WOW – What a tourney. Winning weight of 20 SM for a total of 102lbs 9oz. Have to feel bad for Cory Johnson with 100Lbs 5oz and the biggest bag of the tourney on the last day and still finished 2nd. What a incredible fishery. I’d love to go there someday and experience it myself.
Those top weights are ridiculous for a smallmouth event. Most largemouth events down south don’t even put up weights that high.
The final two events should have a bit of more “local” feel to them being in LaCrosse and Mobridge. Mobridge will likely be all smallmouth but LaCrosse is usually a mix of both largemouth and smallmouth.
I think the kid for WI has to be a favorite at the next one as well. Little doubt in my mind he has fished Oahe a few times.
The Lake Oahe Event in underway. It looks like local boys Josh Douglas, Seth Feider, and pat Schlapper are all off to a good start. Sounds like practice for most guys was really tough. The weights are not going to be anywhere near where some of the predictions were after some of these guys practiced there around this time last year. At that time there were all catch 20 lb. bags. Sounds like a 14-16 Lb. daily average is more likely now. Lake Levels are way down – Not sure if that is what is effecting the bite or something else. Always fun to watch them on Smallmouth lakes
I just read about how tough the pre-fishing was this week there. Apparently the water levels are down between 3-4 feet from a year ago…which is very strange because the drought was much worse last year than this year.
The anglers are commenting about how “nomadic” the smallmouth are there. They are just constantly roaming around. Very little structure-oriented fish. So its like chasing a moving target which is really not a recipe for success.
Predictions are about 15-17 pounds/day for the winner at this point which is not very good.
Something else to keep in mind is that the cell phone service is very sporadic there so the live updates are not going to be accurate. There is going to be a fair amount of anglers without any live updates all day too.
I think there will be a fair # of anglers who do not catch a limit. I also think it may be possible that someone blows this tourney away. Someone will crack the code of how to find and catch those BIG SM out in some really deep water. Rather on the bottom or suspended.
Looks like a fairly nice average yesterday for the top 10. Never fished out there, but that code must be pretty tricky. How would you like to be the guys that came in with 5 – 1lber’s? Wind is supposed to kick up today so it’ll be interesting to see how things shift for the leaders.
It is much more windy today, and going to increase more by the weigh in time. That may make for some interesting rough rides in. Going to test the equipment for sure. I see several guy already have a decent weight for today. SM specialist Chris Johnson is showing 17-12 and Lee Livesay shows 18.0. None of the local boys are showing as reporting. Several of them had a good start yesterday.
Some great finishes by the boys from Mn. and Wisc. Felix getting the job done and picking up his first Win. Seth Feider 7th, Bob Downey 22nd , and Pat Schlapper 26th. The local guys should probably do well at the final event This week on the Mississippi out of La Crosse as well.
Some great finishes by the boys from Mn. and Wisc. Felix getting the job done and picking up his first Win. Seth Feider 7th, Bob Downey 22nd , and Pat Schlapper 26th. The local guys should probably do well at the final event This week on the Mississippi out of La Crosse as well.
Steven Point’s Jay Przekurat took 13th too. I’d expect him to do pretty well on the Sipp
Did any of these bass guys trade out their rocket ships for a deep v windshield boat in the wind? I’d think that would be a big advantage with how bad the wind was this weekend. But I know that might be tricky with wraps/sponsorships on their regular boat.
No, and I don’t think they’re allowed to swap out boats except for mechanical failures. Yes, a deep v windshield boat may handle the water better and be a more comfortable ride, but for their style of fishing it wouldn’t be as conducive and would be harder to land a larger fish without a net. The anglers still made long runs on Friday with the strong winds (some upwards to 115 miles one way) and still traveled quite fast despite the 3-4ft swells. Although, every angler commented at weigh-ins how rough it was.
Did any of these bass guys trade out their rocket ships for a deep v windshield boat in the wind? I’d think that would be a big advantage with how bad the wind was this weekend. But I know that might be tricky with wraps/sponsorships on their regular boat.
I think the swap the guys wanted to make were for 60 inch trolling motor shafts to keep their FFS transducers in the water/waves. I’m sure some of them did…
Frydog, that’s very true!
Did any of these bass guys trade out their rocket ships for a deep v windshield boat in the wind? I’d think that would be a big advantage with how bad the wind was this weekend. But I know that might be tricky with wraps/sponsorships on their regular boat.
Don’t know of any boat swaps. There are a few guys fishing Aluminum boats this year. Several in Crestliner and a few in Express. Although a Deep V with a windshield would be nice for the run. It would make fishing in the wind even harder I’d believe. A deep V siting high off the water with a big windshield who catch a ton of wind and make boat control rather difficult I would think. There is more reasons than just to go fast that those bass boats are made the way they are. Sitting with less boat out of the water is one of them. You would be surprised of how well some of those Bass boats handle the rough water. They fish in some really big waters under some tough wind condition each year and seem to handle it rather well.
I think the swap the guys wanted to make were for 60 inch trolling motor shafts to keep their FFS transducers in the water/waves. I’m sure some of them did…
I’m sure you are correct on the longer shaft switchouts. Most of the anglers carry a spare trolling motor or at the least a long shaft.
How would you like to be the camera guy along for some of those rides?! Sounded like there were a lot of repairs going on after Friday.
How would you like to be the camera guy along for some of those rides?! Sounded like there were a lot of repairs going on after Friday.
Ya. I’m sure in those big waters they fish, lots of bodies and equipment getting hurt. Those guys tend to push it hard to get the most time fishing possible and still make it back to weigh in on time. That leads to some hard pounding boat rides back in I’m sure !!!
That’s pretty cool that Felix won. I think he’s an Eden Prairie native.
They will be smashing the Smallmouth on Rainy Friday & Saturday in the International Falls Bass Championship. Should be a couple Twin Cities guys up here for that.
Final Bassmaster event of the year starting today on the Mississippi out of La Crosse. Should be fun to see how these pro’s handle some of the same types of waters than some of us here fish. Going to be lots of slop frog and swimjig fish going to be caught is my guess. It will be interesting to see if anyone figures out the SM bite there this time of the year.
A lot of fish being caught today, just not much size. Fun to watch the various techniques though!
Final Bassmaster event of the year starting today
Do you know why they don’t have an AOY (Angler of the Year) event anymore in September? Seems like when the pandemic started, they just stopped doing it and have no intention of restarting. Both the Elite events at Mille Lacs in 2015 and 2016 were AOY events, and only 50 anglers qualified.
Total opposite from last week.
Total opposite from last week.
I know, so much more entertaining to watch someone fishing a topwater frog than it is to watch someone staring at their screen fishing a drop shot.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>blank wrote:</div>
Total opposite from last week.I know, so much more entertaining to watch someone fishing a topwater frog than it is to watch someone staring at their screen fishing a drop shot.
I’m beginning to get the impression you’re not a fan of the drop shot. 
I’m beginning to get the impression you’re not a fan of the drop shot.
LOL what gave you that impression? 
The river really is anyone’s game. Fun to watch Lester catch them on a popper.
<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Joe Jarl wrote:</div>
I’m beginning to get the impression you’re not a fan of the drop shot.LOL what gave you that impression?
We have converted a few this summer. There is still time for you as well.
I really thought Brandon Palaniuk was going to let the AOY slip away.
That fish at the last minute was huge yesterday. With out he loses it.
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