I decided not to pre-fish Forest Lake since I had a good finish the previous week in a ABA tournament there. I planned to fish shallow again since the deep guys didn't seem to do very well. I felt I could have done better last week if I could have been first to my starting spot so I wanted to start there again. Since FOM raffles off boat 1 & 2, my partner Shawn bought 20 raffle tickets and won boat #1 for us guaranteeing we would be the first boat there.
Tournament morning started out cool and very foggy but the fog started lifting about five minutes before takeoff. We quickly made it to our first spot and anxiously started pitching the reeds knowing the quality of fish holding there. We spent quite a bit of time fishing slow and hoping for the big bites, but after a couple of hours and only three small keepers in the well we decided it was time to move and come back later. On our next reed bed we were able to fill our limit including a 16 incher and cull a couple of 13 inchers. Next we went into the small lake to some docks, one of which usually holds a three pounder, but didn't catch anything bigger than 12 inches. We then ran to another reed bed and caught another 16 incher culling our last 13 incher. With a couple hours left we went back to one of the better reed beds and continued catching fish but nothing that would help. We then decided we would spend our last hour on our starting spot and again hope for a big bite. With about 10 minutes left before heading in, Shawn got bit about ten feet back into the reeds and got hung up. Not wanting to lose the fish and not knowing what size it was I ran the boat right into the reeds and was able to get the net under the 15 inch bass, this gave us about a 1/2 lb cull which put our final weight for the day at 11.83 and 12th place. Not as high of a finish as I hoped for but we just didn't get the big bites we needed.
This was the final Fishers of Men tournament of the year, Congratulations to Jeff Allen & Ryan Otto for winning the points Championship.
Art Simms Bass Fishing
- Art Simms
- I started bass fishing after watching all of the fishing shows on tv. A few years later I thought I was pretty good, until I entered a few tournaments. I quickly realized that I wasn't as good as I thought and was only donating my money. In 1997 I joined the Viking Bassmasters of the Minnesota Bass Federation to hone my skills with some guys more experienced than me. Since that time I have learned a lot and had some major success. I have been Viking Bassmasters Club Champion three times and won sixteen club tournaments. I was the Fishers of Men Minnesota East division champion in 2006, along with a few money tournament wins and numerous top tens.
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