Having never fished a BFL and having never fished these lakes - I'm preparing my tackle for the trip. What advise would you give me on the best tackle for the lakes and as co-angler in these tournaments?
I know the target species is smallies - so I'd assume jerks, tubes, drop shots... anything more specific to the environment I'll see up there?
I'm going to bring 4-5 rods and a small tacklebox... won't have room for the kitchen sink, so any specific advise would be appreciated!
a shaky head rig would be a good idea just to fan cast and bounce back to the boat ;)
A couple natural spinnerbaits for burning out over deeper water between the good spots might pick up a bonus fish or two. If the water is a little off-colored, then go with the old all chartreuse instead. In general, suspending jerkbaits work better in the spring up there than spinnerbaits, but if everyone is throwing them... Don't be afraid to try large jerkbaits also. You want to challenge spring smallies first before you finesse them.
Take a couple medium-sized crankbaits (whatever color you have most confidence in) that dive around 10 feet or so. If they won't come up for the spinnerbait, the crankbait right past their noggin will work. Try dragging something a little heavier if you are near deep water around beds. There are almost always more beds a little deeper nearby and fish slowly coming in and out of the bedding areas.
If the boater moves fast, use the spinnerbait/crankbait combo. If he/she moves slow and those aren't working throw something out that you can drag back in. I stick mostly with dark colors out past where I can see, starting with light colors first while sight-fishing. I go to the dark colors if I don't like the reaction I get.
Each of the last 2 years I fished, I caught my fish on wacky rigged Senko's, Baby Bass color. Throw them at anything you see. If your boater isn't fishing beds, try to hit all the dark areas you see. Those are patches of grass and weeds, I pulled my fish from those areas. Also try a Popper, Those smallies like those also. With this weather we have had, and it being cooler this year, it could be a mix of bed fishing and pre-spawn fish. Really wish I was going again this year, hopefully next year I can get back in.
Topwater can be an overlooked hot technique for smallies this time of year. Won't take long to find out if it is working. Two years ago, I went out the morning after the BFL and had a pretty good morning on small topwaters out there. Sure helped make up for the crappy results I posted the day before ;D
Stick worms like Xtreme Bass Tackle X-worms are always worth throwing for bass anywhere anytime. Strong winds can make it a little tougher.
Thanks for all the info and PM... haven't thrown any topwater this year but then again I haven't gotten on the lakes very early either. It would be great to get that bite going! There has been so much wind this year, mother nature has all but taken that pattern away.
1. Tube
2. Fluke
3. Suspending Jerkbait
4. Spinner bait
Long Casts! Fish for pre spawn cruisers while your boaters bed fishing, you'll likely hook up with the biggest fish of the day. Just keep fishing, a lot of Co's give up on Burt/Mullet.
-Matt
So here is what happened. This was my first ever BFL and had absolutely no expectations since everything was new to me. Had decent practices and found plenty of bedding fish. Drew a young boater who thought he was on a shallow water jerkbait bite. NOT! We wasted the morning on this. If this wasn't my first BFL, I would have been more vocal and tried to encourage us to try something different. This was not the pattern to be on, eventually helped him find some beds. I was thinking that maybe he found something others hadn't and this would help me as a co-angler because I could really fish instead of being behind someone on beds but he really didn't have anything. He actually took me to a couple boulders and was really impressed he had found them but he never saw a fish on them. Just the find was impressive to him. He actually told me that I could use them in the future if I wanted, I thought that was pretty funny. The guy was a nice guy and it was his first time fishing a tournament on that lake.
I was more help to him than he was to me. I was able to track his fish, get us in some areas that we could catch them. Lost my only keeper I hooked, when you only get a couple bites it was hard to stay calm on the fish.
Jerkbaits weren't catching much of anything. I think I caught one keeper during practice. The fish weren't chasing much. Topwater, flukes, spinnerbaits weren't producing. Tubes weren't really producing either. Basically you had to be on beds to be effective, so dropshots were getting the staged fish.
I learned a lot about BFL tournaments in general which will help.
