Detroit River BFL

[rufus]

What a weigh-in Saturday! Eleven bags over 20 pounds. After my prefishing  from Wednesday through Friday I was guessing  that there would only be 2 or 3. I started on Erie on Wednesday and fished from Pelee Point to Pelee Island and hit all the hot spots in between. I never got bit by anything but small sheepies on any of the stuff that I know. I did end up catching two hawgs off of new areas that I found, but they were the only ones there. We spent the entire day over there and ended up with 8 fish, but I really did not find anything consistent. On Thursday, we went up to the St Clair River. We got started late due to having to chase down a transom saver after losing mine to the wonderful Detroit roads. I finally found one at Compasse Point Marina after stopping at one Walmart, one Target, and 4 Meijers. We finally got on the water a 10:45. Before 11 am I had one in the boat pushing 5 pounds. We caught a couple more small fish and then went looking for new water. We found out soon that the hot bite on the river that we were looking for was defintely not happening for us. After only catching a few very short fish and a couple walleye and going clear up to Lake Huron, we ended up back where we started. Very quickly we caught another 5 pounder and a few more 2-3 pound fish. I was not very confident that this was what I was looking for due to the nuber of 2 pounders there. On Friday we were back on Erie fishing the north shore. We hit many new areas all the way to Leamington without any success at all. I then went back to my old standby holes and immeditaley started catching 3 pounders. I did not catch any over 4, but the average fish was much better than the River fish from Thursday. I could only catch them on Erie vertically and any strong wind would kill anything I had going. Well as you know, Saturday morning the treetops were dancing and the St Clair River was calling my name. It took me an hour and a half to get to my spot and my partner and I beat up on it for 4 hours. I ended up with two 5's, a 4, a 3 and one a little over 2 and had two other keeper fish. I caught all but one of my weigh fish drop shotting a little special worm. The other fish came on a tube (that was the 2 pounder and his buddy). My coangler stuck with the tube and tried my worm a short time and ended up with three for about 9 pounds. He had 2 small ones and a toad over 5. All of our fish came from 26-30 FOW. My final sack weighed 19' 4" and put me in 8th place. I was very blessed that day to have caught every fish I hooked (Thank You Lord!). I will see everyone in a week and a half. Hope the fish are on!
God Bless and Good Fishin'
Rufus

[Team houston]

Me and my partner "Madwags" I believe is his title, also were in the St Clair river. After a bumpy ride across St. Clair we spun a hub near Fawn island. After a quick change in shallow water we finally got to our fishing spot. We spent most of the day in this general area. I was the lucky one to get 4 good bites(two over five). Dave saved some time at a spot in the lake for some reaction bite fish. I was praying for a squeaker to round out a good limit. After Dave caught a couple dinks and a keeper I finally get my wish and hook a small keeper on a spinnerbait. I pulled a classic blunder you have all seen on TV. I slung the fish in the boat and just after it cleared the side it came off. Past my flailing arms to try and stop it, it bounces of the back deck and into the water on one hop. After a minute to regain my composer I am back at it. I know there is plenty of fish in the area and all I can do is pray for one more bite and hope God gives mulligans. Dave catches a couple more keepers to give him four. Luck was with me today for sure as a I get the bite I need on a trap. After Dave nets it he offers me a high five and is obviously happy for me. It is now about 2:20 we have a 3:00 check in. Dave fishes hard for his last keeper but it does not come. We finally leave at 3:35. I am very nervous about being late. Luck was with me again as the river is pretty calm, even by the bridge. We make it with a minute and a half to spare. My five go 21 even for 5th place. I would like to give a big Thank You to Dave Wagonsomer(Madwags) for putting me around fish and being a great partner to fish with. He took my good fortune in stride when we all know it is not easy to do, when things are not going our way. Thanks Dave. 

[Duke]

Congratulations Gentlemen!! 

