Prefishing Blog 8/6/2011
by Bill Mathis

August 6, 2011
Whitefish Chain

Today's limit was a 5 fish limit. I was not concerned about getting a limit today as I was catching fish the last couple of weeks, but just not the right fish.

I had several obstacles to overcome today, one of them is finding winning fish. I will touch on the other obstacles throughout the blog.

I drew boat 39 out of 40. The first spot I wanted to start on was open. From time to time I can bag a nice size fish in this area, but not today. 3 fish and only 1 of them was over 12" and that one was 12 1/4".

As I was approaching my second spot, which is another spot where I have bagged a big fish before, I see a bass boat coming my way. I'm not sure if it's a tournament boat or not, so before I get to the spot, I cut the big motor and drop the trolling motor to show this boat that I'm fishing that area. After a couple of casts, the other boat is approaching me and I notice he is cutting between me and the bank. No big deal right? The problem is I was less than 20 yards from the bank. He drove right over the fish. This guy was by himself with no rods on the deck or next to the passenger seat. I have seen this guy before fishing other tournaments, I just can't recall his name.

I stopped and just looked at him as he went through and in case he looked back, I was giving him a pretty good stare down. I was thinking, this guy all by himself cuts right through me with little room to spare between my boat and shore and he has no rods on the deck. Very strange. He was coming from Daggett or Little Pine. Was this guy holding a spot for somebody up on one of those lakes? I obviously have no proof of that, but those set of circumstances make a guy wonder. That guys knows there are good fish there from time to time and experienced guys who read this probably know exactly where I was trying to fish.

As I looked back at him I noticed the sky getting very dark. I grab my phone and check the radar and for any weather alerts. Sure enough lightning is on the way. I decided rather than go up to Daggett, I would hang around here and see what I could scrounge up and then when the storm hit I would head over to C+C boatworks, dock my boat and grab shelter. I don't mess around with lightning on the lake! Any size of fish or size of check isn't worth it. After I let the area die down, I did catch 3 fish in that general area, all keepers, but nothing big. Almost everytime I catch a couple of keepers, I usually get a good one. Just have to wonder if there was more going on in that area before this guy drove right over the spot.

The lightning came and I docked. Had about a 1 hour delay. After the lightning exited, I went up to Daggett in the driving rain. Fished an area for about 90 minutes and came up with one 2 1/2 pound fish. I go over to another area and catch a 2 pounder. I have about 8 pounds right now and I need some kicker fish. I decided to fish docks the rest of the day. I fished an entire stretch of docks on Daggett and caught zero fish.

Off to Crosslake and some docks where I think I can get a really good fish or two. My first dock is a one dock spot. Fished it for 10 minutes and caught nothing. Off to another set. My third dock, I rammed the hook home and a monster fish came flying out of the water. As he went back down he was still hooked. As I was reeling him in, the line got lighter and had no "fish" pull to it. All that came up was weeds.

After all of this, I'm ready just to throw in the towel. I decided to try something I've never tried before and that was fishing braided line with a Northland Dipstick/Impulse. Several docks later I get a 2 pounder. I'm right between 9 and 10 pounds and have 30 minutes to get through 3 no wake zones. I decided I didn't have enough to cash a check and called the tournament director and told him I wasn't weighing in.

I have lost so many big fish off of docks on the Northland Lipstick hook rigged with a Northland Dipstick that I'm wondering what am I doing wrong or am I just that unlucky? I have used mono and floro and it's happened on both set ups. Next time out, I'm going to continue to work with braided line and see if that makes a difference.

All of my fish caught today were either on a Northland Dipstick or the new Northland Impulse dipstick, which will hit the market in 2012. I can tell you that I fished each bait equally and caught more fish on the Impulse than the Dipstick. I could not catch a fish on anything else and I tried!!!

Congratulations to Ken and Troy Paulsen as they won the tournament with an impressive 18.32 pounds for 5 fish.

UPDATE: My next scheduled tournament was the Team Great Outdoors Series this Saturday on the Whitefish chain, however I just learned that they have cancelled this tournament. This is now 3 consecutive tournaments in a row cancelled. I'm now owed $1,500 for entry fees paid on cancelled tournaments and I was told a few weeks ago that they didn't have the money to pay the entry fees back. After several phone calls the last 7 days as well as e-mails, Mark Tipler will not return my calls or e-mails. I'm very concerned about this. If you are one who has recently sent a check to Team Great Outdoors as an amateur or pro, I suggest you call your bank and cancel your check. This is not my style to throw negative things out there, but when somebody cancels a tournament and does not refund the money immediately, I think it's something that tournament guys should know about now and for the future.

