IL River Pre-Fishing Re-Cap

The first tournament of the year, MWC IL River, is in the books. We finished 36th out of 154 boats which was a bit disappointing but we were only five spots and less than 1/2 a pound out of the money. Here is a recap of how our pre-fishing went.

New MWC Partner

For the first time I would not be fishing an MWC event with Scott Pirnstill, aka Shooter. Shooter had a scheduling conflict and was unable to fish. In his place Mark Michael, pictured above with a walleye he caught on the IL River last year while pre-fishing, an accomplished tournament angler and one of my fishing mentors. The IL River is Mark's home water and he knows it well even though he says that the IL River is not one of his favorite places to fish.

Saturday

The first day on the water with a new boat is a special day. Much of Saturday was spent breaking in the Verado 200 on the new Lund 1875 Pro V. Mark did a great job rigging the boat and I am loving the new ride! We did get a chance to get in some fishing as we hoped to find a good bite for the Illinois Walleye Trail (IWT) opener the following day. The river was in unprecedented condition for this time of year with water temperatures of over 60 degrees, they would rise all the way to 68 degrees for the MWC opener! After some searching we found some active, decent sized fish down at the clam beds. Ol' Shooter came down for the weekend with his son Boston. Shooter and Boston caught 2 saugers over 20 inches in the same area. Fish like those have been hard to come by in recent years so committing to the clam beds for the IWT opener was a no brainer!

Sunday IWT

The fishing was pretty good but it was pretty obvious that the bigger fish moved. The water was slowly dropping and it appears the fish moved to other areas with current conditions that fit their needs. Ol' Shooter and Boston, pictured above, did a little better than we did finishing 31st out of 71. Mark and I finished 41st. We caught plenty of fish but we just could not find the bigger fish. Adam Sandor, owner of the IWT, and his staff did a great job. I was not unhappy with our finish, sure we would have liked to do better but our main goal was to prepare for the MWC. We learned a lot on the water and were excited about the week to come!

Monday

I spent Monday with the outdoors writer for the Chicago Sun-Times, Dale Bowman (pictured above with a small male sauger). I enjoy fishing with Dale, he has a great sense of humor. He told me that one of the main reasons he moved to Chicago was from a visit he had when he was in college. He and some friends were in the bleachers at Comiskey Park drinking beer with Harry Carey and Jimmy Piersall. He thought that was pretty neat and said this is my kind of town. I love it! Dale also is an advocate for the outdoors and shines the light on the good and the bad. There aren't many outdoor writers in the newspaper business left which is a shame. I encourage anyone who likes the outdoors to read his articles and listen to his show on public radio, Outside with Dale Bowman. Here is the link to his article about our day http://www.suntimes.com/sports/outdoors/11424689-452/a-march-unlike-any-other-for-chicago-fishing.html.

I met Dale at 7AM at Time On the Water Outdoors. A storm was coming in and lighting was everywhere. I pulled up the radar on my cell phone and it appeared if we went up river we might miss the storm. Dale agreed and we ran up river to the dam. I had a plan setup for down river where we would have caught a lot of fish. I needed to check out places up river anyway and thought we would be able to catch our share. Things did not work out that way as we caught everything but a sauger upriver. After trying numerous spots it was 11:20 and we still did not have a sauger. Dale had to be dropped off at the landing by noon. If I spend a morning with the outdoor writer for the Sun-Times and catch zero saugers I am going to get the business from the boys! I setup in the middle of the river on the Peru flats. Luckily there were male saugers who were willing to bite and we caught 4 in about 20 minutes.

I dropped Dale off at Barto Landing and headed back up river. I knew if males were in the area I should be able to find some female saugers. Sure enough, on the first pass after I dropped off Dale I caught a couple of nice females, including the one above. Oh well, that's fishing! I actually learned quite a bit and felt the pieces to the puzzle were coming together.

Tuesday

I was alone all day as Mark was going to start pre-fishing with me on Wednesday. The area that I wanted to take Dale was absolutely on fire. I can't remember how many fish I caught, including the one above, but it was a lot and they were absolutely hammering my jig and plastic.

