Prior Lake Tournament, Fisher's of Men, July 26th

As you can see, our winning weight for 5 fish was a whopping 7.86lbs last Saturday on Prior Lake. Yes, that's right, we won 21st place. Although we didn't receive a trophy, plaque, or a check, we won a sliver of pride by beating 8 teams. And yes, I do seem a little too happy with our finish, must be this sweltering heat. We did, however, jump up in the point standings to the 14th spot, up 3 spots from our last tournament. We were all over the lake on Saturday, fishing dropshots on deep weedlines, to senkos and tubes around the docks. We probably caught in the neighborhood of 50-60 fish between us, with about only 8 or 9 keepers. We caught our limit around 8:30am, with our biggest being around 15-16 inches, and culled about 4 times throughout the day to add a few more ounces to our total weight. We just couldn't get a big bite. The winning team showed up to the weigh-in with 19.22 lbs. They were All-Terrain Tackle guys and they showcased their 3/4 oz football jig as their winning lure. Second place was 17.6 lbs and they caught most of their fish I believe on crankbaits. The big bass of the tourney was a healthy 5.8 lb largemouth, a sign that Prior still has some nice fish and hopefully more to come. Since I don't have much to say about Prior, I'm going to post a few photos below of some recent fishing with friends.

Bob Downey, a fellow member of Lakes Area Bassmasters, with a nice tiger musky and bass on a south metro lake. Bob and I went out and did some fishing together, as I wanted to get some tips from the guy who will most likely be winning his consecutive Angler of the Year title for our club.

Here I caught a solid 19 incher on an east metro lake with one of Team BassAckwards founding members, Buzz. Thanks Buzz for taking the photo. Also, below is Buzz with a weighed 4 lber from a recent outing on a north metro lake. I caught mine off of a dock using a weightless senko, and Buzz grabbed his fish around a dock using a 1/4 oz bullet sinker and a black tube.

Some Dam Good Fishing with Friends! July 19-20th

I was fortunate this past weekend to do some Dam fishing with my good friends at the Dam cabin. We took some Dam photos, cruised on the Dam lake, and caught some Dam fish. No, we weren't at the Hoover Dam with Chevy on a family vacation, however, we were at my family's lake cabin on Dam Lake in Aitkin County, thus all the Dam references.

We arrived Saturday morning after fighting through traffic and making 3 gas station stops in search of some car ride entertainment. Coming up for the first time ever to Dam Lake were my good friends Joe and Ryan, aka Flowsky and the Weasel ( I just thought of another nickname for Ryan- McQuery). Also along for the good time were my parents and my fiancé. When we arrived, the fishing looked bleak as it was raining. To my surprise, my buds were just as anxious as I to get out on the water, rain or not, and try their luck catching some Dam fish. One thing to note, my friends haven't caught a fish, more or less a bass, in 10 plus years, so again I felt the pressure of being their guide and resource to catching fish and having a fun time on the water.

Before we even got situated to get out on the boat, I caught a nice 3-4 lb bass off of our dock pitching a weightless wacky senko at the edge of a little reed bed in between our dock and our neighbor's. I think this fish, the largest bass my friends had ever seen, got them excited enough to throw on the rain gear and head out across the lake. So, with a light, consistant rain fall, we headed across the lake where there are lily pads and reeds. I figured with the light rain fall distrupting the water's surface, it may be a good time to throw some topwater baits. I had my Booyah clacker buzzbait, and I rigged my buddies with frogs to toss across the pads. Within five casts using my buzzbait, I hooked into the largest bass I have caught on Dam. Measured at a solid 19 inches and extremely fat, I'm guessing it was in the 4-5 lb range. Beautiful fish and a great catch in the rain. Ryan, who has been unsuccessful fishing so far this year, caught his first bass on a realistic looking frog that I had in my tackle box that I have never used before. It was rigged on a 3/0 Gammi Extra Wide Gap hook and would play and move just under the surface of the water. He ended up catching a couple more bass, as I did as well, which left Joe fishless after our first day out on the water. Below is Ryan with his prized catch and Joe in the background seemingly unimpressed.

