Minnesota Federation of Bass Anglers (MFBA) – Minnewaska Tournament on July 1st, 2012
The MFBA has a number of tournaments scattered throughout the state. And even though these are money tournaments, the top 6 finishers from each tournament secure a berth at the MFBA state championship tournament.
This tournament is a Pro/Am or Boater/Non-Boater format. With the Pro competing against the other Pros and the Ams competing against other Ams. Both groups are fishing for 5-fish.
I only had one day to get some pre-fishing done on “Waska” so I elected to check milfoil, to see if it was holding fish yet. It was and that’s all I needed to know. I checked a couple of my better docks and lay-downs to see if the dock bite was starting. It wasn’t and I settled on the milfoil.
I love fishing milfoil when the bite is on. And Sunday the bite was on. When we pulled up to our first milfoil patch my first two pitches produced my two biggest fish of the day. The bite stayed strong all morning, but as the day warmed, the fishing and boating pressure increased, the bite dropped off rapidly. We stayed on the milfoil bite all day, jumping form patch to patch. We caught fish all day long, it just got slower. I was even able to upgrade one fish in the last 15-minutes of fishing.
I had two rods on the deck, both with Strike King Rodents or Beavers. Each rod had different colored baits on it. The rig is just a Texas rigged plastic (fished with a pegged weight) on a 5/0 hook and a ½-ounce tungsten (Strike King) weight. The rods are 7’, MH, with 30-pound power pro, and a 7’4” extra heavy, with 65-pound braid. I also keep an identical 7’ rod in the rod locker with a ½-ounce Strike King Bitsy Flip and trailer on it for fishing lighter milfoil or the edges of the patches. I never pulled the 3rd rod out of the locker.
My co/angler, David Primus fished basically the same rig. And it worked for both of us. David finished 3rd, with 11.44-pounds on the Co/angler side and I finished 4th, with 14.74 pounds on the Pro side. And both of us have now secured a spot at the tournament of champions this coming September on the Whitefish Chain. Plus we cashed checks out of the deal. Not a bad day’s work.