Author: Tate

Boys having fun at the City Lake

I had the pleasure of taking the twins and their friend fishing at the City lake in Council Grove. Having three boys fish docks can be very daring, but the boys did a really good job fishing them. They did lose a couple of good fish under the docks, but you have to expect that. The best baits were the weightless stick bait and jig. I hope you like the video.

Sunflower Team Series on Wilson

The Sunflower Team Series hosted an event on beautiful Wilson Lake on May 12th. It was going to be a great day for a tournament as the weather prediction was sunny and only 10 to 15 mph winds. There were 41 boats ready to tackle Wilson lake’s largemouth and smallmouth.

I was fishing with my son Nick. We were looking forward to fishing Wilson. I have never fished Wilson in May. But, I have fished Wilson before so I had an idea where to start and would just need to go a little more shallow. Being the sixth boat out, I fiqured we could be the first one to the spot. We started on secondary and main lake points in the area. We fished for an hour before moving to another spot that had some shallow grass and wood. I would hook up with a non-keeper largemouth on a frog. After another hour of fishing, I decided to move to our third area.

We arrived at the area finding about four other boats in the area. I drove all the way to the back of the cove. I was throwing a Senko special rigged and Nick was fishing a couple of different types of plastics. We came up to a ledge on a bluff with some grass. I tossed the Senko onto the grass and it took off to the side. I set the hook on a three pound smallmouth. After landing the fish, Nick and I were very excited. We fished down the bluff to another ledge with grass. I hooked up again with another three pound smallmouth on the Senko. After landing that fish, I told Nick to cast up there quickly while I got another Senko rigged up. Nick right away said “Dad I have one and it is a big fish”. He fought the fish to the boat and I landed it with the net. It was another 2.5lb smallmouth. When it jumped, it looked huge! They always look bigger when they jump. After fishing the spot for another hour without another bite and watching a couple of other boats landed fish around us, I decided to move on.  It was a hard decision because there were fish in the spot. We fished around the cove for another hour in a couple of different areas, and never got another bite. So, we decided to move to a shallower cove, and Nick would catch 4 non-keepers on a tube. We tried a couple of main lake little pockets without much luck for the next few hours. With only 1 hour left, we moved back to were we caught the three keepers. I threw a Senko up to a white shallow spot between the cattails in 6 inch of water. The smallmouth hit it right away when it landed. I was able to get the fish out of the cattails and Nick landed it with the net. It was our fourth keeper.  We were so pumped, but we still needed another keeper. Nick even gave me a one handed hug. We fished for 40 minutes without a bite. It was a long drive back to the boat ramp with only 4 fish. There were a lot of five fish limits and four fish bags at the weigh-in. Most of the fish were averaging three pounds. There was also one big smallmouth at 5-11lb.  I won’t be very surprised if in the next year the Kansas State record smallmouth is caught in Wilson. Nick and I had 11.70lb for 18th place.  Not bad out of 41 boats, and one more fish would have got us in the top 10. It was awesome to fish with my son. Nick is a grinder; he will fish all eight hours and never quit. Even when he has not caught a fish, he won’t quit. Thanks Rick and Kip for giving me the chances to fish tournaments with my sons. We will see you at the Melvern tournament on June 9.

Kansas Bass Youth Qualifier & Championship

On Sunday, May 6, the twins had two tournaments to fish on Melvern for the Kansas Bass Nation Youth Trail. They were making up their 4th Qualifier tournament that was supposed to be on Milford, but due to weather in April, it was cancelled. The Qualifier was going to be from 7am to 11am. The lake was cut in half so we could only fish from West State Park straight across the lake to the south and west part of the lake. This would save the east area and dam for the championship. It was going to be a very nice day to fish.  In fact, maybe a little too nice as the wind wasn’t going to blow much. Boys and I had done our homework for this event pre-fishing 4 times. We had found 4 good spots; two for the Qualifier and the other spots for the Championship. Being spring, fish are moving around everywhere. During the cold weather, we were catching fish in prespawn mood about two weeks ago. Then the weather warmed up, and the fish decided to start spawning.  The fishing had gotten harder. The last time the twins and I pre-fished, it was tough as the Kansas Buddy Bass tournament was taking place. We had only caught one keeper, but we were getting a lot of bites. I told the boys the fish are picking our baits up and moving them off the beds. It would be our best spot in the championship.

Kansas Youth Bass Qualifier #4

We decided to start in Turkey in back of some of the pockets. Which the Friday before, I had a couple of bites pre-fishing. Fishing was going to be tough with the high school and another adult tournament fishing the day before. I told the boys to start with crankbaits and topwater. Never know this time of year, you can sometimes get a big fish to hit something by fishing slowly across the surfaces. We fished it for about a hour. I told the twins, “Lets go to one of our best spots and see if we can catch one there”. It had not produced for a couple of weeks, but we were hoping the fish had pulled back up on it. The twins both started with plastics on the spot dragging them slowly back to the boat. All of sudden, Kyle set the hook right next to the boat in 9 feet of water. The big smallmouth jumped right out of the water next to the boat. I was getting the net out of the locker telling him “Don’t reel!  Just keep your line tight.” We finally got him in the net, and after a couple of high fives, put number one in the boat. Kyle would hook up with another smaller non-keeper a couple of casts later. I decided to move out a little deeper so they could fish the 9 feet range better as we were seeing a lot of fish on the depthfinder in that range. Kyle would catch 2 more non-keepers before we moved on. We had only one hour left before weigh-in, and decided to check a couple of other spots that had produced for me in the past. Never know, maybe we could find a spot for the afternoon championship. We weren’t able to catch any more fish, and had the one smallmouth to weigh-in. All the teams had a hard time with just half the field catching fish. A lot of teams were saving their spots for the championship. Two teams had two fish, so I knew it would be hard to win with one fish. Twins ended up tied for second with 3.65lb, but having big fish took second place. They had a lot of confidence going into the championship. The championship wouldn’t start until 1pm.

