Bass tournament on Francis ?

[250XB]

Does anyone know when the ultimate bass tournament is on lake Francis I heard there are some openings this year? Who is the contact and how much to enter and when is the lake off limits?

thanks

[luckycrank]

i beleive it is the 22nd but dont qoute me

the person you need to speak to is scott zabinski (St.Peter)mn

[katoguy]

Yep - this Saturday the 22nd. Scott (Gabby) had about 6 openings. I don't have his cell phone number on me, but call information for Zabinski in St Pete.

The real question is why would anyone want to fish this lake competitively? They're are dozens of better bass lakes around and plenty of open tournies yet to come.

My guess is that 9.5# on 5 fish will put you in the money.

[Muddog]

Are you trying to get me in? Look in 12-15 FOW, There are a lot of 16-18" bass in Francis.

[BSMN1]

Have to agree with KATOGUY...fun lake to take the kids or Ms but for a tourney it's just a merry go round. After the rock bar and a couple humps its trying to squeak a limit outta the deeper docks or a couple deeper weedlines. I haven't caught one over 3# on Fracis in a very long time...gotta be there but darned if I can find 'em.

[katoguy]

Anybody that has done any competitive bass fishing in this area will say the same. Watch the average weights on the 2 bigger tourneys there this year. Take a look over the last 10-15 years! They are the worst average bass weights around, bar none. The lake is on the list(s) every year just for diversification. It is more clear and has plenty of structure and nice weed line cover. (The dock pounders and slop guys don't win here unless evening contests usually.)

I am not saying that there isn't a fishable population of bass in the lake. There is some nice fish there. (Just not in my top 50 choices, nor most competitive bass guys around here for some good lip-rippin' fun.) Plenty of better choices for good catches!

[rippinlips]

Well there are some very nice fish in there, I was out there about two weeks ago and we got on a spot deep that was not much bigger than the size of the boat an we boated 6 that were 3 to 3 1/2, 4 over 4lbs, and one that was 5 1/2 lbs. In just over an hour. But there were alot of 13" to 15" everywhere else that we fished. We were using T-rigged gulp worms.

[Muddog]

katoguy. I do agree that if your way of Bass fishing is to get to a spot as fast as you can and start to cast, you may never find large bass on Frances. You have to cover as much deep water (10-15') as you can and find out if the Bass are on rocks, weed edges, springs, dropoffs (top or bottom) and so on. The shallow weed lines have been pounded to death on Frances. If you think you will get a big stringer fishing shallow on Frances get in line with the hunders of others that are doing the same thing. Like in all fishing look for large shallow ares near deep water! I know this is a bad word for a bass fisherman but you most likely will have to troll to find them before the tourie (Like a Bass boat can trol).

[katoguy]

Muddog, your preconceptions of tourney anglers (or at least the better anglers) are off base compared to the novice and recreational bass guys. There will be a lot of deep water (as well as shallow cover) pounded Saturday on this lake. A slop frog pattern out there will be used by some just trying to get a limit in the boat. It usually won't give you a chance to cash a check.

There are a lot of really good bass anglers around this area that are not content until they can figure out a lake. Many tournies with many good bass anglers and countless hours have been spent out there. Every once in a while a good day will be had. I won't try to change the history of the typical weights that come off this lake, though. A few miles down the road in any direction is a better choice for the novice or for someone looking for a better chance to stretch their line multiple times.

I would like to extend a friendly welcome for you to come out and experience it.

[rippinlips]

I agree that the lake gets alot of pressure but where I live these lakes get the real pressure and they are pounded by some of the best anglers in the state, My point is that if you can be patient and don't mind fishing deeper water and if you can find a couple of nice fish camp out in that spot because there will be other nice fish that will show up there. I've only fished francis 4 times in my whole life and all this year and just 2 weeks ago I had a blast fishing out and it was the middle of the day with jet skis and tuber running right by me. Every time I've bing out there I've caught nice fish. I'm not trying to brag just don't be discourged. If you want I will tell where I caught them.

[Muddog]

katoguy. Maybe your right about me.

I have sat on Frances for 3 Bass tournaments so far, maybe four after this weekend. There are a few areas on this lake that I would call very good stagging areas. All are over looked! The bar on Ceder point is the only one they do fish and most wont go deeper then 8' or so. I have sat on what I think is the best Bass spot on the lake and haven't had a Bass fisherman fish within 200yds of me.

I am not try to start anything but I am trying to get some of you to think a little out of the "BOX" when it comes to Lake Frances.

rippinlips, do you know a Stan Miller?

[katoguy]

Which tourneys / circuits have you fished there, Muddog?

You may be surprised what gets tried prefishing. A lot of cameras are used not only looking for bass, but prey, weeds (cover), and rocks (structure). When the money is on the line, you have to decide to live and die in deep water or get some fish shallow to help towards the year end points championship. I think you may be giving these competitors a little lack of respect. I certainly am not starting anything either, but rather just saying that it is not the most fun to fish (catch) compared to other lakes in this area and the weights continue to show that bigger stringers are tough to come by on Francis.

[rippinlips]

Sorry I do not know stan miller. Francis is not that hard of a lake to fish you can fish the whole lake in one day. A tough lake to fish is minnetonka there I can see a guy getting fusturated.

[Muddog]

I just wanted to know if we were talking about the same spots. As i see were not.

Respect? We are talking about fishing. So I don't see how that fits in.

If I were a school teacher and had the summer to fished the Bass tour in this area, Frances is the lake I would get to know. I would troll the lake day after day and have waypoint up the wazoo. Becase you know there is no better way to to find that 10% of the lake that has 90% of the fish.

katoguy, I do agree that Lake Frances can be a hard nut to crack but I also see it as one ripe Plum ready to be picked.

I haven't fished a Bass tournament on Frances. I have gone to the lake and watched all the going ons. It is amazing what you can do when they think your Walleye fishing.

I love your posts and I'm looking forward to is how they do. I'll be on German Saturday.

[katoguy]

Only 5 boats out of about 30 fished German last Saturday (lake association open tourney- JigAbass). 3rd place came from there, something like a 16.5# with one that went 5.17#. I believe their bigger fish came flipping the reeds.

We fished big Jeff and ended up in 5th with 15.96# ($540) and big bass at 5.27# ($390). Tough day to fish in that heat it was brutal! Top weight was over 21#.

There is a lot of respect amongst the anglers running the 2 circuits around here (Ultimate and So Central Bass Tours). The opens tend to draw a different crowd.

[Team Otter]

I just wanted to say I enjoyed reading the discussion even though I'm not a bass fisherman. Thank you for staying under control and keeping this conversation under wraps.

Good luck this weekend.

[katoguy]

Team LeBaron, congrats! 17.95# and won by something like 5+#. It took 9.4# to make the money. Although Jeff had a heck of a bag, he said it was almost boring fishing. The fish weren't relating to the weed line. They were off the weeds on sand and not pin-pointable. You couldn't pick the weight off the sand or else you wouldn't get bit.

We worked the same vicinity for a while with only small peckers to show for it. Later we got lucky with a 4.35# that was tied for 2nd BB of the day, but our other 4 only weighed 4.05! Tough day for most.

Next week is the BENCHs (BE/Nicollet County Humane Society)contest on Washington for top prize of $4,000! I don't mind saying that we are having trouble finding nice fish on Washington, too. Spraying the weeds is not good for the fishery.

[Muddog]

Thank you for the report. I did go to German last weekend and I must say the numbers are there. I had a lot of fun throwing a yellow slug-go.