Post by djkimmel on Sept 25, 2005 22:47:08 GMT -5
Tom Ouweleen (Revtro) and Jason Madigan (half of MadWags) came up with the best pattern on an off day for Lake Ovid to take the DK Forums Bass Tournament Championship with 4 bass weighing 7.85 pounds on Saturday 9/24/05. Neither had ever been on Lake Ovid before but rumor has it they put together a topwater pattern as they day progressed to get their 4 keepers.
The weeds were dying off all over this lowland reservoir leaving a few large shallow weed patches – much smaller than normal summer mats, and a thin strip of sparse and browning weeds along the shoreline. I expected more bass to be moving to the creek and ditch channels since the dying weeds normally rob oxygen from the water. As usual, the bass had other ideas – probably since they don’t read the magazines that say this – and showing the power of weeds to bass, bass were still scattered throughout the holes in the weeds.
Normally, Lake Ovid is a great schooling lake and some bass were caught close together, but covering a lot of water seemed to work best overall this day. Local favorite Vince Reynolds (VinceR) and his partner, new board member Steve Liegghio (liegghio) did catch two nice bass late in the day off structure to take 2nd place and big bass with 2 weighing 6.58 pounds. Their biggest – a nice largemouth weighing 3.63 pounds.
Boat 1 – Willie Esmont (hooksetter) and another new member Mark Hill (basscat) finished 3rd with 3 bass weighing 5.90 pounds. It was a slow tough bite for everyone although a number of bass were lost. Despite being scattered, small schools were found a few times.
I was one of the 13 participants and I know the lake pretty good. Not as good as VinceR or CWINSIII (Clare Winslow), but pretty good. I was the odd man out so I tried to stay out of everyone else’s way and tried to prove my guess about most bass moving to structure and wood cover. We launched a little after 8 AM once the parings and a short talk about the lake was held.
About 10 AM, I moved across the end of a main lake point that has wood scattered on it. The spot has been producing for a little over a month, but getting fished hard too. No other competitors were on it at the time so I started casting my Bomber Fat Free Shad Fingerling to a small woodpile. A small keeper grabbed ahold of the lure and I swung it aboard.
No more hits for a few casts, so I changed angles and quickly hooked another small keeper. They were biting real hard and I made a rookie mistake to try and swing the bass aboard instead of netting it. I forced it a little because it wasn’t fighting hard, but it also wasn’t hooked well. One light shake and back into the lake it went. That was my last bite on that spot.
Later I ran into a couple local who had caught 6 with 3 keepers on spinnerbaits going right along shore in the dying weeds. I tried different things in the upper end of the lake after having so little action in the lower end of the lake closer to the dam. I did finally have one 12-incher cream a shallow running crankbait in a slot, but that was it. I hadn’t heard anyone hollering in a while either (I could tell when Josh and Rick caught their nice one) so I started flipping the old channel edge along the shore side with a compact creature bait.
Time was running out and you don’t get anywhere real fast on this no-wake lake. I wanted more the one bass to bring in though. I turned around to head back and started pitching to dying weed clumps on the outside of the channel. I quickly lost 3 solid feeling fish. The water was too dark to see them, but they felt nice and one boiled the surface powerfully. (I’ve decided I don’t like the new hook style someone gave me – I’ve lost a number of bass on hooksets now so out they go.) And then time was up. A shame because I think I had really found some fish and a few more minutes with a different hook might have been great. I just didn’t have time to retie.
I knew it was a tough bite after finding out the other (previous) local favorite – CWINSIII - only had 2 bass. Even though he hails from up near Interlochen now, he was a big bass phenom on Ovid while he lived down here near the park. Rumor had it, he was on them good before the event, but things change fast this time of year, as champions Revtro and MadWags found out.
Despite the smaller catch, it appears that everyone had fun and enjoyed fishing with each other. Members seemed to like the format and the event. I realize it was a drive for many of you and I know I appreciate the participation. I hope everyone who came felt it was worth the time. I’ll repeat what I told them – I truly and greatly appreciate every one of you who participates on the forums. Each of you makes this board an enjoyable place to visit with your exemplary behavior and willingness to honestly share fishing information. THANKS!