After a night of cocktails, a bonfire, and a great hearty dinner, we were ready the next day to see if Joe could continue his persistance and land a few bass. We headed out to our lucky spot from the previous day with little success. I decided we needed a change of pace and headed to another lily pad spot across the lake. Again, we had little success. Side note: The weather at this point was fairly good, with scattered clouds and the sun poking through. There was a light rain in the morning so we dressed in our rain gear just in case. As we were starting to get frustrated with the lack of bites, a slight rain began. This was about the same consistancy of rain the day before, so I thought that this would be a good opportunity for some fish as the conditions resembled yesterday's weather. My buds wanted to run back to our previous spot, but I had a hunch that a certain reed area would produce for us so away we went. I switched Joe's bait from a bronzeyed frog to a topwater buzz bait with duel props. I told Joe to just keep that thing on the top of the water with the props buzzing and he would get a bite.

Now I have to start a new paragraph to give credit when credit is due. I was casting my buzzbait through the reeds, occasionally bouncing it off the stalks to create more noise, when I noticed Joe retrieving his buzzbait. I stopped to watch his retrieve because he was working it in an almost stop-go style retrieve, keeping the props continually moving, but adding his own style. I was so impressed and was about to mention to him how great his bait looked, when WHAM! A little ferocious bass nailed the buzzbait and Joe had his first fish! I couldn't believe that I had stopped to watch his great retrieve style and was about to compliment him on it, and sure enough, a bass did the talking for me. Joe ended up catching a total of 4 bass that morning, all on his duel prop buzzbait with his professional-like retrieve. Below is Joe with an impressive first bass of his life.

I ended catching a healthy 17 incher and a nice pike, which sank its teeth into my finger and hurt a lot, thus no good picture was recorded. Ryan ended up getting skunked the second day, mainly due to the fact that I had no other buzzbaits in my box, which seemed to be the ticket this weekend. All in all, it was a Dam great time out on the water and spending time with family and friends. I'm glad that I had another successful "guiding" experience and was able to get both of my friends some bass with pictures as proof. This upcoming weekend I will be fishing in a Fisher's of Men event out on Prior Lake, so look forward to Team BassAckwards recap next week.

Thanks for reading!

"Team BassAckwards...We're the one's hooked!"

Skip

Carolina Rigging with Peter Thliveros

I had mentioned that I wanted to highlight Carolina Rigging and I just so happened to find a great article on ESPN about Peter Thliveros and Carolina Rigging. He is renown for utilizing the Carolina Rig and credits the majority of his $2 mil. plus in winnings to this presentation. This has shed some light for me on this technique and I hope it will help you as well.



Name: Peter Thliveros
Hometown: St. Augustine, Fla.


Technique: Thliveros is probably the best known Carolina rigger in the Bassmaster Elite Series. He sees the method as an extreme bottom worm fishing technique. At its core, the Carolina rig employs sinker; plastic, glass or metal bead; swivel; leader line; hook; and plastic worm, lizard or other bait. It is designed to give the angler separation between the weight and the lure to allow the lure to look more natural in the water. Because the weight is not attached directly to the lure, anglers can get away with larger weights (sometimes an ounce or more) to make longer casts and maintain better bottom contact.


History: Thliveros maintains that no one is exactly sure of the origin of this rig, but he and others speculate that it came about in the Santee Cooper reservoirs in South Carolina as a means of fishing a worm more effectively in deep water. It first came to national prominence in 1973 when Bill Dance used the technique to finish second in the Bassmaster Classic on Clarks Hill Lake. In 1985, Jack Chancellor used a Carolina rig to win the Bassmaster Classic on the Arkansas River. Though widely used by professionals and amateurs alike, the Carolina rig has a mixed reputation. Many rely on it in warm weather while others disdain it, calling it the "ball and chain."


Highlights: Thliveros Carolina rigged his way to win the recent Southern Open on the St. John's River in Florida. He also credits the rig for much of the nearly $2 million that he has won as a professional angler.