At this point I'm not sure when my next tournament will be. Maybe a trip up to Vermilion this weekend to fish the Super Slam event? Excel has a tournament on North Long Lake, but that's just not my favorite lake to fish. Hopefully I get into something as summer is unfortunately coming to a close and it's closing way too fast.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Team Skeeter
Northland Tackle Pro Staff

August 5, 2011
Whitefish Chain

Tomorrow I'm fishing the Fishers of Men tournament on whitefish. Trim tilt is fixed!

I got some advice from a well respected angler and I started in 2 of those areas. I
was excited to try them as I've never fished them. After 2 1/2 hours, 4 fish and the
same size fish I caught all last week. These look to be good starting spots, but not
today. The 4 I caught were all on Northland dipsticks. No jig bite. No tube bite.
No worm bite.

Now I have a dilemma. My plan was if these areas worked, I'd start there tomorrow
and then try some other stuff throughout the rest of the day. Not sure what I'm going to do.

I fished a few other areas and caught the same 12" to 14" fish. It doesn't matter if
I'm in 4 feet or 20 feet. Set the hook, 12" to 14" fish. Throw a tube, zilch.
Jig...zilch. Dipstick, at least they catch something.

Going to need some luck tomorrow. I have a big fish spot and I'll need 3 from there tomorrow.

It's possible.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Team Skeeter
Northland Tackle Pro Staff

July 30, 2011
Whitefish Chain

Fished 2 areas and still was catching the same size of fish. Buzzbait and Northland
Dipstick was the ticket. As I was heading to my next spot I noticed my trim wasn't
coming up as it should. It was really slow going up and down. The smart person in
me said self, get off the water and get it fixed so you can fish the tournament tomorrow.

Drove straight to Farm Island Repair and Marine. Art and Jim got it looked at right away.
Two parts were shot and needed to be ordered. No tournament for me Sunday.

To make the best of the situation, I decided to take my wife out for an overnight get away.

The trim will be fixed this week in time for me to fish the next event which is Fishers Of Men on Whitefish August 6.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Team Skeeter
Northland Tackle Pro Staff

July 29, 2011
Whitefish Chain
Super Slam Series

This is a real tough blog to write because the fishing for me today was really tough. When you don't catch a lot of fish in 7 hours, what do you write about that makes it at least somewhat interesting to read? Let's see if I can do that.

First, I'll go through my fish catching today and what I did to at least catch a few fish, although it will be brief and then I'll talk about Saturday.

First spot, caught 2 small fish on a Northland Dipstick. Second, third, fourth and fifth spot I caught zero fish. I was getting so desperate that I went to the pads to try to even get a fish to at least miss. I wasn't successful at that either. My seventh spot I caught a 14 incher on a craw tube in about 13 feet. Eighth spot, no fish. Ooops, almost forgot I did catch another 14" fish on a dock somewhere in between the second and seventh spot. Again today, I fished in water from 1' deep to 18' deep. Jigs, worms, dipsticks, tubes, buzzbaits, topwater baits. One would think I could catch more than 4 fish in 7 hours. Very puzzling.

So what do you do when you are in this situation and you have a tournament in just 2 days. Well I could not show up since I haven't paid, but I told Brian at Super Slam that I'll be there, so that option is out. I could sit home Saturday and relax and hope the fish get bigger on Sunday or I could try some different things.

Saturday I'm going to try some different things and even if they don't work out, I will show up Sunday because when I give my word to somebody, that's as good as if I had paid. I had some ideas as I was trailering my boat home and I'm looking forward to trying them out. Also, I'm going to fish a different area of the lake. I do have a couple of tricks left in my arsenal for Sunday that I still think will pan out, even if Saturday goes like today. But at this point, I am a little concerned that I couldn't catch a limit today and in 2 days I have not had one big bite.

What's really cool about a lake like Whitefish is there are so many places to fish, that you can always say, tomorrow is a new day. I just hope it's a good day. If you're out fishing this weekend, have fun, be safe and go catch 'em!

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter
Northland Pro Staff

July 28, 2011
Whitefish Chain

In lieu of another team great outdoors tournament cancelled, I decided to fish the
Super Slam series this Sunday on the Whitefish chain.

I haven't been on the lake in over a month and was excited to get back to it. It's
my favorite lake not just because I've had success on it, but because it has so many
different possibilities and lots of spots on spots.

I started with some usual spots. My first spot I could not catch a fish until I
threw a buzzbait. Only one though. Second spot, nothing until I threw a top water
zara spook. Got 3 fish off of that bait. Third spot zero fish. Fourth spot zero
fish. Fifth spot I got 3 fish on a, you guessed it, a Northland dipstick.

Sixth spot 3 fish on a craw tube. Seventh and final spot, 1 fish on a spook.

Today I threw a Northland dipstick, a jig, a craw tube, a buzzbait, and a spook and
caught about 10 fish all between 10" and 13". I fished depths from 1' to 18'. A real
puzzler today. The fish I did catch were all very close to the outside weedline with
the exception of a couple dock fish.

