Fish Like a GIRL

For those who do not participate in fishing tournaments, fishing can be a relaxing way to spend the day. Getting in the boat with family and friends and floating around the lake, or even grabbing a cane pole and fishing from shore, can make for a perfect day.

However, fishing in tournaments is a bit of a different animal. Don’t get me wrong. It is a lot of fun, and it can still be a great way to spend a day, but fishing two tournaments back-to-back might mean moving pretty slow on Monday morning.

Back in my 30s it did not bother me much. Also, back then I lived closer to the lakes I was fishing and did not have to get up at midnight to get ready to run tournaments. Now, though, I am the tournament director for Wisconsin Bass Team Trail, which Chet and I own together. There is a lot of preparation that goes into putting on tournaments, and there is a lot to do before getting everyone out on the water.

One nice thing about the back-to-back tournaments last weekend was that we were not running the tournament on Sunday. All we had to do was fish. It was an Upper Midwest Bass Challenge Series (UMBCS) tournament, run by a good friend of ours from St. Germain, Gregg Kizewski. 

A lot of teams that fish our series also fish his, so it is like hanging out with family all weekend long. Some tournament days can be long and brutal (especially when you break things like a trolling motor), but it is always a good time when we get back to the launch ramp and get to just hang out and talk smart with all of the other anglers. 

On Saturday we were on Lake Mohawksin in Tomahawk for our Wisconsin Bass Team Trail event. This was the last qualifier of the season, and for a few teams, it was make or break as far as getting into the championship on Lake Minocqua next month. In our series, teams must fish three of the four qualifiers to make the championship. They must also finish in the top 34 in points. Some years, when boat numbers are down, basically any team that fishes three is in. This year, though, we had better boat numbers than we have had in quite a while. That makes for some fun competition. 

Mohawksin is one of my favorite lakes, although our results this year did not show that. Quite honestly, it was our own fault. We had not been out on the lake at all other than once in the spring for a tournament. Like most bodies of water, Mohawksin fishes quite differently in the middle of summer than it does in the early spring. It also fishes differently in the early morning and evening than it does in the middle of the day. We caught a bunch of fish, but nothing of any size and were only able to bring one keeper to the scales at the end of the day. I could say it was because we had to come in early to set up. I could use a bunch of different excuses. But what it came down to was we did not spend the time on the water we needed to in order to have good results. Other teams did, and it showed in their results. It was still a fun day on the water, and we did not break anything, so that was somewhat of a win. Here I have to say, two weeks ago we snapped the trolling motor shaft on a rock and last week one of the sensors went out on the big motor, so that was in the shop for a few days before the tournament. Not breaking anything this weekend — sweet.

Sunday found us on Lake Nokomis for the UMBCS tournament. Not surprisingly, the water was low. It was not as low as the Willow Flowage was two weeks ago, but low nonetheless. I think we have come to expect that from some bodies of water later in the season. On little sleep and no pre-fishing, we took off bright and early in the morning. For those who do not know pre-fishing is essentially a tournament angler’s version of practice. We go out ahead of the tournament in an attempt to find the structure on which fish are holding, to learn more about the forage they are chasing and just, in general, try to figure out where and how we are going to fish for an upcoming tournament. With our garage project still moving along, and with the electricians at the house all day on Friday, we did not get a chance to get out on either body of water before the tournaments. Luckily, these are bodies of water Chet and I have fished repeatedly, so we tend to do the same things and check the same places once we hit the water.

However, in both cases, our results showed that we had not had, or taken, the time to get out earlier. On Nokomis, some of the structure we would normally fish was out of the water.

I talked to the Clean Boats Clean Waters guy at the Highway N launch ramp and he said a week prior the water was actually about a foot high, and then they dropped it again to four feet low. To anyone that fishes regularly, that is a recipe for disaster. It puts the fish in a bad mood, like they are not going to eat and instead just lay low and see what kind of craziness is going to happen next. I suppose, to put it in human terms, you find a nice place to live and hang out. Food is coming by all the time. Life is good. Then all of a sudden your home is out of water and you are forced to move. Do that a couple of times in a row, and I guess I would be in a foul mood, too.

It makes it tougher to fish. But, at the same time, some teams overcame that adversity. They did that through the one thing that makes anglers more successful than others time and time again — time on the Water. To be competitive, anglers have to spend time on the water. There is plenty to be learned from looking at maps and Google Earth and watching videos and reading about different fishing tactics. But, as with any other sport, there is no substitution for time spent doing that activity. 

Those who knew my late husband Rod can hear him chastising me, just as I am chastising myself. Yes, I do know better. Yes, I know how important pre-fishing is. No, I did not take the time to do that this year. Yes, we will make the time next year. I am sure my friends can hear the conversation as if it were really happening. Lesson learned, or should I say re-learned?

The good news is that we did make the championship for our series. I will not be fishing the tournament, as I prefer to be on shore getting the setup all done for our biggest tournament of the year. But Chet will be fishing with a good friend of ours who served as our team sub for the year. Chet truly enjoys fishing the Minocqua Chain, although big fish have become harder to come by and the fishery truly is not what it once was. But he will have a good time, as will over 30 other teams.

The Wisconsin Bass Team Trail championship will take place on  Sept. 23 and 24. We will be taking off and weighing in at Torpy Park in Minocqua. The public is welcome to come and watch the weigh-ins, which begin at 3 p.m. 

There will also be an awards presentation after weigh-in on Sunday.

Beckie Gaskill may be reached at [email protected] or [email protected]