[SethV]

Good morning!  Erie/Detroit river was "interesting".  I prefished last weekend out at Pelee.  Found some BIG fish, but they were very scattered.  27' of water, was hot number.  On Thursday I fished the St Clair river.  Long run from Elizabeth park, but I wanted to check it out.  I put in up at Marine City.  Caught lots of fish, but only 2 big ones (5+ lbs).  I spent the last day on the river, just in case something went wrong on the 70 mile ride to the St Clair river.  I drew out boat 67 and planed to head north.

It was a beautiful run up the Detroit river.  Flat water, just really nice.  I decided to stop and fish a spot quickly at Peche island at the north end of the Detroit river.  I picked up a keeper quickly, and decided to keep moving.  Idled out and went to put the boat on pad.  At about 3000 rpm on the hole shot, my motor started banging, very loudly.  I shut it down.  Sounded like someone hitting the cowl with a hammer.  Hmmmm, 22 miles away this can not be good!

I decided to scrap running further north.  Here it is, 7:30 AM and I am worried about getting back.  I was sitting 14th in the points, and my co angler was 28th so we  both needed to weigh in at least 1 fish.  I had my "points" fish, had to get him one.  I knew from my prefish of the Detroit river I was not on giant fish.  I should be able to grind out a limit of 2 - 3 lb fish though.  I restarted the motor, it idled ok.  I once again attempted a gentle hole shot, more rattling and banging.  It finally got on pad, and I limped to a seawall to flip for largies.  Made it over there, no dice.  1 short largie.  Decided to drop shot a few humps in 27' of water.  I picked up 1 more keeper, but both of my keepers were small.  Drifted down river to a rock hump in 5' of water.  Picked up #3 off of it, and my co got his first a nice 3 lb fish.

Between drifts I did not want to use up my motor, so I just idled between drifts, wasting a ton of time.  With about an hour to go, I headed to 1 last hump with about 16' of water on top of it, 22 on the sides.  We immediately started catching fish.  I would get 2 or 3 shorts, my co would pick up a 3 lb fish.  Figures.  I ended the day with 1 more keeper for 4 fish and my co had 3 nice ones.

I allowed an hour to make the 22 mile run back with a very sick motor.  I ran 3000 rpm the entire way back, and she made it.  I had a sad 8 lbs, my worst day of prefish I had 15 lbs.  The good news is that i moved up 1 place in the points to 13th.  Some of the big names were there (Art Fergeson, Joe Baylog....ect).

Yesterday I towed the boat from Wixom down to Moore Boats in Indiana.  Hopefully they will get it done so I can get back on the water ASAP!  I have a friend that is flying in on Friday night to prefish this weekend with me.  Be a real bummer if we can't prefish for the last BFL super tournament.

Seth V

[CuradoKev]

I had a great partner (Rob Campbell) out of Indiana and stayed in the Detroit River all day. He was working some shallow areas for smallmouths. I decided to put on a spinnerbait (1/2 oz Mini-me-Lavender Shad) and power fish around 10:30am. An hour later, I had 4 including a 4-14 LM bass. Caught my fifth fish with 5 minutes to go and ended up with 13-15, thank goodness. Moved me to 38th in points and hopefully with a good tourny in 2 weeks, I'll be Iowa bound !!

Congrats to all the guys who wacked them and Team Houston for his personal best, unfortunately on any other day you would have won  But that's fishing ....

Thanks for the write-ups and nice to see everyone got back safe from the brain beating on Erie 

Later CKev

[225XS4Garza200PXL]

I'll share my week of fishing as well... but first I really would like to thank the Lord for my day on Saturday... I know he was moving through me big time and I could feel it...

My first day of pre-fishing was spent out on Erie... gosh that lake really has my number... I ran into Rufus out there and he said he was doing ok... I did absolutley horrible... You know its bad out there when you're not even catching drum... haha... I fished around Pelee, Pelee Point, Grub Reef, and numerous other humps in the area.. I finally got onto something at the edge of one hump that rises fairly quickly from 24 up to 19 fow... I caught a couple decent ones there but it was nothing to write home about. I searched some more and made my way back to the Detroit River and caught small ones and some walleye... I called it a day around 7... I don't think I pre-fished the lake as well as I could or should have. I already had a game plan and I guess I just went out there hoping to get onto something big...

