Burt Mullet Co-angler advise

[t-bone]

Having never fished a BFL and having never fished these lakes - I'm preparing my tackle for the trip. What advise would you give me on the best tackle for the lakes and as co-angler in these tournaments?

I know the target species is smallies - so I'd assume jerks, tubes, drop shots... anything more specific to the environment I'll see up there?

I'm going to bring 4-5 rods and a small tacklebox... won't have room for the kitchen sink, so any specific advise would be appreciated!

[blakstr1]

a shaky head rig would be a good idea just to fan cast and bounce back to the boat 

[djkimmel]

A couple natural spinnerbaits for burning out over deeper water between the good spots might pick up a bonus fish or two. If the water is a little off-colored, then go with the old all chartreuse instead. In general, suspending jerkbaits work better in the spring up there than spinnerbaits, but if everyone is throwing them... Don't be afraid to try large jerkbaits also. You want to challenge spring smallies first before you finesse them.

Take a couple medium-sized crankbaits (whatever color you have most confidence in) that dive around 10 feet or so. If they won't come up for the spinnerbait, the crankbait right past their noggin will work. Try dragging something a little heavier if you are near deep water around beds. There are almost always more beds a little deeper nearby and fish slowly coming in and out of the bedding areas.

If the boater moves fast, use the spinnerbait/crankbait combo. If he/she moves slow and  those aren't working throw something out that you can drag back in. I stick mostly with dark colors out past where I can see, starting with light colors first while sight-fishing. I go to the dark colors if I don't like the reaction I get.

[dashaver63]

Each of the last 2 years I fished, I caught my fish on wacky rigged Senko's, Baby Bass color. Throw them at anything you see. If your boater isn't fishing beds, try to hit all the dark areas you see. Those are patches of grass and weeds, I pulled my fish from those areas. Also try a Popper, Those smallies like those also. With this weather we have had, and it being cooler this year, it could be a mix of bed fishing and pre-spawn fish. Really wish I was going again this year, hopefully next year I can get back in.

[djkimmel]

Topwater can be an overlooked hot technique for smallies this time of year. Won't take long to find out if it is working. Two years ago, I went out the morning after the BFL and had a pretty good morning on small topwaters out there. Sure helped make up for the crappy results I posted the day before

Stick worms like Xtreme Bass Tackle X-worms are always worth throwing for bass anywhere anytime. Strong winds can make it a little tougher.

[t-bone]

Thanks for all the info and PM... haven't thrown any topwater this year but then again I haven't gotten on the lakes very early either. It would be great to get that bite going! There has been so much wind this year, mother nature has all but taken that pattern away.

[MBell]

1. Tube
2. Fluke
3. Suspending Jerkbait
4. Spinner bait

Long Casts!  Fish for pre spawn cruisers while your boaters bed fishing, you'll likely hook up with the biggest fish of the day.  Just keep fishing, a lot of Co's give up on Burt/Mullet. 
-Matt

[t-bone]

So here is what happened. This was my first ever BFL and had absolutely no expectations since everything was new to me. Had decent practices and found plenty of bedding fish. Drew a young boater who thought he was on a shallow water jerkbait bite. NOT! We wasted the morning on this. If this wasn't my first BFL, I would have been more vocal and tried to encourage us to try something different. This was not the pattern to be on, eventually helped him find some beds. I was thinking that maybe he found something others hadn't and this would help me as a co-angler because I could really fish instead of being behind someone on beds but he really didn't have anything. He actually took me to a couple boulders and was really impressed he had found them but he never saw a fish on them. Just the find was impressive to him. He actually told me that I could use them in the future if I wanted, I thought that was pretty funny. The guy was a nice guy and it was his first time fishing a tournament on that lake.

I was more help to him than he was to me. I was able to track his fish, get us in some areas that we could catch them. Lost my only keeper I hooked, when you only get a couple bites it was hard to stay calm on the fish.

Jerkbaits weren't catching much of anything. I think I caught one keeper during practice. The fish weren't chasing much. Topwater, flukes, spinnerbaits weren't producing. Tubes weren't really producing either. Basically you had to be on beds to be effective, so dropshots were getting the staged fish.

I learned a lot about BFL tournaments in general which will help.

