The Okoboji Bass Open was held on Sunday, 04-29-07 on West Lake Okoboji near Milford, Iowa. My partner for the tourney was Cole Hale, age 15. Some of you know Cole as "Kid Hale" here at IDA, and as Ryan Hale’s eldest son. I got a chance to do a little pre-fishing prior to the tourney. The water temps had been steadily increasing and are very warm for this time of year. Water temps hit the low 50s Sunday, with warmer temps in the shallow bays.
I only have one photo to share today. Cole and I fished hard and didn’t take time to take photos during the tourney hours. We started off fishing Emerson Bay shortly after 7am. I got hit on my first cast and thought "all right!", but was soon disappointed with a short fish. There was a 15 inch minimum, with a five fish limit for this tourney. I was throwing plastics… stick worms, Berkley Sinking Minnows, and similar baits. I got hit again right away, but again a short fish.
So, Cole and I headed to another bay where I had seen some bass roaming the day before. We were catching plenty of bass but only got one keeper in the boat. By 11am, we were still stuck at one keeper. We decided to move again. I really didn’t think there was a problem with the technique. We were getting hit and had several 14" to 14.75" fish. We just needed to find larger bass. Moving to another spot we were able to pick up another keeper. It felt good to have two in the boat and have 4 more hours left to fish. But, we still needed three more and as we fished on, nothing big enough hooked up. I decided we should head back to the bay where I knew there were fish, and we just had to hope some of the larger bass had moved in by this time. Lucky for us, they did.
We had to work hard but we began hooking up with 15.5" to 16.5" bass. We got our limit and culled a few. We really needed a kicker fish but she never arrived. We were pumped to have a limit and figured that was pretty good for a couple of guys who are very new to this tourney stuff. In the end, we finished 27th out of about 60 teams. We weighed a limit at 11.46 pounds. There were some outstanding anglers who really did well on this day. I saw some incredible smallies caught over this weekend, several at 5 lbs plus. Bill Low & Jeremy Gare won the tourney with 16.40 pounds. Congrats guys!
sounds like you guys had a lot of fun
, good report and pic, good luck in your future tournies 
Gosh, i like that lake!
Thanks for the report.
Thanks for sharing Wade, I was wondering how you guys did. It looks like you had fun.
Jason
Way to go Wade. I have never figured out those smallies early.
Good Job, Wade!!! Awesome Report!!!
Great Job you two !!!
Great job guys!
Tournament are so much fun!!
Thanks guys. I have a small club tourney in two weeks. I hope to get a chance to chase smallies a bit then. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Congrats on the good performance at the tournament, careful those tourneys can get addiciting, especially once you start cashing a check!!!
I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it, Cal. It may be a while. For now, I’m happy to donate, just like in poker.
I was down there also Wade. It was a fun tourney for sure. Pre-fishing was VERY good on Thursday. My partner and I boated a 5 and 6lb smallie plus others in the 3 to 4 pounds. We caught alot of fish and culled several. We ended up in 6th place. It sure was hot out though. I am still wearing the walking boot and it was challenging to run the trolling motor with it on.
Congrates on you finish. I make it to Okoboji every spring to chase the smallies. At least this year it was warm and dry.
Arnie, It looks like the guys who chased smallies did the best in this tourney. That is a great finish considering the level of competition. There were a lot of outstanding bass anglers there. Way to go!!
LETS NOT FORGET TO MENTION HOW WELL THIS TOURNEY WAS RUN! THE BASS SEEKERS BASS CLUB OF FAIRMONT RUNS A FIRST CLASS SHOW. EVERYONE SHOULD FISH THIS ONE IN THE SPRING. THE SMALLIES ARE HOT!
Excellent point. I thought Dave and the gang did a great job. I like the staggered “ease off” instead of a blast off. And I really like the way they keep the bass in the water during the weigh-in process. Any mortality rate has to be minimal. It was definitely a class operation.
Dave and the bass seekers always put on a top notch event. Care of the fish is top priority and that is the way it should be. I forgot to mention my partner’s name is Mark Olson from Fairmont. Mark’s a good hook and a great partner. We have done this for several years and alway have a good time. We might even win one of these some time.
Thanks for a great time Mark.