Thursday, I headed up north to Algonac... I met my buddy Art at the ramp and after a small discussion on a game plan we launched... he went to Walpole to get his lisences as he's been gone for so long he had not gotten a Canadian yet... I ran to the River and started my day... In my first area, I make a dirft catch a couple 2's and some shorts and at the end of the drift I get a nice 3.5 lber... left the area as it took me a LONG time to get those 4 or 5 fish... I fish some new stuff in between and catch some 2's... The area around Fawn Island has been dead for a while and its been tough to get on big fish there... that was still the case on Thursday and I abandoned that area fast... I headed farther north and went fishless for a while... It was very crowded up there... Alot of people i'd never seen before were up there... The St. Clair River has been putting out some tremendous weights rivaling those of Erie... although Erie seems to be putting out the more consistent 23+ sacks... anyways... I got to an area farther north and made a drift and nailed a 5.5 lber and a 4.5lber... this was on an area that was new to me and it really got me going... this was in a short amount of time so I left immediatly and didn't beat it up... I headed farther north to Stag and fished the southern area and managed to catch a bunch of walleye and another good 4+ smallie... I got off the water at 5... a little early, but I had to do some running around... I thought I had a decent day my best 5 went around 19 lbs and I didn't beat any one area up...

On Friday I went back up to just check some things out... I launched at Pine River and ran to the island and fished all around it... that area sure is tough... I have not been able to consistently find fish around there... I fished all around it and only caught 2 fish... both over 4... but they were not even close to each other...  I went back to my new area... in 5 minutes landed another 4 lber and I was convinced this is where I would start on Saturday... I left that area and went farther south and tried some more new stuff... and hooked into a 45ish inch Sturgeon... my first Sturgeon ever... faught the thing for like 15 minutes... it was pretty awesome... after that I decided to call it and went back to the ramp... when a light bulb went off and I turned around and headed to one more area... I made a drift and caught a 4 lber and left...

One thing I saw pre-fishing is that it was very tough... the fishing was slow and areas were getting POUNDED... one thing I did that I feel was critical in doing well was doing something different and downsizing... that last day of prefishing I abandoned the tube and started dropshotting...

Tournament day... I was very excited and anxious to get going... I was making the 145 mile round trip and I couldn't wait... it was pretty cool because I was fishing against one of my best friends and mentor Art Ferguson... I really wanted to put a whoopin on him... well not really but it was a cool feeling to compete against him... I drew Jeff Bishop and Jeff was cool with what my plan was... we were boat 72... we took off... and I tell you what that Stratos 200 Pro XL and 225 Pro XS combo will SKOOT!!! We passed 18 boats before we got to St. Clair... I think the only guys that made it up there before us were the guys in the beginning of the first flight... one guy was just setting down when we got there and I thought he was boat number 6 or something... the ride in the lake was bumpy but we made it up there in about an hour and 10 minutes... we started the day in the new area and on my first drift I nailed 2 fish in the 2.5 lb range on the dropshot... i'm thinkin i'm doin ok and that those big fish will show up... we make several more passes and nothing... Jeff and I talk about how some of these fish bite in spurts and I agree but I don't convince myself... Art shows up and he says he's got a 15 lb bag already... decision time... I make the decision to move... I go to the area that I caught a 4 in the other day... the one that I turned around to go to after I was going to the ramp... on the first pass Jeff nails his first keeper... it barely keeps but he's on the board... we get farther down and just get into them thick... I catch one hog on the dropshot... thank you Jesus... drop it down again... hits the bottom bam... another good one... drop it again... get into another one... So I got my limit... and I still have those small ones... I make more drifts and nothing... I decide to go back to area number one and I decided that if I get a good one i'm stayin if not were out of there... we get nothing... I go back... its crunch time we have about 20 minutes left... Jeff hangs a hog!! it ended up weighing 5-5... I really needed one like that... we keep drifting... my line is feeling funny... I hang another good one and I cull one of the small ones... we have a little bit of time left... I can still get one more... I break off my dropshot rig and don't have enough time to retie... I throw a tube and nothing... I figure I had about 18-19 lbs... I recirc the water... add some of the green stuff and we're on our way... it takes us 23 minutes to get back to the lake... I thought the lake would be rough but it was just a little bumpy... I want to get Jeff 3 more fish... we stop at Peche Island and drift the deep stuff and he gets some shorts... we give it 15 minutes and nothing... I told him i'd feel a little better about fishing after we get through the Miracle Mile... to my suprise... it was almost flat... we ran it pretty good and i'm feeling better... we stop at Grosse Isle and I catch a short and he catches a couple more shorts... I want to get him some fish... but its time to go back... we make it with like 5 minutes to spare...