Couple things I saw which were interesting:
- Boater anchored fishing a bed from the back of the boat. Co-angler looking pretty upset, standing cross armed at the front. He probably lost an hour of fishing. They were pinned up against docks and I'm sure the co-angler fished the docks for a few minutes and figured he didn't have anything else to throw at. I could have been that guy. Hopefully that co-angler had a discussion with the tournament director.
- another boater asked us not to pick up his black bouy as he left it and moved on. We should have just fished the bed he was marking but we didn't. I'm assuming we would have had the right but decided against it as he followed us back down the shore.
In a bed fishing tourney like this one, I would have expected more co's to be standing around with their arms crossed while the boater spends an hour or so on a bed. That's how it goes, and any co should have known that was the chance he took going into it. Not saying it's right, just that it should have been expected. That's where fishing for pre spawn as a co comes in.
1Jav
I wasn't surprised about the co-angler sitting but I was surprised the boater was fishing from the back of the boat which was clearly a violation. I was thankful I didn't get in that situation. I also thought the boater could have positioned his boat to give the co-angler some other options, but it really wouldn't have made too much of a difference.
I was happy that my boater let me throw at some beds with him. I think he did that since I was so helpful in getting him on fish. In the last hour, I really backed off and tried to get him his limit fish but he didn't have much weight with his four (13 lbs).
The winning weights were 27+lbs for the boater and I think I heard the co-anglers were around 22lbs. Big fish was 6-13 for the boater and I think I heard 6-9 for the co. They were on the same boat, so they hit a great area Good Stuff!
Terry- Wish it would have worked out better for you. Not an easy place to go as a co angler. If the boater does not want you to catch fish, you won't. Look at one of the guys in the top 5, you can be on a ton of fish, but the co won't do well if you don't "give" them fish.
If there was a boater casting/retrieving from the back deck, he should have been DQ. Sure it was a boater fishing back there? There were several times when I saw 2 - 3 lbers that I would stand on the front and watch my co try to catch them. He almost got his 5, he broke one off and another came unbuttoned. He still had 4 fish, with one almost 5 lbs.
Don't worry too much, you can still make the regional with the last 4 - and they should be easier events for a co-angler.
Seth
We didn't ask if it was the boater on the back deck but when we went by, both of us thought that there was no way a boater would be anchored and giving his co-angler that much time on a bed - who knows, maybe it was a really generous boater. It would of surprised us if that was the case because I would have guessed they were on this for at least 30 minutes of what we saw and probably more. I'm doubtful the boater would have anchored for the CO and I'm doubtful the boater would have positioned the boat where he did. They were well off the bed and casting to it, so it didn't have much to do with sun and visibility. You never know though...
I'm going to set some pretty modest goals for the remaining BFL's and I hope to do much better.
Glad you had a good tournament and placed high. You put in the time and effort - that is for sure...
Congrats to all who finished high. I feel your pain T-bone as I am sitting here I am still overwhelmed with frustration. I had a tough draw as well, the guy told me he had not seen beds all week :o and wanted to run to Crooked Lake because he cought 15 pounds cranking the other day there :o. I thought to myself maybe it wont be so bad if I can get him to spend some time on a spot I got there that always holds big fish and alot of beds. Well we spent about 30 min in the morning on my spot and thats when I got my two and he broke off a 5 pounder then decided to move. We fished his stuff for the rest of the day and he got 1 crankbait fish then we ran back and went largemouth fishing in the mouth of the indian river :o. All we seen was carp and pike and the day was over. I got to fish for about 4.5 hours and had two bites from a bass all day. I missed out on the massive spawn on Burt & Mullet with ideal sightfishing conditions because my boater did not have a clue. That was the most disapointing tournament for myself that I can remember. Bad start to the year but hopefully I can get some good draws on st clair and erie.