I went to three different spots and the story was the same aggressive saugers like the one above. I am pretty confident that my best 5 fish would have weighed close to 12 pounds which I knew would be a big weight in the tournament. Two problems, one the tournament is four days away, two this is hardly a secret spot and fishing pressure will be an issue. I spent the rest of the day fishing spots downriver without much success.

Wednesday

Mark and I ran up to the dam and tried pitching jigs shallow. We caught a couple but they were small and we decided that we would spend the rest of the week fishing from Peru south. I wanted to show Mark the areas where I hammered them the day before. We jigged for nearly 3 hours without 1 sauger to show for our efforts. Mark says he likes jigging but he definitely would rather do some sort of trolling program. Vertical jigging is somewhat of an art and Mark and I have philosophic differences on just about every level, especially jig size and color. I don't think either philosophy is wrong it is just what we have confidence in doing. Regardless, I knew if I could show him how these fish were inhaling the plastics that he would agree it was the way to go. Mark had been on me big time about trolling lead core and I was dead set against the idea. I knew I could find the fish jigging I just needed to spend the time jigging but Mark was getting restless.

I finally gave in and we made one trolling pass which took about 30 minutes. It was only fitting that we hammered them catching 10 fish on that first pass with our best 5 weighing around 11 pounds. Mark was smiling ear to ear while I was shaking my head. I knew that we would not be jigging in the tournament as we tore them up the rest of the day. The fish had moved in shallower than we had been jigging and trolling was much more efficient way to cover water.

Thursday and Friday

My buddy Bad Brad Munda joined us for the final two days of pre-fishing. We put in at Hennepin and tried numerous spots down river with little success. We stopped at the Hennepin flats and caught several males jigging. We went to the other side of the river and caught a couple of decent females but not as big as we had caught the last couple of days. The wind was blowing pretty good making boat control a little difficult. I was keeping my jigs vertical but the boys in the back of the boat were getting on me pretty good because their baits were not. Bad Brad noticed right away that any comment that he made about boat control was getting under my skin and getting a chuckle from Mark so they really gave it to me. I almost dropped them off on shore but I decided I would troll lead core which I knew would make them happy.

The next two days we checked our spots and tried new ones. We were starting to notice a larger percentage of female saugers that we were catching were spawned out which was a bit of a concern. We knew this tournament was going to be a shootout and every ounce was going to matter.

We had put in the time and our lead core program was working. We knew the area we were fishing was going to be full of boats. We were fishing shallower and faster than most so we were confident that we would be able to navigate through the armada of boats. Our spots were locked in and we were optimistic about our chances!

Next - Tournament Days

IL State Record Walleye - Pecatonica River Strikes Again!

When Rockford Auburn freshman Nick Tassoni caught a 14.75 lb walleye on January 7, 2012 most were shocked that the Pecatonica River held such a fish. Nick's fish broke a record that had stood for 50 years. Two months later a new record walleye weighing 15.06 lbs. by Jim Zimmerman out of the same stretch of the Pecatonica River.

If one were to quiz fisherman across the state where the next state record walleye would have come from one would hear Lake Michigan, the Kankakee River (which held the record for 50 years), the Mississippi River and maybe the Rock River as a sleeper. If one were to quiz fisherman in Stephenson and Winnebago county one would have heard the Pec, as the locals call it, from a lot of people. This includes Dan Palmer, tournament director for the MWC, who has been telling this to anybody who would listen!

I have been fishing the Pec as long as I can remember as it rolls through my hometown of Freeport, IL. The stretch of river where the two record fish were caught are less than 5 miles away from my grandparents farm and I fished it often. The Pec does not have the best reputation because, like many other rivers in the MidWest, industry abused the river by dumping their waste into the river. Burgess Battery in Freeport was one of the biggest abusers, when it was running and for many years after it closed. Their waste lingered, polluting the river and the area around the plant before finally being cleaned up. The river is also muddy for most of the year as it flows through fertile farmland.