We got our bags and get the fish in there... my big ones are in good shape... but my small one... the one thats been good the whole day doesn't look so good... I get it in the back and throw some blue stuff in there and get to the weigh-in line and put the aerators in the bag... from the boat to the end of the line... this fish was looking way better already... all my fish are alive and I walk up on stage... I think I have closer to 19... put them on the scales and Anthony Wright yells out 20-7... I have a big grin on my face... it landed me in 6th place... Thank God...

So that was how my day went... i'm very excited to finally do well this season in the BFL... this season has been humbling to say the least... i've had some rough tournaments and some bad breaks... but those things happen... I look forward to the next one and hope to see you all there...

[Team houston]

Looks like you put that whuppin on Art like you wanted too. Nice job

[djkimmel]

I agree that Erie is putting out more consistent 23+ sacks right now and lots of 4.5 to 5.5 pound smallies, but the allure of the St. Clair River with those MONSTERS they are catching up there - here's another one, caught by Paul Grove the day before the BFL in 25 feet of water on a dragged tube while fishing with our own yukonjack2 - a WHOPPING 7 pounds! 10 ounces!!!! WOW!!! (Thanks for the picture Paul and Jack!) Paul's a pretty healthy bass angler and that thing was a lot longer than he is wide!

If only...



That is the 4th or 5th 7+ I've heard of this year (and I haven't been close to any of them...)

[Team houston]

Hey dan where is your BFL story?

[djkimmel]

Ask... and you shall receive... for better or worse (I actually had to start with someone else's story to spice up my bland, sad tale...

So what do you do when you've just run over 40 miles - some of it pretty rough... and this happens:





You don't know for sure what's happened, but suddenly your motor is vibrating like crazy and you still have almost 8 miles to go further up the river to get to those big toad smallies just waiting for your BFL effort.

Well, if you're my friend Ben Felton (who's hotter than a bonfire right now), you figure if the motor's going to blow, at least I'm getting to the fish!!! You stomp on the foot throttle and don't let up until you get there!!!

I just finish running my own muscle-pounding 40+ miles from Elizabeth Park up into the main St. Clair River channel and stop on my first 'get the kinks out' fishing spot and my phone rings. What the?? I look and it's www.benfishin.com Ben Felton. He knows better. This isn't good. "Is this an emergency?" I say into the phone (hoping against all hope that this is some kind of mistake). "Yes! It is!" Ben shouts back. "Dan, I just threw a blade on my prop and I don't have a spare. Do you have yours?"

Well SHOOT!!! Having suffered the break-in a while ago, I still haven't bought another case to put my new spare in, so no I don't have it in my boat... "Well, ask people you run into if they have a spare you can bring me. I've talked to Anthony and he knows I'm calling people looking for a spare so I can get back."

Double-shoot!!! I'm only planning on spending a few minutes here and then running up by Ben. At least he got where he wanted to go before stopping. Now he just needs a prop to get back. And - he didn't tell me this because he knew it was not appropriate, but he already has a 5-11 in the boat!!! I find out later after I run up and meet him on one of our shared spots.

