BOAT 109!!
Last Out, But NOT Last Place!!
I have said it before, and I will say it again:
I am not a huge fan of tournament fishing!!
It is not so much an ethics-moral issue, they have just never been high on my list. With that being said, I have now fished 4 of these Casino Cup tournaments on Devils Lake with varying results. Curtis talked me into doing it in 2019 and we had a great plan, we got a little lucky, and managed to turn in a 3rd place finish. In 2020 we slipped to 24th and a year ago it was 44th.
I get torn over the judgement of others on where your name appears on that leaderboard. Tournament fish ARE NOT eaters and are certainly not guide fish and chasing what would be considered a tournament worthy fish takes patience and resilience. Knowing the big fish are in an area, you can actually see them lounging in a weed bed, they are huge…
And They Just Won’t Bite!!
Well, it’s enough to make me pull my hair out.
I have a renewed respect for every person that has ever entered one and for those who do it on a consistent basis, I salute you. My nerves couldn’t handle it.
My first fish of the morning, when we got to our #1 spot was what I thought to be a HUGE one. Screaming line off my reel and just not stopping. WHen she finally stopped and started coming in, it was shakes and no more runs and I was positive I had one of the 26-29 inch Walleyes we were looking for!!
Boy was I wrong!!
Tail hooked SUCKER!!!!
The fact that Curtis hooked into that 8 pound, 29-incher just a few casts later made the Sucker a little easier to swallow.
Then The Wind Died!
It’s called a Walleye Chop for a reason and around 10 o’clock, the wind conditions we had were the exact opposite of it. Dead Calm and clear water do not make for ideal Walleye conditions and for the next 4 hours we landed exactly 0 more fish. Statement of the day from Mr. Blake:
What a waste of an awesome fish!!
I had come to accept the fact that we were weighing only 1. I was frustrated and I had lots of negative thoughts going through my head. Part of that was the fact that I had missed a 26-27 incher 2-feet from the boat. Got two cranks into her before she shook loose. Part of it was an ego thing, how can the three of us have THIS bad of a day. How can we only catch 1 stinking Walleye, on Devils Lake no less. It was just something that I couldn’t come to grips with.
Then the tickle on the back of my neck said that help just might be on the way.
The wind actually started to ripple the water a little and there was hope.
Then Curtis picked up a 25
Curts picks up a 20, with that big fish; approaching respectability.
(At this point Troy and I just told Curtis we were there for moral support)
Troy had a really good one follow to the boat.
We missed a couple.
Then the clock became our enemy.
Set an alarm for when we had to go and kept casting.
BOOM!!
Troy with a 23-24 incher.
Two to go.
Boom, another 20!!
And at this point I don’t remember who caught it cause my adrenaline was full blast.
We were down to 10-15 minutes before we had to head back and right at the boat…
WHAM!!!
25-INCHER!!!
And we had 6 fish to weigh. We had 6 good fish to weigh.
We actually had roughly 10 minutes where we could have probably kept casting but the vote was 2-1 to not risk it, take it easy on the way back and give us time to check fish and recirc at every bridge.
I didn’t know exactly what our weight was going to be but I was hoping top 15. Curtis always estimates low, so when he says 23-26 pounds I knew we had a pretty good bag. I also knew that my inability to land that 26-27 incher was gonna cost us in the end.
We made it back easily and we probably should have fished another 15 minutes. 29.96 pounds later and 2nd biggest fish we had a 5th place finish in our pockets. To all of you that also fished the tournament, we salute you!! The utmost respect for the fact that you are willing to put yourself out there! It is not for everyone, it can be a lot of fun at times, and definitely nerve wracking.
Huge respect for Deutz/Holte/Subart, you guys are always on the top of the board, I’ve learned so much from Chris Holte just chatting on the phone and discussing what we are seeing.
Armstrong/Vasichek/Kraft, it is always nice to see people we talk to, are friends with, and talk fishing with; do well.
Clemens/Schumann/Ramberg, names that pretty much all Devils Lake anglers recognize.
Huber/Gasal/Gianakos, well done.
And to all of the other anglers, until next year, Good Luck and Godspeed!!
On To The Fishing Report!!
Today we pulled spinners and though we were a little frustrated right away, once we zeroed in on a depth; we found many willing biters and all of them were quality fish. The fishery, as you can see by the tournament weights, is in unbelievable shape. We don’t get on them everyday, but once dialed in and on them, the results are pretty darn spectacular.
The money depth was 8-12 feet and it seems like that sweet spot is moving out just a little bit. Definitely still crankable but with clients int he boat and numbers were the goal, absolutely spinner worthy.
Before this clearing effect across the lake, there were a lot of very shallow areas that were still dirty enough to be crank-effective. Some of those spots have cleared up considerable and to effectively get the fish out of them, at least until they muddy up a little, live bait and spinners might be the answer.
If you can find shallows that have a little stain to them, by all means attack them with cranks or plastics but try to avoid those shallow clear areas.
I Love It!!
PITCH AND PULL!!
It iss o much fun when you can go out and pitch until your arm is sore and then sit back, set the rods in the holders, and just pull some spinners along some weeds, up on an edge, or over structure. One of our structure spots today was a road bed, they weren’t on top of it the whole time but there were definitely relating to it.
Our most effective cranks lately are shown here. They aren’t a rule but they are a starting point.
Right now:
- Look for weed beds and fish there edge.
- Look for sharp cuts adjacent to structure.
- Look for timber edges.
- Hit the road beds.
- Look for 6-10 foot flats.
In the mornings and evenings get on structure; points and humps. So many areas that are holding fish and so many different structures to fish and quite honestly; so little time.
2 Spinner colors that were fishy today, Purple with Silver Stripe when there were some clouds, Chartreuse when it cleared and the sun got high.
Good Luck out there!