T
Had a family emergency Friday and had to leave, but I heard the conditions were great. As for the boater fishing off the back, it is clearly a rules violation. I don't like the rule, since I pay for the whole boat and somethimes when it's windy it's the only way to get a good view of the bed. I do however follow the rule and would report it if I clearly saw someone violate it. It could've been the co-fishing, I did the exact thing last year. I anchored on a bed for my co, I was sitting on the cowling watching him fish for it. Your best bet up there as a co is to get a nice boater who will give you some fish or a bad boater who doen't get the bed thing. I know co's who have done great up there because there boater rolls right over beds all day. Any word on where we are going next year?
-Matt
I forgot to mention my boater showed up without a net he said it must have blown off the boat on his way there. So that worked out since we didnt need it that often.
I also fished the TBF this year for the first time and it was a bust. I fished with Bill Vavrina he was a nice guy but only had a couple beds to check. I cought one of his maybe a 3.5 and he cought one off of my waypoints a skinny 5 pounder the rest of the beds we had were all empty. I think I need to work on my boat control it was obvious I dont get to run the boat that often because I gave him an angle and he cought it. Alot of time was wasted jerkbaiting a grass bed for 2 hours early, then 2 hours to get to Burt and back, and him drying off after falling in the water while trying to locate fish on a bed using his mask. First thing i said after he pulled himself back in the boat was "so did you see any bass on that bed"?
I also heard some rumors that they are going to Elk & Torch next year, any truth to this?
I had a rough go of it as well folks, and watched the winner fish in Sturgeon Bay. He was really a nice guy. Once he caught his fish, he had his co on them as well.
He was using a construction cone that was rigged so he could see beds. the water was not as clear as I expected, and my deeper beds were not visible. I ended up blind-casting to them, best i could do off the GPS.
I ended up with two for 6 pounds and my co had 3 for 10-9. He was a nice 20 year-old from Toledo. Man, I love that area.
Fishing off the rear of the boat is a definite rule infraction, and I could have sworn I saw someone pulling a KVD in Sturgeon Bay late in the day. It looked as if someone was running the big motor with the other guy on the front deck looking for beds. No life jackets of course. Double infraction. They left before we did so I didn't catch their boat. They had a pink ribbon tied off to the trolling motor, so they were in the tourney.
Eric
"did you see the bass?" Too funny, he got a close look.
I didn't hear where they were going next year. My friends thought they heard the chamber of commerce lady say "we'll see you next year in the fall" at the Friday evening meeting. So either that was a mistake or she let us in on something. They did a really nice job with the food at both the meeting and the weigh-in. Very nice of the local community!
The pink ribbon think was interesting too. A friend of mind had an issue with a plug and needed DNR help in the morning. We saw them at the ramp as we were pulling their boat out for the evening, and they said they weren't aware of the pink ribbon deal. They had stopped 15 boats in the tournament before they helped by buddy out and they said a ribbon wasn't going to stop them from doing their job. There was a bit of a miscommunication on that one.
We laughed about the cones and the devices people had bought from Japan to let them see the beds in deep water or in the waves but apparently it does help. My boater really had never seen a bed so that wouldn't have helped ;-)
I also heard that the regional would be held at Burt & Mullet next year but did not mention it because I thought it sounded rediculous. Then again maybe they could pull it off in the fall and I know the fishing is phenomenal then. Talk about home field advantage if that was the case.
Too bad you guys didn't get hooked up with my brother Larry or someone like him. His co angler won first place. Larry is telling me about his tourney day and mentions how he is apologizing at times to his CA when he tries to get "his" big fish from beds first. But then he gives beds to the CO. Larry said he got a 4.2 off a bed and realized that that wouldn't cull his 4.4 in the well. He tells the CA that they will go fish a couple other beds and then come back and the CA can catch that fish. Sure enough that's what happened.
No one has to worry about Larry breaking any rules. He had a good fish on a bed, felt a tap and set the hook. It was a 5.7 and it was hooked in the eye. He turned it back, then caught it again later for his big bass. I sure am proud to call him my brother. By the way Larry finished 14th.
Those are some pretty good stories and reports....Especially the one about the construction cone and the swim mask... ;D But heh whatever works..
