Fish chaser Tournament Report Pelican lake 1-23

[Cyberfish]

I got to fish the National Ice Fishing Championship qualifier on Pelican lake Sunday. Though I have fished many panfish and bass tournaments, this was our first NAIFC contest.

We decided to practice two days since we never ice fished the north side where the tourney was, and the south side we only fished once 2 years ago. The first day we fished in the community holes near the shanties to get an idea what kind of water people were fishing. We found some fair fish and lots of dinks, but thought mabye we would fish there.

The second day of practice had us looking for some fish in new spots not getting fished so hard. We found an area that looked promising, with the right depths and plenty of good green pondweed, with some sparse stands of milfoil and coontail mixed in, and some patches of weed free hard bottom. there were tons of fish on this spot. No really huge ones, but all the keeper crappies and gills I could catch.

I was really thinking it would take a huge catch to win, so I was a bit concerned with the lack of lunkers.

On Tourny day, we decided to head to our new spot, hoping that the noise and fishing pressure would keep the catches down in the areas most were fishing.

It did have put the bite down quite a bit, but not enough, most of the best weights came from where we were the first day.

We ended up with a mediocre tournament limit that consists of 8 crappies and 8 sunfish.

We startede out for crappies and they were pretty easy to catch with fish flying up almost to the hole to grab my forage minnow spoon, or jig and plastics.

lots of good keepers around a half a pound. I think we may have spent too much time with the crappies trying to get a big slab or two for the "kicker".but none came.

We then hit our bluegill holes, with plenty of fish waiting for us. Unfortunately frustration set in as all we could get were smaller gills. The nicer 'gills we had in practise were nowhere to be found.

I tried downviewing with my camera to see if they were down there and just not biting, but they were not. then finally a decent bluegill came in and gobbled my jig tipped with a wax

worm. But I got excited and set the hook too hard, snapping the line (choke) and got to watch it swim away with a new gold lip ring! uggh, wouldn't have helped anyways without more.

We were running out of time so we couldnt make a big move, so we just kept trying to upgrade the sunfsh without much luck.

The crappies also got in the way with much time spent pulling those in between the sunnies.

We had a good time though and we will be back next year! The tourney was run really well, Hats off to Jack Baker, Mike McNett, and every one who helped make the event a success.

Also good job helping with the kids, NAIFC pros! When I was 4 years old, someone took me ice fishing and it changed my life for the better for sure!

Also impressive was some of these teams, having never fished the lake before, took the time to help these kids ice their first fish, then went out and still placed well, you know who you are.. You are truly "icemen" ! well done! See ya next year!

Red sky in Morning, fish take warning!

15 below zero can't keep these guys and gals from chasing pelican panfish!

Nice slab I caught during practice of course on a JR's pannie pill and radical glow tube.

Weigh in time! brrr

Jack hard at work, I believe he did all the bucket transfers, wow!

I peeked in one of the buckets and saw this toad. It got mye thinking I would see some monster weights, but it turned out to be the only hawg caught!

The big one, 1.5 pounds! and a nice prize too!

Congrats to some of the Thorne Brothers pros who did really well !

Lonnie and Dustin taking the win, and Chris and Juan also cashing a check and qualifying for the Nationals next december! well done!

Chris and Juan reveal some of their sucessful strategy

Lonnie and Dustin capture "the Wood"

[MN BassFisher]

Good recap Michael! I would love to fish one of these events, I need to learn a lot more first though!

[hamms-scooter]

Sounds like a great experience and great pics to show the conditions. I would love to take part in that next year. Is water pretty clear there? I can only assume from the use of cameras.

[DeeJ]

Great write-up - neat pics as well! Congrats to you and the rest of the field.

[mr.z 1972]

Cyberfish,

You say "see ya next year!" Is this coming back to Pelican next year?

[Brad B]

I talked with some of the NAIFC reps that where at the ice fishing show this year and the plan is to fish pelican this year and next and who knows after that.

[Cyberfish]

Good recap Michael! I would love to fish one of these events, I need to learn a lot more first though!

Hi MN Bassfisher

Entering tournies is a great way to learn fast

[Cyberfish]

Sounds like a great experience and great pics to show the conditions. I would love to take part in that next year. Is water pretty clear there? I can only assume from the use of cameras.

Thanks!

The water was kind of murky, I was down viewing to sight fish with the camera only a few feet above the fish.

[Cyberfish]

Great write-up - neat pics as well! Congrats to you and the rest of the field.

thanks DeeJ!

[Cyberfish]

Cyberfish,

You say "see ya next year!" Is this coming back to Pelican next year?

hi mr.z 1972

As far as I know, they have a contract with the city of monticello for 2 more years.

[LipRipper!!]

cyberfish, nice report and pics!!!

[fishersofmen]

Sweet report thanks for posting that. Looks like a fun day.

[munchy71]

Hi MN Bassfisher

Entering tournies is a great way to learn fast

I gotta agree with Michael 100% on this one. I thought the same thing for years.....I need to learn more before I can compete....maybe next year. When I realized my next year was suddenly 3 years past, I decided to just go ahead and enter. We have now fished about 5 of these events over the past 2 years, qualifying for the national championships twice and just finished tenth on Pelican last weekend for an automatic qualification to this year's championships. I've learned more in the past 2 years fishing the NAIFC circuit than I ever would have fishing my locals waters, and wishing I had had entered one of the events. ;-)

There's no time like the present to get in on such a GREAT learning opportunity. Maybe we'll see you at the South Dakota qualifier in February? :-)

-Munchy

[joneshat11]

I gotta agree with Michael 100% on this one. I thought the same thing for years.....I need to learn more before I can compete....maybe next year. When I realized my next year was suddenly 3 years past, I decided to just go ahead and enter. We have now fished about 5 of these events over the past 2 years, qualifying for the national championships twice and just finished tenth on Pelican last weekend for an automatic qualification to this year's championships. I've learned more in the past 2 years fishing the NAIFC circuit than I ever would have fishing my locals waters, and wishing I had had entered one of the events. ;-)

There's no time like the present to get in on such a GREAT learning opportunity. Maybe we'll see you at the South Dakota qualifier in February? :-)

-Munchy

+2 on this one. I have learned more in the last two years fishing with and against these guys. My first tournament was a disaster but I learned to be way more efficient because of the big mess up during that first one. I never thought I would be fishing on a high tech bucket but because I watched guys drill holes in circles around me pulling fish while I watched in awe, now I do.

Even if you don't fish one, do a yourself a favor and attend one or help out at one and soak up all the information you can as most fisherman are willing to share their secrets. Go to the seminars, watch the ICE MEN show, and really pay attention to the equipment they use. There is a reason to all their madness.

Best of all find these guys on these social networks and friend them. Ask questions there and on their websites. If you do you'll be more the ready to take the leap and you'll be glad you did.

[GotALunker]

great thread

[jigginjim]

Do you have a break down of winning weights for limits caught?

[joneshat11]

Do you have a break down of winning weights for limits caught?

http://www.naifc.com/events.php?pg=results&eid=25&season=2011