Green Bay Elite Series
This was originally known as the Mystery Tournament, then it was announced about a month before it started. I have to say that I was not real excited when I heard it was going to be on Lake Michigan. I had never fished here before, but I have fished on some of the other Great Lakes. There weren’t many of those did I ever do good at. Then it was announced that there would be a boundary line that would cut off the best water as well! Talk about bad to worse…
Practice:
Well we get there for practice and it is windy! 3-4 foot waves are rolling and I don’t have a clue where I want to go. I have to go meet a couple anglers on the water and get stuff from them. This takes me about 20 or so miles out of the way in this rough weather. Needless to say the first half of a day was a waste. I finally throw in the towel and go to the Little Sturgeon Bay area. This is close to the boundary line and a well known area. I do finally catch a few fish but nothing big. The second day was a lot better. I drove to LSB and put in. I figured out a pattern with what the smallmouth were using and a way to catch them. They were in areas of milfoil mixed with chunk rock. If it was back in a bay, that was even better. On the last day of practice, I spent just looking for a few more areas that fit the bill.
Tournament:
It was a smooth ride up and I was the first one in the area I wanted to start in. It didn’t take to get bit. I saw some fish bust on the surface and I could throw a Gulp Jerk Shad to them and catch every one of them! It was awesome! I also caught some on a VMC Marabou jig. I had a chance at 2 more big ones on this little jig. One I lost at the boat and the other I grabbed the line at the boat and it broke it! It was a fun day with lots of fish and I had 16-11 and was in 13th. When I got there the next day, I was the first one there again. I made my first cast with the Jerk Shad and caught one! I thought it would be easy… Not! It was 11:00 before I caught the next one, then I finished my limit pretty quick. The group of fish had moved a little and I was able to catch them once I relocated them. I had 14-11 today and moved up to 10th. I started on a main lake point since my main area had played out. I caught lone small one, then went back to the bay. I caught a limit and one decent one off a bed. I was not having a lot of luck and I went to try a area I hadn’t been in since Wednesday. This was a good move! It was the very back end of a bay and was very shallow. There were largemouth and smallmouth back here cruising and spawning. They were also very easy to catch! I would throw a wacky worm I front of them, and they were caught. I culled several times up to about 15 pounds. This moved me up to 6th and I made my second top 12 cut of the year! Getting to go out on Sunday’s are always exciting. The only issue is I’m 10lbs back with no real chance to catch up but every spot I move up helps me in the AOY race. My areas from the first few days aren’t very good today. I move to the shallow bay and start catching them on the wacky worm again. I spent most of my day in here and catch another 15 pounds. I moved up one spot to 5th and 2nd in AOY! I’m only 13 points out with one tournament to go. This is what I have always dreamed about, being in the position to have a real shot at AOY going into the last event. Can’t wait until Oneida!