Kansas Youth Bass Championship

I knew we were going to start at our best spot on the lake. It had not fished very well the last couple of weeks. Twins started with plastics slowly dragging them along the bottom. They caught about 4 non-keepers before we got in the back of a pocket which had fish moving around. Kyle casted up to a stickup very shallow and his line took off to the side. It was our first keeper and largemouth of the day. We fished for another 30 minutes without catching another fish. I decided to move to the spot that a week before I had caught the good largemouth. We pulled up to the spot and Kyle hooked up right away with a keeper. Both the twins would catch three non-keepers and missed some fish. We were fishing back and forth, then Kyle hooked up with another keeper. Had three keepers with 2 hours to go. After another 30 minutes, we moved to the spot we caught the big smallmouth. We were hoping to catch another big fish, but we fished for 45 minutes without a bite. I looked at the twins and said “Let’s go to a spot that maybe we could catch another keeper.” Idling out of the cove I decided to go back to the spot that we caught the two keepers. It would be the best decision of the day. I told the boys on the drive over this could be a champion move. I pulled up to the best spot. Nick’s second cast, he hooked up with the fourth keeper largemouth of the day. After landing it, celebrated, and had 20 minutes to go. I told the boys, “We need one more.” Which wouldn’t happen.  It was a hard ride back to the boat ramp. Pulling up to

the boat ramp all the kids started to ask who had fish. Another boat had 4 keepers, so it would be between us and them. It was going to be close as they had 4 smallmouth and we had 4 largemouth. They weighed first having 7.57lb.  We were next. Gulp.  Our weight was 7.83 pounds. The twins won the Championship! It was close, and both teams deserved to go to the nationals. I was so proud of the boys and how hard they fished. Kyle was on today catching 4 keepers through the day. Nick never quit, kept fishing hard, and caught the final fish that would win the tournament. They worked so hard for the Championship. This July ,the twins will represent Kansas at Bassmaster National Junior Championship in Tennessee.

Fishing Fundraiser On Perry

I decided to fish a fundraiser this last weekend on Perry for K-State Fishing Team with a friend. I did a little pre-fishing, and it was tough.  I was able to catch one 3 pound smallmouth of a main lake point. I decided to start on main lake points with plastics. It was supposed to be a very nice day, but it started cold and a north wind was on the spot. After just one bite, we moved to the next point in the area. I would catch 4 non-keeper smallmouth on 5 casts. Being a big fish contest with 4 weighing periods, we needed to find some bigger fish. We moved around the lake trying docks, the marina, and the back of pockets. We didn’t have any luck for several hours. Then we went to fish some wood, and was able to catch one more non-keeper smallmouth on a swimming jig. We had heard that the big fish was 5.12lb and several more 5 pounders were weighted in. I probably ran around the lake more then I have ever before. We never could find any more fish. My friend was able late in the day to hook up with a fish on a crankbait. I thought we finally had a fish we could weigh in. NO, IT WAS A DRUM!! We decided to call it a day.  It was nice to hangout with a friend I had not fished with in 4 years. K-State put on a nice tournament. One thing about fishing, there is always a next time.

 

 

March 2018 Fishing Review

March was a tough month with the weather changing daily. But, we fought through it, and we went fishing at least once or twice a week. It can be a great month if you are willing to put up with the weather. We started the month off with a fishing trip to one of my favorite lakes in Kansas. Kyle caught the biggest bass of the month so far this year at 4.25lb on a lipless crankbait. Check out the post “15 Minutes of Greatness”.

Next trip was the boys’ KBN Youth Team Series. It is a great organizing if you have some boys or girls between 7 – 13 years old that love fishing and would like to fish tournaments for bass.  Check it out. The tournament was on Big Hill, and the boys would place 3rd with two small keepers. One thing I learned, have the kids fish their strengths and not yours. But, anytime at this age it is good to teach the kids even during the tournament. If you would like to check out the story more, here is the link “Youth Tournament on Big Hill”.

Ponds can be a great time to fish in March..They warm-up quicker and locating the fish is a lot easier than lakes. I always like to take the boys pond fishing at the beginning of the year. It gets them in a grove of hooking fish and catching them. You can also catch a big fish this time of year. One of the best baits is Swimbaits any size from 2 inches to 5 inches will work in ponds. If you are catching small fish, up the size of your bait to catch bigger fish. Here are a couple of past blogs I wrote about “Pond Fishing” and “Pond Fishing 2”.

I fished a tournament on Melvern with Kyle in cold and windy condition but, we where able to catch 1 keeper and catch 4 more fish. I’m excited about fishing tournament with the twins.

Twins love fishing. Kyle the other day was talking to Melissa about summer plans. He said ” Fishing Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday then start it all over”. It is a passion with the boys, and I can share it with them. I hope you enjoy the fishing stories and blogs.