Steve with a 4.5lb smallmouth caught in the slop?

Hey hold up I know what your thinking… By now you should all be aware that I love bass fishing. I also like to sit around with the guys and BS about bass fishing. But I am not talking about the BS that you are thinking about. I am talking about the Black Sturgeon annual fall bass fishing tournament. This year Art and Barb Peters of Hidden trail Resort put on the 10th annual BS tournament. I look forward to this event every year and every year I suck. The good news is that every year I find another sucker to do the tournament with me hoping that they would bring the luck I need to actually crack the top ten in this event.

A foggy day 1

This year would be no different. Jay Seimens and I arrived early friday am to do a little pre fishing. The goal was to figure out where the heck the bass would be, but with the wild warm weather the bass would not be in the typical locations. We found them shallow, in the muck, in the lilly pads, in deep water, under docks and suspended in deep water. Jay and I did manage to find some very decent 4lb plus fish but we found them in the last places most anglers would have looked at this time of year. Tournament day came around and our expectations were pretty high. We had a decent enough game plan put together and the goal was to get 5 quick fish in the boat. Mision accomplished but unfortunately they were all 2 pounders. We did manage a few upgrades throughout the day and finished off day one in the middle of the pack. A few teams had found the bigger fish as the top 3 teams were around the 18lb mark while the next 20 or so teams were around 11-13lbs. We weighed in just under 12lbs on day 1. Day two could give us the chance to move up the leader board if we could  catch a few of the bigger ones we had lost on day 1… yes we lost a couple of good fish. Now keep in mind I am not making excuses but I was very sick during the tournament. Alright I am making excuses… I would have to be tied to a dock to stop me from bass fishing! I was actually very sick… seriously! No BS.

Jay with a couple of day 2 fish

Day 2: Jay caught almost all of the fish and AGAIN we lost a few good ones. Jay had a very large largemouth on and when she flew out the water and spit the hook our hearts and confidence took a beating. Of course the fish had to suspend in the air just long enough for us to get a good look at her… blasted bucket mouth. As we headed to the day 2 weigh-in Jay and I realized one very important thing… we need to learn a lot about fall bass fishing. As with every day on the water you get a little smarter, you learn more, you try new techniques and you take note of the negatives and positives of every trip. The most important thing for me is to have fun and Jay and I had a pretty good time with lots of laughs. We did learn a few new techniques, we tried some new lures and Jay learned to count to 5 before setting the hook with his top water frog… that took some time!

This years event had 49 boats, tons of big fish caught and a great meal for all the anglers and their families on the Saturday. Hidden Trail Resort has always been like a home away from home for me, the fishing is great (except for me in the fall) and Art and Barb treat everyone like family. For more information on Hidden Trail Resort you can visit them online at www.hiddentrailresort.com or call them  toll free at  1-888-589-6053