Luckily, Ben calls me a little later as I prepare to run up the rest of the way and says Jose Garza (the guy here with the looonnngg 225XS4Garza200PXL screen name here) had a spare and loaned it to him. WAY TO GO JOSE!!! (and great job on the 5th place finish with the 20 plus beautiful stringer!!!)

Ben ends up 15th or 16th in the BFL and then goes on to finish 2nd and big bass with a BIG 22.09 (5-14) the next day in the Bassmaster Series - missing 1st by about 10 ounces. He's HOT right now with a Bass Anglers United win on St. Clair (18.99 lbs), a top 10 Stren Series in Cleveland and this past weekend heroics! No wonder I had to turn the air conditioning in the hotel room on high!?!?!

Me... Well despite knowing enough to do better, I only managed 4 little keepers for 8-something. I feel worse for my partner, Jeremy Baker, who ended up with 3. I lost what felt like a 3+ later fishing the river the old way I would normally after I just couldn't take anymore drifting the river up north (it ain't easy for someone with the patience of a two-day old hatched mayfly with only 3 days to mate and die...)

I stopped early hoping to meet up with a MONSTER shallow smallie (I mean a MONSTER!) I had try for my topwater Friday... but I guess they don't get to be monsters by falling for the same trick two days in row...

I only fished the big topwater looking for big one to start. After all, there were plenty of 2 to 3+ up the river yesterday. A limit should be no problem (I'm beginning to think that train of thought might be a jinx... but I don't believe in that stuff...?) Another boat pulled in behind us and caught 2 or 3 keepers before we left, but I didn't seen any whoppers.

Besides, the plan was to spend as much of the day up river for the BIG ones as possible. The first spot held a bunch of keepers too the day before, which is why I started there. Got a little nervous that only 1 keeper (my partner's) came aboard there in a couple passes. But hey, it's still early... plenty of time.

I kept thinking that, but with only 3 and 3 in the boat much later, I couldn't take it anymore. I think I was getting a lot of bites that I wasn't hooking. They were just pecking and a couple of the peckers (no pun intended) got tricked onto the hook - enough to let me know I was getting bites I wasn't converting. For whatever reason (mostly mental and mostly mine probably), I wasn't getting commitments (I normally say that is the sign of male bass... no commitment!).

I ran down the river and hit some spots after I could take the drifting no more (as I said). Lost the good one and converted 1 more 14.5 incher. I stayed in the Middle Channel until only 1 hour and 20 minutes remained. I had a feeling the Detroit was going to be surprisingly calm... can't say why exactly - a combination of the overcast and killer tuna boat gas prices maybe? Of course, if I'm wrong, I have a very unhappy co-angler in the boat (he was sitting in 12th place and I did not want to mess him up any more than possible... nor did I want to break anything, which I didn't - so there's a bonus!).

The lake wasn't too bad if you ran over to the west side of the channel out onto the Mile Roads flats. Only one really rough patch after we left the channel mouth area - down by Grosse Pt. Club among the big sailboats. But the Detroit was better than expected, maybe the nicest I've ever seen it on an afternoon. I was able to run 40 mph to full speed almost the entire way once I hid the middle of Peche Island. We had a half hour to yet down by Fighting Island so I stopped and tried one more thing (and checked on the bass too - doing fine).

Unfortunately, I am weak on Detroit River spots and could not help Jeremy out anymore - sorry dude. Hope you still like me... (wink wink - sorry, inside joke I can not elaborate on...)?!? I did have a great day fishing with Jeremy. I may have talked his arm off, but that is my other weapon to staying awake (along with caffeine of course... and the occasional tuna boat wake jolt). I thought we got along fabulously.

Enough of my sad story. Congrats to all the GreatLakesBass.com members who KICKED BUTT Saturday - almost too many to remember: Ben Felton, rufus, team houston, that 225sfwe-something Garza guy (THANKS again for helping Ben out - you're a credit to the tournament fishing arena), SClapper, CuradoKev... Who else? Seems like there were more...?

