11/8/2009:  Ron Nelson and I enjoyed the beautiful weather this morning while we were fishing on Paw Paw Lake.  It was 70 degrees outside and the water was 50 degrees so I thought we would catch a bunch of walleye and bass.  I tried every trick in the book and couldn't get anything going.  I never even marked a walleye on any rock pile and the largies just weren't cooperating. We did manage to catch a few small largies under docks but nothing huge.  Ron had a decent fish jump off that looked to be about a 3.5 pounder.  We fished for smallies for a little while as well.  They weren't eating either but I did manage to luck into a fatty that weighed a little under 5 pounds. 

 

October 19, 2009:  Well it's been awhile since I've been fishing but I hit up the river tonight with Mike Rappette.  The smallie action was a little slow at first but once we got tuned in to what they wanted we whacked'em.  I think we caught around twenty fish but most of them were over 3.5 pounds.  In fact our biggest five weighed 22 pounds!  I caught the biggest bass and it weighed in at 5.50 pounds.  Mike added a giant 5 pounder to the sack as our second biggest smallie.  The rest of them were right around 4 pounds each.  What an evening, the lake smallies are incredibly fat this year!

October 4, 2009:  It was a tough bite on Indian Lake for the Four Flags Classic.  The water was only 58 degrees and it was rainy and windy most of the day.  I fished with Mike Rappette and our plan was to probe a deep weed beds with crank baits.  When our cranks would hit the weeds we would rip the off as fast as we could.  It was tough fishing but we managed to catch 3 nice 3 pounders and a couple 14 inch largemouths.  Our limit ended up weighing 12.54 pounds and it was good enough for 3rd place.  John Gipson Jr. and Jim Weaver finished ion second place with 13.37 pounds of largies that they caught fishing docks and cranking.  The champions were Chad Poole and Steve Ohst with 13.72 pounds.  They also won big bass honors with a 4.70 pounder!  Great job everyone.

 

9-30-2009:  Mike Rappette and I fished Indian Lake this evening.  It was cloudy, windy and rainy.  The water temperature was down to 62 degrees and the fish are active.  We managed to find a couple nice schools of bass.  They were munching top water and jerk baits.  We caught most of our bass in 7 ft of water.  We fished docks for a little while as well but we couldn't manage a bite.  We have a classic on Indian on October 4 so wish us luck.

9-24-2009:  The big smallies bite on Lake Michigan was on this afternoon.  I launched from River Park in Benton Harbor and on the way down I fished a couple spots.  I managed to catch a few nice largemouth using top water but nothing big.  The no wake zone was a dead sea without any bass anywhere.  When I finally got to the lake I found some smallies that wanted to eat.  A tube bait was the ticket.  I caught 9 smallies and my best five were 16 pounds 10 ounces.

9/19-9/20-2009:  SMAC Classic Day 1:  This weekend I fished the 2 day SMAC Classic on Muskegon Lake.  The weather was amazing on day one and I was fishing alone so I decided to run to White Lake.  The big lake was a little grumpy even with an east wind so it took me about 30 minutes to get there.  I fished a couple of deep spots to start but I only managed short bass.  After an hour passed I moved to the no wake zone and proceeded to flip every piece of cover.  I was using 50 pound braid and 4 inch cover craws.  The bass were positioned in the craziest stuff I could find.  My biggest bass came from under a dock that had wood planks surrounding it and metal pipes crisscrossing under it.  I ended up catching all of my keeper under that dock.  They ended up weighing about 12.30 pounds.  I ran back to Muskegon at about 1:30 pm and tried to catch some upgrades but it never happened.  I ended day one setting in third place.  The leader had 15.91 pounds so I had some ground to make up tomorrow. 

