Bays de Noc FLW Tour Recap – Part 2

Day one started out with a light chop and a bit overcast early. My starting area worked out well, at 7:45 I had a 25” walleye in the boat and then at 10:20 I added a 27” – both on the same spinner patter of which I only had one blade… After my second over we pulled our lines and headed to look for upgrades. We ended up fishing 5 additional spots over the course of the day and caught one additional walleye that we fought for what felt like an eternity – I would have guessed this was a 30” or better fish but it ended up being a heatbreaking 23 1/8 over – it looked like it was pushing 5#! As I was pulling into the dock to tie up and wait to weigh our fish some unsolicited ‘assistance’ from my partner resulted in a docking snafu that sent me into the water up to my chest. While I was pulling myself out I gashed my right leg just above the knee somehow.. Good thing the FLW doesn’t rush you up to weigh your fish (inside joke to all who have fished with them) as I had time to dig out my first aid kit and butterfly/bandage the cuts. My two overs weighed 12-11 and put me in 19th after day 1. I quickly loaded my boat and it was off to the emergency room to get stitched up – 3 hours and 12 stitches later I was out of there and off to a bait shop north of Escanaba to look for the blade that had produced. Just after 9 PM I backed my boat into the parking lot of the hotel and sent my Father out to get a bite to eat as I started to re-tie spinners and prepare my rods for the next day of fishing. By 11:30 I was in bed but couldn’t shower as the stitches could not get wet, so after a warm day on the water there was no relief…

4:45 came early on the morning of day 2 – especially since every time I moved during the night I bumped my leg and woke up. The conditions had changed and we were faced with high skies and flat calm. I started in my same area that had produced on day 1 and at 9:30 I was without a bite. We switched over to cranks and failed to produce. I then moved to where I had picked up my 3rd over on day one and made a few passes through the area and did not catch a fish. I was a ways from check-in and had to head back with 45 minutes left without a fish. The wind finally started to blow about 2 PM and in retrospect I should have headed back to the area that I caught the 28” fish in practice. Many competitors commented in weigh-in that they caught their fish late in day once the wind came up. Without weighing a fish I dropped to 50th place and a championship invitation was in jeopardy.

I was much happier waking up early on the morning of day 3 – I had saran wrapped my leg so I could take a shower the night before and then was sleeping before 9:30 so I rested and ready to go to battle. Good thing to as the wind was cracking from the south west and we were greeted with 3 and 4 foot building waves as we took off for out day of fishing. As I motored down and into position for my first pass my partner for the day leans over and tells me over the wind that he isn’t feeling well and then leans over the gunnel and loses his cookies – unfortunately he was in for a long day as he spent most of day either with his head over the side of the boat or on my dash trying to nap. I set the lines and we made two passes over the structure on the windward side and something wasn’t right. I adjusted to a different side and right over my icon from the 27” fish from day one we had a fish on the outside board. I cleared the inside lines and then got the board off the rod solo and when we were at 12’ on the line counter I had my partner get up and on shaky knees he netted a nice 26” fish. While I was fighting that fish I noticed the outside board on the other side had a fish on – I quickly boxed that fish and then cleared the net while my partner rested. I cleared the inside line and again called for my partner to net the fish. This one went 25” and it was just before 10 AM and I had my overs out of the way. At this point all of my lines were out of the water so we turned around and ran back up in the building waves to run back over our icons. The second pass produced another double – a 26” and 27” which we culled out our first two fish. After pulling all our lines we motored up again and we were now in 4’ -5’ waves with an occasional larger wave mixed in much to the agony of my partner. The next pass we did not get bit at our icons so I stretched out the pass for another ¾ mile and we picked up a much welcomed 21” slot. At this time it’s early in the afternoon and we headed back into the larger waves and made another pass – this one produced a 25” fish which was released. It was my long day and we left with over an hour left and fished close to the check in.

There was a long wait to weight my fish as a thunderstorm rolled through and delayed the process by over a ½ hour. My three fish weighed 17-10 and moved me up to 27th place for the tournament and 39th overall for the year allowing me to punch my ticket to the championship in Bismarck, ND at the end of September.

Some of the gear that I used during this event to make a difference are:

Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon – I ran 12# on my main line along with a fluorocarbon leaders on my spinners – crucial in the ultra clear waters of this system.

Minnkota Engine Mount 101 – silent power with infinite speed control. The cavitation mounted electric motor provides ability to run in stealth mode and any speeds. Throughout the event I was able to run all day either pulling spinners or cranks from .7 mph to 2.2 mph.

Ranger 621 DVS – this is the largest boat Ranger makes and it’s right at home in the big water eating up the waves. In addition it has the most storage and interior room out of all the fisherman models.

Evinrude 250 E-TEC HO – the torque this engine has is unbelievable. Until I actually drove one could not believe the claims. This is my 3rd 621 with a 250 HP outboard in the last 4 years and never have I gone over 54 mph. At this event during days 1 and 2 I was running 57 in the mornings and 59 in the afternoon when I had consumed some fuel – and this is all while turning a 22 pitch prop – very impressive!