Grand Lake FLW Tour

The fifth stop on the 2013 FLW Tour took place this past weekend on Oklahoma's Grand Lake.  Anglers were greeted with high, muddy water so it was a situation that was new to me.  My results weren't great in the tournament, finished 99th out of 150 anglers, but I did manage to catch some fish and weigh in limits each day.  They just weren't the right ones.  

I had a decent practice, catching fish flipping a 1/2 oz Northland Jungle Jig around in the flooded bushes and laydowns on the bank.  The bigger fish were random for me though and in the tournament I didn't get that many opportunities at big ones.  

We get three days to practice for these FLW Tour events so for most of the anglers, including myself, it's all about fishing from dark to dark.  At this event I was launching the boat at 5:30 am and pulling it out at 9:00 pm.  

Here was an encounter I had with a snake during practice...I snagged it accidentally with a topwater lure.  Needless to say I cut the line and sacrificed my lure.  

Here is a look at what the flooded Grand Lake looked like in many places along the bank. Most of the anglers that did well in the tournament were catching fish flipping in these bushes.  

Here was another nice one from practice.  As you can see by the tail on this fish, it's not far off spawning.  

Like I said, though my results were not great in this event, I did at least catch some fish.  It's not like I finished in the 90's and only caught two fish per day.  I was able to catch decent numbers.  I also lost a couple of big ones the first day and had I landed those I would have flirted with cashing a cheque, so I was not to far off being on the right program.  I probably just wasn't in the best area on the lake.  

There is one event remaining on the schedule at Lake Chickamauga in Tennessee coming up in a couple weeks, so I'm headed home this week for a bit, then headed back down south for the last event.  

Long road trip!

I left Kenora on May 6 and have been on the road ever since so it's becoming a bit of a long haul!  I'm having fun though!  My Dad joined me for the first part of this trip, as we went to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin to compete in a one-day NABC tournament on Lake Michigan.  It was the the weekend before the annual Sturgeon Bay Open tournament that I have participated in for several years and my Dad had never been out there before so it was a great opportunity to get a few days of fishing in at this great smallmouth fishery.  

There are more five pound plus smallmouths at this place than anywhere I know of, always a lot of fun, weather permitting!  

We had a pretty good practice for the tournament and were prepared with what we thought was a good game plan for a one-day shootout.  The day of the event the wind was blowing really hard out of the north, which is always the worst for this place.  We made the run to Little Sturgeon Bay and made it without to much problem, though we were wet and cold!  After a change of clothes, it was time to get busy!  When we started fishing we noticed the water temperatures had dropped off significantly from where it had been the day before, from 52 degrees down to 42 degrees!  Not good!  We ended up putting one five pound fish in the boat and then decided at 11:30 we would try to run back up to Sturgeon Bay to hit a few spots there.   When we reached the mouth of Sturgeon Bay, the waves were some of the biggest I have ever seen in my life, 6-8 footers, so we made the decisison to turn around and pull into the marina in Little Sturgeon and load the boat on the trailer.  We had to make an 18 hour drive south to Eufaula, Alabama following the event and this was a call that we made because I didn't want to risk damaging anything on my boat because I needed to have it ready to go two days later to start practicing for the Eufaula FLW Tour event and I did not have any time to get anything fixed.  We weren't the only ones who packed it in early, five other boats joined us in getting a ride on land to pick up our trucks.

My Dad travelled with me down to Eufaula and participated in his first event as a co-angler.  We had a fun practice for this tournament and caught a decent number of fish, epecially on the last day when my Dad put on a clinic for me!  I felt like I had a really solid program going into this event, throwing a Jackall Flick Shake worm around some docks and throwing an Iobee Frog in the shallow grass during the afternoons.  

The first day of the event went great, I caught 13-06 and was in 38th place, not to far off the top 20 pace, so I was happy.  I had a strong finish to the day and was really optimistic that I would have a great second day.  My co-angler from day one, Jason Johnson had an even better day and boated over 15 pounds which landed him in first place in his division.  He ended up second overall...a great dude that I enjoyed sharing the boat with.  

Fishing is a humbling sport is what I learned on day two!  I fished my butt off all day and was only able to put one small keeper in the boat to end up with a 90-something place finish.  I'm not really sure what happened, looking back, I'm not even sure what I would have done differently, it was just one of those days.  I did miss a couple of big blow-ups on a frog and caught a bunch of short fish, but it just wasn't my day.  I wish I could do it over again, that's for sure!  I'm thinking the fish I was catching were just on their way out and had the tournament been a couple of days earlier I probably would have been able to put something good together.  Oh well, move on to the next one. 

After Eufaula, I moved up to Dayton, Tennessee, on the shores of Lake Chickamauga to get a little pre-scouting in for the final FLW event at the end of June.  I had a good time fishing on Chickamauga and caught a few nice fish.  Spent a lot of time scouting around with my Side-Imaging, looking for offshore structure and cover.  I found a bunch of stuff that looked great so hopefully it will hold some fish when we come back in June!  