The Pec is known for it's excellent cat fishing and it is loaded with rough fish most notably the common carp. The locals also know it as a producer of big walleyes. Every spring there are reports of large walleyes being caught. When I heard Nick's fish was 31 inches I knew that it could be beat if the walleye was caught prior to spawn. There have been rumors of fish over 14 pounds being caught as long as I can remember. There was even a picture that made the Freeport Journal Standard of a walleye that was claimed to be 36 inches caught near McConnell in the early 2000's.

Ted Peck, an outdoor writer who lived in Shirland, used to write about the Pec often. His column ran in the Freeport Journal Standard and he also wrote for Illinois Game & Fish Magazine. I also remember seeing big walleye's being listed in Phil Pash's Big Fish contest that ran in the Rockford Register Star.

So how does a river that has been known for big walleyes and now has produced two state walleyes stay a secret? The river is not easily accessible, although access is much better know than it was when I was growing up. Most of the river travels through private farmland and, under normal water conditions, it is not easy to navigate with a boat. There are areas that allow for bigger boats but for the most part a flat bottom boat is the best boat to navigate through the log jams and shallow areas. I think this has been the major reason, if you do not know this river you might lose a lower unit. This also makes the river tough to fish especially if it is for one or two fishing trips a year.

Another reason is the locals don't want anyone to know about their diamond in the rough. I get several pictures a year from friends and old classmates who send me a photo of big walleyes they catch out of the Pec. Some are caught while actually fishing for walleyes while others are caught while fishing for catfish. Usually the photo is accompanied by a "if you tell anyone where I caught this I will make you pay"!

With two record walleyes being caught in two months I think it is fair to say that the secret is out! I am a little disappointed that both of these fish have come out of Winnebago County. There will be plenty of people that head over to that stretch of the Pec to try their luck for a record. Hopefully, while everyone is concentrating on the Winnebago stretch of the river, one of my friends or classmates will catch the record in Stephenson County. Then again, they probably won't tell anyone so they can keep it a secret!

Back In the Saddle

It is hard to say that it has been a long winter as mother nature has blessed us with a surprisingly mild Southern Wisconsin winter. However, it has been a long winter for me. In years past I would fish into January on the Mississippi and then sit on a bucket catching fish through the ice into March. This year that did not happen.

I also would spend a lot of time in the field chasing pheasants with my trusted Brittany, Bailey. Unfortunately, that did not happen either as Bailey's health forced her into retirement. I tried to sneak the gun case and game vest out of the house but her nose still works too good. I just couldn't do that to my little buddy, besides without her it is not as fun. Instead I have spent the last couple of months taking her for walks and getting my fishing gear ready and am I ever ready!

2012 is setting up to be a great year. In addition to my 2011 sponsors of Lund, Mercury, Shimano, EZEE Step and Do-It Molds, I have added a new one, Frabill. Frabill is synonymous with nets but they are so much more. They continue to innovate with new products and clothing. Their new FXE Storm Suit is amazing and was recognized as best in apparel at the 2010 ICast show. I have fished some pretty nasty days and this suit will allow me to fish as comfortably as possible in the most extreme of conditions. Frabill is also the leader in Ice Fishing with shelters, ice suits, rods and reels, etc. If you want to catch fish through the ice Frabill products will help you do it better! They also have the best live bait management systems on the market. I will be at retail locations showing the benefits of these products and my other sponsors throughout the year!

My first tournament is the MWC Illinois River which is less than 3 weeks away. I will be giving a tournament preview and will do my best to update this blog weekly throughout the season. I look forward to sharing the good and the bad, hopefully there will be more good than bad!

See you later on down the river!

FLW Green Bay Recap – SOFA Not So Comfortable

After the rules meeting was completed I headed back to the hotel to finish my preparation for the opening day of the tournament. To say I was I little anxious would be an understatement. After five days of being on the water I knew it was going to be boom or bust. I did not sleep well as I was wondering if the fish I was catching were going to be waiting for me in the morning.

Day 1

I was in the first flight, which meant I was one of the first to go out and would be one of the first to weigh-in. I ran about 15 miles south of the takeoff and set up on a mudflat outside of Geano’s an area that reminds of the S.O.F.A. (Strategic Offshore Feeding Area) from Shark Week on National Geographic Channel. Early in the morning there were a fair amount of boats fishing the flat but not near as many as there were two days prior during pre-fishing. By 10 AM most of the field fishing the area moved in much shallower. I had been fishing out further than most and basically had the area I wanted to fish by myself.

