Day on the lake

When I get my Bassmaster magazine I usually read it cover to cover instantly and the first thing I look at is the "Day on the lake" segment. That's the article where a pro goes to a mystery lake they've never been on and tries and catch fish during an eight hour day. It's interesting how these pros break down new water and it's not different then when we pre-fish for a tourney or go to a new body of water.

I had the unique experience of fishing a tournament this past weekend on a lake I have never been on other than a quick idle around the night before for an hour. My youngest brother owns a cottage near West Branch, east of Houghton Lake and the house is on a 550 acre private lake. It is private and has an association, much like Somerset and LeAnne around here. They held their first association Bass Tournament last year to raise money and it was a rousing success and I got invited to fish the second annual with my 13 year old nephew and his 16 year old cousin.

I saw a few things on our pre-tournament cruise and coupled with the kids' favorite areas we had assembled a good game plan. I don't fish many team tournaments but figured I'd have the kids throw senkos off to the side while I power fished in the front of the boat. Any time I hit a new body of water, covering lots of water with my confidence lures is always my first choice. My lure this day was an Xcaliber Zell Pop topwater and it was a good choice. Our first cove produced a good keeper and plenty of bites on the popper and my nephew Jackson nailed a 2.7 pound largemouth on his senko.

The kids fish regularly but are usually relegated to a pontoon or a paddle boat so our next area was close to the cabin and has produced for them in the past. I saved it for a little later in the morning due to the fact it would have shade on it longer and I'd still be able to throw the Zell Pop. Another good decision as I caught a 3.3 pounder on a shallow flat and then Jackson caught #4 on his senko.

The tourney had 30 boats entered but you could have as many fishermen as you like as long as they all paid the $20 entry fee. I usually don't like to fish with three in the boat but our third teammate Era landed fish #5 for us, a good two pounder on a senko near a dock and we became revitalized after a long lull in the action. The lake started to get busy and bites were coming slower and slower but that fifth fish gave us momentum.

It was getting later in the day and we had rotated all of our good areas and the fish seemed to have dried up. I thought we needed a kicker and started throwing frogs and jigs to deep pads but to no avail and burning a spinnerbait on windblown flats came up empty as well. Then one of the kids decided to fish an area new to them that had lighter boat traffic. I decided to switch things up as well and start skipping docks while they threw to the deeper weedline. Our strategy paid off again as I skipped a tube under a dock and actually commented on how I can't believe there isn't a fish under that dock. Just then I noticed my line shoot off and I set the hook on a big fish. A few minutes later my partners slid the net under a 3.9 pounder in what probably looked like a chinese fire drill but we got it in the boat anyway ( I still think the fish was well over 4 pounds but you can't argue with the scales).

We had a great day and I had a great time as did their dads as the teenagers took the tournaments only 5 fish limit to the scales amongst a lot of oohs and ahhs. We won handily weighing in 14.5 pounds while the kids' dads could only muster three fish. Why can't I do that in a club tournament? Must have been my partners I guess but we had a great time and our names will be on a plaque in the Lake Ogema general store for years to come.