Pre-Tournament Thoughts:
The 34th Annual Viking Invitational Bass Tournament occurred this past Sunday on Lake Minnetonka. This was my second year at this tournament, fishing both years with my great fishing companion, my Dad. My pre-tournament thoughts were that the fish would be scattered and in a transition mode, as I believe that they haven't full committed to the fall shallow fishing pattern yet. I knew I would try a few deep weed edges, but I was hopeful that if I couldn't get the fish to bite deep, I would find them on the inside weed edges in shallow water.
A full field of 80 plus boats showed up to fish the Viking this year, and I know they turned away a few boats as the tournament reached it permitted number of anglers. I decided that I wanted to try a deep weedline first thing in the morning with my drop shot rig. As I was dropshotting, I had my Dad cast into shallower water with spinnerbaits and Texas rigged plastics. I was hoping that one of us could find a pattern in this area known to hold nice bass. After working our way up, around, and down this point without any luck, I headed down the shoreline to test the dock bite.
As we moved along the docks, I picked up our first keeper on an Outkast jig with a chigger craw fastened as a trailer. Within a half hour, Dad picked up two small keepers skipping a wacky rigged Senko. With 3 fish in our boat, I was glad that the fish seemed to be biting, but we needed to catch a few bigger fish, limit out, and start culling. We continued to fish shallow, working our way along docks and inside weedlines.
As we were working the shoreline vegetation, I spotted an area that held a few reed clumps. We headed that way and I got my jig ready for battle. On my second cast into the reeds, I felt a bite and proceeded to set the hook. I looked into the water, and I saw that I wasn't hooked up. I pulled my jig closer to the boat and a nice fish darted from the reeds and inhaled my jig, almost directly where I was standing boatside. After a brief moment of shock, I ripped my rod up and set the hook. Dad quickly got the net and we landed a nice 4 pound, 3 ounce fish that we weighed on our digital hand scale. We were pumped to land a quality fish before 11am, and I was hoping this area would produce our limit. In this area, Dad missed one bite shortly after my fish, and then we didn't get another tug or bump. I was bummed because it seemed so promising after that first fish, but it just didn't materialize.
As the day progressed, we caught a few more 14 inchers and ended up culling once. At the weigh in, we weighed 5 fish for 9.02 pounds. Tenth place for a plague was almost 13 pounds and the winner weighed in 19 pounds. Big fish of the tournament was a whopping 6 pound, 9 ounce bass! Overall, it was a fun event yet again. I would like to thank the guys with the Viking Bassmasters who put on this great event. On a side note, I won 3 times at the raffle, and took home some great MG Lures plastics, a few gift cards to Outkast Tackle, and a few packs of finesse worms made by Tonka Tackle. I am excited to try some new products and get some extra tackle! Thanks Viking Bassmasters!
As always, Thanks for Reading!
Carl
Tonka Tackle Prostaff
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