I caught a 21” walleye around 8:30. This was a disappointment as I had not caught a walleye under 23 inches in this area but I decided to put it in the live well anyway.  I continued to work my waypoints but it was becoming obvious that the fish I was catching have moved.

I could have moved into the large group of boats that were working from Little Long Tail Point up to Geano’s but I don’t like fishing in big groups. I knew they were catching fish in there but I think the fish they were catching had been there. I did pre-fish some of the area but I don’t believe the fish I was catching would have moved in. The problem was it is a big, big area so I had to cover a lot of water to find them.

I kept looking with only drum to show for my efforts. Finally I went through one of my primary areas but a little further out and I caught a 4-1/2 pounder. Too little and too late, I headed back to the weigh-in with my tail between my legs.

The leaders were around 30 pounds and many in the top 10 were fishing down by Geano’s. Even though I only caught two fish I thought I could turn it around on day 2.

Day 2

I spent the morning as I left off Day 1, fishing the area where I had caught my last fish. I was marking fish but I just could not get them to bite. I tried everywhere in the water column and fished new spots, nothing was working.

What happened next summed up my tournament fishing season. I moved in a little closer to the pack of boats and fished the inside edge of my primary area. There was a dead drum that was floating in the water close to my planer boards. If you are not familiar with a planer board it is a plastic board that is used to move the line to the side of the boat.  This allows an angler to fish with several rods with out tangles. The more line let out the further the board is from the boat. The line from the 9ft rod angles down to the board, which was about 75 feet from the boat. A seagull flies right over the boat and swings in to pick up this dead drum. Much to the surprise of the seagull, and myself, the seagull gets caught in the line between the rod and the board.

I had my co-angler reel in the seagull. I cut the line behind the seagull and tied the line to a rod holder. My co-angler had me hold one wing of the bird as he held the other. He then worked on unraveling the line. In the process the not so happy seagull was biting him. How this bird got so tangled I will never know but, after about 5 minutes, he was able to remove the line and the seagull flew off unharmed.

Are you kidding me? I am on Green Bay, it’s 11 AM and I have caught more seagulls than walleyes? I could do nothing but laugh. What else can you do?

Believe it or not I did not have a walleye at 3:30. I thought the fish would follow a break line and move north so that is where I spent most of the two days fishing. I finally moved east and immediately caught a 4-1/2 pounder and it was time to leave. Shortly before I caught that fish I saw a really nice fish caught. I think I finally found them and they were less than a mile away. I should have known that as I was given a clue with the second fish I caught on day one. That fish was about a ½ mile east of my main spots. I fished that area again with no luck, I think they slipped out another ½ mile.

As disappointing as my finish was, and I was very disappointed, I feel I gave myself a great chance. When fishing at this level the margin of error is so small. Fishing by myself, and a changing pattern makes it even more difficult. However, I am not making excuses. I pre-fished this tournament almost perfect. The only thing I would change is spending Wednesday in my primary area.

Knowing how long to fish your primary spot prior to a tournament is something that I have always struggled with. In an area as big as the area I was fishing fish will roam depending on the movement of baitfish. If I would have been fishing structure that would have been a different story as those fish are more likely to be on the same spot with subtle movements relating to wind.

This tournament concluded my worst year ever. To use a baseball reference I felt like I was hitting line drives right at the opposition (Atom Balls we use to call them), knowing if the ball was a foot one way or the other it would be a hit. I am getting close and am hoping to “break out” next year!

FLW Green Bay Pre-Fishing

FLW Green Bay Pre-Fishing 7/16/11-7/20/11

I had high hopes going into my last “major” tournament of the year. I was not teaming with anyone for this tournament so I knew that I had to have a strong pre-fishing plan to cover as much water as possible in an efficient manner.

