Frost bite open wixom lake?

[brg_bassmaster]

Just wondering what day this is going to be held on. Ill be home in michigan for 11 days in october. the 16th thru the 26th. Hows wixom fishing right now? Whats the water temps at? Thanks.

[fishon1219]

The freeze out will be held on October 16th out of the state ramp. I dont know the exact entry fee but if you bring $100 you should be covered. Check in will be at 6:00am

Hope to see you there.

[brg_bassmaster]

Guess i wont be there. I fly into detroit at 3 in the afternoon on the 16th. That sucks i was really hoping to fish that tournment. Oh well good luck to all the guys that are fishing.

[oldjigger]

yes the tournament is the 16th and I can't see blast off before 7:30  bring your $100 and have a good time

[McCarter]

im coming and bringin the Indiana Madman with me.

see you guys up there

McCarter himself

[Durand Dan]

I am thinking about fishing it. The last time I fished the Freeze Out there was a 6 or 7 fish limit. Is that still the case? Probably won't have a partner, so if it's over a 5 fish limit......

[gmetime24]

How did you guys do in this one?? Was a nice day to have a tournament

[McCarter]

The Indiana Madman and I had a tough day and a half of practice for this one.  We ended up getting on the water at 1 pm on thursday and headed to my first spot.  No bites after 20 minutes so it was off to the next spot.  A few casts with a Strike King Series 5 on a creek channel point and our first fish of the day was in the boat.  2.5 lb largie.  Indiana Jay and the temple of Bass put a 3.25 lb largie in the boat a few casts later on a silver buddy.  Felt good about that spot so we moved on.  Since i have spent most of my limited time on Wixom lake on the Tittibawasee side, thats where we headed next.  We hit a few other spots and were not having much luck throwing cranks, jerks, traps, jigs, and blades.  We spent a lot of time side imaging and looking for fish on the sonar.  Then i went to my little sweet spot and caught a couple more 2.5 lb largemouth and a small brown fish.  I think there was a pike in there  too.

Day two of practice started off brutally cold in the morning.  I hung a 2.25 lb largemouth right away fishing the shoreline near the darn on the tit side.  Lucky Craft sammy 100 put him in the boat, but that was the only bite we got there.  Next we moved onto the large flat on the south side of the lake and started burnin traps.  no takers there.  The sun was high by now and the temp had jumped up to about 55 degrees.  we got on a mainlake weedline and started cranking series 6 crankbaits.  I got a good 3.5 lber pretty quick and had another bite but he quickly pulled off.  We worked that exact spot pretty hard without another bite and then just kept on fishing up the break until we hit a creek mouth.  no other bites.  we went into the creek and i got a smallmouth on a shallow crank that was worked along side a pontoon.  i always get a smally bite there.  its crazy.  anyway, we went and hit the spot Kev and I got em last year and i got a good 4.25 largie right off the bat on a Nemesis Football Jig cut down to finesse size.  I released the fish and threw back to the spot and had another pick the jig up.  i shook him off and we continued down the shoreline.  I shook off another 3 fish over the next 40 yards or so.  That spot looked promising.  we headed further up the lake hitting a few spots and caught a few more smaller fish but nothing that we felt good about.  we did some more side imaging and fished a few good looking spots but no fish.

We were about to leave, both beat up and down from the crummy fishing, but i wanted to check one more spot.  My favorite spot.  it was way back in a large creek so off we went.  It was about 5 pm.  we got to the area and started fishing.  Jay put a toad over 5.5 lbs in the boat on his first cast.  The next 30 yards, i shook off 7 bites and stuck the last bite which was a 2.75 lb largemouth.  things were finally looking good.

the morning of the tournament, we couldnt wait to get up to that spot and start crushing them.  And it once we got up there, it started pretty fast. i put a 2 lber in the boat first thing, and not long after had a 2.25 lber.  then Jay put a 3.25 lber in the boat.  then it just died.  we figured that maybe we needed to let the area settle down a little so we idled back down the creek to a spot that was holding a huge school of bluegill.  bass were busting everywhere and we had high hopes of getting some topwater action going.  but after multiple casts with a Sammy and a Gunfish, we had no hits.  I pick up a C Flash crank in Bluegill color and hook up with a 2.5 lber pretty quick  but nothing after that.  we idled back to our main area and fished it hard for what we thought was about an hour with no bites.  finally, i look at my phone and realize that it was noon.  we were both thinking it was about 9:30 or 10 am.  now we were almost in panic mode.  we decided to go out to our main lake spots and see if we could get a couple bites.  we hit our 2nd spot, the spot i had the 4.25 and shook off 4 bites the day before, but couldnt get a bite in the area.  so it was off to the tobacco side to throw some cranks.  after 30 minutes of chucking and winding, we had nothing.  we decided to go back to the creek and stick it out.  we had 2 hours left and we needed 3 bites to fill the 7 fish limit and would need to get big bites to have a chance at a check.

