Bassmaster Open report

[Mike jones]

First of all, thanks to everyone on here for the well wishes and congrats for the tournament.  It was a blast leading the tourney going into the last day but a kick in the gut when I couldn't seal the deal.

 

Day 1--I drew a young Iowa pro Greg Vance. Great young angler and was very happy for me at the end of the day.   He fished the Bassmaster Classic last year through the BASS nation qualification.  He was on a pattern of swimming a grub and swimbait out over deep water.  We would sit in 50-80 feet of water, make a cast, count down to 6, 8, 10 or whatever and work that desired zone.  We were on our second spot and had caught 1 short a piece when we looked across the lake and the gulls were diving hard core!  He said 'We have got to get over there!'  We raced across the lake and I caught bass on my first 3 casts with one of them being a keeper.  We followed the bait around for the next couple of hours off of that flat, gravel/chunk rock point as they moved out over deep water and then back up shallow(1-15 feet of water)  Most of my fish came on a 4" swimbait on a Arkie lures 1/4oz jighead with a light wire hook.  The light wire hook was key because they were coming up behind the swimbait to eat it and your rod would just load up.  The light wire hook would pierce the lips easily.  1 of my big fish came on a underspin also.   I had 6 keeper largemouth there and culled a couple times.  We were in the white river all day.  3 fish limit weighed 11lb 2oz..good for 1st place after day 1.

 

Day 2-- I drew Elite series pro Brian Snowden.  Brian is a class act...not only one of the nicest guys you will ever meet, but when he found out that I was in 1st, he said he would take me to some smallmouth spots to make sure I get my limit.  We fished around Kimberling city on wind blown main lake and secondary points.  I caught 4 keeper smallies and culled once, all on the 4" swimbait on the 1/4oz head.  Again, he worked hard for me to get my 3 fish.  And then he showed up to the weigh-in because he said he was sitting at home and he told his wife 'Let's go over to the weigh-in and watch Mike win the non-boater side.'  But I didn't hold up my end of the deal!!  Lol  3 fish limit weighed 6lb 5oz..good enough for 1st place heading into the final day.

 

Day 3--I drew Elite series pro Tyler Carriere.  Tyler also was a pleasure to fish with and tried his best to get me around fish, he had caught around 15 keepers on day 2.  He said we would go catch our limits and then he would need to go crankin' to catch a big fish and try to catch up.  I told him if I caught my 3 fish limit, I was sure that it would wrap up the win for me.  We went out and caught tons...I mean tons...probably between 60-70 shorts.  Tyler had 2 keeper spots and I couldn't manage a keeper all day.  We stayed within 4 miles of take off all day.  He had just burned through his fish the first 2 days and there wasn't anything left but shorts.  He was dropping a Damiki rig on them...I was doing that, swimbait and ned rig behind him.

 

Went to the weigh-in and the tournament director saw I had no fish and knew I was bummed.  He asked me if I would still come across the stage to talk about my week and I said 'Of course.'  

I got up on stage and told the crowd that just a few hours earlier, I had caught one on my swimbait, measured it and it went 15 1/4" and I threw it back in the lake.  Chris asked me why I did that...I said 'Because I didn't think you would let me weigh in a crappie!!'  It got a good laugh from the crowd and Chris.  It was one of the biggest black crappie I have caught in a long time!  After that, I thanked my pro's individually and gave them thanks for helping me for the finish.  I came off stage and my daughter brought our Yorkie over to me...the Clunn's were standing a few feet away and I found out quickly that they were Yorkie lovers as they have one also.  I spent several minutes talking with Rick about the tournament and then went to find my family.  I ended up falling to 6th place and finished exactly 2 pounds out of 1st.  All I needed was 1 good keeper on the last day.  1 keeper would have won the tournament and a new Triton.  It sucks being that close to the win without closing it out and it runs through your mind constantly...but it makes the fire inside burn hotter to win a major tournament one day!!

[Carl W]

Wow!  Thanks for sharing. Too bad you did not win but still great job!

[Engr5]

Awesome job and report, thanks for sharing.

[bferg]

Awesome job Mike.  Being that close has to burn at you but what an awesome experience!