SMAC Classic Day 2:  My partner John Gipson Jr. met up with me to fish day two on Muskegon Lake.  Our game plan was to hit up John's limit spot and search for kickers in Muskegon Lake.  I was another beautiful day and we were confident that we could win.  John's limit spot was on fire!  We put 15 keepers in the boat using top water first thing.  Two of the bass were around 3 pounds.  We mimicked the same pattern around the lake for the rest of the day and we caught keeper after keeper. It was a blast but we couldn't get any big fish.  We did a little better than yesterday with around 13.63 pounds.  Our 2 day weight was good enough to win!  It was only by a minuscule amount though.  Jim Horn and Chad Worvey were right on our heels.  The day one leaders ended up winning third place honors.  Overall it was a great event and a lot of fun.  Thanks to the directors and everyone who fished.

9-14-2009:  Tonight was the last Monday night Liars tournament and it was on the St. Joe River.  It was only a two and a half hour tournament so Jr. and I decided to fish for smallies in the river and leave the big lake alone.  We ended up doing pretty good two!  I caught 2 really quick that were both solid 3.5 pound smallies.  After about another 40 minutes of fishing we ran farther up river to find a couple more keepers.  While we were running I noticed bass chasing bait in the middle of the river so we stopped and fished them.  In a couple casts we had a decent limit in the well.  It pays to watch the water carefully.  We ended up winning first place with just under 13 pounds.  Ivan Schmetfield won big bass honors with a 4 pounder. 

9-13-2009:  I fished the NBAA Division 8 Classic on the St. Joe River today in Benton Harbor.  It was very calm, warm, and sunny.  I decided to fish a couple key rock piles around the pier heads.  The first bass I hooked was a giant 6 pound smallie that I fought all the way to the boat but it came off while I was trying to scoop it up.  I thought my day was over but I regained my composure and stuck a 3 pounder a couple minutes later.  The fishing was slow for a little while but then another school moved on to my rocks.  I caught two more fish back to back and they were both 3 pounders as well.  With three bass in the well other anglers started invading my water.  It was a little frustrating but I kept catching bass here and there.  I ended up catching 11 smallies on the day and my best five weighed around 15 pounds.  It ended up being enough to win me first place but I'm still ticked about losing that giant. 

9-1-2009:  September started with a bang on the Lake Michigan and the St. Joe River today.  John Gipson Jr. and I fished all day today because I officially start work tomorrow.   Today was my last day of summer vacation:(....  I know you all feel horrible for me.  Anyways, we started the morning fishing the big lake and we managed to catch 6 smallies on tube jigs and drop shot rigs.  We never caught any giants but John lost one that he thinks was around 6 pounds.  It was pri a sheephead!  At about noon we docked at Barny's Boat House for some lunch.  After a big lunch we ran up river and caught a bunch of small 2 pounders with rattle traps.  They were jumping about 3 ft out of the water and fighting like they were on roids.  At about 3:30 pm we motored back down to the no wake zone and started slaying some hogs.  I bet we caught around 15 big smallies in a couple hours.  I caught two giants back to back one was 4 pounds 10 ounces and the other was 5 pounds 2 ounces.  The river is on fire to say the least.

8/31/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished a Monday night Liars tournament on pipestone Lake.  We started the night skipping every dock on the lake.  We were able to put 5 nice bass in the livewells before 6:30 pm.  John caught our biggest bass on a crankbait while I was skipping docks.  We ended winning first place with just under 13 pounds.  Mark Nelson won big bass of the tournament with a 5.85 pound giant.

8/17/2009:  Thankfully John Gipson Jr. lived through capsizing on Bay De Noc to fish a LIARS tournament with me tonight on Paw Paw Lake.  We were on them all night long.  We started fishing in a torrential downpour so I threw a crankbait.  I caught one on my second cast and it was about a 3 pounder.  Jr. quickly added our biggest bass of the day that weighed 4.50 pounds on a jig.  We made a couple moves and put a couple more nice bass in the livewells.  Before we knew it we had 5 giant bass in the livewells.  We ended winning with 16.09 pounds.  We also had big bass!  Ron Nelson and Mike Rappette came in second place with 5 bass weighing 8 pounds.

