Well boys... what a great time!
Gotta hand out some props first...
To Toothdoc and Culprit - thanks SO much for coming up with the idea of two weigh-ins. I was really troubled with trotting fish on a stringer around the lake for so many hours. I seriously thank you both with coming up with that great idea!
To Fishinmatt for being a great fishing partner and really working that trolling motor to get us in position on the weed edges in the second half. You worked your ass off dude - THANK YOU and nice job!
To BigAl for supplying a truly cool tournament trophy - the Scooby Doo fishing pole. Didn't get a chance to hoist it up for a pic, but it's the perfect trophy for our tourney's. Nice call Al!
To Matt (ClancyWiggum) for his real-time reports posted to the site. Very cool dude! We gotta do that more. Awesome idea!
And to Augy and John... the fierce game faces were on. I think it's both of you guys and your enthusiasm that make these outings really go. John told me back at the bar afterwards how much he loves Deep Lake. Hearing that always gives me goose bumps. Really glad to have you both as part of the site!
As for the fishing report...
Temps in the low 60's to upper 70's as the day went on. High, bright and hot sun, winds mostly NE 5-10mph but constantly shifting ever so slightly. We all fished from about 5:40am to 1pm.
Fishinmatt and I started with a counter-clockwise route around the lake from the launch. Matt was working buzzbaits and I was working 5" texas rigged Senko's in dark/green colors. I quickly picked up a 13" bass that did not qualify (14" minimum). Matt had a nice blow up on the buzz bait but it hit short. Matt then picked up a couple of nice 17 inchers on a wacky-rigged Yum Dinger. We both also missed some REAL nice fish. Matt also had a bunch of smaller bass on the same bait - a 3" Yum Dinger with a chartreuse tail. I finally rigged up a 7" Berkely Power Worm with a red twister tail - Texas rigged and that landed to 19" bass and one other. I also got a keeper bass on a wacky rigged purple flaked Yum Dinger.
Working the weed edges seemed to be the key. They weren't necessarily deep, but in about 8 feet of water on the edges.
All in all it was a really nice time. Not a great typical Deep Lake bite today and almost no topwater action.
Again, thanks to EVERYONE for a really awesome time!
Here's a pic of one of Fishinmatt's 17" inch bass.