Midwest Sportsman Tournament Kent Lake 6-9-07

[McCarter]

Here is how Jeff and my day went in the Midwest Sportman tournament on Kent lake

Being that Jeff sold his boat last year and mine is still in limbo at Wonderland Marine due to lack of fundage (diapers and formula dont grow on trees like they did in the old days), and the fact that we are both parents now, pre fishing time was non existant.  Jeff and I both know Kent very well and felt pretty confident fishing it blind.  We knew most of the fish were going to be in a post spawn patter which wouldn't make things easy.  But add into that the front that pushed through the day before and now we really have our work cut out for us. 

We decided to just go out and go fishing.  So thats what we did for the first couple hours.  Jeff caught one small keeper early on a Pop R but we went another hour with no bites.  We decided to try our luck shallow so we headed back to the large stump flat on the north west end of the lake.  We each caught one small keeper back there, but were starting to get a little worried.  Nothing we were trying was panning out.  Neither of us felt that fish had moved deep yet but we knew they werent shallow either.  But we stuck with the shallow pattern for a while longer while trying to figure out where to move to next.

As luck would have it, by the time we decided to go try something else, we were on the back end of a very large weed bed.  I picked up a spinnerbait rod and cranked the trolling motor on high and got to it.  But due to the recent front, the fish just werent chasing anything down.  Continuing along the weed edge, we noticed that the weeds we were fishing butted up to another weed bed and formed a little open water highway in between them.  We slowed down and started pitching the holes on the edge of the weed line and Jeff hooked up with a good one pretty quick on a shakey head.  I knew this was a good sign.  This is my kinda fishing.  Anytime I can pitch a jig to holes in the weeds, my confidence level goes way up.

Now its time to set up shop.  We scouted the area pretty quick, straighten up the boat a little, and grabbed the flipping sticks.  I chose to give this Buckeye Lures Mop Jig a try over my Bitsy Bug, and Jeff stuck with the shakey head.  The first thing i noticed when i pitched the Mop Jig out was the way it fell.  It doesnt just dive straight down.  This thing dances with a tight little shimmy, which makes the trailer go nuts.  This made daddy very happy.  Within an hour we had a decent limit in the boat.  But we didnt have the size we should for this type of fishing.  But as the sun came up a little higher, we noticed that some of the holes had large stumps in them.  Once we could see this we wasted less time pitching to just any hole and more time concentrating on the holes with stumps.  It payed off.  The size of the fish increased by a lb or better each.  We culled up until the last 5 minutes of the tournament.  We could have done a touch better but both lost a couple very big fish that didnt want to come though the weeds without a fight.

At weigh in, I heard a lot of the people commenting on how tough the fishing was.  I figured we might cash a check but probably didnt have enough to win.  But when we weighed our fish, we were in the lead with 14.87 with only one other boat to weigh in.  It was Benny Miller, the tournament director.  He looked at us and said we had him.  But now comes the sad news.  Due to a dead fish, we took a 1.15 lb penalty.  Benny weighed his five and the scales stopped at 13.99 lbs.  This knocked us into 2nd place.  We were both upset about such a large penalty, but we knew the rules before hand.  It did feel good to win for a second tho.  Especially going out there in those tough conditions and making it happen.  We were up against some pretty tough competition to boot.  Benny is no slouch out there.  He may be the only person i know who spends more time on Kent than I used to.  And he just came off a 6th place finish in the Oakland Bass Masters Open there 2 weeks before.  Also fishing was Ron Foley, the new owner of South Street Tackle in Belleville.  Ron had 19+ lbs in the OBM open for 2nd place.  And Tony Yancey and partner Alex were fishing as well.  This has been the team to beat out there for the past few years.  These guys brought in a 5 fish limit last year weighing over 24 lbs. 

The key to our win was no doubt the Mop Jig by Buckeye lures.  Jeff wasnt getting nearly the bites i was getting, even when he put the shakey head down and picked up the Bitsy Flip.  The fall on this jig is key, and it triggered the bites we needed to finish 1st before the stiff penalty.  I only wish we had 2 of these jigs.

There is another Midwest Tournament this Saturday (6-16) At the east launch.  Registration is at 6:30 and we blast off at 7:00 and weigh in at 3 pm.  Membership fee is $30 a guy, or $60 if you want to fish the year end classic at KY lake.  And the tournament fee is $70 a team with an optional $10 big bass fee.  Hope some of you guys can make it down there.  This was our first Midwest tournament and it was awesome.  Plus its good to get out with a buddy and try your luck at a cheap price.  Oh, they pay 90% at the ramp.

McCarter himself

[dartag]

you are going to have to add some links to the bottom of your posts.

www.grantsboat.com
www.kevsboat.com
www.stevespartner.com

good luck this weekend.  me and kev will be on the big water while you two are winning this time.  keep them fish alive...

ss

[McCarter]

We will see what we can do.  We got Kevs boat this time so we shouldnt have a problem keeping them alive. 

My goal is to borrow everyones boat on this board at least once.

McCarter himself

[dartag]

if you get desperate i have a 36 lb thrust motor.  you could rent a boat or even a paddle boat at kent lake.  get a big tub for a live well.  you win that way and you will be a legend on Kent for years to come.  you could use that rig in the paper tourney.  no live well needed.

[Cheetam]

if you get desperate i have a 36 lb thrust motor.  you could rent a boat or even a paddle boat at kent lake.  get a big tub for a live well.  you win that way and you will be a legend on Kent for years to come.  you could use that rig in the paper tourney.  no live well needed.

I'm working on something like this already...lol...gonna check it out later this week. 

[fishon1219]

McCarter and Jeff have a nice rack going on. You 2 dont even need to buy a boat, just beg borrow and steal whoevers boat you can.

Why didnt I think of that.

I forgot to tell you guys the rental fee for my boat is Half the tournament winnings plus a full tank of fuel in the boat and the suburban.

[McCarter]

Man, i hope its a 50 boat turnout.  otherwise, we are going to lose some serious cash on this one.  Kev, how about a beer and 2 hooters wings, that fits my budget a little better.

McCarter himself

[dartag]

McCarter and Jeff have a nice rack going on. You 2 dont even need to buy a boat, just beg borrow and steal whoevers boat you can.

Why didnt I think of that.

I forgot to tell you guys the rental fee for my boat is Half the tournament winnings plus a full tank of fuel in the boat and the suburban.

i hope you meant  " Racket "  if not you do need some time at HOOTERS>   

[stackenem]

Kev, You forgot the snickers bar and the chew.