I want to also thank all the participants who offered to help me with my little misfortune after the event. I had a flat tire and a broken trailer bunk. PoorBoy, emeryj and VinceR stayed for quite a while until I got things straightened out enough to get home. Thanks a lot guys.
I also want to thank my wife Angie for getting up early and redirecting traffic from the original entrance to the new entrance after Sleepy Hollow State Park personnel decided at the last minute to lock the back night entrance and open the front entrance early instead after telling me they weren’t going to switch. Angie sat at the corner for an hour and tried to catch everyone so they wouldn’t get lost. I was worried with so many of you never having been here before that I’d lose someone.
I also want to thank Brian PoorBoy McCarter for being our weighmaster – our own ‘Fish’ McCarter. Fiker50 – Rick Fike brought along a camera and volunteered to take some photos so the rest of you can see a little of the going’s on. This was Rick’s first tournament. Hope you had fun Rick. Also, thanks for ABA and Anthony Adams for loaning us the necessary weigh in materials.
Additionally, Revtro had offered to collect some hygiene kits to send to Katrina refugees. I think that is a great thing. I wish we’d have had a little more time to do more for you Tom. Thanks for doing more than your share.
Last but not least, I want to thank my sponsors – Ranger Boats, Yamaha, D & R Sports Center, Shakespeare/All Star/Pflueger and Combat Fishing/Xtreme Bass Tackle for donating some prizes and tackle to give out to participants. I wish I’d have had even more stuff, but as one of you pointed out, maybe you’ll want to do this again and it can grow.
DK Bass Forums Bass Tournament Standings
The weeds were dying off all over this lowland reservoir leaving a few large shallow weed patches – much smaller than normal summer mats, and a thin strip of sparse and browning weeds along the shoreline. I expected more bass to be moving to the creek and ditch channels since the dying weeds normally rob oxygen from the water. As usual, the bass had other ideas – probably since they don’t read the magazines that say this – and showing the power of weeds to bass, bass were still scattered throughout the holes in the weeds.
Normally, Lake Ovid is a great schooling lake and some bass were caught close together, but covering a lot of water seemed to work best overall this day. Local favorite Vince Reynolds (VinceR) and his partner, new board member Steve Liegghio (liegghio) did catch two nice bass late in the day off structure to take 2nd place and big bass with 2 weighing 6.58 pounds. Their biggest – a nice largemouth weighing 3.63 pounds.
Boat 1 – Willie Esmont (hooksetter) and another new member Mark Hill (basscat) finished 3rd with 3 bass weighing 5.90 pounds. It was a slow tough bite for everyone although a number of bass were lost. Despite being scattered, small schools were found a few times.
I was one of the 13 participants and I know the lake pretty good. Not as good as VinceR or CWINSIII (Clare Winslow), but pretty good. I was the odd man out so I tried to stay out of everyone else’s way and tried to prove my guess about most bass moving to structure and wood cover. We launched a little after 8 AM once the parings and a short talk about the lake was held.
About 10 AM, I moved across the end of a main lake point that has wood scattered on it. The spot has been producing for a little over a month, but getting fished hard too. No other competitors were on it at the time so I started casting my Bomber Fat Free Shad Fingerling to a small woodpile. A small keeper grabbed ahold of the lure and I swung it aboard.
No more hits for a few casts, so I changed angles and quickly hooked another small keeper. They were biting real hard and I made a rookie mistake to try and swing the bass aboard instead of netting it. I forced it a little because it wasn’t fighting hard, but it also wasn’t hooked well. One light shake and back into the lake it went. That was my last bite on that spot.
