Day 2 WMB Classic - Elk/Torch/Skegmog
We kicked around the idea of going for a big bite early again. But since we had been burned by that on day 1 and just knew we had to catch 5. Our best bet was just going back to our primary area and getting as many bites as we could. It took about 10 minutes and we hooked up with number 1, then number 2 shortly after, all the while mixing in some short fish. Our third keeper bite was one of the bites we so desperately needed and once again just came off. So frustrating, but it didn’t take long to hook up again with a solid fish. This one made it to the boat and we added one more to get to 4 within the first hour. It was good momentum for us especially since we were more just fishing around vs fishing really specific stuff. We could stay or we could try and hit a couple more areas before the early bite completely faded. At this point we had 1 decent fish and 3 small fish, those 3 really needed to go just to get to our weight from the day before.
More importantly though we needed fish number 5. We raced off to the community hole and struck out there. Then it was off to the area we expected to catch them the day before but didn’t. Fortunately, we got another bite from an ok fish there and put it in the boat. The water was so clear and calm there, it was painful watching that fish keep digging. If that one had come off we would have had full view of the bait and fish separating. Mission accomplished though and we had 5 bass in the boat. This one would also fit in the between decent and small fish category, so that was helpful. It was off to another area that had let us down on day 1. It didn’t take long to pick up another decent fish there and some shorts. Now if we could just get rid of those last 2. We expanded on that area again and made a mini cull but we were feeling the crunch of getting back to our primary area.
Off we went and pretty quickly we hooked up with one of those fish that we desperately needed. However in sticking with the theme of the tournament it came off and we were now 0-4 on bites from big smallmouth. We just kept grinding on known concentrations of fish and poking around in new water just hoping to run into some. The rest of the day was just small fish or small keepers that didn’t help. It was disappointing to not capture more weight than the previous day but we were hopeful that we wouldn’t drop far. There was no question that some teams were going to crash and burn ahead of us but there would also be others who had better days.
Our weight for the day was 12.54 which put us at 26 pounds even for the tournament. We were sitting in 10th when we left the trailer which was incredibly surprising and obviously were going to fall from there. I had heard some teams ahead of us complaining about not catching limits so I knew we had passed some guys just by catching 5 fish. When the dust settled we only fell to 17th so that was a win in my book. Just had to try and not think about what a difference any or all of those bigger bites would have made because the potential for us to have done really well was there. A top 10 would have been even better but 17 out of 119 isn’t so bad either.
We got 100 bucks, 50 dollars to D&R, and 100 dollars to Blackfish when all was said and done. We also gained a ton of knowledge about that fishery and some ideas of what to do if we ever re visit it for a classic. It also helps with confidence in smallmouth tournaments in general, especially with our D&R Classic tournament finish last year.
There’s no time to sit around though as we have the D&R Classic on Houghton next weekend. I have a lot of confidence for that one but also some concerns with the warm weather patterns we’ve had. My Achilles heel in the last trip there was the afternoon bite. So, with one day of practice the hope is that some of the stuff from the past is loaded up for the morning bite and then we find some solid afternoon stuff to go with it. In the last trip my mornings were good enough to carry me but I didn’t have anything to fall back on for day 2 when I lost too many good bites and had to settle for 14lbs. Bummed to be missing opening day of duck season for that event but look for an update in the next couple weeks of how it goes!