Whitefish Tournament Day

My plan was to go after the smallmouth that I knew were in the area. I know if I can just get two or three of them to bite, they would be good ones and all I would need is a couple 2 pound largemouth and I would cash a check. If I could get them and a couple 2.5-3 pound bass, I would have a really good shot to win.

We arrived on our starting spot and began throwing topwater. Conditions were good, it was overcast and a little breeze in the air. I threw a lucky craft sammy for about 25-30 minutes and had no takers. After the wind picked up a little bit, I switched to a all white spinner bait (including blades) and a trailer hook. On about my 10th cast with the spinner bait, something CRUSHED my blade. After a few cranks it soared into the air and my co-angler and I got very excited. After a great battle that lasted a couple minutes I got it into the net. Thank god for the trailer hook, since it was the only hook in the fish. This smallmouth was a solid four pound fish. That's what I needed and it was the first fish of the day. I knew if I could get one more of those it would go a long way. Two four pounder's and three two pounder's would get me 14 pounds and would put me right there. This was going through my head and I may have gotten a little too fired up and after a couple hours, and no more fish in that area, my excitement soon turned into panic. I knew that I couldn't waste this fish by not getting a decent limit.


We left that area and looked for some largemouth's on a weedline that I had caught a bunch of fish on in practice. I didn't catch many big fish, but I knew there was a lot of fish there and I knew if I could catch as many as I did in practice, I would leave there with four two pound fish to go with my four pounder. We worked the area (hindsight too fast) and caught a couple fish that made it to the well, but not nearly the amount I had in practice. My non-boater caught a decent keeper that I "blew" right by with my texas rigged Berkley Power Worm. I caught a ton of fish with this lure in practice and always do. I just think I was working it too fast this time, which I rarely do.

We then headed back towards the launch site to hit a little inside turn on a weedline where I caught a couple nicer fish in practice. On the way I decided to stop by the smallmouth area as we were driving right by it. We spent about 30 minutes there with no luck. The only reason I stopped was the conditions were still right and some time had passed since we were last there.

Pulled up on the inside turn and caught a small weigh fish on the power worm. My non-boater lost a good fish on top of the flat which would of helped either of us. Worked the turn a little longer and had no takers. We then turned around and worked the top of the flat where my non-boater lost that decent fish with spinner baits and shallow running crankbaits. The only thing we could get to bite were a couple smaller bass and a bunch of small pike.

It was now noon and I only had one good fish and a couple small ones and the rain was coming down pretty good. Decided to make a change and go shallower. I went up the river where I found some decent fish in practice the day before and had some follow our Outkast Swim Jigs that I knew were still there. We worked the mouth of the river with no success. As we kept going into the river we had a couple swirls on the swim jigs but no takers yet. I knew the further we went up the river the better the population of fish was. I soon caught a decent 2-2.5# fish on the swim jig and got a little more fired up. However, we did not get any more fish in there and time was getting low.

Once I left the river I went to a shallow reed bed and started throwing a topwater frog. I had a blowup on my third cast but failed to hookup. After another five casts I boated a keeper. Well, I at least had a limit now, but was not impressed by all but the smallmouth. My non-boater was able to get his limit out of this area as well.

With about 30 minutes left until weigh-in we hit a weedline with some good cabbage on it. Fortunately for us the fish were biting really good there. We both upgraded a couple fish, but soon ran out of time. I know we could of upgraded more of our fish there if we had more time. I'm not saying we could of cleaned house in that area, but I really think we both could of added at least another pound to our weight.


I headed to weigh-in with mixed emotions. I knew I did ok, but I also knew I let a great opportunity (4 pound smallmouth) pretty much slip away. All I had to do was get a couple more decent fish and I would of been in the top five. I ended up in 15th place for the tournament. Which, I am pleased with, but I knew what could of been...

Lesson Learned
I actually took a couple things away from this tournament. I made a decision on the final day of practice to not head to an area I knew "should" produce the winning bag. Sure enough, the top two places were out of this area. I thought the lake was too "behind" for weed growth for the fish to be there, but I still should of checked it.

I also realized after the tournament how rushed I was during that day. After I caught that smallmouth I should of taken a few minutes and relaxed. Got my composure back and focused again.