Opening day is here

It's finally here and for once the Memorial Day weekend weather cooperated and made the fishing quite enjoyable. I was in an open tournament held on Michigan Center lake and the good conditions had the fish biting. It took nearly 14 pounds to win and more that half of the 17 team field caught limits.

I fished with Matt Morgan and there were actually several SCMBC members representing. Jim VanAken, Roy Albert and Scott Hartman also fished so it was good to see some familiar faces. Matt and I weighed in a small limit and caught a ton of fish as did Jim and Roy. It was good practice for the club event on Center in two weeks and I obtained some real good info.

As expected, most of the teams that did well caught them with finesse techniques and soft plastics. The senko was a popular bait but I heard guys saying they were still catching bedding largemouth even though water temps were in the high 70's and reaching 80 in some areas.

Big Bass was only 3.7 pounds which tells me that most of the big females are recuperating from the spawn and have not put the feed bags on yet. We caught a lot of small males and a few post spawn females but that should change in two weeks. The weeds are quite bad already and there was a major weed kill done a few weeks back and a lot of the vegetation from Druyeas Point back to the fifth street launch was brown and dead. Not a lot of fish were reported being caught from this area and most did not fish there at all.

I will probably only pre-fish Michigan Center once before our tourney but that will probably be a few days prior. I'm heading to Burt Lake this coming weekend and hope to get in on the last of the smallmouth spawn. I will have a few pics and some fishing reports to share when I get back so hopefully this good weather holds up.

Hardy Review

With opening day upon us it's time to gear it up for the catch and keep season but I had a few observations from the Hardy Dam tournament that I wanted to share. I learned quite a few things up there this year and I like to share info any time I run across it.

Tourney notes
-There were 26 participants at Hardy, the biggest club event since 2008
-Only 9 limits were recorded
-Only one four pound fish was recorded
-Matt Morgans win put him in the AOY lead by 1.33 lbs over Jim Rice

My observations
All of the top 5 finishers had at least two days of practice on Hardy which I believe was essential this year. There may have been a ton of beds but I know in my case it took a lot of looking and actually catching a few to see what was actually there. I have a hard time fishing on a bed, not knowing if there is actually a fish there. Talking to Matt Morgan he said that he would cast several times on beds without verifying whether the beds were active or not. This would avoid spooking the fish by coming too close which I believe was a problem with me.

Secondly, I believe you can use 50 pound braid and still catch bedding smallmouth. Matt used 10 pound fluorocarbon and I used 30 pound braid and I didn't see any negative effect on the fishing. I used a chartruese tube while Matt used bright pink and I believe the mood of the fish is actually more important than the color.

I had over 30 good beds marked for the tournament but I believe next year if we go back that I need to refine my pre-fishing. It is important to verify which fish are good ones and worthy of spending time on and which ones are not. The lake had beds everywhere which took a little of the pressure off some areas but you can waste a lot of time on a 1.5 pound fish when there's a 3+ just around the corner. In talking to some other club members I know there were fish that they could not get to bite only to go myself and catch the same fish on the first cast 30 minutes later. This has nothing to do with me being a great bed fisherman but more to do with the timing.

Case in point, I found a 3 pound fish in a cut late in the tournament day and my partner and I made about 15 casts apiece to it before I finally caught it. Matt Morgan came in a little later I found out afterwards and caught it on his second cast. I'm sure it was the same fish because it was in the same cut and we both commented on the overhanging tree that demanded pinpoint casts. Maybe that fish did like the pink better, who knows.

One last thing on Hardy were the accommodations. My group stayed at Oxbow park down towards the dam and it was awesome. It was cheaper than Brower Park without the hassle of paying $10 for each vehicle each day and I'll stay there again. Our cabin was up on a big hill which overlooked the lake and the owners were quite nice. Hope to go back next season.

Morgan Wins Hardy Dam

For the second time in two club tournaments this year, first place went to a first time winner. Sunday it was Matt Morgans' turn to notch his first club victory at Hardy Dam and he did it in dramatic fashion. I talked to Matt at length after the win and here are the details.

Practice: Morgan pre-fished Hardy on Thursday and again on Saturday marking as many beds as possible in hopes to make a milk run on Sunday morning. He noticed many of the big fish were not locked onto their beds but did manage to catch a few three pounders and hoped they would be there the next morning. Matt tried to ignore many of the small males guarding beds and keyed in on only the bigger females. He narrowly missed winning last year and hoped that concentrating on the bigger fish would pay off.

Tourney Day: As the day unfolded the big fish became harder to come by and many of the bigger females Matt had marked the previous day had been replaced by small fish. He did manage grind out a decent limit by throwing a drop-shot rig and a pink tube but by 2pm his limit was around 13 pounds. Morgan commented how he ran up and down the lake trying to cull a few pound and a half fish on the score sheet and decided on a small mid-lake area he had visited earlier.