Back at it tomorrow with the hope of finding some kind of pattern that I can work off of.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter
Northland Pro Staff

Gull Lake
July 17, 2011

Today I fished the Excel Bass singles tournament on Gull Lake. It was very foggy to start the day and the tournament director delayed the ease off because of the fog. I was fine with that, it's always good to be safe. I only pre-fished one day as I was very busy during the week helping Skeeter do their catalog shoot for 2012 as well as giving dealers demo rides.

My plan today was two fold. First, just go fishing and don't worry about where you are going to finish and second was to fish an area for at least 50% of the tournament. I achieved both goals.

I fished one bait today and only one bait. A Northland Dipstick on a 3/16 oz. Northland Lipstick hook. I use 12 or 14 pound mono, but am considering trying a braided line as I had two break offs today and they didn't feel or run like northerns. They were on the hookset.

On my way to my first spot, I stopped at an area and caught a 3 pounder. I got to the area I wanted to fish and I worked this area probably close to 5 hours. In this area I caught a 4.21 and two fish right around 3 pounds. I also caught a number of 9" to 11" fish as well as a couple of 13" fish.

Weigh in time was 3:30 for this tournament because of the delay. It's about 2:00 and I'm just not feeling it anymore. I decide to try another area but come up with nothing. I need another kicker fish and if I can get one, I think I will win. I decide to try some docks but come up with 2 fish that don't help. I need to get rid of this 1.3 pound fish! Off to another set of docks and I get one that is 1.5 pounds. At least it's a help, but I still don't feel like I have enough to win. Off to one last set of docks where I have caught 4 pound fish before. There was time for only a few docks and I chose that set. It was the wrong decision as I came up with one small fish.

Time to get to the weigh in at Ernie's on Gull. I knew I had a chance at big fish, but it just wasn't enough. I was .13 pounds short. I ended up with 14.24 pounds and finished third. I was very happy with the results and did what I set out to do and that was just go and fish and relax and pound the heck out of a big area.

Writing these blogs can be tough because if I give too much away, the competition can use that information against me in 2 weeks or further in the future. What I will tell you is that I did not catch one fish in water deeper than 10 feet.

Congratulations to Lindy Frasl as he won the tournament with over 16 pounds on 5 fish. Lindy also had big bass. That is a very good day on Gull Lake.

My next scheduled event is the Team Great Outdoors Series on Gull Lake on July 30.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

July 13, 2011
Gull Lake

Before I get to my Gull Lake blog, I wanted to mention that last Friday morning I learned of the Team Great Outdoors tournament that was scheduled for Saturday the 9th, on Vermilion being cancelled. My wife was with me and we decided to fish for fun on Friday and leave Saturday morning. We went out about 9:30 and came in at 3:30. I threw one bait all day, a Northland Dipstick on a Northland 3/16 oz Lipstick hook. I caught 30 fish in 6 hours. A lot of 2 to 3 pounders. Pretty much all in 3 to 8 feet.

This Sunday I plan on fishing the Excel Bass singles event on Gull Lake. This was one day I knew I could get out and get some fishing in, so I took advantage of it. I don't plan to pre-fish for the tournament again.

I fished mainly my usual spots in addition to 2 new ones. My first spot I caught a couple of 12" to 13" fish on a craw tube. My second spot I caught a rock bass that was almost smaller than the craw tube. I then threw a Northland Dipstick on some docks and caught 3 small fish. Back out to the weedline where I caught a 2.5 pounder on a craw tube on the weed edge.

I then decided to try an area where I have seen boats before but never fished it. I looked on my GPS map and it looked pretty interesting. Second cast, fish on. Nothing big though. That was on a craw tube. Worked the area for about 30 minutes and that was the only fish I caught.

Time was running short as I had to be off the lake by 2 to get myself ready for the second day of the Skeeter Boats photo shoot for the 2012 catalog.

My plan now was to hit 2 favorite spots and see what I could muster up. First spot, third cast, 4 pound fish on a Northland Dipstick on a 3/16 oz Northland Lipstick hook. I'm out of there! Next spot, 10 casts later and a fish on the same bait and similar structure, a fish just under 3 pounds. I'm out of there! I still have time for another spot. I worked that with a craw tube and a dipstick, but came up with nothing.

On my way back, I saw some pads that I've never fished. Out comes the frog. Second cast I had a blow up and no hook up. About 15 casts later, same thing. I fished that for a little while longer, but no more blow ups and no hook ups.

Time to head in. But wait, a set of docks I can fish! My plan was just to fish it for fun. One fish and I'm done. A couple of docks into it, a 13" fish. Yeah, I can go in.

I definitely have a plan for Sunday and I'm confident in that plan. Whether it's enough to win or not, we will see.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 25, 2011
Gull Lake

Today we were boat 3 and figured we would get to our spot first. We did, however we weren't too sure when Chad Ingvalson came screaming by us going over 80 mph in his Stroker with a 225 racing engine. Keep in mind I have a 250 on my Skeeter and we were doing 72 mph.

