On Tuesday, July 20th, Champions Tour anglers will launch their boats on one of the most popular bass fisheries in the Midwest.
Lake Minnetonka is the site of stop number two for the 2021 Champions Tour season. The Tour’s one and only visit to “Tonka” was in August of 2018 where Tim Schroeder won the event with the all-time Champions Tour weight record of over 130 pounds of bass. The question is, will Tonka provide the same beatdown that it did in 2018?
Many Minnetonka regulars will tell you that the lake has fished tough the past two years and this trend has continued into this summer. Whether it is the increasing pressure that the lake receives, changing water conditions or any number of other factors, the good old days on Lake Minnetonka may be behind us. But at the end of the day, the lake is still loaded with bass and there’s endless areas to find a bite that fits the Champions Tour format.
As of now, the weather leading up to the tournament and on tournament day looks great. Stable, hot summer weather in late July should have bass grouped up on offshore structure such as weedlines, points and turns, rock or gravel and key stretches of famous Minnetonka Milfoil. Docks will play a big part in this event as well. There are thousands of docks on Tonka that harbor bass throughout the entire year.
In 2018, we saw anglers find success on key weedline areas in roughly 10-15 feet of water using techniques like jig worms, Senko’s and drop shots. Throughout the course of the day, Tim Schroeder and Will Pappa both found huge groups of fish that they were able to sit on and stack up weight quickly and efficiently. This type of find is a Champions Tour anglers dream, and we expect to see the most successful fishermen lean on this type of bite.
Tonka is extremely diverse, with a gin clear main lake that has beautiful coontail growth in up to 25 feet of water, while the west end of the lake offers bays or basins with very dirty water that have minimal weed growth but key areas of rock and gravel. Breaking down the lake from end to end is nearly impossible during a standard stretch of pre fishing, but the competitors that can focus on key bays or key patterns and keep themselves focused and on fish throughout the entire day will be near the top of the Reel LiveWell App.
With $12,000 on the line and key Championship or AOY points at stake, the Champions Tour tournament on Lake Minnetonka will offer an action-packed day of bass fishing.
Be sure to tune into www.classicbass.com and all our social media channels on July 20th for updates from the water.
Watch LIVE scoring on the Reel LiveWell App and keep an eye out for another full-length tournament episode to drop in the coming days after the event.
