Lake Minnewaska – Tuesday Night League Tournament
This tournament was held on July 3rd with 10-boats. I did not pre-fish for this tournament as I had already fished a tournament (the MFBA) on “Waska” this past Sunday. Based on that tournament I decided to fish the same milfoil patches that had produced on Sunday.
The air temperature was running 89/90-degrees and the wind was light at 5-mph. The water surface temperature was 84-degrees. It was hot and calm…not a real good combination for man or beast.
Roy Good and I had the first patch of milfoil all to ourselves. In the first 30-minutes we had 4-guality fish in the livewell and had already culled 3-times. The bite was on and strong. Both Roy and I were using heavy Texas rigs, with Rodents or Beavers plastics, pegged to a 5/0-hook and a ½-ounce tungsten sinker. Last Sunday when I fished this same area the bites were subtle, you would lift on the rig and there would be weight there. Not so tonight, you would pitch into the milfoil and they either smashed it on the bottom or grabbed it on the way down and started to run with it.
Roy and I did upgrade one more fish late in the tournament for a weight of just over 13-pounds for four fish. Good enough for a 1st place finish and a nice check.
This was a first for me. I actually fished a whole tournament with only one rod out. At a minimum I usually have 2 or 3 rods on the deck. And during a really tough tournament my front deck can look like a porcupine, with all the rods I pull out.
Next week’s tournament is on Lobster Lake, my home lake. Let’s hope that this heat wave breaks and the fish start to establish themselves on the deep-water weedlines. Because they are not there now!