Michigan Center Results

Details of the tournament will be available soon but I just wanted to post the top ten, or in this case top 11 because that's where I finished. I hope to get the information today and report on the patterns and baits in the next day or so.
1) Jim Rice Jr. 9.64 pounds
2) Matt Morgan 9.51
3) Mark Dereadt 8.81
4) Jim Vanaken 8.19
5) Tim Chapman 5.25
6) Connie Honsinger 5.06
7) Craig Deck 4.57
8) Bill Mauer 4.56
8) Art Honsinger 4.56
10) Brian Masters 4.00
11) Jerry Smith 3.90

Center Lake Preview

Name: Michigan Center Lake, Jackson, Michigan

Size: 850 acres in Center, nearly 2,000 combined in the 8 acre chain

Type: floodwaters

Phase: Mostly pre-spawn

Water color: slightly stained to clear

Water temps: 55-60 degrees

Structure: Not much in Center, more in Wolf and Little Wolf

Cover: Stumps and various vegetation

Best baits: Soft plastics (senkos and grubs), spinnerbaits, jerkbaits, small crankbaits.

Projected winning weight: 12-13 lbs.

OVERVIEW

Center Lake is an annual stop for the club and this Sunday it will host our opening tournament. Usually we visit Center during June when the fish are in a post-spawn mode and soft plastics like senkos and grubs produce the winning stringers. But this year we are faced with much different conditions, 50 degree water and very few weeds. In the past, throwing senkos along breaks and weedbeds would usually do the trick but several anglers I talked to recently have found things to be much different this time of year. It seems reactionary, horizontal presentations are the way to approach these fish with one club member saying he caught as many as a dozen keepers in a short amount of time. Most of my "informants" said shallow water with dark bottoms were the key, which pretty much describes most of Center Lake.

WILD CARDS

Several things will come into play when making a gameplan for this Sunday. The first x-factor will be whether to stay in Center or run to another lake in the system. The Center Chain is composed of 8 lakes and some are quite a bit different from the stump filled Center. Wolf Lake is quite clear and deep and water temps have been reported to be nearly 10 degrees colder than Center. Round Lake is a popular destination as well partly because of it's weedlines and smaller size would tend to warm up quicker. A second thing to consider would be whether to fish deep water areas such as the popular "School Section", the massive stump flats or to look for beds in backwater areas and channels. Bed fishing may be possible but with two anglers in each boat and limited bed fish, that may not be a winning strategy. And one last thing to consider is the actual baits to throw. Vertical finesse fishing may not be the best option this weekend considering the pre-spawn nature of the fish and the 80 degree temps that are expected. Whatever happens, this will be a very good first test for the club because past patterns and baits may not have any bearing on the outcome and the winner will be the one who reacts to the conditions the best and diggs deepest into their bag of tricks.

Center field set

The field for this Sundays club opener is set with 20 anglers signed up for what could be a great day of fishing. The long range forecast calls for temps in the high 70's which could really turn the bite on. I've heard reports from several club members stating that the bite was pretty good over the weekend during practice sessions. I did manage to get out but unfortunately did not fare as well as some others. I did manage one near 3lbs. but only caught a handful of fish and will definitely need to make some adjustments before tournament day. The water temps were anywhere from 55-58 degrees on the main lake and as high as 60 in the backwaters. I did see one fish on a bed but the shallow fish were very "spooky" and almost impossible to catch. I will get back out Friday and hope to have a better report.

New Members

The SCMBC family has added two new members as of Saturday, Matt Morgan and Craig Deck both of Jackson. They are both friends of mine and will be great additions to the club and will also be fishing next Sunday on Michigan Center. Matt is the co-owner of Bigby Coffee and Roly Poly restaurant on Wisner St. near the sports arena. He is an excellent angler with lots of experience on Lake Erie and St. Clair. Craig is a handyman deluxe and has experience as a builder and is currently employed as a technician at Krupas on Francis St.

On a side note, as of Saturday we have 18 confirmed entries into the Michigan Center tournament with four pending. I hope to get at least 20 participants and we have already surpassed last years' numbers. Official pairings will be listed soon.

Entry Fees Due

Just a reminder to everyone that the registration forms and entry fees are due this Sunday for Michigan Center Lake. The tournament is a week from Sunday, April 26th, and the deadline will be strictly enforced. We may end up with an odd number of entries so I will need the extra week to find another fisherman to even up the field. I have a few guys in mind who I may call on if need be but hopefully the field will be set three days from now. Those anglers who signed up without declaring a partner will receive a call Sunday to inform them of their boating partner.

