Art Simms Bass Fishing

My photo
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.

Thursday, October 1, 2009

Youth Services Bureau tournament

This years Sunrise Bassmasters fundraising tournament for Youth Services Bureau was changed to Big Marine lake, due to the low water at North/South Center.
My brother Scott and I decided not to pre-fish because I have one spot that normally produces big fish and didn't want to hook any. We figured if the big fish were not going, we could still catch fish there along with an occasional good one.
The morning started partly cloudy and cool with a good 15 mph South wind, with a forecast for strong N/NW winds in the afternoon.
After blasting off boat #6 we arrived at our spot and started casting our jigworms. After a few casts, I set the hook into our first keeper, a 16+. A few casts later I caught a 15 incher. It took a while but then Scott caught our 3rd fish - a 13 incher.
The bite was very slow and the strong wind was making it difficult to fish, but a while later a 14 incher made it into the livewell. We continued fishing the spot for about another hour but had no more bites, so we decided to start working around the area, hoping they would be grouped up somewhere nearby.
Around 11:00, and still only four fish, we decided to flip some reeds in hopes of filling our limit, then maybe going back to our original spot and try for bigger fish.
The reeds were almost impossible to fish due to the wind, but after getting around to the protected side, I managed to catch our fifth fish - a 14 incher.
The reeds did not produce any more bites, so we ran to a spot where Scott had won a club tournament previously. Scott managed to cull one, but that was it.
We had about two hours left and opted to kill them on our best spot where we managed a few culls but nothing big.
While waiting for weigh in, we heard a couple of teams talking that had about 15lbs each. We considered dumping our fish thinking our 8lbs wouldn't get us anywhere, but decided to weigh anyway. Turns out our 8.34lbs was good for 5th place and another check!

No comments: