Wawasee tourney

[skeeterman190]

 Anyone fish the tournament on Wawasee today? just curious as to what it took to win.

[LGMOUTH]

Didnt know there was one, Thats to bad didnt have anything to do today. Heading down next Saturday for one hopefully the weather will cooperate.

[skeeterman190]

 Yeah i seen on Indiana Bass federation when i got home some 20 dollar a person deal. looked to be about 20 boats or so. the bite was tough. we caught some big ones but?? oh well. we were just there having fun.

[Eric]

Our local funeral director just got his first boat and went to Wawasee last Saturday and Sunday.  They caught one pike each day and no bass.  They plan to go back, and asked me what to do.  I have never been there this time of year and have no idea what to tell them.  Anyone have any pointers they can share or PM me with.  Thanks.

[thedude]

i'd start with a jerkbait or trap.... table rock shad would be a good color to start with.
cucumber jig would be a good choice also

[skeeterman190]

 Fish the Channels i wont say which ones exactly but all the fish we caught were in the channels. We had a 5.9 a 4 and some more that were 14-16inchers. throw a jig and if your just looking for bite a skakey head worm. jerkbaits arent producing well yet maybe if you throw them make a huge pause. 15 secs+ pm me and ill give you some more specific things and some ideas that id try.

[rufus]

Phil,
The annual ice breaker on Tippy goes out of the dance hall this Saturday the 4th. I believe tourney hours are 8-4. They usually get around 40 boats, but I have seen up to 80 and down to 30. I fish it just about every year and will be there again this year. If you know anyone looking for a tourney pass it on. It isn't usually run that well, but hey it is an early tourney.
Heath

[skeeterman190]

Yeah ill be there also. you know what time it starts??

[rufus]

A buddy of mine sent in the entry so I am not sure, but I believe it is from 8-4. We're leaving his house (Auburn, IN) at 6 so it better start at 8 'cause it takes us an hour to get there. We will be in some kind of tin can boat  . He asked me to fish it with him and I told him as long as he could get a boat that could get through the locks. I have always loved that tourney and have done real well in the past. We won it 2 years in a row a few years back, but the last couple times we have not fared so well. We never prefish it and just show up and hope for the best, it is too far of a drive for us to justify spending too much money on it. Besides, the spring bite is on up here and the big gals are munching jigs in the pad stems. I had a 6'10" along with 2 5's and several other 3-4 pound fish a coule days ago. I just love those dumb spring fish on some of our smaller lakes here in Steuben. The best part is I have yet to see another boat. Oh well, if you see us say hi. I believe he still has an old beater silver and maroon Chevy extended cab and I think the boat is an aluminum 17 foot Fisher, but I am not sure.

[skeeterman190]

 Yeah goin to barbee huh? ive done well there also but not in that tourney i think ive fished it a time or 2. yeah theyre loving the jig right now i hear ya. pad stems. dont give away all the secrets we gotta keep em guessin.haha. ill be there in my skeeter. silver white. glb decals shimano. and if this guy ever gets em done nemesis. white dodge with 20's.-skeeterman-

[McCarter]

baby steps, we need to sell 11 more jigs to afford stickers

McCarter himself

[skeeterman190]

 Yeah i had the guy @ the decal shop on the corner here make me 1 for my boat and its been a week im mad i want it!

[Langer]

Hey McCarter got any patches, I would love to add one to my vest!

[rufus]

My buddy called me and told me the stickers have not come for the boat we were going to use (hopefully today!). If they don't come we will be fishing out of his 15 foot jonboat converted to a bass boat . I may have to talk him into staying on Tippy and either fishing out of my Triton or his Ranger. It is supposed to be windy so I don't know if I could handle the 15 footer. I think it has a 15 horse on it  . Gonna be 30 degrees in the morning so wear your long johns!

[McCarter]

no patches, how about a nice pink tube top?

[Langer]

no patches, how about a nice pink tube top?

Sorry I only work for Patches! Can't fish unless you got patches!

[skeeterman190]

 Get the tube top embroidered....

[rufus]

I never did see you there skeeterman, did you make it? We had a disappointing day. One other boat went through the locks with us so there wasn't too much competition. Our morning started out good as we hit a set of pad stems and on my 4th cast put one in the boat on a jig that was just under 4 pounds. He inhaled the jig and I royally blue it and did not retie. I made about three more casts and hook into another fish that looked to be in the 4-5 pound range. He came up and boile twice and then snapped me off  . It was brand new Pline, too and that rarely happens to me. Well, we worked these pads over and didn't get another bite. We moved on hitting another set of stem on Big Barbee. On the first pass, my partner Steve lands another fish that is just under 4 pounds, but no other bites except a couple dinks. We then moved to another set of stems and catch a 2 pounder on a 'trap. On our next move we catch another trap fish that was 15 inches. This was all in the first 2 1/2 hours. We then hit a channel and I began catching dinks on a jig. I then had a fish in the 3-3 1/2 pound range grab my jig 4 feet from the boat. I set the hook and tried to boat flip him in one motion. Well, he bounced off the side of the boat and back into the drink  . We then went back thorugh our productive pad stem which were warming nicely in the wind and sun. In the morning they were 46 and by noon were around 50-51. Funny thing is nothing was moving into them. Steve did catch a 20+ Muskie and I managed to hook one more keeper that I lost that looked to be about 16 inches. All in all a tough day, running to the Barbee end really took up some time. I think we fished the right pattern and just didn't capitalize on our bites. Our 4 weighed 10.92 and we finished 6th. Of course they paid 5 places and 5th had 11.38, 2nd had 12.9 and the winners had 14.04. My idiot self not retieing had probably cost us the tourney. Big Bass was a 5.62 brute. There was about 30-35 boats.

[skeeterman190]

 We too had a dissapointing day and threw our fish back and didnt weigh in. Nice job do you know what Tad Hepler had???

[skeeterman190]

Good Job Rufus! Too bad on no check..