June 21, 2006:  Diamond Lake proved to be a worthy opponent today during a CATT Division 11 tournament.  Kelly and I had our opportunity but the bass beat us to the ground.  We started the day skipping docks and we caught a 20 short bass.  Finally a giant engulfed my lure.  I set the hook on a huge 3-4 lb largemouth.  Instantly it had me tangled around the dock and it came right at the boat.  Kelly and stared right at it only to see it break my line and swim away.  After that disaster we decided to fish deep with tubes and crank baits.  We never did get another quality bite.  This marks the first time I've been skunked this year.  I can't wait to redeem myself. 

Congrats to the winners Wilfert and Nelson who caught five bass that weighed in just above 8 pounds.  For everyone else it was a very tough tournament. 

June 18, 2006:  I went on a fathers day fishing trip with my dad this morning and it was a blast.  We fished Magician Lake from 7:00-11:00 am.  It was overcast all morning with light showers.  We had a lot of success fishing deep mid lake structure.   The bass really seemed to be schooling up and feeding.  We caught 15 bass and 6 of them were quality keepers (15-17 inches).  We caught all of are bass using tubes and dragging them slowly across the bottom. 

June 17, 2006:  Today was tough for Rich and I on Paw Paw Lake.  They recently did a weed kill and the water is green.  When the water turns green on Paw Paw Lake I always struggle.  We only got two bites all day long but they were both keepers.  I would suggest that you try another lake if you want to go fishing at least until the water clears up. :(

June 14,2006:  I fished Magician Lake tonight during a CATT Division 11 tournament.  The fish were very active and pretty easy to catch.  Kelly and I started the day skipping dock and power fishing but we were only able to catch 2 keepers in two hours.  The bass were not shallow!! At least not were we were :)  We decided to make and adjustment and fish deep with dropshot rigs and tubes.  We caught a lot of small bass and a 2 monster pike.  We also landed our third keeper that came out of 20 ft of water.  Overall it was a good night because we landed everything we had on.  We did the best we could possibly do so I was happy with three.

The weigh in was prof that the bite was hot tonight.  Four teams brought limits to the weigh in and everyone brought in bass.  Davis and Nearpass were the champions weighing in 5 bass that weighed approx. 12 lbs.  Great job and congrats.

June 7, 2006:  Kelly and I fished Lake of the Woods during a CATT Division 11 tournament tonight.  This was the first time I had ever seen this lake so I wasn't expecting much.  This lake was HOT!  Kelly and I decided to power fish the entire lake.  I set the trolling motor on high and we buzzed around the entire lake.  In the first 30 min of the tournament kelly and I caught 3 keepers.  Kelly caught one on a tube and I caught two on a wacky worm.  I was very surprised that we found this pattern without pre fishing.  Throughout the tournament we caught 4 other keepers including kelly's big bass that came off a bed.  We were both excited to weigh in our limit.

The weigh in was phenomenal because 6 teams brought in limits.  We knew it was going to be a tight race.  Most of the limits weighed between 8-9 pounds.  In second place John Gipson Jr. and his partner weighed in approx. 9.85 lbs and their big bass was 2.55 lbs.  Kelly and I tipped the scales with 11.12 lbs of bass and our big bass was 2.56 lbs.  How about that?  Kelly's big bass was 1 hundredth of a pound bigger!  She was very excited and kept all the money :)

June 6, 2006:  My father and I fished Magician lake tonight from 6:00-9:00 pm.  The water temp was 76.6 degrees and the water was crystal clear.  There were a lot of bass spawning deep; 8-10 ft.   All of the shallow spawners were finished and the males were guarding fry.  We ended up catching 10 bass and 5 keepers.  None of them were huge, they were all about 15 inches.  I caught two keeper bass deep in 18-20 ft of water on a tube.  These fish were suspended over a weed bed next to a drop off.  The rest of our bass were caught under docks.  We ended up with 5 bass that weighed 9.6 lbs. 

June 3, 2006:  Rich and I directed the second Southwest Michigan Challenge tournament at Paw Paw Lake.  The bite was hot.  Five teams brought 5 bass to the scales and everyone weighed in bass.  The bass were in all three stages: Pre spawn, Spawn, Post spawn.  The males were easy to catch but the females were very tough.  Rich and I caught 10 keeper bass on the day and our best five weighed 10 lbs 10 oz.  We caught most of our fish on wacky worms and jerk baits.  Nelson and Goosey won the tournament with 15 lbs 7 oz.  Rich and I ended up finishing second. 

June 1, 2006:  Overconfident.  This word sums up the NBAA Division 8 tournament I fished today with my wife.  I was sure I knew exactly where the smallmouth were.  I had 5 spots that were loaded with them 2 days ago, and these spots have been loaded for weeks.  I thought for sure we were going to catch a ton of smallies and take home the victory.  I couldn't have been more wrong.  My first two spots produced Zero bites and we wasted about 30 min of a 3 hour tournament getting to these spots.  Actually, I saw people catch fish from these spots but I couldn't get a bite for the life of me.  Who knows?  Maybe my hands stunk.  Kelly and I made a move up river to a post spawn spot and instantly started getting bites.  I caught our first keeper on my first cast and it weighed 2.65 lbs.  Then the circus music started, "Yat dat data data dat dat data."  :)  The next bass I hooked was a giant and I fought her all the way to the boat.  When Kelly went to net it the hook simply popped out and the fish swam free.  Then I through a short temper tantrum, got laughed at by a charter boat captain, and my wife smacked me saying, "You're embarrassing me."   I regained my composure and moved on to my next spot.  Obviously someone forgot to stop the circus music because the fish keep coming off.  Kelly and I both lost two more quality bass.  We lost each one on the first jump they made.  I know exactly why we did so horrible, OVERCONFIDENT. 

Congrats to Gipson and Gipson for taking home 1st place with 11.50 lbs and big bass 4.22 lbs.  Lieberg and Bing also had a great day catching 10.25 lbs which was good enough for 2nd place.  Great jobs guys.