Maybe Ranger will make a Glass bottom boat like they have at silver springs for bed fishing... ;D
Well, what was funny to me was that you would look over at the boat and see the co but not the boater. Then, we could see him over the side with the cone. I would not have believed it had I not seen it with my own two eyes.
Eric
I really dont like the idea of that cone thing, I've been hearing about it for a while, but I am DEFINATELY opposed to it during tourney hours. I think it needs to go, atleast during the tourney.
I dont think the "in the fall" comment was a mistake. I heard it too and it caused me to do the what the heck did I just hear head swivel.
I'm not saying I have an answer but combine the long travel north with a bed fishing tourney and I think these numbers will continue to decline.
95 boats for the first tourney of the year?? I guess my advice to co-anglers for burt/mullett bed fishing if I had to be honest would be "don't waste your time and gas".
A Burt/Mullett in the fall would definately be worth boaters and co-angler's time.
I'll cut my thoughts off and maybe continue it in the already existing thread about BFL schedules.
B
If hes using that thing during the tourney thats BS! I had 2 wait 4 the wind to die alittle saturday to find my fish.. then i get a snipe job from my co that wouldve gave me about 21.. oh well. i go to shorten my tubes legs(short striking it) and i hear bloop and a drag screaming. i about lost it..5.7....skeeterman
T_BONE dont laugh at that stuff think out side the box.. it works.
Quote from: skeeterman190 on June 08, 2009, 07:32:53 PM
If hes using that thing during the tourney thats BS! I had 2 wait 4 the wind to die alittle saturday to find my fish.. then i get a snipe job from my co that wouldve gave me about 21.. oh well. i go to shorten my tubes legs(short striking it) and i hear bloop and a drag screaming. i about lost it..5.7....skeeterman
That is BS..I would have thrown him in the lake...I fished as a Co on Bedding fish and I wouldn't have dreamed of throwing on a boaters fish...If a boater was working a bed I would have fan casted off from the back and hoped for the best....If he told me to give it a shot only then would I throw on the bed
That cone deal reminds me of Roland Martins platform in BASS.....Can't knock a guy for thinking outside the box until the rules say otherwise...I think they had about 6 "Roland Martin" rules...
If a Regional is there it won't be for the Mi division.
Why not? We always fish on the Mississippi against the Great Lakes division.
Terry
I anchored the front and back of the boat for over an hour so that my co could fish for 2 diffrent 4 plus pounders while one of my big fish settled back down while I did this I stood on the back deck trying to teach my co how to bed fish. It was a great day weighin in 24 lbs was good I could never get my last big one to bite a second time worked him for over 2.5 hours. My co did get his limit on bedding fish but not the pigs I had him anchord on they were tough and he just couldnt cast the best.
It's great to hear boaters treating their co-anglers so well and why not help them out while your fish is settling down. Nice job on the 24lbs, you would have had a chance to win with that last fish! My buddies (Seth, Charlie, Britt) all helped their CO's get fish, so it isn't as bad as some think to be a CO in a bedding tournament after all!
My boater was nice enough to let me throw in beds together but that was mostly because I was helping him find a couple late in the day. I think he would have done that if he was targeting beds from the beginning, so I can't complain too much. Next time I fish a bed tournament, I might just bring my boat and a portable GPS to mark beds in practice and then if my boater isn't on them - I'll share! (or better yet - I'll be the boater!)
Well, this is my third year fishing the BFL and first as a boater. I've only had one boater that I wanted to dump in the lake. Everybody else has been great. Most of the boaters I had were in the Buckeye division, and Ohio guys tend to be a pain in the rear, but only one of mine was. Of course, I want say any names. I love the mentality of the Michigan divison. The boaters and co's really seem interested in learning and teaching.
I guess I think it's that way because the Michigan guys are used to be spread out. There's so much water to fish, compared to Ohio. In Ohio, we just get in line behind one another. It's close quarter combat fishing. It's not always nicey-nice, if you get my drift. I think it causes tempers to flare up, and I think it's why I enjoy fishing up north and down south. I avoid Ohio except for Erie and my club tourneys. If I catch a fish in a club tourney, I could care less what else happens. I won't fight over a spot in a club tourney.