8/15/2009:  Mike Rappette and I fished in a MATS tournament this morning.  It was a really nice day, almost 90 degrees and hardly any wind.  We started the tournament fishing a couple small weed beds on a break with jigs.  I put 3 fish in the livewells right away and one of them was about 4 pounds.  We skipped docks the rest of the day and managed one fish here and one fish there.  Mike caught all of the dock fish for the day.  I was happy with our performance today but we never got the big bites today.  We ended up with five decent fish weighing 12.73 pounds and that was good enough for 4th place.  The winner had 15 pounds but I'm not sure who they were. 

8/11/2009:  Kelly, Ron, and I fished Paw Paw today for walleye and it was tough overall.  We ended up catching 10 giant 35-40 inch pike and one 8 pound walleye.  We also caught a couple 3 pound bass.  Overall it was a fun day in the sun.

8/9/2009:  I fished a SMAC tournament alone today on Paw Paw Lake and I had a rotten time landing bass.  The first spot I fished gave up five huge bass but I couldn't land a single one.  I started skipping docks after that and put four small bass in the livewell.  While I was skipping I lost another giant while I was reaching for the net.  With 30 minutes left I moved to a point and started fishing a football head jig slowly on the bottom.  I felt a bite and set the hook on another giant but while I was reaching for the net she came off.  I was really bummed that I couldn't weigh in a limit.  I ended up with four bass that weighed 7 pounds.  Fabisak and Fletcher won with 15 pounds of largemouth bass.  Scott Crocker and his partner (?) came in second with 9 pounds.

8/6/2009:  Kelly and I fished an NBAA division 8 tournament on the Benton Harbor stretch of the joe tonight.  We decided to fish the river since the tournament was only three hours long.  I found the fastest current around and we fished it for a while.  I caught a couple two and half pounder on cover craws right away.  I thought we were on a nice school of bass but the bite fizzled out quickly.  We ran a little farther up river looking for more current but we couldn't find much.  We were fishing a small rock pile when Kelly caught another 2 pound smallie.  It was jumping like crazy but she managed to land it.  We ended up winning first place with 7.19 pounds.

8/5/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished the last Wednesday night SMAC tournament of the summer.  It was on the Niles stretch of the joe.  The water was crystal clear and the current was swift in a couple of places.  Jr and I fished up river to start and I caught our first keeper smallie.  We moved down river and started flipping the log jams with Jackall Cover Craws.  I caught two chunky largies fishing the wood.  Jr brought our last keeper of the night to the boat after he flipped his bait next two a dock.  We ended up winning with 4 bass weighing 7 pounds.  Ron Nelson and Make Barber came in second with 3 bass weighing 5 pounds.

8/4/2009:  My wife Kelly and I spent the day on Lake Michigan searching for deep smallmouth bass.  We found one school of bass in 26 ft of water but we only managed to catch 2 smallies.  They were positioned on a rock pile and eating gobies.  I caught the smallies using 6 pound Gamma Edge rigged up with a drop shot goby.  They were beautiful fish to say the least.

8/3/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished an Nbaa Division 25 tournament on Paw Paw Lake.  The start of the tournament was exciting.  Both of our first casts produced a 2.5 pounder and a five pounder.  John caught the big bass.  Our deep bite fizzled out so we skipped some docks.  The first row we skipped we were able to put 4 quality bass in the well.  Since we had our limit we fished deep for another giant.  It didn't materialize for us though and we ended up with just more than 14 pounds.  Randy and Jonathan Van Dam put together an 18.77 pound mixed bag to win first place.  They also caught the biggest bass of the tournament.  It was a 5.80 pound smallie.  Great job guys! 

8/2/2009:  Mike Rappette and I teamed up to fish a Four Flags tournament on Paw Paw Lake this morning.  We had a horrible time landind bass.  We had multiple 4 pound fish come off on their way to the boat.  I missed a 5 pounder with the net that came off right by the boat.  We still ended up weighing 17 pounds and came in second place.  Steve Ohst and Chad Poole won with 18 pounds.  The big story of the day was Steve's giant bass.  He landed a 6.5 pound largemouth! 

