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.

Lake Saint Clair Trip

Sorry for the long delay with an update, work has been beyond hectic. Recently I have only been fishing club tournaments with decent results and last weekend I made my second trip to St. Clair this year. It is so hard to want to fish locally once the weather gets hot and I can be on good fishing within a 3 hour drive. I went up Friday evening and only fished 3-1/2 hours. The smallies were not where I had hoped, but I can't complain to have one about 2.5 lbs and one pushing 5. That alone is worth the time. In between smallies I picked up a bout 20 perch and 10 or so rock bass. Over the next two days I picked up 10-15 smallies a day averaging 2.5 lbs. Far better results than I can hope for locally; except each day I would add to that by spending a little time playing with the largemouths. I would catch 10+ per hour in varied sizes up to 3 lbs. I picked up the smallies primarily fishing small plastics on a drop shot along with a few on a tube and cranking shallow. The largemouth are pretty simple to catch, just Texas rig your favorite plastic and set the hook. Just a little forewarning before you hookup and go though,  St. Clair is much smaller than the Great Lakes and does not get the 6+ foot waves, but for the novice it can be just as dangerous. The waves are mostly from boat traffic and some from ocean freighters and there is as much to more current in some areas. So be sure your equipment is up to snuff and know your abilities on the water before you take off running long distances. Be safe and go get um.

How Many Fish Can Come Out Of One Spot?

Last Saturday I invited a friend to join me in fishing a weekly open at Indian Lake. Taking off at the 7:30 blast off we were fishing within little more than five minutes. It was less than five more minutes and I put a keeper in the boat, in less than 15 more minutes we had our limit, but we didn't stop there. In the 1st hour we boated better than 20 fish, with 1 or 2 lost along the way, all out of a spot not twice the size of my boat. One of which my partner lost was 2+, jokingly I immediately told him that cost us the win, little did I know how accurate that would be. We moved around over the next several hours only catching a few fish, one of which was a Saugeye (dinner). With it only being a six hour tournament we found ourselves back to our starting point the last hour. Wouldn't you know it they were still stacked up. In total we took over 30 fish off that one little spot. Come weigh in time I watched the weights and thought we would be close, but short of cashing a check, so we opted not to weigh in and take them back to the spot. Just for fun I got out the digital scale and weigh bag before releasing the fish, 11lbs 4ozs. My partner was instantly upset knowing the winning weight was only 10.7lbs. It took me a minute to calm him and explain we still needed to weigh the empty bag, 1lbs 5ozs. We made the right call not to weigh in after all, but the one he lost still cost us the win. Time and time again people claim that the front of the boat has the advantage, especially in my boat. I find that hard to swallow when we made 15+ passes over the same spot catching fish each pass, only he caught three fish all day including the funning around we did after the tournament. This is not to brag or to say he can't fish, just sometimes it all comes together and sometimes it doesn't. Some of you may be thinking this is just a fish story, that there is no where around here that you can catch that many bass out of that small of a spot. I told him before we went there that I did the same thing in that same spot this time last year, later in the day he said "I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it."


Going to St Clair over the Holiday weekend, let you know how we do.

Lake Erie Fishing

The past two weekends I made the trip up to Lake Erie. Over Easter weekend I fished four days with varied results. Friday it was blowing NE 30 mph and with the cold temps I was off the water within a couple hours of not catching. Saturday the focus was catching some crappie and I had to switch to bass in West Harbor just to make the day worth while. Sunday after trying for walleye for a couple hours I opted to slide over to the Portage River for crappie. Finally after two and a half tough days of fishing I started catching. The portage produced 50-60 nice crappie to bring home. They would not bite on my normal tactics, following a tip from a friend I had to use a Bass Assassin skirted grub in in an odd color combo. The lure had a pink & purple body with chartreuse tail. For those of you who are wondering how I was able to keep so many, Lake Erie is not listed with the 30 fish restrictions as the rest of Ohio waters. This Saturday a friend called to see if I wanted to go back up to Erie to see if we could get on the big smallies near Ruggles. After just an hour or so it was very clear that the muddy water was not going to pan out. So we loaded back up on the trailer and slid over to West Harbor for large mouths. I was being a little stubborn and insisted I would catch some fish on a lipless crankbait like the week prior, of course that did not work. So I picked up the one of my old standby baits, a green pumpkin Brush Hog, and put on a clinic from the back of the boat. Within six hours of fishing we had seven fish over 3 lbs and several more that were close. Not bad fishing for a backup plan. If you have never thought to fish anything other than the main lake up at Erie you are missing out on perhaps the best fishing in the state. I have many days up there in excess of 100 large mouth. If you are looking for an adventure that is not too far away and has some of the best fishing in the country don't overlook the inland waters around Lake Erie.

