Big Stack Practice – Black Lake

I’ve been anxiously awaiting the inaugural Big Stack Payback at Black Lake. Out of the 3 tournaments in the series this is the one that looked to be the most in my wheelhouse. The tournament was on a Sunday and I departed Norton Shores around 4:30am Thursday morning. The destination would be the State Park in Onaway where I would also be camping.

The weather looked decent Thursday to do some looking which was the majority of my gameplan for this tournament. I went right to the calm side of the lake and started poking around. It didn’t take long to find some of the right looking stuff but I wasn’t seeing any fish, old beds, or beds. I caught a couple just fishing around on a topwater and after a few hours of discouragement I started checking out the rest of the lake. This all ended up being a huge mistake on my part. I don’t often have regrets during tournaments or practices but I certainly do in this one.

Bowfin guarding fry, Mayfly husks, snapper, one of the many trophy rock bass, dinner

I’ll spare you most of the rest of the details but Fridays practice was terrible for seeing anything and a lot of Saturday wasn’t great either. At the end of it all I knew I was absolutely screwed. I had way less bed fish than I needed and it was unlikely I would even get to fish them. The good news was while I knew I wasn’t on the right deal I felt pretty confident I was going to catch some and if I got a couple lucky breaks I felt like I could sneak into a check.

One thing that was crazy about practice is all the pike, walleye, and giant rock bass that were around. I ended up cleaning some walleyes for dinner on Thursday and Friday. Another highlight was the abundant crayfish in the rocks by the campsite. If I can find some crayfish to catch I am certainly boiling some in a beer can to eat, luckily I brought the Old Bay seasoning just in case!