"There were a lot of boats and partying going on in this area but I think all the commotion conditioned the fish and they weren't as spooky", said Matt afterwards. He located a good fish and threw repeatedly at it as the crowd looked on. Finally the 3+ pounder bit and bumped his limit up to around 14.5 pounds which would put him in a virtual log jam with several other anglers. With only minutes to spare Morgan spotted a fish idling out of his "party area" sitting in a foot of water. "I thought it was a small male but when it turned to the side I could tell it was pretty big" exclaimed the Bigby Coffee exec.

At 2:45 Morgan knew he only had a few casts left and his co-angler Craig Deck took his position at the net encouraging his partner on. Matt flung the pink tube onto the nest one last time and this time the big fish bit. Matt set the hook and felt the weight of a big fish, only to then experience the sickening feeling of a slack line and a lost tournament. Amazingly he then looked down to find the bail on the reel had been open and as he took up line the fish was still hooked. Morgan calmly regained the fight and at 2:50 his partner slid the net under a 3.69 lb smallie to the cheers of a slightly intoxicated crowd. In Iaconelli fashion the two quickly weighed the fish, strapped the gear down and roared towards the launch ramp. That last fish was the winning margin and took second big bass honors as well. Congratulations on the great win Matt and everyone else who fished, it was an excellent tournament.

Hardy Dam Results

1. Matt Morgan 16.38

2. Scott Rice 14.95

3. Jim Rice 14.88

4. Jerry Smith 14.64

5. Bill Maurer 13.9

6. Randy Peck 12.9

7. Mark Dereadt 12.0

8. Kathy Maurer 11.0

9. Terry Johnson 9.2

10. Scott Hartman 8.7

11. Rich Rice 8.57

12. Craig Deck 8.5

13. Roy Albert 7.56

14. Mike Pritchard 7.25

15. Brian Masters 6.5

16. Art Honsinger 6.38

17. Jim Vanaken 5.37

18. Wendy Johnson 5.3

19. Tim Chapman 5.0

20. Tom Curry 4.88

21. Connie Honsinger 4.78

22. Mike Maske 3.81

23. Leo Knox 1.94

24. Mike Mullaly 1.38

25. Matt Zelenka 0

25. Patricia Rice 0

Big Bass: Bill Maurer 4.4 lbs

2nd Big Bass: Matt Morgan, Jim Rice: 3.69

Hardy Dam Top 5

Sorry I don't have the official standings in my possession yet but hopefully by the end of the day. I do remember the top five and kind of have a good idea of the weights so I can post that and finalize everything later.

1) Matt Morgan 16.3 lbs

2) Jim Rice 14.9

3) Scott Rice 14.8

4) Jerry Smith 14.6

5) Bill Maurer 13.9

Like I said, this is just from memory and may not be quite accurate but I think that's how it went down. Congratulations to Matt Morgan for his first club win and I think he said that he caught two three pound class fish in the last half hour to seal the win. I thought it would take over 17 pounds to win but the fish were not quite locked onto the beds like I had hoped and catching them was quite a challenge. The warm sunny weather gave the river system a summer feel and the boat traffic was something not usually encountered this early in the year on Hardy. Pleasure boaters clogged up many of the good cuts and channels which added to the fishing challenges but I'll never bad mouth a sunny 80 degree day. Everyone had fun and enjoyed the sunshine and that's what fishing is supposed to be about anyway. More info to follow.

Friday Practice

I know most of the club is already in route to Hardy Dam but I just wanted to post my results from practice Friday. First of all, I have never seen that lake so full of beds in my ten years of going up there. I probably saw close to 100 beds in 6 hours of fishing and most had fish on them. I didn't fish for very many of them but wanted to check the size of a few big ones and caught them. Two pounders are very common but they were still a little skittish yesterday. I think with the warm sunny weather coming Sunday that it will be an awesome tournament. I'll have details posted when we get back Sunday night. Drive safe everyone.

Weekend Weather

I'm sure everyone has checked this out already but here is the latest forecast for the Hardy Dam area. Wednesday and Thursday will be sunny and high 70's and even close to 80. It cools to 75 for Friday and Saturday with partly sunny skies predicted for both days. Sunday looks great as well with highs in the upper 70's and sun with SE winds at 15 mph. It looks as if rain is out of the forecast through the weekend so lets hope this hold up.

Directions: Take 127 to Lansing and then West on 96 towards Grand Rapids. Keep heading west towards Muskegon and then North on 131 towards Big Rapids. North on 131 for about 40 miles and then off at exit 131. Take a left off the exit ramp which is 8 mile rd. and then a quick left onto Old State Rd. Take this for about 2 miles and then onto Polk rd. for just over a mile and you'll run right into Brower Park. I am practicing Friday and will launch at the state park for that. To access the park exit off 131 at Jefferson road which is exit 125. Head left for 5 miles and then take a right into the park. Everyone should be up in the area by Friday but I'll post the results of my official practice day anyway. Hope to see everyone on the water.