Another Vacation

Just wanted to wish everyone good luck at the Wamplers Lake tournament this coming weekend. I will not be fishing due to another family vacation, this one in Escanaba, Michigan up in the upper peninsula. I will be fishing Little Bay DeNoc for walley, perch and especially smallmouth so I hope to have a few good reports to post. Hope everyone catches them this weekend and I have something set up to get the results posted as soon as possible so bear with me. I also hope to have a guest blogger so stay tuned.

Rices Muskegon Pattern

I always say I'd rather be lucky than good but when you're lucky and good, that's a great combination. Jim Rice was probably more good than lucky at Muskegon lake but both played a part in his first win of the season. Jimbo has been extremely consistent this year weighing in limits in each tournament and cashing a check in all seven as well but it took 10.8 pounds of largemouth to wrestle the win a way from Mark Dereadt July 25th at Muskegon Lake. Here's how he did it:

Practice: Jim hadn't been on Muskegon for nearly 8 years so he had to put in quite a bit of time on the water to get ready for the event. He was having trouble finding anything consistent and decided to just try and catch keeper fish instead of looking for hogs. He found such a pattern that consisted of certain rip-rap sections which had sandy bottoms extending out from shore. The right spots would have these sand transition areas which only extended a few feet from the rip-rap before turning into weeds. He found that there were key stretches with the right mix of sand and most of it was only in 12-18 inches of water and it only was a morning deal.

The lucky part came when Jim let the boat drift one practice day to re-tie and as he did, drifted over a small hump which consisted of slab wood that was surrounded by weeds. The wood came within 7-8 feet of the surface and was the size of a small garage but was surrounded by 25 foot of water. His partner (and wife) Trish got hooked up as Jims boat drifted over the structure that morning and he probably would not have even noticed it if she wasn't with him.

Tourney Day: When the event started, some of the boats (mine included) were heading out into Lake Michigan and Rice claimed he already had caught three keepers from his sandy spots before we even made it out of the Muskegon channel. He would throw his green senkos up close to the rocks and the fish would nail the bait before it got to the weedline. There were people fishing from shore and from the piers but that didn't bother the bite as he caught a limit fairly quickly.

After the morning bite died, Jim shifted gears and headed to the wood slabs where he began culling on a day where limits were scarce. "I was culling by ounces each time but culled about four fish on that spot" explained Rice and he needed every once because a dead fish penalty dropped his weight to 10.84, less that a half pound ahead of Mark Dereadt who weighed in a 10.48 limit. The win vaulted Jim to the top of the AOY standings, 2.5 pounds ahead of his brother Scott who finished fifth in the event.

Launch Info

Talked to Bill tonight and here is the official info concerning the Wamplers Lake tourney this Sunday. The park will open between 7:30 and 8am so the check in time will be 8:30am. Anyone showing up later than that will be considered late. Bill is concerned with the clubs' safety and doesn't want a lineup of cars on the road at 6am as is usually the case.

I would suggest getting to the launch ramp no later than 7:30 and hopefully the park will open early and the tourney can start closer to 8am but maybe that's wishful thinking. The participants will decide when the event will end as everyone is checking in. Hope to see everyone there.

Wamplers Lake reports

I don't have a ton of info to pass along yet but here is what I know so far. The water at Wamplers is off-colored, probably from all the summer boat traffic and the visibility is only a couple of feet. I've heard there has been a weed kill recently but cannot confirm that but the fishing has been slow. An NBAA event there last week only took two fish to win, granted it was only a three hour tournament but the fishing is tough.

A few club members started pre-fishing this past weekend and keepers were at a premium, heck bites were at a premium. Of the three guys I talked to, only three keeper fish were caught and they had about 15 bites combined for their efforts. This could be one of those 7 pounds to win events but I have a feeling someone will put it together and get a limit. I will not be attending this tournament but I will pass along any pertinent info I gather this week.

Don't forget, the start may be delayed due to the park not opening until 8am or so but that is at the discretion of the tournament director. More info will be relayed as far as that goes as well.

Pecks LSC Pattern

I finally talked to Randy Peck and got the details on his win July 18th on St. Clair. Most people think of the mile roads, the rivers or the channels when it comes to summer fishing on LSC but Randy decided to go against the grain a little and fish some new water. He had only been on the big lake three times previous and found a weedbed marked on his hotspots fishing map that looked intriguing. Randy decided to spend Saturday looking for this weedbed and others like it up in the northeast corner of the lake known as Anchor Bay. This section is know for muskie and perch but doesn't get a lot of publicity for smallmouth this time of year.

Practice: Randy went looking for his weedbed but located a different patch of vegetation and decided to fish it. He caught a few fish but nothing decent and decided to call it a day early due to the high winds that were building. He figured he'd come back to this weedbed the next day and start there and try and get a few decent keepers before looking for new water.

Tourney Day: Randy returned to his practice spot and did catch a few decent fish early throwing 4" cinnamon grub teamed with a 1/4 oz jighead. Peck would slowly reel the plastic in and when it hung he would snap it free to trigger strikes. All was going well until a boat with two tournament anglers from another organization approached his buoy and started fishing it. Randy became very upset and said he lost his cool and let the two guys in the boat have it.

Instead of staying and fighting for the spot, Randy decided to take off and look for the original weedbed he had intended on fishing the day before. The spot was isolated weeds in 6-7 foot of water and when he found it, it didn't take long for him to start catching fish. "I think the key other that being an isolated bed is that the water was only 72 degrees up there" stated Peck as he culled about 20 keepers enroute to his 22 pound sack.

Randy also caught the big bass of the event and probably had second big bass as well but club rules only allow one per angler. Most fish fell prey to the grub fished on spinning tackle which was paired with 10 pound mono. Randy also stated that he found a second weedbed close to his hot spot and he rotated between the two to post his big weight. He returned to the launch ramp early, Tim Horton style and made sure his fish stayed alive for the weigh-in. It was an impressive a win as I've seen in the club for some time and hopefully Randy can keep making a serious run at the AOY title.

Muskegon Results

1 Jim Rice 10.84

2 Mark Dereadt 10.48

3 Jerry Smith 10.42

4 Nick Neves 9.92

5 Scott Rice 8.51

6 Mike Pritchard 7.66

7 Bill Maurer 6.80

8 Roy Albert 6.63

9 Leo Knox 6.48

10 Art Honsinger 5.69

11 Randy Peck 5.45

12 Matt Morgan 3.17

13 Patricia Rice 2.26

14 Scott Hartman 2.14

15 Matt Zielenka 2.00

16 Sam Caron 1.29

Tourney Director Bill Maurer on the scales

Big Bass #1: Roy Albert 3.37

Big Bass #2: Leo Knox 3.08

Muskegon Weather

I've gotten different info depending on which website I use but this I do know. Sunday will be mostly sunny with temps in the high 70's. Saturday will be very hot and storms are possible but that should clear out by tourney day.

The one thing that is unknown is the wind and more importantly the direction. Some club members will chose to head out into Lake Michigan and drive to one of the other lakes in the area and the wind speed and direction will greatly affect that. I've seen Northeast winds which would be ideal but another site this morning said light winds out of the West.

Lake Michigan behaves differently than St. Clair and Erie so I need to keep and eye on it. The run to Spring Lake and White Lake are both a little over ten miles while Mona lake seems to be closer to a five mile run. Most club members are already in Muskegon practicing so hopefully the weather is cooperating for the pre-fishing. Hope to see a good turnout.