Brainerd Minnesota Bass Opener

I spent the Memorial Day weekend in the Brainerd lakes area — the area that I grew up in — so fishing memories come fairly easy. This trip was about making new ones with my son and daughter, each child getting one morning, bass fishing with me.
Saturday was Katie’s day and we decided that we would go chase some smallmouth bass in a few small lakes north of Brainerd. Katie and I got up early, around 6 a.m., and drove 45 minutes north. As I drove, we talked about how we were going to fish — tubes and Senkos were going to be our first choice. Lightly weighted tubes and weightless Senkos are both fantastic lures for the pre-spawn, spawning, and post-spawn smallies that we were going to be seeing on the water. Tubes can be fished many ways: slowly dragged across the lake bottom, snapped so the tube rises quickly from the bottom and then falls slowly back down, casting to specific fish holding structure and making the tube quiver by lightly shaking your rod. Each fish might want something different so try each technique, as well as others, and see what the fish want that day. We would be fishing weightless 4 inch Senkos rigged on 4/0 hooks. We would be casting the lure out and letting it sink to the bottom, then by giving the rod a quick snap you can make the Senko dance under water. It will dart forward, slide backward on slack line, even sideways, all irresistible to bass.

Katie and I launched the boat and headed to a spot that I knew had boulders mixed in with some of last year’s reed beds. We immediately located big smallies cruising in the shallows. I had Katie cast out her Senko and told her to let it slowly sink to the bottom. The lure did not make it to the bottom. I watched the 10 pound test line jump, as did Katie. She quickly reeled in the slack and set the hook. The fight was something more than she was expecting — the smallie was showing its shear brute strength and had her on her toes and then some. She almost fell as this giant fish gave her everything it could during this skirmish that included a few short runs and some massive headshakes. My eyes almost popped out of my head when I first saw her fish, and I breathed an enormous sigh of relief when the smallie came to rest in the bottom of the net. I knew she caught a fish of a lifetime, a massive 22 1/8 inch smallmouth bass.
We continued chasing smallies for 3 more hours landing numerous smallies on both Senkos and tubes. We finished the day with a fish that I saw chasing baitfish in super skinny water. Katie fired a cast just ahead of the smallie and gave the lure a delicate shake — that smallie had a wake behind it as it made a beeline toward her Senko. With gills flared and mouth open, her bait never stood a chance. Katie handled this last smallie like a pro, always one step ahead of the smallie and its antics to shake free. Another sigh of relief as it lay resting on the bottom of the net. She had caught her second fish of a lifetime in the same day; this beast stretched the tape an even 22 inches.
We headed home, me with my tail between my legs after the severe thumping my daughter gave me but I have never been prouder to be on the losing side of our day together.

Sunday morning started at 7a.m. Jonathan and I headed out to fish some of Gull lake largemouth bass. We would be concentrating on the cuts and channels that are located throughout Gull lake chain. These channels would have shallow weed growth with deeper water located extremely close by.
Jonathan is a not a kid that can fish slow and he is still too young to fish certain bass fishing techniques. I decided to try some topwater baits with Jonathan, buzzbaits and plastic frogs. Your basic cast and reel techniques. Jonathan thought this was a blast, he would cast as far as possible and yell, “Wahoo” as the frog hurled through the air. We shared a channel with another boat that encouraged Jonathan’s silly behavior by laughing and snickering as we passed each other. The funny thing is those guys were just as loud, if not louder, when Jonathan hooked his first topwater bass right in front of them. They shouted encouragements like, ”that a boy”, ”that’s the biggest fish we have seen caught today”, and, ”keep it up as your out-fishing your dad”.
Thanks Guys that moment made his weekend.
While fishing was slowed by a weather front that moved through during the night, we did alright catching about 15 largemouth bass in a few hours. We never found the bigger fish, but that was fine as Jonathan caught a few on topwater baits and helped me drive the boat back to the landing. He was happy and thrilled with our fishing expedition.

We finished the weekend by making one last fishing outing to chase some sunfish and bluegills with the entire family. We fished the new growth of lily pads using bobbers, long shanked panfish hooks, and waxies and angle worms.
Remember, making new memories are just as important as reliving old ones.
Good luck fishing and making your own memories,

Ron