Nick and I fished our second Sunflower Team Series on Milford. There were 39 boats trying their luck on Milford. Never could find the fish. We had a couple of shots at fish, but I was not on my game losing both fish next to the boat. Still, great job to the team that found them. Thanks Rick and Kip for putting on another great event. Nick and I had a great time.
Tag: Sunflower Team Series
MELVERN TOURNAMENT
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.
Sunflower Team Series on Wilson August 18th
This last Saturday was the last season event for the Sunflower Team Series. Kyle was my partner for the day. We planned on fishing a lot of water with topwater due to not being able to prefish. We caught a lot of fish, but most were in the 14 inch range. We lost two really good fish. It is really hard to catch every fish on topwater baits. One thing I wish I could have changed is to have started with a walking bait sooner. First cast with the bait about the 9 o’clock, I caught our first keeper and a few minutes later caught our second fish. Then I lost a 4 to 5 pound fish on the bait. It hurt really bad, but if you fish a lot you will lose fish. Just part of the game. We finished the tournament with only 4 fish around 7.87lbs for 21st place out of 46 boats. It really was fun to fish tournaments with my sons. The experience is going to make my sons and I better fisherman. There is nothing like fishing tournaments to help you learn how to catch fish. We ended the season in the top 20 standing. I’m so proud of my boys for fishing 8 hour days 4 times in all different conditions over the season. They fished so hard for me and were great teammates. Thanks Rick and Kip for starting a great circuit. Hopefully we will be able to fish it next year.
The Sunflower Team Series Championship will be on Melvern in October. We will not be able to fish it due to a schedule conflict. The boys will be fishing the Kansas Bass Nation Youth Team Series on Wilson that weekend.
Sunflower Team Series on Melvern
The fourth Sunflower Team Series event of the year was on Melvern. Nick was my partner for the event. The day before the tournament, we found a couple of spots, but one of the spots Nick lost a good keeper. We didn’t fish the spot very hard, so we were going to start there. It was about a 100 yard stretch one point to another. On the day of the tournament, we fished down the spot throwing topwater, and I hooked up with a good fish on a spook. Nick was able to scoop up the fish with the net. Great start! We fished 15 minutes and already had one keeper. There was another spot the day before I had seen a huge smallmouth. With no one fishing the spot yet, I thought lets fish it fast and then go back through the spot that we started on. Nick caught one nonkeeper off the standing timber. Just then another boat pulled up on the spot we started. So I told Nick, “Let’s go back down to the other point since there is a boat on the opposite point.” We caught three non-keepers on soft plastics. Most of the fish were coming off of a laydown or stumps in the water. We started to fish the wood really slow. I would throw topwater a little while Nick threw plastics. Then we would switch. I was getting a little worried about the weather as some really dark clouds had moved in. Getting the rain gear on, I was wondering if we need to go in. Then about 5 minute later, it was through. Nick was throwing a whopper popper around the laydown. I noticed a dark spot behind his bait. My soft plastic was just under Nick’s bait. Then the dark spot disappeared. Just then Nick had an explosion on his bait, but
it missed. Then I noticed my line moving, I set the hook. It was a good smallmouth. We landed my fish, and it was keeper number two. A couple of casts later, Nick hooked up on the whopper popper. It was probably about a 2 pound smallmouth. I told him to take his time. Just then, it jumped and threw the bait back to the boat. Nick was very upset, but that is topwater or anything with treble hooks. After fishing another couple hours on the spot, we moved. I have learned that in big tournaments, if you find keepers at a spot, you better pick the spot apart before you leave because someone else will move in on the spot. We fished for about an hour around the lake without any luck. So, we headed back to the spot we started because there were two boats on the bank. There was a little bank further down that looked good. Right when we stopped to fish, Nick’s second cast, he hooked a smallmouth. It jumped, and it was a keeper. Nick was so excited! He took his time, and we landed the fish. Three keepers! We need two more fish. Then, I hooked up with a big fish, and told Nick “Get the net. This is a good fish.” It was a big fish, but it was the wrong species. A walleye about 23 inches. First thing Nick said was “Mom w
ould love to eat that.” I threw it back, and said I really didn’t want to mess with cleaning it today. I was watching the bank trying to see if the other boats would leave. After they left, we moved back to the laydown. Nick was able to catch two non-keepers before the tournament was over. We had 3 fish for 6.14 pounds, and good for 9th place out of 33 boats. It was awesome to get in the top 10, and with just one more fish we may have gotten a check. Next event is on El Dorado on July 14th. Kyle and I will fish Wilson on August 18. Hopefully we can catch some fish and maybe get another top 10 finish. It has been an awesome season fishing with the twins. We have learned so much on how to fish tournaments. It is totally different then just going fishing.
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.
Melvern Sunflower Team Series Tournament
Sunflower Team Series had their first event; Kyle and I were ready. It was a cold morning as we waited at the ramp with the other 39 boats for take-off. The wind was going to blow hard out of the NW about 20 mph. That was going to make it hard to fish our best spot. But, we were going to go there and fish as long as we could. Kyle was throwing a finesse bait and I started with a Jerkbait. We fished two hours in the spot with only 1 bite, and we did watch another boat land a keeper in the area. I knew they were there, but something had changed. Kyle was also getting very cold, and it was hard to fish in the wind.
We decided to move to another spot out of the wind, so we could fish a little slower and maybe feel a bite. We moved to area that had a lot of secondary points as we could fish multiple spots out of the wind. Everyone else was there too, and there were probably 10 boats or more in the area. I looked at Kyle and said, “Lets do something crazy; go throw square bills in the back of these pockets.” The water temp was 49 to 50 degrees. We fished around in the back of a pocket when we came to a drain, and I hooked up. I had a good smallmouth on, and Kyle was fighting with getting the net out. I told him to take his time; he finally got it out and netted our first and only keeper of the day. It weighted 2.34lb. We would catch 3 more fish on square bills in the pockets. Kyle would catch 1 smallmouth on a secondary point with a finesse bait to end the day. I thought we fished hard for the conditions, and was so proud of Kyle. He never said anything negative about the weather and just kept fishing. We would end up 16th place out of 39 teams; not a bad start. There were about 20 boats that didn’t come in with a keeper. The next Sunflower Team series event will be at El Dorado April 14. Thanks to Rick and Kip for putting on a great event and letting me fish with my boys. Nick will fish the 3rd Event at Wilson with me.
March Bass fishing on Melvern
I had an upcoming tournament on Melvern, so the twins and I decided to go prefish. It was a cloudy day with a little bit of wind. It didn’t take very long to hook up on my first three casts. We caught 12, lost 4, and we had the best luck on finesse baits and Jerkbaits. There was only one area we could get a bite. It is funny to watch the video and notice how long I would let the jerkbait set. It was cool to have Kyle catch a jerkbait fish. We are hoping the fish will be there next week when Kyle and I fish the first Sunflower Team Series Tournament.