 

7/30/2009:  Kelly and I fished an NBAA Division 8 tournament on Paw Paw Lake tonight.  There were storms rolling in and the bass were feeding pretty heavily.  It seemed like a race to get to my spot tonight because another team in our division is trying to take it from us.  When we got there I caught four small bass and only two of them were keepers.  We fished around for another hour changing techniques constantly when I finally figured them out.  I put 4 nice bass in the box quickly off of one point.  The stopped biting for a while so Kelly and I moved to another deep spot that has a bunch of rocks.  I caught a four pounder on my first cast and Kelly followed up with a 4.6 pound largehead.  We caught a few more and a couple bigger bass got off.  We ended up winning the tournament with 18.23 pounds and Kelly's 4.6 pounder won big bass honors.  John Gipson Jr. and Jim Weaver came in second place with 13 pounds.  And rounding off the top three was Make Rappette and Steve Ficke with 12 pounds.

7/26/2009:  John and I fished Van Auken tonight and we sucked.  We got skunked!!!  Mike Delarossa and his son won with 12 pounds.  This was the first time I've been skunked in ages.  I'm bummed.

7/23/2009:  It felt like I went from worst to first tonight on Magician Lake in an NBAA Division 8 tournament tonight.  Well I went from worst to second anyways.  Kelly and I were fishing a break in the middle of the lake when a school of bass swam under our boat.  There were fish arcs shooting through balls of bait.  We put five bass in the livewell in about 15 minutes.  I lost a couple good ones that could have helped a ton.  We ended up coming in second place with 9.22 pounds.  John Gipson Jr. and Jim Weaver won the tournament with 12 pounds.  They also won big bas with a 3.28 pound largemouth.   

7/22/2009:  Jr and I fished a SMAC tournament on Magician Lake tonight.  We had a tough time finding bass that wanted to bite and when we did find some I think we were throwing the wrong baits.  Jr caught our only keeper with a crankbait.  It was a chunky 2.5 pound largemouth.  I only got four bites all night.  I caught one pike, two rock bass, and one small bass.  There were teams that did quite well tonight.  Ron Nelson and Mike Barber came in second place with 8 pounds of bass.  Jim Horn and Chad Worvey won first place with 5 bass weighing 13 pounds.  They also won big bass honors with a 3.5 pound largie.

7/20/2009:  John and I fished a LIARS tournament on the Benton Harbor stretch of the Joe tonight.  We decided to leave the river and run into the big lake to fish a couple rock piles.  We managed only 5 bite and landed 3 of them.  We caught two 3 pounders and one that was just less than 4 pounds.  They ended up being good enough for 1st place and big bass.  Ron Nelson and Mike Rappette came in second place with 3 bass weighing 6 pounds.

7/14/2009:  My old fishing partner Rich Charleston is back in town this week so we hit up Paw Paw Lake to relive our old glory days on the local bass tour.  We started the day cranking points with sexy shad Strike King plugs.  We caught a bunch of quality 3 pound largies in the morning but at about 9:00 am they stopped biting.  We jumped on the closest row of docks and started picking them apart.  We skipped senkos and weightless tube jigs.  The fishing wasn't as good as I expected but we managed to catch some nicer bass.  The biggest bass we landed was a 4 pound 6 ounce hog.  At about 3:00 pm the wind started blowing so we fished for pike and walleye for a little while.  Rich was on fire!  He caught 2 giant gator pike that were about 35 inches long and a couple 7 pound walleye.  It was a great day on the water to say the least.