We get to our spot and found a couple of fish in the first hour. Around 8:45 I lost one that flew in the air. We continued to work and work it and just couldn't get much going. Off to spot #2, zero fish. Off to another area, one keeper fish. Back to spot #1 where Perry hooked the best fish of the day. 2.14 pounds, best fish of the day? Yikes!

It's 11am and we are going back to the main lake. As we are heading that way I remember a mistake I made last year in the Ron Schara tournament. I panicked at 11am and left for the main lake, only later to find out my friend Bob Perkins stayed there the rest of the day and worked at it and got the best bag or the 2nd best bag of the day. I just recall he did very well. As I looked to my left, I have a partner who has some areas he'd like to try, so I continued on towards the main lake. If I was by myself, I would have stayed, but could have ended up with not so good results. Who knows.

Off to the main lake where we work a break line for quite a long time. Zero fish. The fish we did catch to this point have been in less than 10 feet, so I figured lets go fish docks. From 1:15 on we fished docks. At 1:25 we only had 4 fish in the livewell and we need 4 more just to get a limit. One dock 2 fish. A few docks later 1 fish. We now have 7 and it's almost 2:00. We have no chance at winning or finishing in the money at this point. Our only chance is for big bass and to save face somewhat and at least get a limit. I know a stretch of docks that would get us our last fish easily, but they usually don't produce a big one. I gamble and go for some new docks I've never fished.

We get to the first dock and as we are approaching it, this young man starts walking on the dock as if he were trying to put a hole in it. He was stomping on it so hard. As I got closer I said to him "That's funny." I skipped under the dock anyway. I felt a little something but no fish. The young man then sits on the dock and starts splashing the water with his feet. I skip my Northland Dipstick under the dock and this time the tick tick on my line, was on my line. I set the hook and in comes #8. Whew, at least we got our limit. He says what was that a sunfish? I said no it was a bass and thank you for waking him up. He then went on to say a number of things including don't fish these docks, go fish other docks, fishing is not a sport with our fancy rods and he plays real sports. I told him to have a good weekend.

He then runs up to tell Daddy and he comes down to the shore and starts cursing at me and telling me to get off of his docks. I asked him to call the sheriff. He's still cursing at me and I repeat it again. Still cursing at me and I told him to call. I then said have a nice weekend.

It was a tough day on the water for us and thank goodness that was the end of it because a couple of minutes later as we are off of this guys docks, a rock lands about a foot away from my boat. We never saw anyone throw it, we just heard it land a foot away from my boat and about 3 feet away from my head. We caught a couple of more fish but nothing that really helped. Day 2 weight was 13.75. Overall finish was 14th.

Congratulations to Brandon Cizek and Andy Walls on winning the tournament and $5,000. I also want to thank Jeff Olson and Sarah Sellnow for helping get this tournament going again. Lastly, a special thanks to the man who started this years ago, Steve Soukup for stepping in and running the meeting and the tournament. It was great to have Steve involved again. Thanks to Steve Ladany, Princessa Hanson and Michelle Mathis for assisting Steve with the weigh in.

The tournament will happen again next year and we are already talking about making it better and growing it in 2012.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 24, 2011
Whitefish Chain

Our first spot today was taken but we ended up settling on an area close to there.
We caught 2 keepers and watched Dean Capra and Jim Severson load up some good ones.

We went off to Daggett and got a couple but nothing big. Off to Little Pine and we
mustered up only 2 small fish. One on a spinner bait and one on a buzzbait. We
worked that lake for almost 2 hours and the gamble didn't pay off. Back to Daggett
where we caught our best one of the day. It was only 2.4 pounds. Yikes!

Worked a couple of more spots on Daggett and didn't come up with much. Went to
Crosslake and pounded some docks and lost a 3 pounder. After that we came up with
nothing but a smaller keeper.

We finished with 14+ pounds. Not in last and not even close to last but we are 10
pounds off the lead. Yikes again!

All of my fish but one were caught on Northland dipstick. Off to Gull tomorrow.
Just going fishing tomorrow.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 23, 2011
Gull Lake

Got to the lake a little after 7 this morning. It was cold and windy, but no rain.

I started on a flat where it was pretty breezy. Threw a spinnerbait for an hour an
came up with nothing. Moved to an area that is a big fish spot, however this year I
have fished it 5 or 6 times and have only caught one 12" fish. After today, make it
one 12" and one 13" for the year. I can't figure out what is going on there this year.

I then fished a point, a couple of flats, some docks and some pads. I got zero fish.
Total fish at 11am: 1. It started raining, I was cold and tired and decided to head
in, prepare for tomorrow and clean up for the meeting. We were required to be off
the water at noon.