we get back to the creek and we run the same stretch of shoreline.  no bites for the first 20 yards, but i get bit flipping a bush and put a 3 lb largie in the boat.  we continue down with no other bites.  Jay suggests trying some of the seawalls around the corner so we do.  i miss a fish right away on a jig and no sooner than i get my first curse word out, jay is fighting a 2lber to the boat.  a little further down this arm and i flip our limit fish into the boat with about an hour left.  another 2 lber.  no more bites back there so we trolled back out to our main stretch.  this time working the opposite bank.  its pretty quite for a couple minutes and then it happend.  i pitch my jig up to a dock, let it settle, give it two shakes and i feel a fish suck it in.  I reel down and give it my all and im hooked up with a friggin toad!  but the fish quickly pulls free.  i am heart broken.....and still shaking.  i comment to Jay that there is no way that fish should have got off.  It was just one of those things.  It takes me a little while to gain my composure to the point of being able to effectively cast and work my bait.  Jay can tell its eating me up bad.  at this point, he is working the trolling motor while i sulk.  I finally get over it as much as i possibly can and i am back into fishing mode.  We give the hot stretch one more shot and i get a bite right away but set the hook on nothing but water.  another dagger to the heart.

With about 10 minutes of fishing time left, we head back down to the spot i got a crankbait fish on a little earlier.  I am throwing the crank and Jay is flipping a jig on the seawall.  I spot another boat and strike up a conversation.  they were also in the tournament but hadnt done too well.  he asked if i had a booster box cuz his battery was dead.  I didnt, but i had cables so i hooked him up.  Must have been good Karma cuz seconds later Jay puts a solid 3.5 lber in the boat and we cull out our smallest.  On the very next pitch, he sets the hook but misses the fish.  time was running out and it was time to head in.

Once we are back, i can hear guys talking about how tough it was.  A lot of guys didnt have limits and some didnt have any fish.  I spot Kev idling my way.  he asks if we got them and i tell him we got a limit but they arent big.  i tell him of the big one i missed.  it turns out they only caught 3 fish that day.  Once we pulled out, i grabbed our fish and headed to the scales.  I was about the 5th guy up there.  plopped em in the bucket and the scale stopped at 16.8 lbs.  There was a bag just over 17 weighed in already so we were sitting in 2nd.  Guys kept bringing up fish and we held the 2nd spot for a while.  then another 17 lb bag was brought up knocking us down to 3rd.  More bags were weighed that were less than ours and the line was getting short.  We were hopeful.  But then the man steps up.  Mr sunshine on his shoulder, Kevin Vida.  He has 5 fish, 2 short of the limit.  But i see a monster in there.  Its already starting to sting as the director reads off the big bass weight of 5 lbs 13 oz.  The other 4 go into the bucket and we wait for the needle to settle.  16.9 oz.  he beat us by an ounce with 2 less fish.  we are now in 4th with only 2 more bags to be weighed.  The first of the 2 goes into the bucket and we already know we are doomed.  they put the bucket on the scale and the clip holding the scale bends straight and the director just catches the bucket before it hits the ground.  The fish are so big, they have to split them up to weigh them.  The first 3 fish go just under 13 lbs.  the next 3 go just over 9 lbs.  yeah, they didnt even have a 7 fish limit but they weigh in over 21 lbs.  NICE!  the last boat to weigh was the director.  Long story short, they had to split up there huge bag, too.  they missed first by just a little weighing over 20 lbs.  they also had big smallmouth pot with a 5 lb 10 oz beast.

so, we ended up in 6th place.  to my surprise, we cashed the last check.  so we got our entry fee back.  was hoping to do better but looking at all the long faces who didnt have a fish to weigh made me greatful to have had the day we had.  it was about the toughest if have ever seen it ( the dang pike werent even biting that good ).  My streak for Wixom lake increases to 4 cases on 5 tournaments even tho this one was a squeaker, it was still a cash.  And My streak with the Indiana Madman continues, even tho it wasnt a win it was a cash!

This was my first time fishing the Freeze Out but will not be my last.  It was a great tournament and run very well.  Some guys were snickering at the spring scale and bucket weigh in method but i didnt have a problem with it.  it is what it is and thats all i have to say about that.

McCarter himself

[McCarter]

weights are rough weights, just what we thought out on the water.  all but one fish that we weighed in the tournament were caught on 1/4 oz Nemesis Upskirt jigs in McCarters Magic with Zoom Super Chunk Jr trailers in Green Pumpkin w/ Blue Flake.

McCarter himself

[gmetime24]

Man that is one hell of a summary of your tournament experience. Sounds like you guys had a pretty good time and some nice fish came to the scales. I have been learning Wixom this year and have not been catching bass at the rate that you did, in the tournament or your practice rounds. Me and my buddy have been averaging 2 keepers for every 3 hours or so on the water..Next year we want to start competitive fishing but don't have the confidence on wixom yet. Out of all the lakes I have been on, this one seems to give me the most trouble. We shall keep trying and maybe be out there for next years freeze out

[McCarter]

Man that is one hell of a summary of your tournament experience.

yeah, i had some time to kill.  working nights will do that.

McCarter himself