When to Use: Warm water is best for Carolina rigging, according to Thliveros. He uses the rig when the water is between 55 and 85 degrees. In water temps below 55 degrees, he goes to a jig. Referencing seasons, Thliveros uses the Carolina rig from mid-spawn through postspawn and until the water turns too cold.


Where to Use: Open water lends itself exceptionally well to this presentation, especially when the bottom is hard or covered with cover, as the rig allows the angler to "feel" the bottom. When fishing the Carolina rig, Thliveros keys in on points of all kinds, humps, creek channels and other underwater structure. He notes that the Carolina rig is best suited for loosely fishing structure, as it is hard to cast the rig accurately. He also uses it to find fish on large, shallow flats.


Tackle: Thliveros' rod of choice is a 7-foot 2-inch American Rodsmiths Mag Strike Magnum Carolina Rig rod with a medium-heavy action and a fast tip. The action gives it good hook setting strength while the softer tip lets him cast the rig far. He likes a Revo 6.3:1 reel with 12- to 20-pound Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line. The abrasion resistance of fluorocarbon is a necessity when probing structure, according to Thliveros. Other pluses he cites are the refractive properties, low stretch and good sensitivity of the line.


Lures: Thliveros' Carolina rig is pretty standard. He uses a Tru-Tungsten sinker followed by a Tru Tungsten Force Bead and a craft bead, then a No. 4 crane swivel. He will use anywhere from a 1/2- to 1-ounce Tru-Tungsten bullet weight, depending on current, depth and the density of the cover he's fishing. Thliveros prefers tungsten weights because they are denser, louder and translate the bottom structure better than lead. Thliveros' bait will be one of four Zoom products on a 3/0 offset shank hook: a Super Fluke, a Finesse Worm, a Trick Worm or a Baby Brush Hog.


Basics: Long casts help Thliveros cover water more effectively. He casts past his target, then employs a slow, steady, dragging retrieve while keeping the rod at the 10 o'clock position. When he feels a fish hit, he will quickly determine which direction it is headed, points his rod in the same direction, take in the slack with the reel, then set the hook with a horizontal sweeping motion.


One More Thing: Thliveros says the most common error fishermen make when fishing a Carolina rig is not having enough weight. This means the sinker may never hit bottom and stir debris up and make noise, effectively defeating the purpose of using the rig. He always errs on the heavier side if there's any uncertainty about how much weight to use.

Green Lake Tournament, Lakes Area Bassmasters, July 12th

After some fun recreational fishing over the 4th of July weedend, I was excited to get back into tournament mode and fish Green Lake again in Chisago. I was fishing with fearless Gumby, and after a few stormy nights and a cold front, we were expecting the conditions to be rough and the fishing tough.

We started the day fishing docks and shallow water. Our main baits were wacky rigged senkos, buzzbaits, and spinnerbaits. It was overcast in the morning with a little breeze, so I started by throwing my Booyah buzzbait. I love fishing a buzzbait with a little wind because the waves tend to mask the bait a bit so the fish can't get a clear look at the bait. It is almost a reaction-type strike caused by sound, rather than a strike based on feeding on forage. My first three casts landed two fish, one of which was close to fourteen inches and landed itself inside my livewell. I thought this was a decent start to the day and hoped that the previous stormy conditions hadn't affected the fishing too bad.

We continued around the docks and I was able to get three in the box, all around 13-14 inches. Gumby finally landed his first keeper of the day with about an hour left to go in the tournament. We tried some deep water weed lines, with no fish caught. However, I was throwing a carolina rigged lizard and I did have a few hits. This is the first year that I've tried Carolina rigging, and I have yet to figure out how to properly set the hook. If you are reading this and have had good success on C-rigs, please offer a few pointers in the comments...I could use them! Anyway, we ended the day disappointed, Gumby with 1 fish for 15 ounces, and I caught 3 fish for 3 lbs 9 oz. I would say that I probably caught 40 plus fish on the day. Almost every dock I caught a fish, almost all of which were just dinks. From what I heard, most people caught fish on senkos, deadsticking them in various depths, mostly I think in the the weedlines in about 2-6 feet of water. That was an area I somewhat overlooked. We fished mainly docks and deeper weedlines, the weedlines being in about 8-12 feet of water.