Couple things I saw which were interesting:

- Boater anchored fishing a bed from the back of the boat. Co-angler looking pretty upset, standing cross armed at the front. He probably lost an hour of fishing. They were pinned up against docks and I'm sure the co-angler fished the docks for a few minutes and figured he didn't have anything else to throw at. I could have been that guy. Hopefully that co-angler had a discussion with the tournament director.

- another boater asked us not to pick up his black bouy as he left it and moved on. We should have just fished the bed he was marking but we didn't. I'm assuming we would have had the right but decided against it as he followed us back down the shore.

[1javelin]

In a bed fishing tourney like this one, I would have expected more co's to be standing around with their arms crossed while the boater spends an hour or so on a bed.  That's how it goes, and any co should have known that was the chance he took going into it.  Not saying it's right, just that it should have been expected.  That's where fishing for pre spawn as a co comes in.

1Jav

[t-bone]

I wasn't surprised about the co-angler sitting but I was surprised the boater was fishing from the back of the boat which was clearly a violation. I was thankful I didn't get in that situation. I also thought the boater could have positioned his boat to give the co-angler some other options, but it really wouldn't have made too much of a difference.

I was happy that my boater let me throw at some beds with him. I think he did that since I was so helpful in getting him on fish. In the last hour, I really backed off and tried to get him his limit fish but he didn't have much weight with his four (13 lbs).

The winning weights were 27+lbs for the boater and I think I heard the co-anglers were around 22lbs. Big fish was 6-13 for the boater and I think I heard 6-9 for the co. They were on the same boat, so they hit a great area Good Stuff!

[SethV]

Terry-  Wish it would have worked out better for you.  Not an easy place to go as a co angler.  If the boater does not want you to catch fish, you won't.  Look at one of the guys in the top 5, you can be on a ton of fish, but the co won't do well if you don't "give" them fish.

If there was a boater casting/retrieving from the back deck, he should have been DQ.  Sure it was a boater fishing back there?  There were several times when I saw 2 - 3 lbers that I would stand on the front and watch my co try to catch them.  He almost got his 5, he broke one off and another came unbuttoned.  He still had 4 fish, with one almost 5 lbs.

Don't worry too much, you can still make the regional with the last 4 - and they should be easier events for a co-angler.

Seth

[t-bone]

We didn't ask if it was the boater on the back deck but when we went by, both of us thought that there was no way a boater would be anchored and giving his co-angler that much time on a bed - who knows, maybe it was a really generous boater. It would of surprised us if that was the case because I would have guessed they were on this for at least 30 minutes of what we saw and probably more. I'm doubtful the boater would have anchored for the CO and I'm doubtful the boater would have positioned the boat where he did. They were well off the bed and casting to it, so it didn't have much to do with sun and visibility. You never know though...

I'm going to set some pretty modest goals for the remaining BFL's and I hope to do much better.

Glad you had a good tournament and placed high. You put in the time and effort - that is for sure...

[TCook]

Congrats to all who finished high. I feel your pain T-bone as I am sitting here I am still overwhelmed with frustration. I had a tough draw as well, the guy told me he had not seen beds all week  and wanted to run to Crooked Lake because he cought 15 pounds cranking the other day there  . I thought to myself maybe it wont be so bad if I can get him to spend some time on a spot I got there that always holds big fish and alot of beds. Well we spent about 30 min in the morning on my spot and thats when I got my two and he broke off a 5 pounder then decided to move. We fished his stuff for the rest of the day and he got 1 crankbait fish then we ran back and went largemouth fishing in the mouth of the indian river  . All we seen was carp and pike and the day was over. I got to fish for about 4.5 hours and had two bites from a bass all day. I missed out on the massive spawn on Burt & Mullet with ideal sightfishing conditions because my boater did not have a clue. That was the most disapointing tournament for myself that I can remember. Bad start to the year but hopefully I can get some good draws on st clair and erie.

