Bassmaster Club Tournament #2:

A few weeks ago, Lakes Area Bassmasters headed out to Wapogasset in Polk County, Wisconsin. The weather was great and I was looking forward to fishing a lake instead of a river system. The launch was nice so I didn't mind putting the five dollars in the pay box for the day. My plan for the day was to start by heading to the northern part of the lake and work my way down the west side.

After takeoff, dad and I headed north, cruising about 54 mph. When we pulled up to fish, there were carp surfacing all around us in shallow water, about 2 feet deep. I started the day throwing a top water spook and my trusty swim jig. As we headed south, I kept the trolling motor on a continuous low setting so I could take in the depths and vegetation that we saw below the surface. I was looking for bass cruising in the shallows, not sure if the spawn had happened yet on this lake.

My first fish came on a wacky rigged senko. I noticed taller vegetation in 6-8 feet of water and decided to fish real slow to see if I could pick up a few fish. The bass was a healthy 15.5 inches and went straight into the box. Keep in mind that in Wisconsin, your bass must meet the 14 inch requirement in order to be kept. A little while longer, I caught my second keeper using the same bait in about the same depth range. Dad ended up losing a nice fish that would have easily been a keeper had he not lost it. I was using a medium rod with 8 pound fluorocarbon line on a spinning reel. I really like to use light line for this application, as I feel the fish have a longer time to identify the bait so I want my line to be as small and invisible as possible.

We continued to fish in Wapo up until about 12 pm. We then decided to move to the connecting lake, Bear Trap. We saw many fish cruising around shallow and the sun was hot and high overhead. Dad and I started attacking the docks with jigs and senkos. After catching about 30 short fish, I finally caught my third keeper. I caught him skipping the senko under a dock in a hard to reach spot. That fish got us going and our philosophy was to keep catching the shorts and hopefully we would run into a big one.

As we were fishing docks, I cast to a spot that looked enticing. I didn't make a great cast and it proved fruitless. Dad made an accurate cast to the same location and ended up catching a great 17.5 inch beauty of a largemouth. He finally had his first keeper with about an hour and a half to go. We continued to fish the remainder of the day without success and headed back to the weigh in.

At the weigh in, I was surprised to hear that there were 3 guys with zero fish. This surprised me as we have some good fisherman in the club and getting a zero in tough to come by. I only had three fish, but it looked like I would be competeing for 1st with John M. John weighed 3 fish for 6 pounds, 2 ounces. I was nervous as my fish were being weighed, as I really wanted a win in Wisconsin. My weight came in at 6 pounds, 6 ounces for 1st place. A sweet victory and much needed points were earned. Dad ended up in 4th place and also took home big fish honors! Great fish dad! Dave ended up with one fish and his brother, John, was right on his heels with only one small keeper as well. Team BassAckwards was spread throughout the field, but every caught at least one keeper. Below is Dad's big fish being weighed, 3 pounds, 5 ounces.

Our next club tournament is in June on Forest Lake. Stay tuned as I will post how Team BassAckwards did on Balsam Lake for the Full Throttle event that was held last week.

Thanks for reading!

Carl