Fall 2007 DK Open Results, Story and Pictures are up

[djkimmel]

Results, story and pictures are up from yesterday's 2007 Fall DK Open at Lake Ovid. Check it out here:

http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=3232.0

Thanks so much to the sponsors and supporters of the 2007 Fall DK Open - who donated prizes or materials to help out with the event:

      Ranger Boats
      Xtreme Bass Tackle
      slickFISH Lures
      GreatLakesBass.com
      stackenem
      ABA - Anthony Adams

[Team houston]

Looks like everyone had a good time. I look forward to the Spring DK open.

[Cy]

Guys,

I think we should all recap our day on Ovid, for others that might want to fish there or are planning a trip to Sleepy Hollow.  Let's talk about what worked and what didn't and if you can, describe the pattern you used to catch 'em that would be great.  I don't have time to post ours right this minute but I will recap Fiker50's and my day later.

Cy

[VinceR]

Mine and Luke's (MIBassKid) recap is pretty simple...we zigged, when we should have zagged. Sorry that I didn't figure that out sooner, Luke.

We split the day fishing deep structure, and some shallow. I really concentrated on the deep, and didn't put enough emphasis on the shallow, though. This is really contrary to my (perceived?) strength, though. As much as I enjoy (and prefer) fishing shallow, the typical bite on Ovid is usually deep structure and deep weedlines.

Problem is, the vast majority of my time spent on Ovid is during the hot, summer months with water temps hovering in the 80 degree range. Fishing shallow during this time means one fish, after another in the 13 3/4" range. The real toads will typically come out of the 9' to 15' range. With very little in the way of shallow targets or cover (laydowns, stumps, docks, etc.) there is little to draw the fish to shallow water.

Looks like I'll be spending a little more time fishing here in the spring and fall, enjoying the shallow water action.

Oh, I should add that I did manage to connect during my brief foray into the shallows. It was a beautiful 40+ inch keeper musky. It was fat, feisty, and gave me a great fight on spinning tackle with 10lb. line. Successful landing and release.

Congatulations to all who did manage to figure it out. Good job, guys!

Thanks, Dan.

[Cy]

Well, Rick (Fiker50) and mines day went like this.

We started shallow throwing top water in the "pea soup" with out a bite.  We then moved to the weed edge in 5' or 6' of water with out a bite.  We cruised north to the creek channel and tried cranking up some fish but hauled nothing but water.  We then fished a shallow 1' or 2' weed bed but there was nothing going on there either.  After that dropped out to the deeper weeds closer the channel but did find anything there either.  By about 10:30 AM we rolled into the north end of channel between the big island and land.  There we picked up our first bite and one short fish pitching to the shallow weeds.  I remember Rick commenting on the lack of bait fish activity every where we went.  On the way out of the channel we tagged a second short fish on a crank bait near the exposed stumps.

After that we moved back south and started fishing the east shoreline and the coves the wind was blowing into.  I think we caught one more short fish along in there somewhere but there was no bite or pattern to anything.  As we moved south toward the bridge we saw Dan and Rob on the opposite bank picking their way along very slowly.

As we moved along we found a floating weed bed that extended out over 3' to 5' of water.  I grabbed my mat fishing rod and started pitching into the mat.  After fishing the deeper water mat and picking it apart we boated our first keeper at about 12:30 PM.  It was a nice, nearly 3lb fish.  After a first fish high five, we then stared working the weed mats.  We watched Dan boat that bridge fish and started yelling at him for stealing our fish.  He should have known we were heading there next! 

After Dan rolled out Rick suggested we go over and check the bridge out.  On our way there we boated our second slop fish and I knew we had a shot at a good finish.  After working the bridge and the surrounding weeds with out even a tap we worked our way back over to the spot we caught our first fish.  Some where in that green floating sea of grass I swung on and pulled a nice 3+ lb green fish to the side of the boat but it came unbuttoned before we could get the net on it.

At that point I was committed to pitching the mat for as long as we could and Rick was along for the ride no matter what.  We crept along working the mat and boated our third keeper at about 2:00 PM.  We fished hard until 2:20 and at that point we packed it up and headed for the ramp.

I had a ton of fun fishing with Fiker50 and we had a lot of laughs through out the day.  I am all ready looking forward to the spring event.

Rick feel free to fill in anything I left out.

Thanks,

Cy

[fiker]

No you covered it all Cy. 

And, you left out the important stuff that you should have too.   

I had a great time as usual, and once again was teamed with a great boater.  I spent the day learning how to pitch to heavy mats.  I also learned the benefit of having tungsten weights.  Thanks Cy.

Now that it's bow season, I'm not sure if I'll get back out or not. 

Spring is so far away......