To cover as much water as possible I was able to get at least one of my friends to fish with me each day. This allowed me to double the amount of lines (3 baits per person) I could use. This is critical when fishing Green Bay as the walleyes can be anywhere in the water column and this allowed me to have baits from close to the surface to the bottom.

The consensus was 25 pounds a day would most likely be enough to make the top 10 cut. This turned out to be right on. Because I was not fishing all four FLW events points were not important. I needed to find fish that would produce a five-pound average.  Fish smaller than 22 inches need not apply!

Saturday, July 16

My friends Mark Michael and Chad Setterholm joined me as we launched out of Bay Shore Park on the eastern shore. The launch was packed and there was a big group of boats working the Vincent Point area. We stay out of the group and worked areas north and west. There was plenty of activity but most were Drum with a couple of small walleyes mixed in.

The highlight of this area was hooking into a trophy Muskie. I was running an 1-1/2 oz. bottom bouncer with crawler harness and a number 7 Hildebrand blade on the inside rod. I had a perch or drum short hit the bait so I reeled it in to check the crawler. We were fishing in 20 feet of water. With about 10 feet on the line counter a Muskie that was in the 50-inch range slammed the harness. I had the Muskie to the surface and close to the net three times. He eventually made a run and was threating to tangle a bunch of my lines so I thumbed the spool. Soon after he busted off and was gone. It would have been nice to get a photo but I had more important things to do, I needed to find big walleyes!

We then headed over to the area just south of Geano’s reef. This area had at least 100 boats fishing from Little Long Tail point up to Geano’s. I don’t like fishing in big crowds but we started on the 20 foot break and caught a 21” walleye and then a ton of drum. We knew there were fish in the area but we wanted to get away from the crowd so we headed out to the S.O.F.A. off of Geano’s reef.

What is the S.O.F.A.? I watched shark week on the National Geographic channel over the winter.  Scientists tracked Great White Sharks to an area in the middle of the ocean north of Hawaii. They thought the area was too deep for life and could not figure out why the Great Whites would winter there. It turns out the sharks were feeding on giant Octupus. They ended up calling it S.O.F.A., which stands for the Strategic Off Water Feeding Area. Although the area off from Geano’s is not really deep (23’-27’) it reminded me of the S.O.F.A as it is in the middle of nowhere. One thing is for sure the walleye’s are there because there is plenty to feed on!

We marked plenty of bait fish and walleyes. It did not take long until we started catching nice walleyes. In a little over three hours we caught 12 walleyes between 22” and 28”. Our biggest was 8-03 and our best five probably weighed a little over 30 pounds. We didn’t even spin on these fish to work them again! The good news is these are tournament winning fish. The bad news is the tournament does not start for five more days. Finding the potential winning fish on the first day of pre-fishing is often the kiss of death. Oh how I wished the tournament started tomorrow! Even though most of the boats were fishing to the south and west of us I was also concerned about fishing pressure, which could make things tougher during the tournament.

Sunday, July 17

Feeling pretty good after a great day on Saturday, we decided to launch out of the tournament launch in Oconto. I wanted to see what was going on up north so we headed to Green Island, which is east of Marinette. The wind was out of the south, which is perfect for Green Island. There were 6-7 boats working the south face of the island and so were a bunch of seagulls, pelicans and cormorants. The area was loaded with alewives both alive and dead. We worked the area hard with no success so I ruled out that area for the tournament and we headed to the weeds just north of Oconto.

After several passes it was clear the walleyes were not in this area. Because I was not working with anyone else and I had to make a choice of fishing north or south I decided it was best that I put more time in down south. I dropped Mark and Chad off and headed south. I tried several new areas with only one walleye to show for the day.

Monday, July 18

I shared the boat with Mike Manthe. Even though I had no luck at Green Island I did want to try the north eastern shore of Door County. You won’t catch as many fish in this area but the ones you do catch are big. We launched out of Egg Harbor and targeted reefs southeast of Chambers Island. Everything seemed right but we could not get bit, it is probably too early for the walleye migration to reach this area. There were also thousands of dead alewives and huge schools hanging outside of the reefs. I took that as a sign that if walleyes were there it would be tough to compete with the easy meals that waited for them. A big storm chased us off the water so we loaded up and re-launched at Bay Shore Park.

