Had a little fishing competition last weekend on Melvern lake. Joining us was Z Man Pro Staff Thomas Heinen.
Thomas Heinen
Thomas is a very well seasoned fisherman already at a young age. He is fishing on the Washburn College team this year. He is a three time Non-boater Angler of the year winner in the Flint Hills Bass Club. Also, has represented Kansas multiple times on the Youth and High School side at the National level. When my boys joined Topeka Jr Hawgs, Thomas was a member. He has always been an awesome role model for my boys.
On Saturday, we decided to fish a Major League fishing format. Thomas and I versus the Twins, Nick & Kyle. The rules were every fish over 1 pound counted. Then if your fish touched the carpet, you would receive a 1 min penalty; which you couldn’t fish for 1 minute.
Thomas and Kyle with a couple of good bass.
The fishing was a little slow the fish half, but if you stayed at it you could catch fish. At halftime, the twins had a little over 2 pound lead. Anchored by 2.15lb smallmouth Kyle caught. Never had I ever fished when half the people in the boat cheered when you lost a fish. I hope you enjoy the first part of video.
The first Sunflower Team Series event of 2019 was held on Melvern Lake on March 23rd. It was going to be a cold, wet day with the forcast calling for light rain and winds. There was a great turnout with 48 boats. I guess everyone is looking forward to the fishing season.
With the water temp in the low 40’s, the lake was going to fish hard. We started in one of our favorite early season spots, which two other boats decided too. It is very common with this many boats to have multiple teams start in same area. We fished the area hard without a bite. We moved around the lake trying different techniques and areas without a bite. Then we decided to move shallow and throw square bills. It didn’t take long to hook up. I thought I had a big one. Once it came up to the surface, I noticed it was the wrong species. A really big drum. Fished a lot of different pockets around the lake without much luck. We did have a couple of more bites, but no hookups. Finished the day without a keeper. It was a tough first tournament. The best thing was getting to spend the day with one of my sons. There were 22 fish weighed in by 10 boats. Great job to the winners and the teams that weighed in fish. Also, to all the anglers that toughed it out on Melvern. Next Sunflower event is on El Dorado April 13.
Decided to start the fishing season in Texas on famous Sam Rayburn. The fishing has been very tough lately with high water levels and temperatures staying in the mid 50’s. One of the problems is it takes so long to weed through the trees to find the fish. I was able to catch some fish each day deadsticking a 5″ Senko around the live pine trees. When you do get a bite, they hit it hard and take off with it. So, you would think they would hit a moving bait. I really think the fish are waiting for the water to get in the 60’s so they can start spawning. Finally, the last day my partner and I were able to catch 15 fish cranking through the grass in about 1 hour on the last day. One thing I would have done different was fish more grass in the drains and ditches with rattletraps. I really think if you stayed with it, you could have had moments through the day you could have smashed them with a chance at a really big fish. Next up is Kansas Youth Tournament on Grand Lake.
I had one of my best days on LaCygne a couple of years ago. My partner and I decided to fish a tournament on a power plant lake in the east part of Kansas. LaCygne has some really big bass in the lake. There have been a couple of 10 pounders caught out of the lake in the last two years. The forecast called for a really bad storm to blow through with a steady rain the rest of the day. So, there were not very many boats that showed up. We started in the marina area, and just caught a couple of shorts. We move to the dam, and after an hour we had a couple of nonkeepers and two keepers. The weather got really bad so we ran up the river to get out of it. After the storm passed, we drove back to the dam and were throwing soft plastics. We caught 45 largemouth with 30 keepers. Finally, I was able to catch one over 18 inches so we could bring in five. It was an incredible day with the 5 best being 17.80lbs. Also, one boat had a 7 pounder, but they didn’t get into the big fish pot. So, we also won big fish with 5.07lbs. Only two boats weighted in fish. It is always a great day when you catch fish.
We really enjoy throwing square bills for any species. I hope you like the video of the boys and I talking Square Bills. We are sharing a couple of the plugs we like to fish. My favorite is Luck-E-Strike Rick Clunn Square Bill Series. I like to throw it in Dark Brown Craw, Spotted Shad, Blue Chart and TW Black Chartreuse. Nick’s favorite is Berkley Squarebull 5.5 in Big Money and Brown Mustard. Kyle’s favorite is the 6th Sense Crush Squarebill in Shad Green.
I would like to talk about one of my best tournament seasons. I was really determined to have a great year. Last year I spent a lot of time in the off season reading articles and watching fishing videos. There is so much info out there, you just need to spend time to look it up. I’m not talking about lakes’ fishing reports. They do help, but if you like throwing crankbaits look up all the info you can about the technique and watch videos. I have a notebook that I write down anything that I like or think will help me catch more fish. I have been doing that for the last two years. Then I put it next to my bed, and read it off and on during the season.
Also I decided to get in shape this season by working out. I need to be in better condition during the cold and hot weather we have in Kansas. We fish for 8 hours in a tournament; you need to focus and be ready when ever that big bass may hit. I noticed if you are eating and working out, you don’t get as tired or worn out. I cannot say how many event this year that I caught a bass in the last hour, and that made a big difference.
This season I won Angler of the Year in Flint Hills Bass Club. All the offseason work paid off. We scheduled 7 events this season which you could throw out your lower placings or if you missed an event. I looked at this season as one big tournament, 7 days. I needed to catch 5 fish that weigh over 10 pounds each day. So, I needed a total of 35 fish. It doesn’t seem that hard. But, if you have ever fished a tournament, weather and other things always become a factor. This year, I was able to catch 25 fish with an average weight of 13.61lbs for 5 events. I had to miss one event for the boys to represent Kansas in Tennessee at Carroll County lake for B.A.S.S. National Youth Team Series. The other was cancelled due to weather in which we couldn’t make it up due to other events. I never placed lower then 3rd place in the 5 events.
This year, I also caught Big Bass of the Year. It was a 21 3/8 inch largemouth. The day it was caught, it was my first fish of the day at 10 am. In the next 15 minutes I had a limit. I was able to get big bass in 3 events and also catch four fish over 20 inches in the first three events of the season.
It was an incredible year. I would like to thank everyone that helped me this year. All the non-boaters that helped kept me fishing hard and make on water decisions. To my boys that push and help me pre-fish tournaments. Without my boys loving fishing, I could never spend as much time on the water as I do. Then to my loving, caring wife that believes in me and has always been so supportive.
