Here's an article on crankbaits in emergent grass and lily pads that was published in FLW Outdoors in October 2013.  Click on the picture to get the full size version. 

Nice Finish

It was our season ending tournament at Lake Erie for the Delphos Bass Club. I was happy to get the win with 5 smallmouths weighing 19.12 lbs.  I also won 1st & 2nd big bass with 2 smallmouth weighing 4.96 lbs and 4.65 lbs. Dave Teman came in 2nd with a limit of largemouth weighing 13.16 lbs. Travis Tenwalde had 5 fish weighing 11.93 lbs. Ryan Kriegal got 4th with 5 fish weighing 11.24 lbs. Below were the results:

3rd Place

The Delphos Bass Club held it's Indian Lake tournament back on June 1st and I was happy to get some 3rd-place hardware.  Rob Lucas on the right won 1st-place for five fish weighing 10.26 pounds and also got Big Bass with a nice catch weighing 2.95 pounds.  Next was Butch Lucas getting 2nd-place for five fish weighing 9.06 pounds.  Butch also had the second biggest bass weighing 2.81 pounds.  My five fish weighed 8.29 pounds.  Finally, Chad Buzard got 4th-place with five going 7.45 pounds.

Taking First Place

The Delphos Bass Club held a tournament at Grand Lake St. Mary's on May 4th. I'm pictured on the left winning 1st-place for five fish weighing 10.96 pounds and I also had the 2nd-place big bass weighing 3.55 pounds. Next is Dave Teman who finished in 2nd-place with five fish weighing 10.83 pounds, next is Travis Tenwalde in 3rd-place with 10.80 pounds, next is Rob Lucas in 4th-place with 10.76 pounds, and finally Jason Gordon who got 1st-place for Big Bass with a largemouth going 3.60 pounds.

Nice Pay Day

Curt Fiessinger of Ft. Loramie, Ohio, won the boater side of the April 28 

Buckeye Division event on Indian Lake with a total weight of 11 pounds, 

7 ounces. He walked away with almost $6,500 in winnings.

Fiessinger takes Buckeye Division opener

30.Apr.2012

LAKEVIEW, Ohio – Curt Fiessinger of Fort Loramie, Ohio, weighed a five-bass limit totaling 11 pounds, 7 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Buckeye Division event on Indian Lake. For his victory, Fiessinger earned $4,498 plus a $2,000 bonus from Ranger.

Fiessinger was using crankbaits in pads and weeds near the game preserve to catch his fish.

Rounding out the top 10 boaters:
2nd: Dirk Davenport, Delawaer, Ohio, five bass, 11-4, $2,249
3rd: Zach Maisch, Lima, Ohio, three bass, 10-2, $1,496
4th: Jay Gillfillan, Ridgeway, Ohio, five bass, 8-13, $1,050
5th: Gary Ginter, Maplewood, Ohio, five bass, 8-12, $900
6th: Deny Dabbelt, Celina, Ohio, five bass, 8-10, $825
7th: Kyle Weisenburger, Findlay, Ohio, five bass, 8-9, $750
8th: James Hailstones, Cincinnati, Ohio, five bass, 8-5, $637
Joe McNamara, Marysville, Ohio, five bass, 8-5, $637
10th: Brent Willey, Gahanna, Ohio, five bass, 8-3, $526

The next BFL Buckeye Division tournament is scheduled for June 16 on Mosquito Lake in Cortland, Ohio. After the fifth Buckeye Division tournament is complete, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 11-13 Regional Championship on Lake Barkley in Kuttawa, Ky. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.

The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy. The 2012 BFL All-American is being held May 17–19 on the Potomac River in National Harbor, Md. Top winners in the BFL can move up to the EverStart Series or even the Walmart FLW Tour.

http://www.flwoutdoors.com/fishing-articles/press-release/153611/fiessinger-takes-buckeye-division-opener/

Season Closes

I believe the last time I blogged I mentioned that a night tournament was coming up next. That went OK, I had four fish weighing in at 6 lbs, however the guy on the back of my boat finished 2nd with 5 that weighted 8.5l bs. This is always a hard one for me to swallow, not so much that I didn't win, but that I got whooped on from the back of my own boat. At one point in the night he was calling and I only had 1 fish in the boat. Had it not been for the last hour as the sun was coming up, when I put 3 in the boat, it would have been a very disappointing night. Wouldn't you know it the very next tournament was Lake Erie, where I have won the past 2 years by a significant margin. This time I had a good friend fishing with me, he was having boat trouble, so I offered to take him since he was in the points lead for the year. Once again I got whooped off the back of my boat. We caught a few fish on the shallow flat that I won off of the past 2 years, but not what we were looking for. We made the 10 mile run west from the islands to a sweet spot he has. Of course it is his spot so I am not going to give away where it is at, all I will say is there is a narrow ridge on the outside of one off the reefs out from Davis Bessie. Once we arrived I had my 5 in under 30 minutes and he was feeling the pressure. I gave him control of the boat and with true style he answered right back. At that point I still had him by a pound or so, then I messed up. I started moving the boat too fast and I couldn't keep the drop shot on the bottom. By the time I realized my mistake he put several more fish in the boat, including one just shy of 6 lbs. I had 5 that went 17.8 lbs, my highest weight in the past 3 years, only he had 20.2 lbs and won again. I finished 4th, not bad, just not what I wanted. 2nd and 3rd came off of his brother's boat, more than 20 miles from where we were.  If not for another guy having 2nd big bass, all of the money would come off just 2 of the15 boats. It feels like a disappointing year, I have not even won a club tournament. Overall I finished 3rd for the year even though I didn't make it to the last tournament.  Most may think not too bad, but when you strive for going higher, pardon my French but it sucks. I may make another trip or two in November to get on the big fish down by Ruggles Beach, other than that its about time to start fun fishing and stocking up the freezer with B-gill, Crappie, and Saugeye. I will try to give you a few tips throughout the rest of the year on stocking up the freezer.

Being outside is always better than working!

St. Clair Again

I just can't get enough of this lake. This weekend I took a friend up to practice for his upcoming club tournament on St Clair. Friday morning he was not very happy with me, I was up about 20 to 2 on him for the four hours we fished. Fishing clear water is out of his comfort zone. The fish would hit about anything if it was presented correctly. We fished the breakwalls outside of the marinas for largemouths. I was casting a 2.5 square bill with success, even picked up a couple smallies. He was flipping a craw with no success, so I handed him my crankbait rod and I picked up my flipping stick with a craw and hooked up on the 1st pitch right where he had just flipped. Needless to say, it was not well received. Often times in clearer water you have to fish FAST!!!! Cranking I was reeling almost as fast as I could and ripping the bait off the weeds, right on the rip they would nail it. Flipping I had a 3/8 weight to his 1/8, causing the bait to fall much faster. Why was I reeling so fast?  Simple, with a faster moving bait the fish don't get a chance to see its not real. Around this part of Ohio one might think that this will help in their success, but next time you are down at the farm pond or local stone quary just try speeding the retrieve up a bit. By the way, we did pretty well on the smallies Saturday, finally found a few in the 4lbs range.

12 hour night tournament on Wawasee in northern Indiana on Saturday, this should be interesting.