We headed back over to the S.O.F.A. and worked areas close to where I had caught them on Saturday. It took us a little while to find them but when we did it was on! We caught 8 between 23” and 26-1/2” in about an hour and a half including a double of 26 plus inchers. Our best 5 were probably in the 27 pound range. There were a couple concerns though. First, due to a lack of wind and hot temperatures the surface water temperature rose to 79 degrees. Second there were a lot more boats in the area. This was no secret!

Tuesday, July 19

I shared the boat today with fellow Madisonian Don Doran. In the past I have made the mistake of not knowing an area good enough. Because the S.O.F.A. is so large I decided to spend all of Tuesday working this area. I was careful not to fish any on my waypoints. At noon we only had one 21” fish. We started working a new stretch close to where I was catching them and we got into them again. It was like a broken record as we caught 7-8 with the top 5 again in the 26-27 pound range. Even though the fish were coming easy I was getting more concerned as it seemed 80 percent of the field was fishing the area and more were fishing close to where I was fishing.

Wednesday, July 20

I decided I had learned all I needed to down in the S.O.F.A. so I decided to fish between Oconto and my primary area. We spent a lot of time driving around looking for bait fish in areas similar to my primary area down south. We found an area that was loaded with bait fish. It was also loaded with drum! We lost two good fish and caught one nice walleye. I was hoping to find a backup area but I just did not have enough time. This was a short day as we had the rules meeting at 4 and I had a ton of work to do so we were off of the water by 1 PM.

I was really optimistic but I was also very nervous.  Catch my next blog entry will cover the tournament days to see if I could stay on them.

AIM Mississippi River Recap

My first Anglers Insight Marketing (AIM) tournament is in the books and I had a disappointing finish, 23rd out of 31. I have had disappointing tournaments before but this one hurts more than others. After pre-fishing I thought I had a good chance at this one but my program fell apart.

Pre-Fishing

I fished this tournament on my own (many anglers "team up" with other anglers to find places, presentations etc.) and I only had 4 days to pre-fish. The tournament was on the Mississippi River in Dubuque. We could fish pool 12 (Dubuque) or we could lock up to pool 11 or lock down to pool 13. That is a lot of water to cover for one guy so I had to be as efficient as possible. I had a couple of friends, with knowledge of these sections of the river, help me out.

The first day of pre-fishing, Saturday, I went down to pool 11. We set up about 8 miles south of Bellevue only to notice that my new 12 ft. lead core rod was broken. Of course, I did not have a spare in the boat and we ran back up to the boat landing to get the spare rod. Not a good sign!

After finally getting set up we hit a fish right away but not the type of fish I would need to compete so we moved on. We then headed down to Savannah. We barely set up and had an 18 inch walleye. Minutes later we caught a 17 incher. We made another pass and caught a 20-1/2 inter and a 19 incher. I was starting to feel pretty good.

We made one more pass, to get a feel for the spot and caught a 16-1/2 incher. Unfortunately, another boat saw me reeling in the fish and he immediately followed my trolling line. We immediately switched to a Dubuque rig and started to fish the upper end of the spot on a current seam. I had one crush the jig and plastic. I did not have the drag set correctly and the fish came unbuttoned. This did not bother me at all as I was pretty sure it was a big walleye. Luckily the other boat did not see that I had a fish on. We left and the other boat did shortly as well.

I was really happy with this spot and we started checking other areas. We did catch more fish but nothing of significance.

Day 2 - We decided to stay in the Dubuque pool on day 2. We really struggled to find fish. We noticed a bunch of people fishing the Steamboat Flats but I decided to stay out of there. I knew that area was going to have a bunch of tournament fisherman in there and wanted to concentrate on areas that were off of the beaten path. We ended up only catching one 24 inch walleye. I was pretty sure I was going to go down to the spot I fished the day before for the tournament so I needed a couple of places to try on my way back. This spot would be a perfect spot to try.