A Little Success

Today was the Trophy at Indian Lake. I struggled to get the bites, only five bites all day, two of which I put in the boat. Fortunately one of those in the boat was 4.82lbs. Total weight was 6.43lbs. The big one was enough for 2nd Big Bass with a nice $264 earning, it came on a Lucky Craft 0.5 crank bait in the lily pads. The winning weight of just over 13lbs, came from a good friend of mine from college. This is two years in a row the the Tenwalde boys, Jeremey & Travis, of Ft Jennings have won this tournament. Congrats guys. Might have to make a trip to Erie this weekend for some Walleye & Crappie, if the weather permits. See ya on the water. 

1st Tournament of the Year

Saturday was the Ice Breaker at Indian Lake. This was a team event, which I opted to fish solo. I was boat #86 of the 128 boat field of anglers. Take of was a little slow, still breaking in the rebuild on the motor. About 8:00 I was fishing my 1st spot, here I was able to put two keepers in the boat within ten minutes. I was ready, the fish were on the same pattern as Friday...WRONG!!!  I did not boat another keeper until 1:30. I did have several short strikes and a short fish during the long gap between fish, like that counts for much. Come weigh-in time my three weighed in at 4.5lbs, far behind the 15.68lbs it took to win. I just looked up the full results list on the Fishers of Men site and I ended up 40th out of 128. Not what I had hoped for, but respectful considering I fished solo. Only one other angler who fished solo finished higher. Now my thoughts are focused on Sunday's tournament, again at Indian. Practice went OK yesterday, a good number of fish but nothing over 2lbs. See what happens, it's still better than going to work.  

Boating Problems

Saturday after working around the house for a while I thought I'd get the boat out for a couple hours chasing crappie on Lake Loramie. I launched and idled out for a few minutes and decided to blow the carbon out of the motor. I knew with the cool water that I needed to let the motor warm up before running hard, so ran at 3500 rpm's for five minutes or so and then I put the hammer down. About 2 minutes later I noticed a slight power loss. I immediately shut it down but that was too late. I heard a clanking noise as I set down and knew I just blew it up. I had the powerhead off that night to see that #2 cylinder pulled a ring and chewed up the piston. So what happened, just as I hit the throttle the thermostat opened and cooled the cylinder with the 40 degree water causing the sleeve to shrink suddenly - My Fault. Fortunately I just happen to have a great marina close by, so I have to give Don at Phlipot's a big thanks, he has me back up and running in just 4 days. Morale of the story...in the spring when you think you you have the motor warmed up wait another 10 minutes. By the way 1st tournament of the year is this weekend, let you know how it goes!

Saugeye Lesson

The Old Man is learning.  Friday morning in just two hours he put on a clinic, bringing home six saugeye weighing in at just over 21lbs.  Now that's an awesome catch!  How did he do it?  He listened to me by fishing slow!!!  He said there were five other fisherman close by and nobody else was catching, they were all casting and cranking straight in.  Now of course just one day later I go out and had six 15" fish in an hour and a half, not the big fish like Dad, just nice eaters. Today's bite was a little different though.  I was still fishing slow, but I had to jig a bit more and the fish all hit on the stop.

March Fishing Trip

Being such a nice sunny day today who can resist a little time outdoors. I made two short trips down to the creek to make some casts for one of the best tasting fish that swims, Saugeye. First trip was just over 2 hours and yielded 3 fish: 2 around 14 inches and 1 nice 4 pounder. 2nd trip I had another 14 incher on about the 5th cast. 1/16 ounce jigs with white tails seems to be working even in the muddy water. Color and size is not the key though, you have to fish slow!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Most folks up and down the bank, cast and reel.  I work the jig with the rod & reel down just to take up the slack. Get out there and give it a try.