Eric
The Great lakes Division fishes on the Missippi river but on the pools way farther North. I believe no Division ever fishes a Regional on a body of water that was on their schedule. It may have happened but it is for sure a rarity.
I think TH is right. If they hold the regional at Burt Mullet, they won't permit the Michigan division to fish it. At least, that seems like the rule they use in placing divisions at regionals.
Eric
You are not correct, the Bfl is trying to work out a deal for the regional to be at burt and mullett which the michigan division will fish the rule is that we will not be able to fish that body of water next year. Therfore rumor has it we will be going to elk and torch in the spring Anthony while here had meetingings with the chamber of commerce in both locations
All I can say is that is one awesome body of water. There's so much you could do. I fished down into th3e Crooked River, and wondered if I could get to Crooked Lake, but not knowing the water forced me to stay in Burt for practice. You technically could go to Black Crooked, Pickerel...It's nice to be able to spread out and fish.
Can you make it all the way to the Little Traverse Bay?
Eric
I knew guys that fished crooked lake, we went there to fun fish on Friday - knowing we weren't going to fish there on Saturday and we had guys being pretty protective of their areas.
I guess you can make all the way to Huron but that was off limits for the tourney.
I got to fish with now two time winner Chad Pipkens and learned alot from Chad, he is a great fisherman who did his best to get me a limit of smallies, he had plenty of waypoints marked for the co to fish after he got his winning limit and I had plenty of time to get a limit but only managed four fish due to fact that beds were empty or fish came unbuttoned (my fault) and did not return to bed. In fact with ten minutes left before 3:00 p.m. Chad said he had one last waypoint in deeper water for me to fish and was sure no one had fished it, we pulled up and sure enough the fish was there, I drop shotted and was able to get the fish, a nice approx. three & half pounder. It was then off to the weigh-in. where my weight was just over fourteen pounds for four fish. I made some mistakes and should have had a limit but thats fishing. I would like to thank Chad for giving me the chance to fish and even giving me the winning bait to use, in fact I had over four hours to fish after Chad got his limit where he did not pick up a pole just drove from spot to spot. Good Fishing and Good Luck to all Smallie 1
Quote from: Smallie 1 on June 10, 2009, 03:24:21 PM
I got to fish with now two time winner Chad Pipkens and learned alot from Chad, he is a great fisherman who did his best to get me a limit of smallies, he had plenty of waypoints marked for the co to fish after he got his winning limit and I had plenty of time to get a limit but only managed four fish due to fact that beds were empty or fish came unbuttoned (my fault) and did not return to bed. In fact with ten minutes left before 3:00 p.m. Chad said he had one last waypoint in deeper water for me to fish and was sure no one had fished it, we pulled up and sure enough the fish was there, I drop shotted and was able to get the fish, a nice approx. three & half pounder. It was then off to the weigh-in. where my weight was just over fourteen pounds for four fish. I made some mistakes and should have had a limit but thats fishing. I would like to thank Chad for giving me the chance to fish and even giving me the winning bait to use, in fact I had over four hours to fish after Chad got his limit where he did not pick up a pole just drove from spot to spot. Good Fishing and Good Luck to all Smallie 1
WOW, that is an awesome day and a testament to the type of fisherman, sportsman, and all around great guys and gals that are out there doing what we all love. Wish there were more like him. ;)
24 of 95 co-anglers got their limit. Not bad!
You can get to Crooked and Pickerel through a small, low-head lock run by the MDNR on the Crooked River.
You cannot get to Black Lake. There are 2 or 3 dams in the way on the Black River. I've fished one of the river-run reservoir sections before. No boat locks on the Black River. I've gone up it from the Cheboygan River about as far as you can go in a bass boat and it is very shallow and rocky. Hard on the hull ;D
What was big bass on Saturday? (I heard our own BrianB caught a big 6.2 on Sunday for big bass - way to go Brian!!)