Tomorrow we fish Whitefish, Saturday on Gull. There are 20 boats in the field and
we drew #18 Friday and #3 Saturday. My partner is Perry Alfords. Great guy and a
good fisherman. We talked after the meeting and have our game plan set for Whitefish.
We are heading into tomorrow confident, but not over confident.
Anything can happen, it is fishing.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 22, 2011
Whitefish Chain

Holy rain is what I have to say. I got on the water at about 7am and very shortly it started raining. There was a combined total of about 45 minutes from 7am to 3:15 pm where it did not rain. The wind died down a bit today, so that was good.

I started in a familiar area and threw a jig, dipstick and tube and caught no fish after 30 minutes. Went to an area I haven't fished before but have seen guys there. Gave it a try for 30 minutes and no fish.

Off to a favorite spot and the jig, dipstick and tube produced no fish. I was convinced there were fish there. Put on a top water and caught about 8. Problem is none of them were over 2 pounds. I won't disclose which top water bait I was using as I had great success with it in terms of catching fish throughout the day. I probably caught close to 20 fish on this top water. But again, all small fish with the exception of one that was 2 to 2 1/2 pounds.

Worked another area where there are always fish, not today. Next spot was a point where I mustered up 1 small fish on a craw tube.

Next spot threw the top water bait again and was catching fish, but nothing big. I did have one blow up on it that looked pretty good, but she missed.

Last spot I worked for 90 minutes throwing the kitchen sink and the best I could do was 2 misses on the top water bait.

It is 3:00 and I am soaked and tired. Time to go in and get pelted by the rain.

A good day for numbers, not a good day for size. Off to Gull Lake tomorrow for the final day of pre-fishing. We have to be off the water by Noon, so I'm going to try to get an early start.

A note, on Monday the water temperature was 67 degrees. Today it was at 63 degrees and I fished a spot that was 60 degrees. Brrrr, especially for late June.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 21, 2011
Gull Lake

Based on the forecast, it was to be rainy and windy from 8am on. I decided to get a
real early start and get a few hours in before it got downright miserable.

I got to my first spot at about 5:30. It was downright windy on the main lake. I
thought well I'm here, let's get after it. I threw about 20 casts and couldn't even
move the boat forward. I picked up and went to a less windier spot. I caught a small
one pretty quick. About 20 minutes later I caught a 2 1/2 pounder. Continued to work
this area for a while and caught 3 small fish, 2 pike, 3 rockies, and a sunny. Just
needed a walter for mixed bag.

As the wind continued to pick up, the rain started. I decided to tough it out and
fish another area. No fish there. I'm getting hammered by wind and rain and based on
the forecast, this was to continue the rest of the day. I checked the radar and it
didn't look good. I decided to load the boat and make it a work day.

Wednesday the wind is supposed to lay down a bit...I hope. Rain to continue though.
Need a productive day tomorrow!

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 20, 2011
Whitefish Chain

This Friday and Saturday I will be fishing in the Camp Confidence Bass Classic, formerly known to many as the old Skeeter. Friday the tournament is on Whitefish and Saturday is on Gull. It is a two day combined tournament.

I started the week fishing Whitefish as I have not fished for bass on the lake this year. This is my favorite lake to fish and I wish today was tournament day as I had a very good day. The weather wasn't so splendid, but it was o.k. considering what it looks like it might be Tuesday and Wednesday.

I started just before 7am and before 9:15, I had 8 keepers including two 3 pounders, some 2 1/2 pounders and some 2 pounders. Everything I caught today was over 2 pounds with the exception of the very first two fish I caught which was fairly quickly. I caught both of those fish on a spinnerbait.

My two big fish were caught on a spinnerbait and on a Northland Dipstick.

The weed growth in the areas I fished was pretty good, still behind normal, but it's enough that it is providing plenty of cover for the fish. The water temperature was just below 68 degrees today.

Because I had a real good day, I'm going to avoid giving away the pattern in my blog, as it was clearly a pattern today. I can tell you that I threw a jig today and did not come up with a fish. I threw a tube for a short time, not long enough to say it was good or bad, but I didn't feel the vibe and I also didn't catch a fish on a tube. I threw a Zara Spook for a while and did not have any strikes. My fish all came on the Northland Dipstick and a few on a spinnerbait.

I did fish docks today for a while and only came up with 1 fish. It was a good 2 1/2 pounder though.

I was hoping for some sun and light wind today with the purpose of locating smallmouth beds, but I scrapped that plan as it was windy and very overcast.

The forecast tomorrow is for 20 to 30 mph winds, 80% chance of rain and a high of 60. Yuck! We are still waiting for summer to arrive up here in the Brainerd lakes area. My plan is to go to Gull Lake tomorrow, but we will see what the weather is like.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Gull Lake
June 18, 2011

Today was the Camp Confidence charity tournament. It was announced that through the fishing tournament today, they raised around $100,000. Thanks to everyone who participated to make this event a great success.

