[unOFFICIAL]2014 MadWags Memorial Tournament West Sat Oct 4 Portage Lake Sign-up

[djkimmel]

My theory is that since I told cameraguy we shouldn't go due to the weather and my need to stay here for the family, you will have 56F and partly sunny from 7:30am until 3pm or so now. I am already hearing about it!

Meanwhile, the family issue has gone... well, it's not easy having a big family sometimes. I'm going to wish I left town but I need to be here to get this stuff worked out. Have fun, I hope.

[YpsiBass]

Headed to Manistee Lake. It's windy on this side of the state...

[dartag]

Welllll how was it.   It was downright nasty here in S/E Michigan.

[YpsiBass]

We changed lakes in the morning because there were 30ish mph winds and whitecaps at Portage. We waited until 7:45, but with no sign of spinninbug, we moved on to Manistee Lake.

Waterfowl and friend finished with 15.3 pounds and a five fish smallie limit (and the tournament winner takes all prize of $60). FOB caught all our smallies, but I helped with the net and youthful exuberance and we finished with 9 pounds and change. Mike S. and McFish finished with three smallies and 6 something pounds. The other guys have pictures. We saw the sun for almost 3 whole minutes. The rest of the day alternated between clouds, rain, wind and rain, sleet, and wind with excessive sleet. I still had fun seeing the west side guys and it was nice to finally meet Ralph.

In hindsight, I'm guessing that bob o voted 10x for October 4th due to the inclement weather we had...

[Mcfish]

I had a great time. It was good to meet Ypsi and FOB. 

Mike and I laughed all day, caught some fish and I got to put a couple of pieces of the smallmouth puzzle together.  If I could have had a better hook/land ratio we may have given Waterfoul and Jeff a run for the money.

Congratulations to Waterfoul and Jeff for a real nice bag considering the conditions.

And maybe it's the Norwegian in me, but I love telling Mother Nature to stick it and fish regardless of weather.  Life's too short to wait for a better day. 

[FOB]

Had a blast!  Got to Portage Launch and lake had a small 1/2 ft chop.  Guys did not want to go out in it. ( just kidding, first pic. is from launch looking down lake were it was calmer).  So made the change.  Was like fishing " a day on the lake" segment.  Never been to Manistee Lake before.  Thanks Waterfowl for the heads up on the duck hunters ( though that point looked awful good ).  Was fun fishing with YpsiBass ( from my home town ).  He caught big fish of the day.  And yes, that is sleet on my seats!  
Anyway, thanks to all.  Hopefully I can make next years as well and meet more GLB members.

[FOB]

Other 2 pics.

[Mike S.]

I didn't get to take a pic of the sleet. We ran into the wall at 60, while attempting to get up to full throttle. It stung just a little bit. Ok, it downright hurt. All in all, a fun day. Weather doesn't stop us....well, some of us anyways.

[Waterfoul]

I almost felt bad asking if Ralph and Ypsibass Rick wanted fish a lake they had never been to but like others said, Portage was downright nasty and would have been nearly impossible to fish effectively (or with any degree of fun, and that's what this was all about).  So we moved to Manistee where we figured the wind would be much more tolerable due to it's north/south configuration and the big hills and town on it's west side.  We also decided to throw $10 each in the pot and do a winner take all event.

We were right for most of the day.  It did get windy a couple of times but never got unbearable.  It did rain and sleet often but it never got unbearable.  Jeff and I caught our first two keepers on a double on our first spot... great way to start the day!  It was pretty much a grind the rest of the day.  We managed to catch about 15 keepers, lots of shorts, and lost a couple decent ones as well.  The pike were fairly active too... caught one and got bit off at least a half dozen times.  Jeff caught our best fish that went 3-12.

[FOB]

If you guys could post the other two pics of fish that would be great, as I did not get any.

[Waterfoul]

If you guys could post the other two pics of fish that would be great, as I did not get any.

I didn't get any of yours or Mike's on my phone.  I think Mcfish and Mike S did though.

[Mike S.]

I have them,  and will try to remember to post them this afternoon.

[YpsiBass]

Someone should post a sleet action shot on the seats too...