The opening event last year on Lake Fenton drew 16 participants but I'm hoping with this recent warming trend and the close proximity of the lake, we will draw at least 20 anglers. And if the weather does cooperate, the fishing should be pretty good as well. I will be out this weekend "crappie" fishing and will report how the practice went.

Entry Fees Lowered

The club held it's April meeting last week and there were several significant rule changes that were voted in. The biggest was reducing the entry fees for each tournament from $30 back to $25 for the 2009 season. The big bass pot will be $1 each for first and second big fish, which will be voluntary and not part of the entry fee. The other major rule change was reducing the number of plaques from one in every four entries to one in every five entries per event. The plaques will be capped at five per tournament.

I applaud the membership for recognizing that some tweeking of the tournament rules were needed and hopefully these will ensure good turnouts at our tournaments. The payback schedule will have to be changed a little to accomodate for the lower entry fees, but I don't think it will have a major impact on anything. I will give the entire entry fee breakdown when I confirm it with the president but I believe it goes like this:
$3 - classic fund
$3 - plaque fund
$1.50 - scholarship fund
$17.5 - payback

And remember, entry fees and registration forms for Michigan Center are due April 19th. Give me a call at 787-7878 if any questions.

2009 Spring Open

The 2009 SCMBC spring open has been announced and it will again take place on Michigan Center lake June 6th. This is an "open" team tournament which means anyone, club member or not, is free to fish it. This tournament is fund raiser for the South Central Michigan Basscasters and has been in existence for as long as I can remember. I believe the entry fee is $80 per team but that can be confirmed by contacting Mark Dereadt at 750-4368 or call the tournament director Kathy Maurer at 764-0217. Your start number is uaually determined by when registration forms are received so give one of these folks a call if you want to fish. Last year was a great event and if I remember correctly, it took around 15 pounds to win so it's a good time to fish this body of water. Hope we get a good turnout this year, I'm sure it will be a good event.

Lake St. Clair 2008

Lake St. Clair is a favorite destination for the club and for good reason. It boasts one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the nation and 3-4lb fish are quite common. Our club usually visits the big lake earlier in the year but the 08' event was held in early August and coupled with unusually high winds, we were in for quite a challenge come tournament day. But someone always catches them and Mike Maske was the man this year when he slapped 15.02 lbs of smallies on the scales. Mike has been my boating partner for this tournament for many years so I had a front row seat for his first career tournament win, here's how it happened:

On LSC the fish are pretty easy to find early in the summer but as it gets warmer, fish migrate deeper or to the channels. We like to target big sand flats with scattered weed beds close to the Metro Park launch area. We decided to do the same this event but started our pre-fishing in a little deeper water. Eight to fourteen foot seemed to be the best depths to located productive weed beds so we marked them on the GPS and just rotated spots throughout the day.

Mike used a variety of baits to catch his fish, a big spinnerbait accounted for the aggressive early fish and when things slowed down he dragged tubes and Berkley Gulp Minnows on a drop-shot rig. We both caught 15-20 during the day but as I was struggling to catch 5 keepers, Maske was culling by noon with his best fish going over 4 pounds. "I just want everyone to know that I kicked the guys' butt in the front of the boat", Maske said jokingly referring to me of course. This is quited understandable because he was also my boating partner when I won two club events on LSC but today was his day and he definitely made a net boy out of me.

Gear Notes: Spinnerbait was a 1/2 oz white nichols with white blades fished on 17lb mono. Rod was a 6'6" BPS Extreme medium heavy paired with a Shimano Curado baitcaster. Plastics consisted of smoke or watermelon 3.5" tubes and drop-shot rigs were primarily gulp plastics, both setups were fished with 1/4 oz weights. The spinning combo of choice was a 6'6" BPS Extreme rod and Shimano Stradic reel spooled with 8 lb BPS flourobarbon.

SPRING BREAK

Just returning from my spring break trip to Orlando, FL and I can't tell you how much I want to start fishing after being in the warm climate. My travel partner, and fellow club member, Mike Maske brought a rod and made it out to a local Orlando lake to fish from shore. He ended up catching 3 fish with one being a 3 pounder on a spinnerbait which made the $17 license fee worth it. I didn't bring my gear on account of the amount of time I plan on fishing when I get back so this was kind of the last of the quality time I'll spend with the family until fall. Not really but it feels like it sometimes.

I was kind of suprised at the lack of bass boats I saw during my stay in Florida. I realize the spawn is pretty much over and lots of folks in Orlando are tourists going to Disney, but I could count on one hand the number of fishermen I saw. And I was about 15 minutes away from Toho which made it even more suprising. Anyway, I can't wait to get back this weekend and am even more excited to get the club season underway soon. I'll report on my pre-fishing outings on Center Lake as soon as the snow melts.