I did catch some nice fish throwing rattle baits like this Jackall TN70 in the evenings and early mornings...so that was fun.  Looking forward to going back there in a few weeks!

This week, my fiance August came down to visit me and we spent a few days in Nashville which was a blast!  We're in Branson, Missouri now, working our way over to Grand Lake, Oklahoma, site of the next FLW Tour event next week.  I will post a report on the Grand Lake tournament when I get home.  You can follow online next week at www.flwoutdoors.com 

Beaver Lake FLW Tour

I've been a little bit slow to post a report on my latest FLW Tour event a couple of weeks ago at Beaver Lake, Arkansas.  This was the third of six events on the season and it went pretty good for me.  It was my best finish so far on the season, 45th place, which netted me a $10,000 cheque!  These FLW tournaments pay $10,000 to 50th place, so the main goal is to make it into the top 50 at each event.  It sounds easy, just finish in the top 50, but let me tell you, it isn't!  These guys are very competitive, there are a lot of hungry anglers out there!  

In the tournament I ended up catching all of my weigh fish on a Jackall Squad Minnow 115 jerkbait.  I got on a jerkbait deal in practice and just kinda ran with it through the event.  I probably should have spent a little more time fishing deeper around some of my better spots with a drop-shot rig but it's all a learning process.  I did catch some nice fish drop-shotting after the event was over.  

Here are a few photos from fishing at Beaver Lake.  It was a fun lake, lot's of fish.  

Here was a nice spotted bass that I caught in practice.  I caught it on a Northland Bug-A-Boo Jig off of a dock.  

Also from the first day of practice, a big largemouth on a Yellow Hammer Umbrella Rig.  As it turned out, most of the top finishing anglers in this event fished an umbrella rig, I just couldn't get enough bites on it to use it in the tournament.  I think I need to get on a body of water where there is a hot bite happening, catch some fish on it and get some confidence.  It catches big ones! 

My practice partner, Darryl Galusha from Kenora with a nice walleye...Beaver has plenty of them as well!  

Beaver Lake has a unique population of MEANMOUTH BASS, shown in this picture.  They are cross bretween a spotted bass and a smallmouth.  They are kinda shaped like a spot, yet coloured like a smallmouth.  Pretty bass!

The day after the tournament I got to spend a couple hours in the boat with some of the top anglers on the FLW Tour going through some Minn Kota/Humminbird product training.  From L-R - Tim Price from M.K./Humminbird, Brent Ehrler, Chad Morgenthaler and Brett Hite.  It was fun and we got to see the new Humminbird 360 in action, as well as some of the new features of the I-Pilot Link system.  

I fished Beaver for a few days after the tournament and caught this big largemouth on a Jackall Mudsucker topwater bait.  

Next event is mid-May at Lake Eufala, Alabama.  Follow online at www.flwoutdoors.com 

KrugerFarms.com / Crown Royal / Sunset Country Sweepstakes

For my friends in the U.S., KrugerFarms.com, Ontario's Sunset Country and Crown Royal are doing a promotion that will bring two anglers up to experience Ontario's TOP-NOTCH fishing in August 2013.  

Visit https://www.krugerfarms.com/cr/age_verify.cfm to enter these sweepstakes!  

At this point, this offer is only open to residents of the United States, we're working on doing a Canadian promotion down the road.  You must be 21 years of age to enter.  

Ice fishing in Sunset Country

I have been living on the ice over the past week or so, catching a little bit of everything.  Obviously conditions are much different than they were last year at this time.  We were getting ready to launch the boats! Right now you need an extension on your auger to get through the ice in a lot of places.  There is still a bunch of snow...we're probably looking at a mid-May ice out.  Fishing has been okay over the past week, but not as good as it normally is during this timeframe when the snow is usually all gone.  We have caught some good walleyes, lake trout, crappies, whitefish and a few pike.  Pike, in particular have been dismal compared to normal...they just aren't in the shallow stuff as much as they will be in another week or two I'm thinking. Still, the beauty of our area is that there is always something biting!  

Sean McAughey and I with a pike and a walleye caught minutes apart just before dark...highlight of that day! 

Bruce Wilson from Minnesota with an eater sized walleye...always fun and usually plentiful!  

Eric Naig of Northland Fishing Tackle with a really nice whitefish...they are fun under the ice, usually hungry and they are great fighters. 

Sean McAughey preparing a nice walleye shorelunch...gotta eat good when you're putting in those 12 and 13 hour days on the ice!  

Crappies have been biting really good!  

Scott Dingwall with one of the biggest whitefish I have ever seen!  Magnum 8 - 10 pounder that he caught while we were chasing crappies.  

That's about it for me on the ice this year...I'm on my way south again for the next FLW Tour event at Beaver Lake, Arkansas taking place next week...Apr. 11-14

I'll probably still be able to get on the ice when I get back to chase some big pike...walleye season will be closed.  Or, hopefully the snow will be gone so my friends and I can get in the woods to start looking for some deer sheds and do some scouting for next fall.  One thing that is for sure, there is always something fun to do at home!