7/12/2009:  The skies opened up and the good Lord shined on Mike Rappette and I today during a Four Flags tournament on Diamond Lake.  If I wasn't there to witness the miracle first hand I wouldn't believe it.  It felt like I was in the middle of an amazing fishing dream.  Diamond isn't exactly known as a big bass factory the last couple of years but I've heard rumors about hogzillas swimming around.  Mike and I were fishing around when I heard a sound, a sweet sound.  It was same type of sound that I heard when Rich Charleston hooked into a 50 inch musky.  Mike's drag was singing a big bass song!  He landed our first bass and it was a giant 5 pounder. We were screaming and fist pumping.  What a giant!  The rest of the day we averaged a fish every hour but they were nice 2 pound chunks.  Well, Mike was averaging a fish every hour.  I was keeping the small ones away from his bait most of the day and being the best net man that I could be.  But with 30 minutes left in the tournament I finally pitched in when I caught a decent 2 pounder.  I thought we had about 14 pounds and I thought we were having an incredible day but it was about to get better.  I made a cast to a specific peace of structure and my line instantly straightened.  I set the hook on the biggest bass I've ever weighed in during a tournament.  It was a Diamond Lake HOGZILLA that ended up weighing 5.34 pounds.  Mike and I were beside ourselves and now fishing in udder disbelief.  We still had a little time and things were rolling so we kept fishing hard.  With 5 minutes left Mike set the hook and brought in a 3 pound largie to cull out a 2 pounder.  We ended up weighing a limit of Diamond lake bass that was ridicules.  They weighed 19.50 pounds!!!! 

7/8/2009:  Tonight I fished the Buchanan stretch of the joe with John Gipson Jr. in a SMAC tournament.  We struggled mightily tonight!  I missed a big fish early with a jig and never recovered.  We caught a bunch of 13 1/2 inch fish but nothing we could keep.  With about 10 minutes left Jr. boated a chunky 3 pounder.  I few casts later Jr. set the hook on another big fish but it ended up being a catfish.  I think we ended up coming in 3rd place.  Jim Horn and Chad Worvey won first place with 5 bass weighing just less than 8 pounds.

7/6/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished a Monday Night Liars tournament tonight on Lake of the Woods.  The bite was tough for the most part but we managed to catch 5 decent bass.  I think the key for us tonight was downsizing to 6 pound test Gamma fluorocarbon.  We had 7 keeper bites and our best 5 weighed in at 12.14 pounds.  We also won big bass with a 3.69 pound largemouth.  Brian and Justin Spear won second place with 5 bass that weighed 9.00 pounds. 

7/2/2009:  There was a big bass bananza at Paw Paw Lake tonight during a Division 8 NBAA tournament!  Kelly and I thought we had a good bag of fish and a chance to win but we were dead wrong.  Although we had a decent bag that weighed just under 14 pounds it wasn't nearly enough.  We ended up coming in third place.  Mike Rappette and Steve Ficke came in second place with 15.50 pounds.  They also won big bass with a 5 and a half pound pigoid.  The champions tonight were John Gipson Jr. and Jim Weaver (Gramps).  They had a huge limit weighing 18.90 pounds.  Nice job guys!  They caught their bass using jackall "Muscle" crankbaits.

6/30/2009:  Historically Pipestone Lake is a big bass factory where everyone can catch a quality limit.  I was excited to tango with a couple of those big bass tonight in a Liars tournament.  I fished with John Gipson Jr. and we targeted the weed edge with cranks, jigs, and wacky worms.  We didn't catch much all night but we caught enough.  We only got seven keeper bites all night so it was slow going.  We ended up weighing 11.44 pounds and surprisingly it ended up being good enough for first place.  Mike Imler and his partner came in second place with 4 bass that weighed 8 pounds.  Hopefully Pipestone turns around for the rest of the summer.

6/28/2009:  Mike Rappette and I teamed up to fish a Master Casters Tournament on Paw Paw Lake this morning.  It was windy today so we decided to throw crankbaits around the weed edge.  We had great success in a couple of spots.  We had a small problem keeping our fish alive though.  At 10:00 am we had five bass that weighed 20 pounds in our livewell.  At 11:00 am we had a 4 pound smallie die:(...  We decided to replace it with a 3.5 pound largie to save us a dead fish penalty at the weigh-in.  That put us down to 19.50 pounds.  Well I looked in the livewell at 11:30 am and our biggest fish was dead.  I couldn't believe it!!!!  Luckily we still ended up winning and getting big bass with 19.5 (16.5 after deductions) pounds with a 4.8 pound largemouth. 