T

[MBell]

Had a family emergency Friday and had to leave, but I heard the conditions were great.  As for the boater fishing off the back, it is clearly a rules violation.  I don't like the rule, since I pay for the whole boat and somethimes when it's windy it's the only way to get a good view of the bed.  I do however follow the rule and would report it if I clearly saw someone violate it.  It could've been the co-fishing, I did the exact thing last year.  I anchored on a bed for my co, I was sitting on the cowling watching him fish for it.  Your best bet up there as a co is to get a nice boater who will give you some fish or a bad boater who doen't get the bed thing.  I know co's who have done great up there because there boater rolls right over beds all day.  Any word on where we are going next year? 
-Matt   

[TCook]

I forgot to mention my boater showed up without a net he said it must have blown off the boat on his way there. So that worked out since we didnt need it that often.

I also fished the TBF this year for the first time and it was a bust. I fished with Bill Vavrina he was a nice guy but only had a couple beds to check. I cought one of his maybe a 3.5 and he cought one off of my waypoints a skinny 5 pounder the rest of the beds we had were all empty. I think I need to work on my boat control it was obvious I dont get to run the boat that often because I gave him an angle and he cought it. Alot of time was wasted jerkbaiting a grass bed for 2 hours early, then 2 hours to get to Burt and back, and him drying off after falling in the water while trying to locate fish on a bed using his mask. First thing i said after he pulled himself back in the boat was "so did you see any bass on that bed"?

I also heard some rumors that they are going to Elk & Torch next year, any truth to this?

[Buckeye]

I had a rough go of it as well folks, and watched the winner fish in Sturgeon Bay.  He was really a nice guy.  Once he caught his fish, he had his co on them as well. 

He was using a construction cone that was rigged so he could see beds.  the water was not as clear as I expected, and my deeper beds were not visible.  I ended up blind-casting to them, best i could do off the GPS. 

I ended up with two for 6 pounds and my co had 3 for 10-9.  He was a nice 20 year-old from Toledo.  Man, I love that area. 

Fishing off the rear of the boat is a definite rule infraction, and I could have sworn I saw someone pulling a KVD in Sturgeon Bay late in the day.  It looked as if someone was running the big motor with the other guy on the front deck looking for beds.  No life jackets of course.  Double infraction.  They left before we did so I didn't catch their boat.  They had a pink ribbon tied off to the trolling motor, so they were in the tourney.

Eric

[t-bone]

"did you see the bass?" Too funny, he got a close look.

I didn't hear where they were going next year. My friends thought they heard the chamber of commerce lady say "we'll see you next year in the fall" at the Friday evening meeting. So either that was a mistake or she let us in on something. They did a really nice job with the food at both the meeting and the weigh-in. Very nice of the local community!

The pink ribbon think was interesting too. A friend of mind had an issue with a plug and needed DNR help in the morning. We saw them at the ramp as we were pulling their boat out for the evening, and they said they weren't aware of the pink ribbon deal. They had stopped 15 boats in the tournament before they helped by buddy out and they said a ribbon wasn't going to stop them from doing their job. There was a bit of a miscommunication on that one.

We laughed about the cones and the devices people had bought from Japan to let them see the beds in deep water or in the waves but apparently it does help. My boater really had never seen a  bed so that wouldn't have helped ;-)

[TCook]

I also heard that the regional would be held at Burt & Mullet next year but did not mention it because I thought it sounded rediculous. Then again maybe they could pull it off in the fall and I know the fishing is phenomenal then. Talk about home field advantage if that was the case.

[Firefighter Jeff]

Too bad you guys didn't get hooked up with my brother Larry or someone like him.  His co angler won first place.  Larry is telling me about his tourney day and mentions how he is apologizing at times to his CA when he tries to get "his" big fish from beds first. But then he gives beds to the CO.  Larry said he got a 4.2 off a bed and realized that that wouldn't cull his 4.4 in the well.  He tells the CA that they will go fish a couple other beds and then come back and the CA can catch that fish.  Sure enough that's what happened. 

No one has to worry about Larry breaking any rules.  He had a good fish on a bed, felt a tap and set the hook.  It was a 5.7 and it was hooked in the eye.  He turned it back, then caught it again later for his big bass. I sure am proud to call him my brother.  By the way Larry finished 14th.

[motocross269]

Those are some pretty good stories and reports....Especially the one about the construction cone and the swim mask...     But heh whatever works..

Maybe Ranger will make a Glass bottom boat like they have at silver springs for bed fishing...