Day 3 - I decided to try pool 11 on Monday. I wish I could take that decision back. I should have been looking for more spots down on pool 13. We fished wing dams above Cassville and caught 3 17 inch walleyes. By noon I knew that I would not be fishing up here so we left and took the boat back down to Dubuque. Even though we did not catch a keeper I had a couple of new spots I could try on the way back on tournament day.

Day 4 - I headed back down to pool 11 to check my number one spot. My first couple of passes were unsuccessful. I was getting a little worried that the fish had left. I tried a pass further out on the flat and immediately hit a 24 inch walleye. The water had been dropping and the fish had moved out on the flat.

That was all I needed to see trolling wise so I decided to try the upper end of the current break. On one pass I caught a 22 and a 21-1/2. I immediately left feeling really really good!

I did not have a lot of time left to pre-fish as all boats had to be off of the water by 2 PM. I tried to find similar spots to the one that was producing. I hit several other spots with no luck. I stopped at a spot about 4 miles south of the dam. I barely got my dubuque rig to the bottom and caught a 27 incher. I spun on the spot and missed a fish and my buddy missed one as well. This was in less than 10 minutes. I left immediately and looked for similar spots. Unfortunately, I ran out of time but I was feeling confident.

Tournament Day 1 - The only problem with my spots is they were a long way from where we take off and I had to go through a lock system. Eight or nine boats made the long run only to find a barge in the lock. Uh-oh! We fished the rip rap just above the lock and dam with no luck unless you call a catfish luck.

We finally got through the lock and ran another 20-25 miles down to Savannah. We did not get down there until after 9, so I had little time to make it happen. To my surprise there were two tournament boats fishing the same area I was. A third one came in shortly after I started fishing. These boats were pulling three-way rigs along the flat close to shore. I started out trolling crank baits using lead core.

I caught a 16-1/2 inch walleye on my first pass. I made several other passes with nothing. It was becoming obvious the fished had moved again. The water had come up and the fish moved closer to shore. While weighing my options the three boats close to shore started killing them.

I tried my three ways on the current break I was fishing the day before. The current had picked up out there and I did not get bit. I could have swung in behind the three boats and fished the way they were fishing. Because I did not fish the line that close to shore I chose not to. In the tournament fishing world it might be called "tailpiping". I have a friend that says I am stupid for not doing it. I am not sure how the other boats would have felt. Regardless, I stand by my decision even though it cost me a chance at a good finish in this tournament.

I went back to trolling and picked up a 17-1/4 incher and then hit a 26-1/4 incher. Both of those fish came at the upper end of the flat on the current seam. This seam ended up close to shore and I had to time my run so I did not run into the other three boats as they would end up in the same spot. I did my best but ran out of time and had to head back.

No luck in the Dubuque pool so I had to settle with the 3 fish that put me in 17th place one out of the cut. The other three fishing that area were in 2nd, 4th and 7th. That is where I thought I was going to be so being in 17th was a real let down.

Day 2 - The lock was open when we got there and we got right through. Even though I only caught 3 the day before I was confident that with more time I could have a good day. Unfortunately the rising water pushed that current seam even closer to shore. I did have one on but it came off before I could even grab the ride.

Because I did not get in behind the other three on day 1 I certainly was not going to follow their pass on day 2. To make things worse a local boat came in and drifted my trolling pass broad side. I switched back up to pulling three ways but with the seam closer to shore I found my pass difficult to run. I tried to time it as best I could but I found myself right in the middle of the other boats.

I made the decision to leave to try the spots that I had found in pre-fishing. I was unable to try them the day before because I ran out of time. I knew that if I left I could not come back but I rolled the dice. Unfortunately, the rising water changed my other spots and I was unable to get anything going.

Running out of time I decided to hit every wing dam and eddy that looked good. We casted crank baits and caught a lot of fish. Unfortunately, if they were walleye they were too small. We caught just about every other species in the river it seemed but we ran out of time and went back to the launch dejected.

It turns out that I only needed about 7 pounds to make the cut. I was emotionally drained and extremely disappointed. In tournaments like this you do not get many chances to be in the "hunt", especially when you are fishing alone. I spoke with one of the best and most successful walleye fisherman of all time. He said it was a really tough tournament because he only had one other "partner" there instead of the four they normally had saying "they had missed the bite". That other fisherman is also one of the best and most successful walleye fisherman of all time. To think they missed the bite and I was on one made me feel good but it also made me realize that I let this one slip away.