[dhuff]

Wow!  That fish is 7lbs 10 oz.  I would of never guessed that fish to be close to that weight.  Not saying it isn't but that fish looks like a 4.5lb or maybe a 5 at best.  Might want to check that scale to see if it is accurate.

[Vic Cerabone]

Great job Jose! 

Wow what the hell happened to that prop?  That's not just a slung blade, is it?

[djkimmel]

Yup - slung blade - just running in open water (which is all it hit - water!). The prop was like new. The slung blade hit the other blade and then the cavitation plate too, leaving a dent and small missing chunk out of that part.

As far as the picture - that's the problem with getting some pictures - the bass doesn't look as huge as one shot with a wide angle close up that can make the fish look twice as big. You just have to look at the length of the bass to see if is really looonnngggg - compared to his body width. Just remember the picture taker is one of us...

[Ryan]

Wow, it sounds like there were a ton of really nice bass caught, but I was just curious, what was overall Big Bass?

[Team houston]

6.4-boater     6.2-co-angler

[djkimmel]

Since I didn't catch any bass worth taking a picture of (unlike some of you...), here's a picture of Ben Felton's 5-11 from the BFL on Saturday:


And looking quite a bit happier... his two toads, including big bass of the tournament, from the Bassmaster Series the next day - a 5-14  and another almost as big:


(Looks like a Lake Huron bass on the left and a St. Clair River bass on the right? Although they were caught in about the same spot.)

[Team houston]

Hey Dan who took the picture at the BFL event?  Was just wondering if by some miracle their was a picture of my big one? Would love to have one if it exists.

[cameraguy]

Great reports guys!  I wish I could have all that fun, too.  Maybe next year.

[MadWags]

Me and my partner "Madwags" I believe is his title, also were in the St Clair river. After a bumpy ride across St. Clair we spun a hub near Fawn island. After a quick change in shallow water we finally got to our fishing spot. We spent most of the day in this general area. I was the lucky one to get 4 good bites(two over five). Dave saved some time at a spot in the lake for some reaction bite fish. I was praying for a squeaker to round out a good limit. After Dave caught a couple dinks and a keeper I finally get my wish and hook a small keeper on a spinnerbait. I pulled a classic blunder you have all seen on TV. I slung the fish in the boat and just after it cleared the side it came off. Past my flailing arms to try and stop it, it bounces of the back deck and into the water on one hop. After a minute to regain my composer I am back at it. I know there is plenty of fish in the area and all I can do is pray for one more bite and hope God gives mulligans. Dave catches a couple more keepers to give him four. Luck was with me today for sure as a I get the bite I need on a trap. After Dave nets it he offers me a high five and is obviously happy for me. It is now about 2:20 we have a 3:00 check in. Dave fishes hard for his last keeper but it does not come. We finally leave at 3:35. I am very nervous about being late. Luck was with me again as the river is pretty calm, even by the bridge. We make it with a minute and a half to spare. My five go 21 even for 5th place. I would like to give a big Thank You to Dave Wagonsomer(Madwags) for putting me around fish and being a great partner to fish with. He took my good fortune in stride when we all know it is not easy to do, when things are not going our way. Thanks Dave.?

Phil,
It was a pleasure fishing with you.
I was definitely happy for your good fortune.
That happened to be the largest tournament weight caught out of my boat.
You are my second co-angler this year to cash a check.
Maybe you will get lucky and draw me in the super tourney.
We can make a short run and catch a limit to secure your regional appearance.
Good Luck!
Lord knows I need it. LOL!

Congrats GARZA!

[djkimmel]

Team houston - Ben is always prepared (partly why I used to call him 'Uni-Ben Kenobi') - he gave his camera to someone else to get a picture of him at the BFL - but FLW Outdoors did have someone taking pictures - maybe they took one of you.