Bass Snatcher Win!!! The 2011 Challenge Cup@ Fishtrap Lake

(Bill Ludenia, Mark Munson, Dennis Lothspeich, Charles Steinbauer, and me. (Missing is Tony Bauer)Well Team Baxter Bass Snatchers has done it again and won the Challenge Cup Tournament that pits the Brainerd area bass fishing clubs against one another. I fished the Challenge Cup Tournament in 2009 on Mission Lakes and 2010 on Sylvan Lake, and we won the Cup those years as well. Previously when I

Baxter Bass Snatchers Birch(Hackensack) Oct. 1st.

Conditions: Cool and clear Morning with moderate wind out of the SE growing to 15-20mph throughout the day.We blasted everybody off as we were last boat out and we went right to our planned starting spot, which was the weed flat to the SW of the public access. Nobody else went that way. I put on a Paycheck Baits Repo Man "drag stripper" and within the first 10 minutes I had 15" bass in the

Bass Opener Day 3

Because it's Memorial Day weekend the Minnesota Bass Opener is a 3 day affair.Today my lower back was giving me issues and I wasn't sure if I was going to get out. It was cloudy and breezy out of the SE. I eventually did get out on Platte Lake around 4:30PM. I headed East.I started on a few docks that are usually unproductive and they lived up to expectation. After wasting 20 minutes I

2011 Bass Opener Day 1

It's that time!I was not a spring chicken and didn't get to the launch until after 6AM. I wasn't fishing until about 6:45AM and much to my surprise I couldn't see anyone at the spot. As I was getting set up there was a red Lund heading my way. There was a bit of a SW breeze and I got blown towards the North Shore. I ran the trolling motor to get back towards the South shore. As the boat

Platte Lake Oct 16th: Something Anyway

Conditions: Today there was sun and the high temp was 61. It was breezy with a 15 to 20mph wind out of the NW. It settled down to a 7mph wind around 6PM. I was out from about 5PM to 7:10PMThe Report:I headed straight back to the spot that was so good to me yesterday and there was nothing there. I fished the area and eventually started working my way down "The Trench" breakline and I got the

Platte Lake Oct. 15th: Hmmmm...Yeah!

Conditions: A very nice day but a bit cooler than it's been. Sun with temps in the high 50's. Wind was out of the SE at about 4-7 turning calm around 6:40PM. I fished from about 4:30PM to 7:10PMThe Report:I started by hitting the first dock to the West of the lake place. Nothing. I then continued in that direction and had a hit, missed it. In fact as I kept going that direction I missed the first

Platte Lake Oct 13th: Bassless

Conditions: Today was sunny with temps in the mid 60's with about a 12MPH WNW wind switching to the SW around 6:30PM. I fished from about 4:30PM to 7:15PMThe Report:My first stop was the reed bed off of the end of the Platte Public Access Peninsula Point. It was nice because it was semi-protected from the wind. I started with topwater but quickly switched from that to a 1oz brown, green

Bass Snatcher Win!!! The 2010 Challenge Cup@ Sylvan Lake

The Challenge Cup is an annual bass tournament that pits 6 guys (3 boater, 3 non-boaters) from my bass club the Baxter Bass Snatchers vs. 6 guys the Range Bassmasters. I think the Brainerd Lakes Bassmasters have also fished in it in years past. Last year was the first time I got to fish it. This year it was held on Sylvan Lake which is just South of Gull Lake West of Brainerd, MN. This year I

Platte Lake Oct 7th: Prime Time

I wish I would have gotten out sooner on this lovely day. Today had a light SW wind with sun and temps in the 70's. As it was I didn't start fishing until about 5:40PM. I started on a weed flat in the Big West Bay (Public Access Bay). First I went with the Repo Man, but that didn't get looked at. I switched to a white spinnerbait and caught a small pike on that. Eventually I switched up to

Platte Lake Oct 6th: A Good Night That Could Have Been Great.

