Day One

My partner Corey Brandt and I started on the west end on a sea wall and stretch of docks we fished in practice and each of us picked up 2 keepers along there.  I was throwing a tru-tungsten 3/8 oz. green pumpkin/brown jig.  We then moved to a point that was a mix of weeds and rock.  We caught solid 3 pound bass on this spot in practice but were unable to catch that same quality of fish on that spot during the tournament.  We then moved to another point where Corey caught a four pounder in practice and on his first cast caught a 4.6 pound largemouth which ended winning big fish for the tournament.  We then started hitting some more docks and another point and I was able to pick up three more keepers to round out my limit. 

I was disappointed because the fish we had caught in practice were all in the 3 to 4 pound range so I had figured being able to bring a 15 plus pound bag to the scales but only ended up with a little over 7 pounds and finished 19th.

Day Two

My partner Frank Whiteside and I started out on a large weed flat that we fished in practice and found some 2 and 3 pounders.   We spent about 2 hours there and only boated one keeper a piece and they were not the size we had caught in practice.  We then moved to our secondary spot which was some thick milfoil and did not catch a keeper there.  We then moved to some docks and I was able to catch three more fish to bring my total to 4.  I got a 5 plus pounder to the boat on my jig and it came unbuttoned as I was getting it to the net.  That was a heart breaker.  This was one of those moments that every bass angler faces where a lost fish can effect you mentally especially when you are so close to boating it.  I had a difficult time shaking that off and then could not round out my limit.  

I had another disappointing day with only 4 fish for 7.6 pounds and finished 13th.

So overall the Minnetonka Tournaments did not go as expected.  I have the Gopher Bassmasters Tournament on Pokegama in July.