I feel bad for the guys fishing the championship this weekend.

[Mike S.]

That's what I told mikesmiph before he took off this evening.  I told him, there goes the DK Open West.  After this weekend, nobody is going to come over.  Guess I'll have to fish against .....me.  It really sucks that it was so tough for everyone, but there has been a tremendous amount of pressure.  If Muskegon and White were comparable to LSC in size, we might just have capacity for frequent tournaments.  There are guys here who have their spots, and always put it together, and as you can see, Watts had 15+ according to earlier posts.  It would definitely be hard to come here from the east side under our lake conditions and do well.

[djkimmel]

In tournaments... well is a relative term. Those are more than respectable weights for July on those lakes lately. About what I expected anyway. A little better even depending on what 13th place weight was.

Great to see many GreatLakesBass.com members made the team. Congratulations!

[Waterfoul]

I had an early limit saturday but had a hard time getting any thing big to bite. The lake needs some rest for sure. Waterfoul told me drop shoting was legal on Mona lake but not Muskegon or White?!?! what do ya say mike?

Muskegon definitely fished better yesterday than it did today, so we ran to Mona.  Which brings us to this:

I was told by 2 different CO's at the Grand Rapids fishing show that you could in fact drop shot on Mona Lake because it didn't have a designated trout stream flowing into it... the list Kimmel posted is totally new to me, never knew it existed, so apparently the guys who write the tickets are un-informed.  I pre-tied half a dozen LEGAL drop shot leaders last night in the anticipation that we would be fishing White (which didn't happen) and did in fact catch and lose several fish on it so rigged on Muskegon early... but every one of them was a short fish.

Didn't matter today anyway... after an hour of short fish we found something that was ON at Mona.  Today was only my second time on the lake in many, many years... but thanks to some advice from Chrisvmo and one trip he and I took to the lake last year I fished three key spots and about half the docks on the lake on my way to 7th place with a 12.7 lb bag that included a 4.8 lb smallmouth.  Chris, that spot we caught all the fish on last year was HOT all day. I must have made 6 or 7 trips over there and caught fish every time.  Fish a bunch of docks, run to the spot... fish some docks... make the run.  Worked all day.  Thanks for the advice, it really came in handy (tried your suggested top water bait but only got 1 rise on it all day), especially when you consider that the lake was too rough for us to make the longer run up to White.  18 foot boats and mixed 3-4 foot seas just don't mix over a 12 mile run.  Made it about 1 mile north before pounding into a 4 footer that shook everything in the boat!  Turned back to Muskegon for a while before making the very short run to Mona.

Had a lot of fun today and enjoyed my first TBF experience.  Thanks to Jeff Cox and the entire TBF group that put the tourney on today.  Very well run for sure. 

[djkimmel]

Glad you did well fishing.

As far the drop shot and other rules and regulations, I put the information you all need on the site as much as possible for you, but you have to read it to know it. I have received no information that the original Fisheries Order for drop shotting has changed since inception. The orders are usually for 5 years and based on the fishing license season so this one expires March 31, 2011 before it would normally be changed. Hopefully it is renewed at minimum.

Here is the link to FO 218-06 on Michigan.gov: http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/FO-218-06_182411_7.pdf

It still shows Mona Lake as one of the lakes where a regular drop shot can't be used. I have run into CO's several times who were not up completely on these lesser or more specific orders and regulations, or local ordinances, or had a different interpretation of them. I make sure I go by what Lansing is going by and point them in that direction when necessary.

It is nice that the local person(s) might be more lenient, but when it comes right down to it, the written, official order contradicts what you say they told you. The original list was made up of lakes the MDNRE Law Division claimed they had snagging enforcement problems on, not designated trout stream status. Believe me, at the meeting in Lansing back in 2005, I asked about all of the lake specifically on the list.

I have talked to a few local CO's who had differing opinions about specifics regarding this FO, but what I've posted under the Legislation forum board here is the OFFICIAL answer I got from Lansing here - http://www.greatlakesbass.com/forum/index.php?topic=47.0. We all can use uniformity in enforcement and interpretation.

[mikesmiph]

I had a great time, and would do it again. Got to fish all day with Mike on Saturday, had a great meal with a whole bunch on Saturday night. Got to see guys I only see a couple times a year. Drew Tommy Robinson as my boater on Sunday. What a class act he is. And an excellant boat handler. Road his Z520 to White in a pretty good chop. Had a blast, was very impressed with that boat. Didnt catch a bass all weekend. Leg was acting up, Dad is back in the hospital, but I made the most of it. Still had fun. Thanks to everyone who helped put this on. It was a great event. Thanks to Tommy for the great day. Mike for his hospitality. And mother nature for a couple beautiful days.

[Eric]

Trent Withrow and Mike Elkins are the other 2 nonboaters, I believe.