I see farther back something about a 6-13 being big bass. Just wondered. A fall regional would be fun for everyone up there, but it might make me have to adjust the timing of my annual fall trip up there so I still have a little 'solitude' ;D
My hats off to chad on having that bag and giving u the time u needed. i wouldve done the same thing but i kept getting baits flung over my shoulder when i was tryin to upgrade.. i didnt think it was right i said id get him 5 the night before but i needed my time to get what i wanted.. i lost my big fish to him and it made me scramble.. Congrats again Chad Pipkens.
Quote from: skeeterman190 on June 10, 2009, 08:00:16 PM
i wouldve done the same thing but i kept getting baits flung over my shoulder when i was tryin to upgrade.. i didnt think it was right i said id get him 5 the night before but i needed my time to get what i wanted.. i lost my big fish to him and it made me scramble..
I had the same thing happen last year.......I had a co take my fish after I told him I was coming back to get him and NOT to throw at him. While on the trolling motor to another fish only a few yards away.....I hear the splashing of a large fish. I told him..."thats my fish" and he said "no...i don't think it is". After netting the fish for him.......I looked up and told him "Yes....that is my fish" He then tried to act dumb as to where he was casting....so this just made things worse. I then proceeded to tell my co angler " I told you I would get you a limit...didn't I..?....but you have GOT to let me have my fish that I NEED!! This is NOT funny.....I spent a tremendous amount of time and gas to find these fish. I can also make your fishing day a very long and miserable one at that. Just be paitience and forget what your club member told you"
Things got much better after our little meeting. I figured I was going to run into this kind of a problem once I seen my co angler talking to one of his club members just before we all launched, who was also a boater, giving him a "secret bait" and telling him..."remember what I said". I thought to myself......great.........he's leading my co angler into thinking he's going to out fish me from the back of the boat and try to steal my fish. It happened.........but only once.
I still let him get his limit.....which ended up getting him a check in the top 10.
Honestly though....the more I festered and thought about it...if I ever have a co angler do this to me again.......it will be a very long day for that co angler. I now COMPLETELY understand why B.A.S.S. did away with the co anglers.
Either be paitient and listen to your boater......or pony up and bring your own boat, truck, lodging & gas money for the next tournament........
BS ;)
All i can say Phil is that your co-angler is class A jerk and it is beyond me how he didnt have to swim back to the weigh in. I spent 5 days with you searching for those fish and to have some punk show up the night before and cast over your shoulder all day to catch your fish really pees me off. Sticking your first fish a 5-7 was not enough for this guy he continues to cast to the front of the boat all day and get his line wrapped in the trolling motor numerous times, no boater should have to deal with that all day! All that $ and time to get a snipe job from that selfish guy.
Quote from: Smallie 1 on June 10, 2009, 03:24:21 PM
I got to fish with now two time winner Chad Pipkens and learned alot from Chad, he is a great fisherman who did his best to get me a limit of smallies, he had plenty of waypoints marked for the co to fish after he got his winning limit and I had plenty of time to get a limit but only managed four fish due to fact that beds were empty or fish came unbuttoned (my fault) and did not return to bed. In fact with ten minutes left before 3:00 p.m. Chad said he had one last waypoint in deeper water for me to fish and was sure no one had fished it, we pulled up and sure enough the fish was there, I drop shotted and was able to get the fish, a nice approx. three & half pounder. It was then off to the weigh-in. where my weight was just over fourteen pounds for four fish. I made some mistakes and should have had a limit but thats fishing. I would like to thank Chad for giving me the chance to fish and even giving me the winning bait to use, in fact I had over four hours to fish after Chad got his limit where he did not pick up a pole just drove from spot to spot. Good Fishing and Good Luck to all Smallie 1
It sounds like you had a great time and learned allot from him. It's good to hear, I was fortunate to draw Derrick Cummings last year for the TBF state tourney the day after the BFL. Let me tell you it was an eye opening experience. There are some great fishermen that help someone willing and wanting to learn from the back of the boat.