6/24/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished a SMAC tournament tonight on Lake of the Woods in Decator.  It was hot again but the fish were eating.  At least for me.  For some reason I was having great luck.  I put 4 good 2 pounders in the box right away.  I caught them using a Cross Tail Shad on a split shot rig.  John and I ended up culling 3 times before we ended up with 10.02 pounds.  It was only good for second place though.  Someone beat us with 10.30 but I'm not sure what their names were. 

6/22/2009:  The Monday Night Liars hosted a tournament on Paw Paw Lake this evening.  It was seriously hot and humid on the water.  The fishing wasn't bad either.  Most of the teams weighed in solid limits of bass.  Reporst at the dock were that anglers caught them shallow and deep.  John Gipson Jr. and I ended up winning with 14.16 pounds.  Herman Berry and his partner won big bass with a fit 4 pounder.  The most exciting part of tonights tournament was watching Scott Daivs and his son work a school of smallies feeding on top.  They ended up weighing 12 pounds with two beautiful Paw Paw Lake smallies.  Scott's son is quite the angler!!!

 

6/21/2009:  My Grandfather, Dad, wife, and I fished for perch in Lake Michigan this afternoon out of Bridgman.  We fished in 26 ft of water a little north of the old church camp.  The water warmed up to 64 degrees in the last couple days and it brought in pods of bait fish.  The perch seemed to be following them and munching on them when they had the chance.  We ended having a great day on the water and we boated 42 chunky 10-13 inch perch.  I was catching them on a full size bladebait.  Everyone else caught them using fatheads.  

 

6/18/2009:  My wife Kelly and I fished Paw Paw Lake tonight in an NBAA Division 8 tournament.  Kelly had the best tournament of her career.  She was slinging in big bass left and right.  We started the evening fishing deep but we couldn't get any bites.  I decided to start skipping docks right away.  I caught 3 nice bass under the docks but they weren't giants.  Kelly added a top water fish while I was fishing docks.  With an hour to go in the tournament Kelly asked if we could check one of the super deep spots in 34 ft of water.  I drove the boat over it and noticed some bait fish on it.  We started fishing and graph began to light up with big fish arcs.  Kelly caught the first big bass that jumped twice but Kelly skillfully landed her.  While I was putting her in the livewell Kelly had another big one hooked.  It ran and dug under the boat until I finally had her in the net.  Well, I put her in the livewell and was culling one out when Kelly's pole bowed up again.  She landed another 3.5 pounder!!  It was a treat to watch her in the zone.  I finally chimed in with a couple hogs and culled the rest of our babies out of the livewell.  All of this happened in about 20 minutes.  We ended up winning first place with 15.55 pounds and Kelly claimed the big bass prize with a 4 pound largie.  Make Rappette and Steve Ficke took second place with 11 pounds. 

6/15/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I teamed up for another Monday Night Liars tournament on Van Auken Lake in Hartford.  We started the evening fishing boat docks but we only managed one keeper.  We decided to fish the windy side of the lake for the rest of the tournament.  We targeted large weed mats and fished around them with jigs. We quickly put 3 more nice keepers in the boat.  Jr. caught our big bass while fishing the weed clump.  The last 30 minutes of the tournament I rounded out our limit with a top water plug fishing in about a foot of water.  We ended up getting second place with 5 bass that weighed just under 12 pounds.  Make Delerosa and his son won first place with over 14 pounds.

