Upcoming Season
I’ve caught a few bass now so I guess it’s time to start thinking about what’s coming up in 2022. I would sure like to duplicate last years success but I also know that isn’t realistic. However I will certainly be feeling even more pressure to rack up some good finishes and hope another one of those rare opportunities to win another big one comes my way.
I don’t plan on fishing a whole ton of events this year especially with the arrival of another little one coming. Fishing 2 series and then popping into a few random events sounds about right for this season. I’m really looking forward to this years Big Stack Payback schedule. The events are much closer to home this year and there’s one that I can sleep in my own bed.
We start out on Leelanau in mid June. I’m sure it will be a mix of spawn and post spawn but I will probably throw all my eggs in the spawn basket. I don’t have much experience up there at all. I fished it one time super early spring for a couple of hours, a few hours on memorial weekend one time, and then some panfish fishing when we stay up that way in the summer. I do have some side imaging time and a few spawning areas on the north lake. From what I saw then you have to find a lot of fish to find a quality one. That’s just a few hours experience and maybe the South Lake is different. I’ll have no idea what to expect for weights especially if we hit it at the tail end of the spawn.
From there we have an early August tournament on Muskegon Lake with Lake Michigan open to run. That one certainly sets up well for me but who knows how the fishing will be this season. All the Lakeshore lakes change so much from year to year. You can’t rely on old stuff to kick out the right fish so while I’ll be very familiar with the lake or lakes themselves I know I can’t count on much from previous years success. There’s so many things on so many different lakes that can be going on at that time of year it’s anyone’s guess as to what might happen. You could see winning weights as high as low 20’s or as low as 16 and change.
Lastly we have the Detroit River with St. Clair off limits. I’m looking forward to that one too and it will be almost 100 percent new to me. I like that St. Clair is off limits because it is less water for me to think about and it seems the river really shines at that time of year anyway. I can’t envision myself making any big runs in that one as I’m sure I’ll concentrate on the lower Detroit and the mouth of Erie.
Big Stack also has a new Solo Stack series this year. It’s only 2 events and can qualify you to fish to Big Stack Series. I know they are looking for a few more guys so if fishing alone and having great payouts interests you it is worth looking into!
I’ll also be fishing the D&R series again with Trevor. Trevor signed on to fish at Adrian College so luckily he still has time to fish with me this summer! He’s looking for a used boat if anyone out there has a solid starter boat for him. I’m pretty bummed I will have to miss the first event at White because I’ll be at a Big Stack on Leelanau. With schedules starting to overlap I hope it won’t come down to having to make choices on which to fish in the coming years. The other 2 tournaments are the Grand and Muskegon. Who knows how those will end up especially with the water normalizing this year. The Grand should be a really interesting place.
Other events that I might mix in are a random West Michigan Bass HOTD or the Payback on the Grand. I also might hop back into the Memorial Day open on Muskegon or I may look for something different to fish on opening day. I’d like to fish that weekend since I’m sure we’ll be around home but I very much dislike having a tournament on Memorial Day itself.
I’m looking forward to it all again and seeing everyone at all the tournaments this summer. I’m a little concerned I used up all my good luck for the next decade last year so this should be an interesting season. I can promise you I won’t get too wound up and I’ll just focus on catching whatever I can catch at each event!