Living That Ice Life

As fall gave way to short days and cold weather the hard water season started and it has been a memorable one.  Although we haven't had a ton of cold weather the last 6 weeks we did get decent ice around thanksgiving at LOTW and have been hard after the fish ever since.  

I started with fishing friends and family the first month or so and the fishing was fair to good the entire time we were up at the lake.  With the lack of snow it really made great ice right out of the gate.  The lake has been averaging over 18" of ice most places we are fishing. 

The week after thanksgiving we had about 7-10" on the south end in most the places we fished and were able to get skid houses out right away behind the Polaris titan snowmobile.  

Even got into some big pike on rod and reel with 8lb leader while fishing shallow walleyes.  Never know what's gonna bite your bait on a lake of this size.  

Good friend and fishing buddy Bobby was able to capitalize on a 28.5" lotw giant on his jigging rod in an area where we were fishing to avoid the crowds a bit.  

If you or anyone you know is looking for a great outing on Lake of The Woods have them reach out and we can work to put together a great outing.  Tight Lines and Fish On!  

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!