6/11/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I teamed up again to fish a SMAC tournament on the Benton Harbor stretch of the Joe tonight.  It was sunny, cold, and windy.  The fishing was tough for the most part until the last 30 minutes of the tournament.  We started by fishing for spawners but we only managed to catch a couple small keepers.  After a while we decided to fish the strongest current we could find.  It worked out pretty good because I boated 5 keepers pretty fast.  I caught the rest of our keepers using Poor Boys craws on a 1/16 oz weight.  We ended up weighing in just under 15 pounds with 5 smallies and we won 1st place.

6/4/2009:  Kelly and I fished an NBAA tournament on the Benton Harbor stretch of the Joe tonight.  We caught a bunch of small keepers fishing crayfish baits.  We culled our way up to around 14 pounds.  THe bass we were catching were fired up too.  They were jumping like crazy, and fighting with all their might.  Even the small ones were hard to land.   We ended up winning first place.

5/27/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I teamed up again to fish a S.M.A.C tournament on Magician Lake this evening.  We targeted post spawn largies that were feeding next to weed beds.  The bass were very cooperative for the most part.  We caught 14 keepers and were able to cull up to 11.11 pounds.  Our weight ended up being good enough for second place.  Jim Horn and Chad Worvey took first place with 11.80 pounds.  They also caught the biggest bass of the tournament and it weighed 4.57 pounds. 

5/25/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished the Cass Bass Masters Memorial Day tournament on Diamond Lake this morning.  We did not have much success catching big keepers.  We were able to catch a bunch of 13 to 14 inch fish but nothing muck bigger.  We saw a couple good limits come to the scale so we didn't even weigh in our 5 small bass.  It was fun catching smallies off the bed today but it was too bad they were all skinny males.

5/23/2009:  The tournament season officially started in Michigan today and I fished a Four Flags tournament on Eagle/Juno Lake with Mike Rappette.  It was a calm but chilly morning so instead of running we fished right by the ramp.  We caught a couple short fish but not any keepers.  After about 15 minutes we started targeting shallow rock beds.  Mike caught our first keeper of the tournament season next to a dock and it weighed around 2 pounds.  I started the season by missing a couple nice fish that I saw eat my bait in the shallows.  One was about a 3 pounder. 

An hour later the sky darkened and it started raining.  I decided to take us on the flat and fish cranks and jerkbaits during the storm.  It turned out being a good move because I quickly put a couple more keepers in the boat. 

Once the rain stopped the fish stopped biting so we moved in shallow and looked for spawners.  We weren't seeing much until I spotted a 3.5 on a bed.  Mike made a perfect cast towards it and the fish bit.  I was a nice kicker to have in the boat.  We rounded out our limit and headed in to the weigh in.  We weighed in about 10.50 pounds but it fell a little short.  13 pounds won but I'm not sure who the team was that had it.  Overall it was a good start to the season.  I think we finished first place out of the money.   

5/14/2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I fished Pipestone Lake this evening.  The water was high and murky but it was 63 degrees.  I thought the bass would be spawning but that wasn't the case. There were a few beds but I could count them on one hand.  The fish on them were easy to catch with a jig.  The majority of the bass were hanging around the weed edge.  We were able to get 15 or so to bite wacky worms and jigs.  John caught the biggest bass of the evening which weighed about 4 pounds.

5/12/2009:  I was able to get on the water for the first time in quite a while.  I fished with my wife for a couple hours.  The water was 62 degrees which means the bass were spawning in full force.  We used tubes to catch 13 smallies and 1 largie from the back waters.  Our biggest was a 4 pounder and our best 5 weighed around 18 pounds. 

5/4/2009:  Ron Nelson and I went sight fishing on Paw Paw Lake this afternoon for a few hours.  We started in the channels were the water was dirty and 60 degrees.  I managed to catch a couple bass that were 3 to 4 pounds that were swimming next to the seawall.  Next, we motored out to my best smallie area to find that the water was extremely muddy so there were no smallies to be found.  I did luck into a chunky 3.5 pounder.  Since everything was murky in the main lake we went into some backwater where we found spawning bass.  We used jigs and worms to catch a handful of 4 pound females.  While we were bass fishing we were also plucking nice 12 inch crappie off of the pad roots.  There is nothing in the world quite like sight fishing. 