Unfortunately I forgot the camera.Conditions: Today was sunny and in the high 60's with a 10MPH wind out of the NW that turned calm a little after sunset. I fished from 4PM to 7:10PM.Naturally I tried to catch that fish off Sherman's dock that I missed yesterday, but it was a no show. I worked a bit on the other side of Sherman's dock, long enough to know that the area to Jenny's probably

Bass Snatcher Serpent Lake Tournament Oct. 2nd

Serpent was the 6th and final tournament of the 2010 Baxter Bass Snatcher Bass Club schedule.Conditions: It was in the mid 30's at blast off, but I think it got into the high 50's by tournament end. It was mostly sunny with a few clouds. Water temps seemed to be in the high 50's.My Day:A little before blast off I asked my boater Tony where we were headed and he basically told me we were going

Platte Pike with Pete

Today Pete and I got out around 3PM until about 8PM. Conditions were partly cloudy with a 5 to 12MPH West wind. Was windier earlier than later. Forgot the camera.First we drifted off the weeds down past Jenny's. I got 2 small pike on a blue/white Strike King Burner Spinnerbait.Then we went to the East shore of the Big Island and fished from the middle corner around to the West shoreline most

Baxter Bass Snatchers Washburn Lake Tournament August 28th

Note-Washburn Lake is made up of 3 distinct basins (West, North, East)Conditions for the day would be a little hazy for about the first hour giving way to sun and wind 12-20MPH out of the S or SW.A number of our guys were none to pleased with the welcoming committee at the public access. Basically a number of people from the Washburn Lake Association wanted to make sure we weren't bringing any

Pete Fish

Here is Pete with a couple of bass that he caught last Friday and Saturday. The first one is off the shore at Jenny's. He caught that one and missed a strike. That is a River2Sea Bully Wa Frog.The second fish was obviously caught out in the boat. We were fishing the North end of the big Island on Platte right before a thunderstorm moved in. That night Pete caught 3 bass and 1 pike and all I

Annual Mississippi Trip w/Pete & Greg Jones of Mid-West Outdoors

July 30, 2010Pete is friends with Greg Jones who is an editor and sometime TV personality with Mid-West Outdoors Magazine and Mid-West Outdoors TV. This is the third year in a row where Pete and I went fishing with Greg to help him pre-fish for the St. Stephens Lions Smallmouth Tournament. Last year I got to go out two different times. Greg is an expert in navigating this particular stretch of

Shore Mille Laction & Jenny's

Today I had to go to Onamia so I figured I'd hit up the Eddy's Jetty and try for some smallies. When I arrived at Eddy's around 5:30PM there was a little wind coming in out of the NE but not too bad. I started on the South Jetty and on my 3rd cast this 17.75" sally sacked the spinnerbait.That was the only hit on the South Jetty, and after working through several lures I went to the North

GOMH Today

Today I hit the Grumpy Old Man Hole around 5:30AM and then again after 7PM.In the morning there was a heavy fog. I caught an 11" jumpin bullhead on a spinnerbait and a nice 26+" toothy bullhead on a white Rapala Subwalk on the NE side.In the evening I was fishing with Pete and right off the bat I got 2 toothy bullheads on the NE side. We took a trip to try fishing at the Platte Lake Public

June 5th Whitefish Tournament Report

Saturday June 5th 2010 was my first Baxter Bass Snatchers Club bass tournament of the year. This tournament was held on the Whitefish Chain, which is about a half hour North of Brainerd Minnesota. The weather was overcast most of the time and we did have a couple of light sprinkles. There was little wind in the morning, but by afternoon it was blowing pretty good out of the West.My original

A Couple Mille Lacs Smallies

Since I put together a couple boxes of Smallmouth Tackle for the Bass Snatchers Whitefish Chain tournament tomorrow I figured I'd go and use some of the stuff tonight at Mille Lacs. These are the results:The first and biggest bass is 17.25" and the smaller one is 13". They both hit on the spinnerbait in the first two pictures.Just as I threw out a Rapala subwalk at least one big smallie and

June 1 Mille Lac-TION

I slept in today and had to pick up pills in Onamia, so I figured I would hit up Eddy's Jetty and Cemetery Jetty. I think I arrived at Eddy's at about 6:15PM and I went right to were I caught the smallies on Sunday, the corner of the North Jetty. The wind was blowing in again at about 8MPH out of the NW, pretty much the same as Sunday night. I started off throwing a wht/chart with wht&chart