Don L
Yeah its frustrating but nothing i can do about it now so.. Like i said let by gones be by gones. i told him about it so hopefully it doesnt happen again.
Smallie 1, we didn't talk much, but it was nice to run into you on the lake. I was in the blue and silver Skeeter that ponied up close to see what in God's name Chad was up to to catch his fish. I'm glad he got you on fish; he defintiely seemed like a class act in talking to him briefly. I think he cursed me because I'm a Penguins/Ohio State fan. :'(
Eric
Buckeye, It was just before you pulled up that Chad got his forth fish of the limit he brought in, and after reading the posts I don't understand why some co's have to go and cast at the boater's fish, we the co's have the entire area behind the boat to fan cast whatever you want jerk, crank, tube, carolina rig and so forth while the boater is working his bedder and believe me I cast everything while Chad worked his fish never would think about casting to his fish or to the front of the boat. I guess that everyone is different. Coming from Chicago and having been in many tournaments I think the Michigan BFL is great I would rather drive the 6 or 7 hours to get to Michigan than fish the Illini Div. just because I like fishing Smallies and big water. By far the first one Burt-Mullet is the hardest to fish for a co but after that the other ones are all even scale. I guess I have been lucky with who I have drawn all good fisherman and a little conversation goes a long way as to what your boater is going to do during the tournament. This is my second year and we now have a group of seven from Chicagoland area that fish and I think 5 out of 7 of us were in the top 20 at Burt and were all looking forward to the rest of the season. Good Fishing to all Smallie 1
I can vouch for Smallie. He was casting away while Chad was fishing. Glad you had a good toruney and good luck the rest of the way. Me, well I'll have to have a good showing at Erie to continue I think. Which is possible since it is more of my home lake than any. I have cashed two checks there in 2 events, so hopefully my streak continues.
Eric
That darn Pipkens did it again ;D. He worked his butt off to get the fish he did. As many of you that saw where he was knows that the water was a little off colored and very hard to see in the depth that he was catching them. He, as all of us did, on our team (www.teamsilverstrike.com) used the little orange cone device to catch our fish. It was an improvement over the swimming mask he used last year. We prefished around each other all week and I told him after the second day he could have those fish they were wayyy toooo hard to find. It took me 6 hours to find 4 fish. Chad literally spent an entire 12-13 hours on Tuesday in one area to find around 10 fish. I told him I could take no more and went on to find fish shallower than the 8 foot that we could see. He did his homework and whacked 'em. It helps a lot that the big fish bed in the same exact area every year and if you could find the bed through that brown cast you could catch that fish.
I ended up finding the same fish my teammate Ryan Said found and we ended up hop skotching each other and bothe weighed in respectable limits and both just out of the money. I had 22'8" and Ryan had 21'14". I had a 5'10" and he had a 5'12". I did have one fish that evacuated the area that was the biggest one I had found at 6'9". This was the only fish that I or Ryan did not catch that we found other than a few 5's I checked that I figured would be gone if I did not start on them. I had all my fish in the boat by 8:10. My coangler never made a single cast until I had my fish. I promised him I would get him his 5 if he gave me a little time. I just didn't know that I would get them so quick. I arrived at Burt at 7:15 so 55 minutes wasn't too bad. My co simply stayed on the front deck and held the net while I worked on each fish. He was an awesome individual and was the ultimate draw. We both ended up catching 9 keepers. He would not fish for a fish that I tried to give him 3 different times that he thought would help me. Only one of them did help me and it was only about 3 ounces. He weighed in 5 for 16'9" and got 15th, but if he would have caught 3 of the fish that did not help me he would have easily been in the top 10 and probably around 3rd or 4th. It was a fun tourney once again at the most awesome big smallie fishery in the world. A little disappointing to be first out of the money. Hopefully the rest of the season will be a little better money wise. See you guys at Sandusky!!!
I thought orange cones meant beware... stay away?? When are you guys going to market with those orange cones? I imagine you'll have something new by next year anyway ;D