7/28/2007:  Mike Rappette and I braved 4-6 ft swells on Lake Michigan bright and early this morning to get a couple huge smalles.  We arrived at my secret rock pile at about 6:15 am and it was covered with fish arcs and bait fish.  Our first two casts with tubes yeilded 4.5 pound smallies but the wind pushed us off the rocks while we were landing one.  With the waves and wind it was really tough to stay on top of the rocks.   We fished the rocks for a couple more minutes and decided to go in.  The big lake is no place for a bass boat when its rough. 

7/26/2007:  I'm back on track!!!!  Kelly and I finished second in an NBAA tournament on Eagle Lake tonight.  We fished shallow for the first two hours of the tournament without a keeper bass.  We changed things up and fished a weed bed in 26 ft with drop shot rigs.  There were fish arcs all over my Lowrance screen and big pods of bait as well.  We caught two keepers instantly by fishing vertically over the weed bed. 

After a couple of minutes Kelly thought she was snagged on the weeds and started pulling with all her might to free her bait.  All of a sudden a giant five pounder erupted out of the water.  Since Kelly didn't know she had a bass it came off when it jumped.

She said, "CRAP!! I just lost the biggest fish in the lake."

Then the magic happened.  At 8:54 pm I called out, "this is the official last cast of the tournament."  My drop shot settled to the bottom and fat 3.66 pound bass ate it.  I landed her at 8:58 and we raced back to the landing and barely made it in time.  I believe our second place finish puts us into 1st or 2nd in the points standing.  

7/21/2007:  I'm to frustrated to write anything about today's tournament on Magician.  My father and I got SKUNKED!!!!!  Six hours without a keeper:(......  It was my first skunk of the year and hopefully my last. 

7/19/2007:  Kelly and I fished Lake of the Woods tonight in an NBAA contest and caught 3 bass.  Thankfully they were big bass that weighed 8 pounds.  I caught all three of them with a jig by lily pads.   John Gipson Jr. and Jim Weaver won again with 9.66 pounds.  Gooding and Spear came in second with a nice sack weighing 9.30 pounds.  Gooding and Spear also caught the big bass of the tournament. 

7/15/2007:  The Four Flags Bass Masters had a 6 hour tourney on Magician this morning.  Ron Nelson and I fished out of my Stratos and did OK.  We started the morning skipping docks and didn't stop until the end of the tournament.  It was really slow for the first couple hours but then Ron set the hook.  A giant 4 pounder shook it's head as it came out of the water and through Ron's jig.  That was a tough break and hard to get over.  We skipped fast and fished hard for the next 3 hours and only caught two keepers.  We decided to pick up the pace and look for big females roaming the shallows.  We saw two and caught them both and one was our big bass for the morning.  Ron caught our fifth keeper with 30 minutes to go giving us around 10.50 pounds.  Losing that big one early really killed us!!

We ended up in fourth place and nothing to show for our efforts.  I'm not sure who won the tourney but they had just over 11 pounds.  Rich Osgood and Jim Pucket came in second with 10.99.  Scott Davis and his partner came in third place beating us by a couple ounces.  Scott Davis and his partner also caught a 3.5 pound largemouth which won them big bass.  Nice Job!!

7/12/2007:  Kelly and I fished an NBAA Division 8 tournament on Magician Lake tonight.  We decided to fish deep because of the passing cold fronts we've been having.  We caught a ton of fat 13 3/4 inch fish on cranks and could only manage one keeper.  I also caught 5 pike over 25 inches that were pretty fat as well.

John Gipson Jr. and Jim Weaver took home first place with 4 bass that weighed in just under 7 pounds.  Ron Nelson took home second place with two chunky 3 pounders.  Jack Llyod and Jon Grademeyer achieved third place and big bass.  Nice Job!!!




7/6/2007:  I fished Paw Paw from 10:30-1:30 pm this afternoon.  There were pleasure boats flying around in every direction.  A Master Craft tryed to sink me when it put two waves over the bow of my boat.  It was nuts!!  I did manage to catch a giant though.  I caught a huge 6.0 pound largemouth in 30 ft using a Carolina Rigged worm.  The water was still glowing green but I'm glad to see the fish eating again.

7/2/2007:  Perch fishing in Lake Michigan was on fire tonight out of Bridgman.  Kelly, my old man, and Ron Nelson went out for an hour tonight in the rough water.  There was a 2 ft chop on the water and it was only 62 degrees.  We used cut bait and small tubes in 12-16 ft of water right in front of the beach.  The action was fast and the perch were devouring anything you put below the boat.  The perch we were catching were the biggest I've seen in quite some time.  We caught 50 JUMBOS between 10-13.5 inches.  Kelly caught the biggest perch that measured 13.5 inches.  She said it fought as hard as a bass.   The perch fishing should only get better as the summer continues and the water warms.