My partner was my wife Michelle. The last time we fished this tournament together, she didn't catch a fish, so I was really hoping that she would catch some fish today. She was fishing with a texas rig that was pegged with a 5/16 oz sinker and a Northland Dipstick on it. She caught plenty of fish and missed a few too, but nonetheless it was great to see her have some fun catching fish.

Our first spot, there was a boat on, so we had to pass on it. Off to our second spot and wouldn't you know it, a boat was on that as well. We got close but not too close but only landed one small fish. Off to work a weedline and we came up with some more small fish. Got to an area where it was a flat and I had a good one hooked, but lost it in the weeds.

Off to another area where we were going to work a large flat. Again a few small fish to begin with. By the way, Michelle is on a roll, she has about 7 or 8 fish and I have yet to land one. We move up to some docks and wouldn't you know it, I dumped a good one. I'm starting to think to myself whether I can ever land a good fish again, especially after last week on Minnetonka.

I threw a spinnerbait on the flat and caught a couple small ones and then caught a keeper. Off to a weed edge where we only got 1 or 2 small fish.

Time is running short and I wanted to try one more area that I thought I could maybe hook a good one. After a few fish, I got one that felt heavy. I thought I had it hooked pretty good, but after my latest mishaps I was concerned. I got the fish up out of the weeds and Michelle did an outstanding job netting the fish. That fish was just over 3.5 pounds. It was caught on a Northland Dipstick rigged on a 3/16 oz. Northland Lipstick hook.

We fished a couple other spots real quick as we didn't have much time, but nothing that would help us.

Michelle outfished me today in terms of numbers, no question. It was fun to get my butt kicked by my wife!

We weighed in 3 fish just under 7 pounds, good enough for 3rd place in the bass division. Some hardware to bring home just put icing on the cake to a great day on the water.

My next tournament is the Camp Confidence Bass Classic (formerly the Skeeter) this Friday and Saturday on Whitefish and Gull. If you are interested in fishing the tournament, Classic Bass has the information on the web site.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

June 17, 2011
Gull Lake

Tomorrow I'll be fishing with my wife in the Camp Confidence charity tournament and we will be fishing the bass division.

I got a little extra z's this morning and I didn't get to the lake until about 8:00. I started on some main lake structure and didn't come up with a bite. Hit some docks inside that structure and still came up empty.

Worked my way to a small area and caught about 5 small fish and 1 two pounder. Caught all of those fish on a black/blue jig and pig.

Went on to work a reed bed and all I could muster up there was about a 7 pound dogfish.

Worked a flat for over 2 hours. I believed this would hold fish as the pattern in this kind of water temperature (67 degrees) many times will hold fish on flats. This is a pretty big flat. I caught just a few fish, but small fish. Those were also caught on a jig. I may have only caught 1 or 2 fish throughout the day on my trusty Northland Dipstick.

Went to hit some docks just to have a little fun and I boated about 4 fish, all 12" to 14". Also all caught on the jig.

It's about 1:30 and I decided to head on in. Long night tonight as we have the dinner at Camp Confidence and then we are making 205 box lunches out of the Subway in Nisswa. Those box lunches will feed the participants tomorrow while they are on the lake. We donate the box lunches to Camp Confidence at no cost.

Michelle and I will hit some more familiar areas tomorrow and hope to catch a couple of big fish. Rain tomorrow in the forecast, but I don't care. Just looking forward to spending the day on the water with my wife and at the same time, hopefully we can catch some fish as well.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Lake Minnetonka
June 10, 2011

First of four events for the Team Great Outdoors Series. This series is a pro-am event where the am is a sponsor of the series or a local celebrity. Any fish the am catches, the pro can use if they choose.

I was honored today to fish with a really super nice guy and we had alot of fun. His name is Troy Jutting and he is the coach of the Minnesota State Mankato hockey team.

Up at 4:15 a.m. Whew, that's early. Launch out at 6 a.m. My first spot was in a small area where I was confident I could get one good fish. Second cast, 3 pounder! Great start. That fish was caught on a black/blue jig and pig, 3/8 oz. Only could get one fish there, but that was the goal.

Worked some weed flats in 2 to 6 feet of water. Troy was throwing a white and gold 3/8 oz double colorado blad spinnerbait. Througout the day he caught many fish, many small, a few 12" to 13" fish, but one 3 pounder! We did this for a couple of hours in 2 different areas. I was throwing a Northland Dipstick, the black/blue jig, a green pumpkin craw tube and a black/blue chatterbait. Caught zero keepers on the chatterbait and zero fish period on the craw tube for the entire day.

Off to Lord Fletchers to pound their docks before they opened. In the very few experiences I have had on Minnetonka, I usually get a good one there too. I mustered up 2 very small fish. Went to another set of docks, got 1 keeper.

