Monday Nights
It’s been a minute since Trevor and I wrapped up Monday’s but I’m finally at a lull where I can write something up about them. There were a lot of highlights for Mondays this year. Record turnouts was one of them, we had 30-40 boats almost every week. Competition is tough already but especially when that many teams are showing up. It is more like a weekend tournament in that you aren’t going to get to fish every spot you want because likely someone is already going to be there. It is even harder when you only have 3.5 hours to figure it out. If you want help finding fish on the lakeshore fast this is a great format to get better at it.
Another big highlight was our memorial tournament for Mitch Hausmann (full blog details). It was a huge turnout and we raised a ton of money for Mitch’s family. That event made me proud to be part of the west Michigan fishing community.
One last note other than the actual fishing was that Todd Elliott Farm Bureau Insurance sponsored plaques for every event this year. I’ve never seen trophies at a weeknight tournament before but I guess when there are that many boats the winners certainly deserve something. They were done by Mauers Make on bamboo cutting boards and custom engraved. I really wish we could have captured more than 2 of them but I am thankful to have those. If you haven’t reached out to Todd about an insurance quote, you are missing out. He saved us 800 dollars and got us better coverage when we switched a couple years ago. It won’t take much of your time and the best way to get things started is to contact him via phone or text at (734) 417-4450. It is also nice to talk to an insurance agent that you have some common ground with as an outdoorsman.
Now for the fishing, the biggest goal of this year was just to catch a limit every single time. Often times that is easy and there are plenty of nights where Trevor and I catch 20 plus keepers. But then there are those other nights where bites are tough to come by and everything is just overall a struggle. It is hard to do everything in 3 hours and if you don’t choose right quickly it can be tough. We had 3 nights that really tested us. White Lake was the worst of them and that is usually a place that is easy for us. I think all the other events on White we had over 15lbs. But the last one it came down to 2 fish with 20 minutes to go. Fortunately, we pulled into the right area at the right time and caught 3 small ones to fill out a limit. Another test was while Trevor was down in South Carolina and I was rolling with the girls on a windy Muskegon Lake. We weren’t going far in that wind and nothing was going right. It took half of the night to catch one and most of the rest of it to get a limit. But in the end we caught 5 fish in every tournament and that was an accomplishment. A couple extra weak bags did drop us down the 3rd in the points. It was impossible to keep up with Dave and Kyle since they won most of the events but it was disappointing to drop to 3rd at the last event (Link to 2024 standings). Since we are going to go to the classic this year that will affect our take off number some.
It was a fun season though and fishing on the lakeshore is always good. Very different from some of the weeknight tournaments that are inland. The fishing can be extra tough and those places and sometimes non limits or small limits can do well. The lakeshore is a different beast and you have to catch a good bag every time to get paid and especially to win.
I appreciate that WMB allows for young kids to tag along on these events. It is very important for me to get the girls out there even if they aren’t always “fishing”. They got to tag along on a couple events and did some reeling in, netting, and Mabel really tried hard on her own to get a keeper. Especially in the last Muskegon Lake event where we really needed one. It didn’t work out but it is a good lesson that success isn’t easy.
One last thing is that it is a fun group of guys to fish with and the weigh ins are so efficient and well ran. There were a bunch of contingencies too, which isn’t something usually found in a weeknight tournament series. Nick Holtrop at Blu House properties, One Step Up Landscaping, 2K Jigs, and Fenwick all had cash or prizes for the anglers. If you are looking for a series to fish next year or to learn a little more about the lakeshore, this is a good one!