Florida Fishing

Recently I made an escape from the winter doldrums of Ohio for a week in Florida to visit a friend. Of course no vacation is complete without some time on the water or better yet the entire week. This year instead of flying down with carry-on luggage and sending some older equipment down in advance, I was joined by the owner of the local marina and we drove down allowing me to bring my good rods. The trip started of with a blown trailer tire in Kentucky about 4 a.m. in the rain; once repaired and 12 hours later we arrived to sunshine and 75 degree weather. We fished several lakes in the Lake Placid area, catching fish at each one, but no slaughter fest. Over the past four years fishing half a dozen lakes in the area, I have especially come to enjoy Lake June. On our 2nd to last day we held a little fun competition on lake June. I fished solo against the other two in the 2nd boat. The wind was blowing out of the SW 15-20 mph first thing in morning, I shot across the lake while the other two hid from the wind by the ramp. Spot 1 was a small weed bed I found last year up on a sand flat; in about 15 minutes this only yielded two line squeakers. Next I made a forty minute idle up a canal to where we spotted a good fish on a bed at the beginning of the week. Once near the area with the bed I boated five more small keepers in about 10 minutes using a Black Trick worm. I did not see the big female on the 1st pass so I made a 2nd pass thru the area when I came to the bed I thought she was on I pitched two feet to the side; she bit and just my luck I lost her in the brush. So I fired up the motor and made the long idle back out to the lake, along the way trying to figure out on the way how to improve on the small limit in the box. As I came out of the canal I looked across from the mouth of the canal at another little cove that was too shallow to get into last year & thought I'd check it out. A quick shot across the bay only to find that the water was lower than last year. As I stood on the trolling motor trying to find something to fish I looked down at the water to see a big fish spook of a bed close to the boat. Instanly I took my foot off the motor and let to wind carry me away from the bed. After fishing near by for a while I returned to the to try my luck at the big one. 1st cast missed the bed by ten feet. Instead of just reeling in and making another cast, I fished it in and caught a short one. Next cast had the distance, but  just right of the target and nothing. Cast #3 was just left; as I was getting frustrated with myself for the poor cast I felt the thump. I set the hook and knew instantly it was the one. About half way to the boat the reel disengages as it had done the day before. Here I am with the one I was looking for turning the crank and nothing was happening. Keeping my thumb on the spool I was able to keep from going free spool, a couple hard smacks on the reel and I was back in action. With a little more fighting and the tiny little crappie net that was in the boat I finally landed the fish. Now I was out to add some some quality fish to the box. After a quick run back to where I started the morning off, I grabbed my cranking stick with a Lucky Craft 1.5 and a few casts later I had a three in the box. I had caught that fish earlier in the week. I fished a couple more spots and upgraded a bit more, nothing too spectacular. Finally, the short six hour day was over and it was time to see how the other two did. We pulled the boats out and got out the digital scale. Ed only had one fish that went 2.5, Don had two that went 4.5, one of which was a nice 3.5 pounder. I told them I only had five little ones just for a little fun. It did not take long for them to call me a SOB. Five fish weighed in at 12.5 with the big one at five even, not a huge fish for Florida. A couple hours later we sat down to a feast, joined by a few of the neighbors of saugeye I brought down with me. As I am writting this now it is 32 degrees & raining; I look out the window to see Lake Loramie is high, muddy, and there is still ice; no getting the boat out this week. I guess I will have to get thru this week by looking back at the day I lost a good one, but actually landed the big one. All times are good on the water, just some are better than others. 

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.  As an avid tournament and recreational fisherman, I'd like to share my opinions on fishing as both a competitive sport and casual hobby.  I'll be blogging about my tournament experiences, offering fishing tips, writing about equipment I like and don't like, and expressing whatever else is on my mind.  If you like to fish the lakes and rivers of Ohio like I do, I hope you find my blog especially interesting.  And feel free to comment on my posts. Well, gotta go, I think I have a bite!