CLUB CHAMPIONSHIP!

THANK YOU!  I have been able to sit back and realize how blessed I am and how thankful I have to be for what happened on Friday; winning the club championship derby.  I could not have done it without all the family, friends, and companies that have shown me support for years, you know who you are. 

Appreciate all the texts and calls from friends of old and new.  Have had lots of questions about how I caught them and also lots of folks commenting on how awesome Classic Bass did with the live coverage.  I haven’t taken the time to re watch the live footage yet, but it sounds like it was exciting to watch, especially the last 40 min. 

For those that don’t know, the Championship was on Trout Lake outside Grand Rapids MN and was announced the night before the tournament.  They did it as a “mystery” lake to the guys who qualified via the season points on tour.  Since I was already qualified for the championship via my win at the Mississippi River Pool 4 event a few weeks earlier; when I got to Grand Rapids for the final season event on Lake Pokegama I opted to take my time and run around Grand Rapids and fish a bunch of the small lakes with the hopes that maybe I would have info when they announced the “mystery” lake.  As it turns out, I went out on Trout Lake and found a few nice smallmouth and told myself if it ends up being the mystery lake I was going to focus on smallmouth and hopefully could win with them. 

Thursday night after the final tour event concluded on Lake Pokegama Classic Bass announced the mystery lake was Trout Lake and that Championship qualifiers (half the field 24 guys) would be launching our boats there Friday morning in hopes of taking home the top prize of a new 20’ Skeeter boat rigged with a 200hp Yamaha. 

Friday morning brought cool temps at take off, in the mid 40’s, and mostly clear.  I was hoping for clouds but figured I would stick to chasing big smallmouth deep, 16-25’ of water.   My main bait was an Alabama Rig with one hook, also known as a MN rig since we can only use one hook and the rest of the rig has to be dummy baits.  At the end of the first period, 11 am lunch break, I had only caught 5 smallmouth but they were the right ones.  I was sitting in 5^th place with 17lbs and change.  Knew I was going to need to catch them a little better in the afternoon period if I was going to have a chance. 

I started the 2^nd half doing the exact same thing, chasing smallmouth that were looking to eat smelt deep.  After a short time I realized I was going to have to mix it up if I really wanted a chance to win.  The clouds got a little heavier and the wind started to blow 10-15, I opted to run back to an area I knew bass were and work up a little shallower hoping the wind pushed the bait up on the shallow sand.  I got the boat moved up to about 8’ of water and picked up a single swimbait on a ¼oz smeltinator head and rifled it into about 6-7’ of water, 6-8 turns of the handle and I had a smallmouth on.  At that exact moment I looked at my marshal and said, “I will be doing this the rest of the day, and if it’s meant to be, it is going down right here”!  I like throwing the single swimmer(as we call the rig), on a 7'6" spinning rod that is medium light so it loads up nice when they get it.  I like throwing it on 10lb braid with a 6-8' 8-10lb fluoro leader.  

As it turns out I was on the winning fish and I was able to catch 8-10 nice smallmouth off this little sand area over the next 3 hours all on the 4” swimbait.  At one point I was tied for the lead, then a short time later I took over the lead but was only leading by 5 ounces.  I hovered there for 30-40 min and could not get the fish to fire again.  I made a decision with 40 min to go to move over 10-15 yards and get a different line up on the sand spot and that ended up being the game winning decision.  As soon as I moved over I was able to hook up and catch 3 nice smallmouth on 3 consecutive casts.  That was the nail in the coffin, and gave me a total weight of 44lbs 11oz on 16 bass total for the 2 periods and the Club Championship title. 

I was overwhelmed with emotion knowing I had just won a new boat and all the hard work had paid off.  There was only one thing left to do, see how the AOY points would shake out and hope I had done enough to win another AOY and a trip to Islamorada Florida. 

Scott announced the points standings and when he got to #2 and I had not heard my name yet, I knew I had won the Angler of The Year title and I was speechless. 

Great way to end an odd season, I can’t thank Classic Bass and the entire staff enough for all their hard work through this very strange year/season.  Glad we were able to get a full season in and I will be back for more next year.   

Tarps Inc Is The Reel Deal

Check out this custom tarp by the great folks at Tarps Inc in Savage MN!  If you or anyone you know is looking for a cover, for anything, check these guys out and give them a shot, they won't disappoint.  Call Craig and let him know you want a tarp/cover for your snowmobile, boat, boat lift, canopy, trailer, or just about anything else you can imagine.  They will custom tailor and fit any thing you want to cover.  

I brought them my new Vexus and a day later they had a cover made for it, fit for a king!  Worth protecting your investment.  

Fishing Gods Have Always Been Good To Me

Long over due, but here goes nothing....  I have been blessed by the fishing gods to get to play, work, compete, and be a part of this industry for over 20 years.  I have been fortunate enough to guide and compete at a high level with good health that entire time.  Due to my work demands I have not had the time to keep up the website.  I am going to try and make an effort to keep it more up to date, have current fishing reports and info, and just over all better intel for everyone.  

As you can see from the above picture I am no longer running a Ranger and am now running the all new Vexus VX21 for guiding and tournament fishing.  This decision did not come easy but after many months of weighing all my options I realized I was best to go back with some of the guys where I started.  See, the Vexus company is owned and operated by some of the original Ranger guys(i.e. Keith Daffron, George, Liddle, and many others).  This also allowed me to align with In Tune Marine, one of the midwest's best dealers with amazing service.  These guys go above and beyond to take care of things and I highly recommend them for anyone shopping for boats, pontoons, or other water activities.  

I am also excited to be back representing Mercury marine and running the all new 250 Pro XS 4 Stroke.  I have been running this motor the last few months and can't say enough good about it.  It really is worth taking a look at and driving if you are in the market.  It far exceeds my expectations.  

With all the Covid crap going on, I didn't think we would get to have any events.  Scott and his crew at Classic Bass have been able to come up with a way to still have a Champions Tour season.  Good news for those of us that like to compete.  At the first event last week, I finished 12th at Lake Vermilion.   With the lack of wind on tournament day I knew the deep bite would be really tough so I opted to stay shallow, run some docks, and shallow rocks.  I was able to cumulate 57lbs of bass on the day and get out of there with a check.  Good way to start the season.  

Next week we will be competing at the Mississippi River out of Lake City on Pool 4, it should be a good event with lots of fish caught if I can keep from running into anything.  Hopefully I will have good news to report after that event.  Until then, FISH ON!  

Its Been A Summer

Summer is disappearing much too fast.  Before I know it I will be back on the hard water ice fishing.  But before it goes away I have to take a minute to reflect on the summer of 2019 and all the great days on the water.  

I once again fished the Champions Tour by Classic Bass here in MN this summer, and we have one regular season event remaining on Lake Pokegama in Grand Rapids MN.  We started off on Le Homme Dieu in Alexandria back in June and I was able to get out of there with a 3rd place showing.  

From there we went onto Leech Lake for the 2nd event.  We had some interesting weather, but I was once again able to get out of there with another 3rd place showing.  

I caught most my fish on Leech on a KVD Sexy Frog.  Black or any dark color seemed to work best for me.  

The 3rd stop was at Lake Vermilion in northern MN where I expected the smallmouth to dominate and thought I would be in good hands.  It turned out to be my toughest event of the season and finished in 7th.  The bite the day of the event was much tougher then I had expected it to be.  

This was one of the better ones I caught the day of the tournament but unfornately I didn't catch enough of these guys to win.  Between these events has been lots of good outings with great clients and friends.  

The next few weeks will make or break if I am able to win back to back Angler of the Year award and how the Champions Tour championship will shake out.