so left we ran back to his starting spot and after making one trip around it I noticed a big black critter swimming a long the boat. Reeling in my jerkbait and picking up the tube I pitched it out in front of the boat and that big black critter ate it up and was my biggest fish of the day a solid 4lb smallie. This gave me a solid limit weighing 16 1/2lbs.
Day 2 paired me with a partner that was on fish in Big Bay also. He and his day one partner caught a limit in one area in 50mins but were on able to upgrade throughout the day. So we decided to stop on a big fish spot first and he was able to boat a nice 3lber on a blade but that was it. We then decided to run to his limit spot from day one but it took a lot longer to get our limits today. In the end this was our down fall as we spent 4 plus hours of our day trying to get a limit in the boat and not going to other big fish areas. Today I was unable to boat a fish on the spinnerbait but caught everything dragging a tube on 8lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon. Todays limit was much smaller than yesterday weighing just under 11lbs.
Day 3 I knew I was going to need to weigh at least 22+ pounds to have a chance to win my states birth to the national championship. Our leader Randy was sitting with 33lbs and Dean was in second in our state with 30lb. and I figure they would both bring another 16lbs to the scales today which means I would have to catch 22 or better. My buddy Jim Pinke had found a spot that 3 bags over 20 had been caught on so that was the plan. I would follow him down to this hump he had been fishing and hope for a 5 big bites it was my only chance. The unfortunate thing for me my partner has a major bum back and doesn't want to be running the rough water and this morning it was rough with 5-6 seas already and forecasted higher winds in the afternoon. We did try to head down but Pinke had to turn around as he was unable to keep the prop in good water and not blowout with his three blade. That's all took for my partner to turn it around and head for calmer waters. We headed for a river and fished as hard as we could. My partner kept throwing at the bank so I decided to throw a jerkbait out over the deeper channel and was able to boat 3 short fish and 2 keepers my only ones of the day. As it turned out I would have had to catch 23lbs to catch Randy as he brought in another 17lb bag to win or state and take second overall with just under 51lbs, Dean brought 18lbs in to stay in second in the state and 4th overall with 48lbs. I ended the tournament with 12 fish weighing just over 31lbs good for 3rd in the state and 26th overall.
Now with the Federation Northern regional over and Randy being crowned the MN champion and Wes being crowned overall champion and WI state champion it was time to head to the room for a shower and something to eat and hit the road back to MN. Back on the road to Starbuck, MN around 6pm we had an 8 1/2 trip ahead of us so we pushed it straight through only stopping for gas once and arrived in Starbuck at 2:30 am. I grabbed a quick two and half hour nap before getting up at 5 to get boat gas and figure out where the ramp and weigh-in were located. I also need to respool and repack the boat for Lake Minnewaska versus fishing the Bays. I ran into Scott Bonnema at the gas station and was able to get me sent in the right direction as to the ramp and blast off and check in location. My buddies Josh Douglas, Ryan Otto and Brent Carlson were all there to try in guide me in the right direction fishing wise as this was the first time I've ever seen Lake Minnewaska or the Starbuck, Glenwood areas. I started the day running down the lake to a flat on the Glenwood end. My partner lost a key 3lb+ fish on a rattle bait on the flat and then put the first fish of the day in the boat of a reed patch also on the rattle rap. I then decided to throw a 3/8oz spinnerbait on 16lb GAMMA EDGE fluorocarbon around the reeds and also boated a nice 3 1/2lb fish. This made me decide to stay with the reeds a bit longer which was a good decision as I added to more very quality fish along with a couple small keepers that at least gave us a limit. In the end it was a good move as we weighed 6 for 14.16 good for 8th place, which with the one lost fish of the day would have been second and a $4000 payday rather than a $600 one. Nothing good ever comes from a lost fish but that is why it's called fishing and not catching!
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