Right now we are sitting at 5 fish for 9 pounds. We had two 3 pounders and three 1 pounders.

Off to another area of weed flats. Troy got a couple of non-keepers on the spinnerbait. As we were working the flat my gander went up and saw this dock and thought, there is a fish there. Wrong. Continued the flat with no success, and my gander was up again at another dock. Second cast I stick a heavy one. I set the hook pretty good. Most times under docks the fish trys to move down, not up. This one moved up immediately and as I try to keep the line tight, I saw the fish jump and my hook went flying. Fish tales are a plenty, but this is not one of them. That fish was pushing 5 pounds. That fish was on a Northland Dipstick. I immediately picked up my jig rod but could not get it to bite again.

I had to keep my chin up as they say. I re-rigged and took a deep breath but had a hard time not getting the very clear image of that fish out of my head. I moved to the other side and the second cast, bang, fish on. This was another good one. I have this one hooked. Troy skates, no it wasn't that cold, rather he hustled up front with the net and as he was doing so, I get the fish to start coming towards me out of the dock and the fish found the only pole there to swim around. I had the line tight and pushed the trolling motor to get to the fish. We both could see the fish as Troy was saying, come on, get off that pole. As he said that, the fish took another darting move and the line broke as the fish basically grinded the line down using the pole.

Those 2 fish were for certain a combined 8 pounds and possibly 9 pounds. Both fish bit on a Northland Dipstick on a Northland Lipstick 3/16 oz. hook.

The rest of the day we fished just a few docks and lots of weed flats, but only culled up for another pound.

I had my chance today to cash a check. With those fish I lost, I wouldn't have won, but I think I would have finished 2nd or 3rd and would have had big bass. Those 2 fish might have cost me between $1500 and $2500 today. Tough pill to swallow, but I had the chance, it just didn't work out.

Congratulations to Andy Young on winning the tournament.

My next tournament is the Camp Confidence Charity Event, June 18 on Gull Lake. This is a non-money tournament. I'll be fishing with my wife Michelle.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Lake Minnetonka
June 9, 2011

Water temperature was 69 degrees today. A drop of 11 degrees since Tuesday
afternoon. As the temperature has dropped, so has my fish catching.

Today I boated 0 keeper fish. I had a couple hooked that felt ok, but the bite
seemed to be very light and they weren't interested in smacking anything. I fished
very slow today for the most part in depths from 2 feet to 15 feet.

Based on the forecast tomorrow I'm very concerned about how things will go tomorrow.
I'm not as familiar with Minnetonka as most if not all of my competitors are, so I
don't have enough go to spots as others probably do. I'm going to need to have some
luck. I'm pretty confident in about 4 areas, but if the weather has stopped the bite
in those areas, it's going to be a long day.

Good luck to me!

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Lake Minnetonka
June 8, 2011
Water temperature 76 degrees.

Pretty tired this morning. Got on the water at 8:00. Started fishing in a channel
looking for some bass on the move but no luck. Out of the channel hit some docks and
caught one small fish.

Moved to another set of docks and could not get a bite with the dipstick. I switched
to a black/blue jig and caught 3 on 3 casts. I don't know if it was the jig or the
structure change around those docks.

Moved to a 1 fish spot and yes a good one was there. I'll be there Friday! Caught that on the jig.

Worked a long stretch of docks and got 1 small fish. Moved to a point and threw a
tube, jig and dipstick and came up empty. Later fished some top water in the slop
and threw a jig. One small fish on the jig.

Hit another row of docks and nothing. Moved to another point and caught 2 small
ones. Worked my way down another set of docks and caught 6. All 2 pounds and under.
Those were all caught on a dipstick.

I cannot figure out a pattern. There is no dock pattern that's for sure. As for
structure fishing I've spent about 4 hours doing that and it's worthless or I'm
fishing the wrong areas.

I don't like fishing crankbaits but might have to crank tomorrow just to see if I'm
missing something. It's still a big puzzle. Need a big piece to come together
tomorrow or I'll be heading into tournament day needing lots of luck.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Lake Minnetonka
June 7, 2011

This week I'm fishing the Team Great Outdoors series. After leaving my house about
6:50 am, I arrived at the ramp at about 9:45. Water temp was 76 degrees and at 3:15 it was near 80.

My plan was to pound docks today, but very specific docks with the same kind of pattern.

I was determined to catch a fish on a jig today. I fished a jig for the first hour
and got zero fish. Any guess what I switched to? A Northland Dipstick on a
Northland Lipstick 3/16 oz hook. Within 5 minutes I boated a 3 pounder. 3 docks
later, another 3 pounder. 4 docks later I had one probably just under 3 pounds wrap
me around a pole. I clearly saw the fish and I swear the fish was on a high speed
merry go round as it wrapped around the pole.

