My first 'tourney' of 2006 - Showspan Lansing Center Lake Tank Classic

[djkimmel]

Someone, from NBAA I think, came up with the idea, along with Steve Miller (not the guitar playing Jack-and-Diane crooner) who was running the bass tank, that we should have a tournament on the bass tank ? Lake Tank! $5 per head for a shot to catch the single biggest bass out of the tank in a winner-takes-all extravaganza. Being the first ?annual?? Showspan Lansing Center Lake Tank Classic, we kind of made the rules up as we went along.

Saturday night (March 11), about 7:45, the big tournament started. We had to get going because of the huge turnout ? over 20 top Lansing Center anglers including some walleye guys (no ? there weren?t any walleyes in the tank, but you know those walleye guys always think they are better than us bass guys anyway?).

The Lake Tank Classic started with a small audience since the show was not closed yet. Most of us used Steve Miller?s rods and reels, but we all had our own ?secret? lures from our various show booths ? so a separate competition basically evolved: who?s line of lures would dominate and WIN Lake Tank!!!

We started out letting each competitor stay on the tank until they caught one bass. TD Steve would weigh the fish and another person recorded the weight. The bass were biting really good at first, so it didn?t take long to catch one. The problem was (not for me ? I had a strategy) the smaller bass were racing towards the lure, so most of the initial anglers caught a small bass quickly.

There was one ugly incident when someone misled Ranger bass pro Randy Ramsey into thinking the one big bass was straight down below in the first woodpile. He ?fell? for it and ended up with the smallest bass in the tank. I do not know who pulled this despicable piece of trickery off.

Actually there was quite a bit of razzing going on (especially towards the walleye guys). The issues were that up on the tank, you could not see into the water because of the bubbles. The audience could see everything that happened very well, but the angler couldn?t see anything. Also, the bubbles made it hard to feel how many bites you actually got. There was so much ?cheering? it was hard to hear who was saying ?set the hook? and who was saying ?not yet? and who was saying ?other way, other way? (meaning your lure was out of the big one strike zone already. As I?ve hinted at, there was only one obviously larger bass, old Cuttail (missing a piece of its tail).

Everyone wanted that bass, because whomever caught it would win everything ? the glory and the big money!


Many strategies were used, and the bass started wising up to us. My strategy all along was to use a heavy jig head in a natural Xtreme Bass Tackle Emerald Shiner Hologram tube with a Blood Red tube trailer insert. I wanted the tube to fall through the small bass quickly and then stay on the bottom in one place where I could shake it near old Cuttail (old Cuttie wasn?t that big ? probably about 2 ? 10 or so). I think my strategy was sound because several others had the big one hit their baits with other tube trailers too. Some worked the bait too fast. A couple crafty anglers used floating baits higher up and had shots at Mrs. Cuttail too.

I think if I had gone earlier in the rotation, my strategy would have worked, but towards the end, many of the smaller bass weren?t biting well anyway. I think old Cuttail, being the dominant bass, took over the biting duties, but being a crafty bass, she would spit the lure fast before anglers could hook her. There were some very close calls.

I think now, late in the rotation, a very slow falling X-worm would have gotten her onto the winners scale. I actually had her on. She couldn?t resist the tube trailers slowly wiggling in the bubble current straight up off the bottom. I never felt her hit though, and missed any clues on when to set the hook. So I skunked.

But not really? the next morning, at least one new convert came over to buy tube trailers because he said he was no dummy and saw how those bass kept reacting to the two tentacles slowly undulating straight up off the bottom. Smart angler!

I don?t know who the winner was ? he had a bass that went 2-4 to take all the money.

The whole event was so much fun and entertainment that Adam Starr from Showspan announced there would be a 2nd event in the series with a Grand Rapids Lake Ultimate Classic the following weekend. Time for planning strategy to avoid the smell of skunk?