4-30-2009:  I had a great time on Paw Paw Lake this evening fishing for spawning smallies and largemouth with Randy Nelson.  The fish were absolutely fired up!  Most of the bass were one to two cast fish.  We put together a huge 25-26 pound stringer of bass.  The water temperature was 60 degrees where we were fishing and 53 degrees in the main lake.  We caught most of are fish with jigs and a few with Bucketmouth B-Sticks.

   

4-26-2009:  John Gipson Jr. and I teamed up to fish a bass tournament on Wawasee put on by the LaGrange Bass Masters.  There were 60 boats fishing so the atmosphere at the ramp was awesome before the tournament.  My game plan was to start the morning fishing a main lake spot then look for spawners and cruising fish once the sun came up.  The first part of my plan produced zero fish and zero bites within the first hour of fishing.  We threw everything we had them but nothing was working. 

I decided to check my first spawning area at about 8:30 in the morning.  I was using my trolling motor to navigate in the shallow water when I saw a big fish on a bed.  She took about 20 minutes to get but she finally ate my jig.  She was a nice 4 pounder and a great start.  Jr added another 4.5 pound lady a short while after on a wacky worm.  A couple of casts later I saw another bed so I flipped towards it.  A big fish ate my jig instantly and started running.  She jumped then dove to the bottom getting my jig snagged on a branch and she came off.  I was a little bummed but Jr picked me up by boating another 4.5 pounder.  We finished our limit out with a couple of 15 inch fish that barely weighed 1.5 pounds each.

We ended up weighing 15.44 pounds and that was good enough for second place.  Ron and Randy Nelson won first place with 15.57 pounds of largemouth.  Overall it was a good way to start the season.

4-25-2009:  Michigan's catch and release bass season opened up today.  I fished the St. Joe River in Benton Harbor.  It was suppose to be a warm, sunny day, according to channel 22 and was excited to catch a bunch of smallies.  I launched around 10:00 am form the DNR ramp across the road from Tackle Haven.  I fished my first area and caught 4 in a row.  The biggest was 4.2 pounds and the rest were 3 pounder.  After that the skies turned black and the wind picked up.  Two seconds later I was soaked by a horizontal rain and dodging lightening bolts.  The day was a wash out and I was bummed.  Thanks channel 22!!!! 

1/20/2009-  I went ice fishing on a local pond in Bridgman looking for a crappie or two right before dark.  I drilled a couple holes and set my fish finder up in 7 ft of water.  I started jigging a fat boy tipped with a waxy when I got my first and only bite.  It took me around 10 minutes to get whatever bit to the hole but it wouldn't come through.  I look down into the hole and the wiskers of a giant cat fish.  I grabbed my scooper and used the hooked end to pull it throught the hole.  I'm not sure what it weighed but it was the biggest fish I ever caught through the ice.

 

 

Fall 2005

• November 05' Report.html

Spring 2006

• Fishing Report Mar_Apr 06.html
• May 2006 Fishing Report.html
• June 2006 Fishing Report.html

Summer 2006

• July 2006 Fishing Report.html
• August-SeptemberFishingReport.html

Fall 2006

• October 2006 Fishing Report.html
• November 2006 Fishing Report.html

Spring 2007

• Fishing Report (March, 2007).html
• Fishing Report (April, 2007).html
• Fishing Report (May, 2007).html

Summer 2007

• Fishing Report (June 2007).html
• Fishing Report (July 2007).html
• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/Fishing Report (August 2007).htm

Fall 2007

• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/September 2007 Fishing Report.htm
• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/octobernovember2007.htm

Spring 2008

• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/marchmayreport.htm

Summer 2008

• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/2008junereport.htm
• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/2008julyreport.htm
• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/2008augustreport.htm

Fall 2008  

• http://www.southwestmichiganbass.com/octobernovember2008.htm