I went to bed on Tuesday night thinking I would catch 25 pounds. Things went downhill from there and I never recovered. At least I know that I gave it all I had and I fished with integrity. Now it is on to Otter Tail Lake!

FLW Lake Erie Recap - What I Learned

I have been putting off doing this blog as the FLW opener was not a good one for me. However, if I am going to write about the good I have to write about the bad! The good news? I learned a lot and will be able to apply my learnings in the future!

This was my first trip to Port Clinton, OH. I fished the FLW Detroit River tournament last year and spent some time in the lake. Even though I fished the river in that tournament, I did pre-fish the lake. It was an awesome bite and I expected to find a similar one in Port Clinton. Was I ever in for a surprise! The winds have been blowing hard all spring and the temperatures have been cool. The lake was a few weeks behind schedule according to most accounts and the fishing had been tough!

Pre-Fishing

My first day of pre-fishing was my best with 5 nice walleyes. The first one came on a crankbait where the tournament was actually won. I had a spread of harnesses out along with one crankbait. I checked this spot periodically and caught the 10-01 walleye above (crawler harness) along with several others. With the weather starting to stabilize I convinced myself that the harness bite was going to be the way to go. Mistake number 1!

The wind blew pretty hard Monday thru Wednesday. I checked my three go to spots on Wednesday. In spot number 1, where the tournament ended up being won, there was a nice mud line. I moved to spot number 2 which was directly east, it was chocolate milk so I moved to spot number 3. The water looked great and the water temp had risen to 53 degrees. That evening I checked the satellite images of the lake. With the east wind I thought that spot 1 and spot 2 would be chocolate milk. Mistake number 2! I decided to go with spot 3 for day 1.

Day 1

At take off the wind was out of the east at 10mph. When running to my spot I checked spot number 2, I was surprised to see the water had cleared up nicely. I decided to stop and fish as it appeared a thunderstorm was on the way. I picked up a six pounder on the second pass but could not get anything else to go. The storm had passed to the south so I headed out to spot number 3. To my surprise the water was dirty. There were plenty of baitfish but I was not able to find any walleyes. Knowing that I needed to get some fish I moved back to where I started. I thought I could grind out a few fish but to no avail.

I decided to head to my number one spot in pre-fishing. As I approached I knew that I had totally mis-read the water (mistake number 8 or something like that) as it looked like the entire U.S. Navy fleet was fishing the area. I was sick to my stomach but I still had an hour to put something together. I continued to pull harnesses despite seeing most pulling crankbaits. I was unable to get a bite and went back to the weigh-in with my tail between my legs.

Sure enough the majority of the field was fishing this area and there were some impressive weights. The same people that I was catching next to in pre-fishing were in the top 10. Talk about a kick to the stomach! Oh well, it is still fun to go on stage even though I am making fun of myself!

Day 2

I started where I finished Day 1. I immediately caught the smallest walleye in Lake Erie, an 18 incher. What? Are you kidding me? Oh well, I thought I would just cull it later, right? Not so much! I caught a 4-1/2 pounder shortly after and that would be it! I can't tell you how depressing it was to see fish being caught all around you! I left, tried a couple of other spots before coming back for the last hour without success.

I certainly learned that I need to experiment more, especially in the water column. Most were pulling crankbaits. After watching the weigh-in my problem was obvious, I was not fishing deep enough. I think I could have caught them on harnesses but I needed to fish deeper. All week the fish were telling me that they were deeper and they preferred crankbaits. Instead I thought I knew better and stayed with my program instead of the program the fish wanted. Duh!!!!!!!

This was a great learning experience. I definitely had my lunch handed to me! However, I was close to figuring it out. I just need to do a better job of adapting to the clues the fish give me. Some of these things have to be learned through experience and in this case, failure. That is Ok by me. I am a better fisherman after getting my butt handed to me. I just can't wait to get an opportunity to redeem myself!