Overall, it was a fun outing with many, many fish caught. It was disappointing as I didn't get my limit and placed in 6th place out of 8 contestants. However, another day out on the water where I learned a bit more about my fishing, so overall it is always worth it. The winner weighed a nice bag of 13 plus pounds with a 4lb 6oz fish. I believe second was in the 9 lb range with the rest of the field to follow. I should be heading back out to Prior Lake this weekend to prefish for a Fisher's of Men tournament. Also, I'm going to try to get out a few times this week so I will keep this blog updated with any reports I have over the next couple weeks. Also, I may try to do a lure or presentation blog, I would like to do one on Carolina rigging, so any input would be great!

"Team BassAckwards...We're the one's hooked!"

Skip

July 4th Weekend

I was very fortunate this 4th of July to be invited back to a friend's cabin on Birch Island Lake near Siren, Wisconsin. With a much needed extended weekend, I was excited to be bringing my boat for countless hours of fishing, besides the occasional brewsky and beachside fireworks. I have fished the lake last year, with a nice 19 incher to show for it, so as you can imagine, I was hog hunting to try to push the 20 inch mark for the first time this season.

Lake Info: This lake is a relatively shallow lake, with the mean being around 6-8 feet deep. There is emergent vegetation throughout, with pads, reeds and large curly tail weeds penetrating the surface. The water is really clear, so keeping your distance and soft landings are key to catching some of those shallow water fish.

Last year I had most of my success using a Bronzeye Frog in the pads. I threw the frog a great deal this past weekend as well, with a lot of blowups and few fish caught. I caught a few on weightless wacky rigged Senkos, skipping them under docks that seemed to have taken a break from screaming kids and raging jetskis. My most effective bait was a green pumpkin brushhawg, T-rigged on a 5/0 Gammi hook and 1/8 oz bullet sinker. I was also using 10lb Gamma monofilament for line, which I thought was a little light for the reeds I was pitching in, but the mono helps with a slower drop presentation, which I found to be the most successful. I started pitching the brushhawg after I unbeached my boat one morning and about a dozen crawfish scurried out from underneath. The hawg has tantalizing, dangling legs at the bottom, which I felt mimicked claws similar to that of a crawfish. Since I don't have a trolling motor, all I was doing was drifting in this large bay through reeds and pads and was pitching the bait into pockets and around the reeds. All in all, my largest catches were a fat 17 incher, an 18 incher, and a nice 18.5 incher. To the right is my 18.5 incher, and no, I have no idea why my face looks like that....

I would also like to mention a fun experience I had this past weekend. My friend, AJ, was in desperate need of catching a bass, as he mentioned that he had probably not caught a bass in 5 years. Being that I would love to guide later in my life, I took this as a challenge to get him his prized fish. The first evening we went out and were throwing frogs in shallow pads. I believe that AJ counted 12 blowups on his frog without a fish to show for it. Disappointed, yet not discouraged, we planned for the next night, our last night on the lake. The next evening I took out AJ and our other friend, Jeff, both of whom bought 4 day licenses for WI, and both of whom needed to catch at least a fish in order to justify their expense. This time out, we were going to drift the area I had earlier, and see what we could do. After I caught a few fish, Jeff was able to land a nice bass and soon to follow a little pike. AJ, still skunked, was feeling a bit down, and I was losing my tip fast. So I made a quick lure change for him, rigging him up with a Northland Mimic Minnow, and told him to cast and retrieve the bait at a moderate pace. With 10 minutes of light left, and AJ's dream close to a memory, he finally landed a largemouth bass. The celebration that occurred while the fish was still hanging by the hook was utterly priceless. Let's just say that screaming and fist pumps by Iaconelli held no match for AJ's jubilation. Side note: He named this fish "Herbie Hancock" pictured right. Below is Jeff with his fish.