[McCarter]

i drop shotted the whole day.  i used a uni to uni knot to create the tag.  it ended up being about 5" long but since i wasnt really expecting to catch much, i wasnt worried about making it shorter.  I ended up catching one and losing one on a sicko first thing in the morning, and then went out a ds the rest of the day.  i lost 2 good fish that i seen, and one that i never seen on a ds and my co angler lost 2 on the ds.  never seen largemouth that fight that hard in my life.  they put the kent lake smallmouth to shame.  Congrats to Nemesis team guys who made the team, Jay Fowler and Mike Ozinga.  And to the rest of the 2010 team. 

Dave Reault and Jeff Cox and the rest of the supporting staff put on a great tournament and also deserve applause.

McCarter himself

[djkimmel]

Glad to hear people had fun and it was a successful event. How many teams fished it approximately? Anyone notice that? Thanks.

[blakstr1]

I was told from Savage, who fished it, there were around 60 - 70 boats.  Solid turn out.

[TCook]

I was told 72

[SethV]

I think there were 71 or 72 boats.  It was a nice day on the water, the tx was well run.

I fished White all day.  Morning run up was easy.  Ran the lake at a comfortable 48 mph.  I started near the lake mouth.  After about 45 min or an hour I only had 2 squeakers to show for it.

Made the run to my "better" stuff - I needed sunlight for that bite so thats why I killed some time on the lake mouth.  Got into fish right away.  Of course it was not as good as practice - I was not sticking them during practice but there was quite a bit of pressure and a 42 boat tx the day before, so that may have had some impact.  In any case, I filled my limit and culled a few times, all in less than 2' of water.

Everyone has a "Lost fish story", so here is mine.  Early in the day I hook a PIG - can't see her, but she is strong and heavy.  After a few cranks she just pulls off.  Came back later and hook her AGAIN!  This time I get her to the boat and she is HUGE.  Bicy was laying down on the front deck with the net when she made a dive straight under the boat.  I like to 'freespool' my cranking reels rather than use drag.  She pulled so hard and so fast that my thumb bar locked up and i could not press it.  As she went under the boat, she pulled off.  Oh well.  I need to stop dumping those big ones, but like I said, everyone has a fish story...

I ended up with 12.22 and snuck into the top 12.

Seth

[Mike S.]

I noticed at the weigh in that Bicy's shirt had the Legend logo on it.  Didn't see the boat, but how was that to ride in?  Congrats on making the team.  I didn't get to talk to you, I tried to meet everyone from GLB, but many of you were pretty busy.

[motocross269]

I didn't see his boat there either.....He may have had to go as a non-boater at Muskegon in order to even his club out...That is basically what we did....

[gr@ssmonkey]

i saw a lot of nice rangers at the state fish-off....they were very purdee

[gr@ssmonkey]

i would like to say congrats to all that made the state-team especially water foul(mike ozinga) for being the sole member from our club,ROI to make to team,way to represent and also to eric bond or e-bond as his friends call him...u see some of the locals were complaining about the off limits and the dropshotting rules,i told them(some of them my friends) "that u guys need to grow some confidents(for the lack of a better word),u watch some of these east siders come over here and whip some butt because they don't know all the retread spots and there not worryed were DW(don watts) is fishing they just know how to find fish and catch them"E-BOND definitely brought his TACTICS with 4 fish for 13 lbs tells me that he probably doesn't know the lake as some(there is a dozen or so 1 cast 1 14" fish spots,if u know them) but the TACTICS (the way he fish's) that he brought are tournament winning stuff no matter were u bring them and to me thats what makes a great fisherman.......so congrats e-bond  and jason knapp and any other east siders that made the team for not making me a lyer
i just didn't think it would be my butt u guy's kicked lol      i have no excusse's i brought my A- game but it turned out to be B-game weight @ 5 for 11.4,i thought the day fished extremly tough for the bigger fish as i had that weight at 9:30.....all in all i had a hoot with my partner drew i thought the tournament was run fair and organized and i hope the tbf comes back(if everybody's so worried about  the fishing it needs to be scheduled at the prime fishing times) my 2 cents

[SethV]

I noticed at the weigh in that Bicy's shirt had the Legend logo on it.  Didn't see the boat, but how was that to ride in?  Congrats on making the team.  I didn't get to talk to you, I tried to meet everyone from GLB, but many of you were pretty busy.

Bicy rode with me as a co-angler.  He does have a nice Legend, but fished as a co this weekend with me in my Z21.

[Mike S.]

Oh, I'm sorry, Seth.  I thought I saw your name as a non boater.  My bad.

[djkimmel]

71 - 72 boats is really good. West side in the summer. That would be the biggest TBF state championship yet by over 20 boats.

Fishing must have not been that tough if it took around 12 pounds to make the team. It often drops off more than that at the bottom.

[djkimmel]

I was given the official boat count after all the last minute changes due to breakdowns, etc as 66. Still the biggest turnout for a TBF state championship by almost 20 boats.

[River Rat]

Breakdowns stink....   Burt/Mullet with my bow unit, Muskegon with the trolling motor (and a 5 month old battery earlier in the week), can't wait to see what happens for this week's BFL!

Congrats to all who made the team!