It's about noon and I catch a small fish. An hour later a non-keeper. From 1:00 til
3:15 I didn't catch a fish. I have to wonder if the fast rising water temperature
did something to the fish because I didn't even get a bite.

I called it a day as it felt like was fishing in an insulated hair dryer. 100
degrees and 30+ mph winds. I was also getting a bit dizzy so I felt it was time to
go in and cool down.

Cooler temperatures Thursday and Friday so adjustments will have to be made, or maybe not?

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Minnesota Fishing Challenge Benefiting Minnesota Teen Challenge
Gull Lake
June 4, 2011

This was my sons first 8 hour tournament and first time with a casting rod, so we had our work cut out for us. I had 3 goals before the tournament started. First, do what I can for my son to have a good time. Second, see him catch a few fish and third was to win the bass division. We accomplished 2 out of the 3 goals, the one missing was winning the bass division. But as Meatloaf would say, 2 out of 3 ain't bad.

We started in the Kings channel. I was in there Friday and didn't get very far in and caught 2 pretty quick and left. Today, we only mustered up 1 fish, but it was one we weighed. Next to Schaeffer's Point, no fish. Then we hit some docks in the Bar Harbor channel and got 2 fish that we later threw back. Off to Roy Lake we go. Fished a shallow flat and caught about 9 fish, one pushing 3 pounds and several 12" to 14" fish.

Michael had yet to catch a fish and I saw a dock and just had one of those feelings that there was at least a few fish under it. I didn't fish it and let Michael have had it. He caught 2 fish there and smiles were a plenty.

I wanted to get back closer to Cragun's so as to not have to make a bee line for the weigh in all the way from the small lakes. Hit Wilson Bay and caught fish that didn't help. Off to some more docks and got lots of fish, but no help. Needed a human maintenance break at 2:00 at Cragun's and then back out to fish for 1 hour. Hit 2 last docks and caught about 4 fish, one of them we weighed in.

We didn't finish very well, I think 10th, but again we accomplished 2 out of the 3 goals. I fished one bait all day which may have been smart or not smart, I don't know, but I personally caught a lot of fish, probably close to 25. The bait, do you need to even wonder? A Northland Dipstick on a Northland 3/16 oz. Lipstick hook.

A lot of money was raised for Teen Challenge and I was glad to be a part of it.

My next event is the Team Great Outdoors Series on Lake Minnetonka June 10.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Gull Lake
June 3, 2011

After struggling yesterday, I started off an underwater point and threw a rattle trap off the point and on the flat. I found no fish. Threw a spinnerbait, tube and dipstick in the same area and got zero bites.

I worked some docks with a dipstick and got one 13" fish. I moved into an area I had never fished before and in the first 12 casts, I had two 15" fish and a 4 pounder. Guess where the starting spot is tomorrow. All 3 fish were caught on a Northland Dipstick.

After leaving this area, I'm thinking this might be a pattern to work. Tried other areas somewhat similar and did get a few more keepers. Again, all caught on a Northland Dipstick on a 3/16 oz. Northland Lipstick hook on 12 pound mono. All the fish I caught were in less than 5 feet of water.

I loaded the boat at 1:00 to get ready for tomorrow and to attend the dinner and meeting tonight at 6:00.

Hoping there are still more fish in our starting spot tomorrow and if so, should be a pretty good day.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter

Gull Lake
June 2, 2011
Water Temperature 61 degrees
Cloudy and windy

This weekend I'm fishing in the Minnesota Fishing Challenge to benefit Minnesota Teen Challenge. My partner for the event is my 13 year son.

My plan today was to find a pattern whether big or small fish. Our goal is to win the bass division, but most importantly, I would like to see my son catch a bunch of fish, whether big or small.

Having not fished for bass much this season, I started at some old places. I started using my trusty Northland Dipstick and had some success but only small fish. I was fishing in 1 to 5 feet of water. I moved out a bit and threw tubes and dipsticks. No bites. Went out to an underwater point and threw the same plus a spinnerbait. 3 pike was not the answer there. Moved onto the flat and no luck.

I went back to fishing the 1 to 5 foot pattern since I had caught a few fish earlier and found some more fish, but again all small. I did have one 14" fish, which ended up being the biggest of the day.

Tomorrow if the weather holds up and doesn't push me off the lake, I'm going to try a few different things. I'll throw some Xcalibur rattle baits for sure and probably just work a little deeper with tubes, jigs and dipsticks.

I'm not a good bed fisherman, but I did find some beds, but the vacancy light was on.

Overall I caught about 14 bass in 7 hours, 10 keepers and 4 throw backs. If I can't find better fish tomorrow, maybe the fish will get bigger on the shallow pattern on tournament day. If not, at least I'm pretty confident that my son has the potential to catch several fish on Saturday.

Bill Mathis
Classic Bass Field Staff
Member Team Skeeter