I had a fantastic time this weekend with friends, caught a lot of fish, and truly enjoyed my time on the water. We had a great fireworks show between three of our cabins and thankfully everyone stayed safe. I'm looking forward to my Bassmasters tournament on Green Lake in Chisago this weekend. Hopefully, I will utilize my previous experience and catch a decent limit to increase my points for the year. Look forward to another post next week detailing Team BassAckwards' members Skip and Gumby, as we try for success on Green Lake.

"Team BassAckwards... We're the one's hooked!"

Thanks for reading!

Skip

Rush Lake Tournament, Lakes Area Bassmasters, June 28th

After a mediocre finish at Green Lake in Chisago, I was excited to fish Rush Lake with the other member of Team BassAckwards, Gumby, otherwise known as my dad. He gets his name from his flexibility, on and off the water. If anyone has fished this lake before, they will know that Rush Lake has all kinds of structure just begging to be fished, and I was pumped to again fish a lake that was completely new to me.

We started the day fishing reeds in West Rush. We were throwing spinners, jigs, and I was trying a green with black specks brushhawg. With zero bites we moved down the shoreline to fish the adjacent docks. I quickly put two 13 inchers into the box to start the day and my dad had one about the same size. An exciting event occurred when my dad hooked into about a 4 lber that wrapped itself around a dock post. After a moments of struggling, the fish came free and my dad had it headed to the boat. As soon as the fish saw the boat, it bolted straight back under the dock for safety. At that point the hook came free and the fish was lost. Man, that was a bummer. I didn't get a good look at the fish, but my dad said that it was the biggest bass he has seen, and he was crushed that he lost it. Without much success, and after I landed a 6 lbs pike, we decided to move to another bay where there was a weed hump in about 15 fow. We circled that a few times with no takers. We then moved back to the shallows, casting into milfoil, pads and reeds. Again, nothing.

I could go on and talk about how we kept moving spots, caught another 6-8 lbs pike, and had our trolling motor battery die at noon, and in the end, the results would be the same. We caught a few more dinks, but failed to catch our limits with nothing over 14 inches. I ended up in 7th place with 2 lbs 7.8 ozs, and my dad took a close 8th place with 1 lbs and some change. Another lack luster performance from Team BassAckwards.

Conditions:
Partly cloudy, air temp. was 55 degrees in the morning after a passing storm came through the night before.
10-15 mph winds later in the day
Clear to stained water clarity
Milfoil and algae were abundant in the shallows

Lessons learned:
The winner in our club caught around 12 lbs throwing buzzbaits in shallow water. From what I understand, he caught all his fish between docks, with nothing being caught under them. Second place was Bob Downey, www.bobsfishingblog.blogspot.com, with another solid performance weighing in around 11 lbs. You can read how he caught his fish on his blog, so take a look. I think Gumby and myself did a decent job finding spots that had some great potential for nice fish. We actually marked a fallen tree in deep water out from an island and we tried to fish it, but that was when our trolling motor died. I know that spot will be killer as the fish truely get into their summer patterns. Similar to the Minnetonka tournament, we were not catching quality fish around docks so we decided to try other spots on the map. I think if we didn't have the trolling motor issue, we could've had 2 hours to cruise as many docks as possible to try to fill a limit. Without the motor, we lost a lot of confidence and virtually succombed to our fate, just hoping to get a few lucky bites while we were drifting along.

I'm looking forward to our next tournament on Green Lake in Chisago. I am hoping that I can take what I learned from my previous tournament and beat my weight of 10.75 lbs. I am heading this weekend to Wisconsin for the 4th to a buddy's cabin. I'm excited because last year I caught some really nice fish, with one being 19 inches and around 4 lbs. His neighbor caught a 22 in., 6 lber the week prior to my arrival last year, so I know that there are some nice fishing to be had. I will post about my fishing after the weekend and hopefully have some photos of some nice fish to showcase.

In closing, I came up with Team BassAckwards slogan over the weekend...

"Team BassAckwards...We're the one's hooked!"

Have a safe and fish-filled weekend. Thanks as always.

Skip