Later I ran into a couple local who had caught 6 with 3 keepers on spinnerbaits going right along shore in the dying weeds. I tried different things in the upper end of the lake after having so little action in the lower end of the lake closer to the dam. I did finally have one 12-incher cream a shallow running crankbait in a slot, but that was it. I hadn’t heard anyone hollering in a while either (I could tell when Josh and Rick caught their nice one) so I started flipping the old channel edge along the shore side with a compact creature bait.
Time was running out and you don’t get anywhere real fast on this no-wake lake. I wanted more the one bass to bring in though. I turned around to head back and started pitching to dying weed clumps on the outside of the channel. I quickly lost 3 solid feeling fish. The water was too dark to see them, but they felt nice and one boiled the surface powerfully. (I’ve decided I don’t like the new hook style someone gave me – I’ve lost a number of bass on hooksets now so out they go.) And then time was up. A shame because I think I had really found some fish and a few more minutes with a different hook might have been great. I just didn’t have time to retie.
I knew it was a tough bite after finding out the other (previous) local favorite – CWINSIII - only had 2 bass. Even though he hails from up near Interlochen now, he was a big bass phenom on Ovid while he lived down here near the park. Rumor had it, he was on them good before the event, but things change fast this time of year, as champions Revtro and MadWags found out.
Despite the smaller catch, it appears that everyone had fun and enjoyed fishing with each other. Members seemed to like the format and the event. I realize it was a drive for many of you and I know I appreciate the participation. I hope everyone who came felt it was worth the time. I’ll repeat what I told them – I truly and greatly appreciate every one of you who participates on the forums. Each of you makes this board an enjoyable place to visit with your exemplary behavior and willingness to honestly share fishing information. THANKS!
I want to also thank all the participants who offered to help me with my little misfortune after the event. I had a flat tire and a broken trailer bunk. PoorBoy, emeryj and VinceR stayed for quite a while until I got things straightened out enough to get home. Thanks a lot guys.
I also want to thank my wife Angie for getting up early and redirecting traffic from the original entrance to the new entrance after Sleepy Hollow State Park personnel decided at the last minute to lock the back night entrance and open the front entrance early instead after telling me they weren’t going to switch. Angie sat at the corner for an hour and tried to catch everyone so they wouldn’t get lost. I was worried with so many of you never having been here before that I’d lose someone.
I also want to thank Brian PoorBoy McCarter for being our weighmaster – our own ‘Fish’ McCarter. Fiker50 – Rick Fike brought along a camera and volunteered to take some photos so the rest of you can see a little of the going’s on. This was Rick’s first tournament. Hope you had fun Rick. Also, thanks for ABA and Anthony Adams for loaning us the necessary weigh in materials.
Additionally, Revtro had offered to collect some hygiene kits to send to Katrina refugees. I think that is a great thing. I wish we’d have had a little more time to do more for you Tom. Thanks for doing more than your share.
Last but not least, I want to thank my sponsors – Ranger Boats, Yamaha, D & R Sports Center, Shakespeare/All Star/Pflueger and Combat Fishing/Xtreme Bass Tackle for donating some prizes and tackle to give out to participants. I wish I’d have had even more stuff, but as one of you pointed out, maybe you’ll want to do this again and it can grow.
DK Bass Forums Bass Tournament Standings
| Place | Boater/Non-Boater | Caught/Alive | Total | Big Bass |
| 1. | Revtro/Tom Ouweleen | 4/4 | 7.85 | 2.15 |
| Mad(Wags)/Jason Madigan | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 2. | VinceR/Vince Reynolds | 2/2 | 6.58 | 3.63 |
| liegghio/Steve Liegghio | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 3. | hooksetter/Willie Esmont | 3/3 | 5.90 | 2.35 |
| basscat/Mark Hill | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 4. | PoorBoy/Brian McCarter | 2/2 | 4.23 | |
| stackenem/Bill Head | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 5. | CWINSIII/Clare Winslow | 2/2 | 3.95 | 2.55 |
| (Mad)Wags/Dave Wagensomer | ||||
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 6. | emeryj/Josh Clark | 1/1 | 2.90 | 2.90 |
| Fiker50/Rick Fike |
