Sunday May 17th at 7 am Rich Lindgren and I took off for our first spot to kick off the first Gopher Bassmasters tournament of the season on the Mississippi River Pool 2.  We had done pretty well in practice and were confident in our spots for the day.  We started in an area where we had some of our larger fish in practice.  The water temps had dropped a little as well as the water levels in some of the areas we fished.  The bite was not as active first thing in the morning though I boated a fish on my first cast  and not long after had a second one in the boat. 

This was a paper tournament so the fish needed to be released immediately after measuring them and verifying that length with the other angler in the boat.  A length to weight conversion chart was then used by the tournament director to determine the total weight for your five best fish of the tournament.  There were about three other boats in the same starting spot and they left after a while but Rich and I decided to stay believing as it was warming up the bite would turn on.  We were right.  We both rounded out our five fish limit and then went on to try some other spots. 

We gambled on one area that did not pay off and that lost us some time but as Rich says you have to swing for the fences even if it doesn't pay off.  We ran to our last area and each of us were able to cull up to some larger fish.  We had estimated that it would take 18 lbs to win and we were right.  I ended up finishing 12th with a total weight of 10.82 lbs for 5 fish and Rich finished 3rd with 14.99 lbs for five fish. 

All in all it was a good first outing for me.  I was glad to bring in a limit as not everyone in the tournament did and there were a few who got blanked.  My quality fish came off one of two baits.  I was throwing a 3/8 oz. Tru-Tungsten jig - Sunfish pattern and a texas rigged Vertical Lures Creature X bait in watermelon red flake color. 

           

Have a Great Day on the Lake

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john@johnhaynesbassangler.com