Thursday July 15
My partner, Miles, and I launched my Champion at Sunset Park in Sturgeon Bay at 615 PM. We hit 5 to 6 spots and it was obvious that the smallmouth were not real active. At about 730 the wind knocked down a bit and I was able to control the trolling motor on the long weedbed in the Northeast corner of the bay. I threw three different swimjigs and didn't get bit. Miles caught 3 bass over 13 inches on a blue chrome rattle trap. When we got to the motel just we met up with boaters Joey and Kevin and agreed to launch at a different ramp depending on the wind direction.
Friday July 16 (Thanks Eddie J)
When we woke up the wind was blowing from the west so we decided to launch on the Lake Michigan side. Joey had talked to Eddie who had agreed to show Maple Bass an area that not everyone was familiar with. We traveled in a convoy to this area and the three boats boats started to fish a point that had rock and weeds. After about ten minutes without a hit I decided to takeoff for the other side of the bay. Miles and I fished for two hours and all I had was one keeper on a swimjig. I like to find my own fish and try to make it a point not to fish other anglers' water. I decided to check with the other two boats before I went to another area. When we got back we found out they were hammering smallmouth and thought they could get their limits if they concentrated on this huge area. Joey assured us there was enough room for our whole club in this area so we stayed and Miles and I were glad we did as Miles got his first limit with the club.
Last year in July on the Sunday tournament I caught three fish that weighed over 15 pounds collectively but I could not put 2 more keepers in the boat. My partner Kevin did not have a bite. Eddie J and his partner both had limits in his area. Joey told us there was room for the whole club and we should stay and catch fish. He was yelling at us not to leave when we crossed the bay but we did not hear him. He told Miles to throw plastics on 8 pound test and to use a one eighth ounce weight. He told me to sit in six feet of water and to throw in the rocks and weeds in three feet of water. The smallmouth were very thick in the area. All six of us caught and released a limit of bass. We didn't leave the area until Joey's trolling motor ran out of juice and he tired of drifting. When we were done it was the best day of practice for Maple Bass since the late 1970's when the limit at Castlerock Flowage on the Wisconsin River was 5 largemouth and 5 smallmouth. Thanks Joey.
Saturday July 17 ( My largest stringer in years)
What a fabulous day
* Over 20 pounds of bass to the scales
* Stringer of the Year
* Big Bass of the Year 5 and 3/4 pounds
* 1st place in the tournament
The day started very slowly. I fished for 2 hours in the spots where I did real well last year before I lost my drift sock. Miles and I did not have a bump. I could tell Miles( remembering the day before) was getting bored and nervous so I told him let's go join the club. When we got to Eddie's area where the other 5 boats had started without us the party was already on. Zak told me he had released two bass around three pounds. In practice I was dead sticking or slowly dragging or hopping a tube. But to see everyone catching bass got my adrenaline up and I resorted to my favored practice: Swimming a Tube.
What a day. With the wind at my back I was launching the ISG Green Pumpkin with Gold Fleck tube with 12 pound Big Game line and 1/4 ounce open hook jig. The fish devoured the bait as it hit rocks or swam it over one to two foot of water around weeds and rock. My partner Miles had 4 solid keepers on 8 pound test which he was slowly dragging over the rocks.
About two hours before the tournament was over I returned to the point where I got my biggest bass last July on a chrome Rattle Trap. When they wouldn't hit the trap, I put on a 4 inch green pumpkin with copper fleck ISG senko styled stick bait. I used a weedless hook, 12 pound Big Game and put a brass nail in the tail and a steel nail tip in the head. I was sitting in 8 to 10 foot of water. When the bait flickered down about half way I had big smallie of the year crush it while her sister watched. I'll remember this day on the water for a long time.
Sunday July 25
Sunday was a different day. For the first time of the year there was a skunk in the boat. I did not get a hit. The bottom line is that I did not adjust. I did not switch from 12 pound test to 8 pound test. I stayed in 1 to 2 foot of water instead of moving to deeper water. The day was totally different and I kept doing what I did on Saturday to win the tournament. Big mistake. After two hours, half of the boats in Maple left the shallow flat that produced so heavily when it was sunny and windy but was barren when it was cloudy and still. They traveled all the way north to Washington Island area and quickly caught their limits. Some of the guys stayed all day and caught a few. I worked my way back to the ramp. After fishing Maple Club tournaments for 36 years my biggest problem is still: when to stay and when to go.
I don't like to run a lot of miles on Lake Michigan in an 18 foot Champion. Sometimes in my dreams I remember the horribly rough ride over huge waves in Escanaba, Michigan. Thank God most of my dreams are about catching huge smallmouth.
I keep telling you guys out there Maple Bass is a great club which shares and helps new members. Come visit us. Go back to our home page and study the individual weights. See how many guys had a limit of bass which averaged three pounds. Imagine fishing with us the oldest club in Illinois.
Loading ...