The MN BASS Federation held their yearly Tournament of Champions on Lake Minnetonka September 9th and 10th. Each angler had to qualify through their respective club for a chance to place in the top 12 for an opportunity to fish the regional tournament next year in Michigan. 165 anglers competed for these coveted twelve spots, and the recent cold front that preceded the tournament was sure to challenge even the most skillful anglers.
This event is structured so that there are two anglers per boat. Each angler is allowed 4 hours to choose their fishing locations and run the trolling motor at the front of the boat. I chose not to bring my boat so I was considered a "non-boater". On both days of the tournament, I was fortunate to get paired with two great guys and it was a fun getting to know both of them. Meeting new people at these events is an added bonus to fishing a two day competitive tournament.
On the first day of the tournament, I was paired with my partner Chuck and we headed to the west side of this large body of water. Maintaining a speed of 40 mph due to the regulations on the lake, we headed to an area where Chuck had found a few schools of fish during the official practice period. After bouncing around a few spots, Chuck had a few keepers in the livewell and I had nothing. We decided to hit one of my spots as we were leaving an area and I finally caught my first fish dropshotting a deep weedline in about 17 feet of water. After about 15 minutes without another bite, we headed to fish different water.
As the day wrapped up, Chuck has his limit with about 8 or 9 lbs for 5 fish. I had one fish and I desperately needed to add to my weight. With about an hour or so left, I made a cast with a weightless 4" Senko rigged "wacky" and caught about a 4 pound bass. It lifted my spirits for the day as I ended up on a good note. I only weighed in 2 fish for 5.6 pounds, but I was hopeful that I could improve my weight on the following day.
On the second day, I was paired with a guy named Dan who had over 12 pounds on the first day. Since the overall weights were relatively low, Dan was doing well and had a shot to make the top 12 if he could put together a decent bag of fish. I told Dan that I was willing to let him make all the decisions and fish all of his spots, as he had a chance at making it to the divisional tournament. Off we went in his Nitro to our first spot of the day. We were fishing a point with a steep sloping weedline. Dan had caught his biggest fish on this spot so it seemed like a good place to start. I ended up catching my first keeper within 15 minutes and I already knew that this day would be better.
As the day went on and we went from spot to spot, I ended up catching a decent limit of fish and ended up with about 2 lbs more than Dan. I feel I focused a little better on the second day and really concentrated on fishing my strengths from the back of the boat. Typically I am fishing from the front of the boat, so this was a new change for me and I had to adapt. My big fish came from a channel and was about 4 pounds. I caught a few nice fish on a chigger craw and a 1/4 oz Tru Tungsten weight, paired with a 3/0 Extra Wide Gap Trokar hook. I also caught a few fish flipping a 1/2 oz jig near docks and dragging the jig on the bottom. It was a sleeper tactic that pulled two fish after Dan had fished the same docks.
Overall, I ended the second day with 10.35 pounds for a two day total of 15.95 pounds. This put me in 60th place overall. With my second day scramble, I was able to place first in my club which is a small pride victory. It was a great time and I would like to thank everyone that helped with this great event.
Thanks for reading. Coming soon with be my Coon Lake tournament update.
Carl
