Crooked Lake......tournament lake?

[turn_in_poachers]

I was out fishing this morning on Crooked Lake. Another gentleman was there and we got to talking about the catch and release thing. He said its C&R because they (whoever it is) want one of the big circuits to put it on their schedule for tournaments. Has anybody ever heard this? Im thinking its a rather small lake for BASS or FLW. But there would be some nice weights though from this lake.

[Daze Off]

The only Crooked Lake that I know is the one in Andover (witha whopping 8 trailer spaces) and it would not handle a bass club event let alone FOM, Denny's, or any of the ones larger than that - surely you are talking about another Crooked Lake....

Daze Off

[Ole the Guide]

I don't think the guy knows what he's talking about.

Ole

[turn_in_poachers]

Yup, the one in Andover/Coon Rapids. And that was my thoughts exactly. Its too small of a lake with limited trailer parking. Why not any other big lakes in MN? Why not Minnetonka? Acutually, I think BASS was at Minnetonka in the late 90s, correct? Yeah, I dont think he knew what he was talking about. It didnt make any sense to me.

[Yamahopper]

The lake is catch and release for bass because only one person showed up for a DNR meeting and this was one of the ideas, end of story.

[Mark Christianson]

You can't have a tourney on any lake that is C & R.

The DNR wont issue a permit to have it, because you cannot possess any fish on the lake. Regardless if the intent is to release them later.

The guy is off his rocker.

[Daze Off]

Actaully you can have a tournament (at least a club level event) - instead of weighing fish at the end everyone uses a Golden Rule so the standard is the same and measures and immediately returns the fish to the water. Winner is most total inches - not exactly fair because a couple of dinks will outmeasure a real hog but still works. Have to play to the numbers game.

Daze Off

[Matt Johnson]

Crooked Lake is way too small to hold a league or tournament event. Trailer space is minimum at best, and the lake is less than 200 acres. The access is also very poor for larger boats, and I don't think your 20-foot or bigger bass boats are going to like using that access

Ever since the DNR has put regs on Crooked Lake for bass, the population of nice size fish has increased quite a bit. Too many people used to go to the fishing dock and keep bass, since the area around the dock is one of the better spots to target them during the summer months.

I believe one day someone brought home 5 nice bass in a bucket (probably totaling a very respectable weight for a tourny) several years back and a local saw that and contacted the DNR about the situation.

The fishing dock gets pounded most years, and bass are very easy to catch off the dock. It's not the boaters that's a concern, it's the shore anglers and ice anglers. The lake is one of the few in the area, so it sees a lot of pressure at times from shore anglers.

The DNR has done a great job with Crooked Lake in preserving it's bass population.

A lot of smaller Metro lakes like Crooked Lake will hold good numbers of nice bass. Crooked Lake is not the only one...

[Daze Off]

Yeah, B.A.S.S. was at Tonka and the story that I heard from some of the pros (at Bassmaster U) was that they LOVED Tonka but hated the reception they got from residents/local officials and so they decided that it would be a LONG time if EVER that B.A.S.S. came back - that does not rule out FLW coming for the first time ever - especially since they are trying to establish an amatuer network like BASS in MN.

About the only lakes that would handle a big time bass tournament are Whitefish, Tonka, and other chain-style lakes of similar size (15-20,000 acres which would still be small compared to most of the fisheries they visit.).

BTW - did that guy on Crooked Lake have a Snoopy rod?

Daze Off

[turn_in_poachers]

Ha! No Daze, no snoopy pole. He had a decent spinning setup. Nice gentleman though. Usually all the people I talk to give me dirty looks and grunt when I say hi. There were these other people there who kept a bass. I was going to TIP then, but they left. I caught a 4lb'er and they asked me if they could keep it. I said no, and I let it go, and they gave me more dirty looks. Anyways, I read somewhere that when BASS was at Tonka, they had some major weights that were weighed in. Something like 90+lbs?

[Tom Wilson]

Minnetonka still holds three BASS records that will probably never be touched unless they come back here.

1-The most weight ever caught in one tournament--I could look it up but the three day total was well over the 4,000 lb mark.

2-The only BASS tournament that has ever been fished where every single competitor weighed in a five fish limit each day.

3-the most total fish ever caught in one tournament

[Daze Off]

Couldn't tell you what the weights were but Denny Brauer, Shaw Grigsby, and KVD all thought is was an awesome fishery - not sure if KVD fished it for BASS but he sure knew about it. Shaw actually gave me an awesome tip to try on the lake and I am really anxious to test it out. One of those deals that makes perfect sense when you hear it but would have likely never thought of it on my own.

Daze Off

[river rat316]

holding out on us........ hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm