Minnesota Opening Week Fishing Trip, Big O'l Bass

[shimmy]

I'm sure this will take many tries to upload these but might as well get started. So i just finished my annual spring trip to MN to rip some lips with my brother, brother in law, dad, and uncles. Opening day was the 25th and we really had no idea what to expect for the water temperatures. As we emailed back and forth, we decided that if the water was in the mid 50's, we have a chance at fishing a prespawn pattern which rarely happens opening day in Ottertail County, MN. We thought, if temps were right at 60, it might not be as good as if it were in the mid 50's, so we hypothesized. So we arrive and sure enough, the first lake we launch it is 56 degrees. Wow, i have never fished a spring where the temps were this cold. So, prespawn pattern it was. Of course the jig rods stayed on but that meant we switched to a lot of jerk baits and weightless senkos and suspending whatevers. The whole time we kept thinking, man, this could be a great trip for big bass and terrible for numbers. As tradition held out, the first day of the trip, the monsters started coming out of the woodworks. Started off with an obnoxious 10 pound northern to get big snake of the trip, aka, BSOT (not a coveted award). 

 

 

One of the days during the week we had a fun 6 fish 30+ lb stringers. 

 

 

 

 

So, as tradition held out, within the first hour, one of us hooks into a monster which happened to be my brother in law. Sure enough, tipped the scales at 7 lbs. 4 oz but weighed in at Ben's Bait Shop at 7 lb. 3 oz six hours later. We knew then that we were on to something, just not quite sure what. We figured we would live off of priority spots and avoid cove fishing altogether with these temps for this lake in particular. We just rotated back between 5 or so points and rocky ledges and just kept rotating to get lucky. About two to three hours later, i hook into a giant at a point with my jiggly piggly wiggly coming in at 6 lbs. 7 oz. One thing i noticed immediately was that these fish were so dense! My goodness, they were weighing heavier than they should which i was not used to here since we usually catch bass spawning with their busted up tails and less full bellies. As you can see from the pick, they were big, but my 6.7 just looks small. Weird to hook into that and have it not be the BFOT (big fish of trip).

 

 

 

 

 

My brother in law shortly after hooks into a 5 lb. 0 oz on the dot. This was perhaps the smallest looking 5 pounder i have ever seen in a photo as it stands next to the seabiscuit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As the week went on, we caught many 5's and a ton of 4's. However, we actually did not catch that many 4's compared to years past which was due to the colder water temps. Then later in the week, i strike again. Was busy workin the jiggle me timbers piggly and hooked into another bassquatch coming in at 6 lbs. 13 oz. As always, had the camera rolling when i hooked into her making some great new footage to watch on a rainy day. It got me thinking about that state vs state thread. My two biggest would put me at: 6.7= 103 ounces and the state record is 8:15=143 oz. So 103/143= 72.02% & for the 6.13 = 109/143= 76.22% putting me once again in 2 out of the 3 years for that dang state vs state thread barely second behind the Dwight himself. But as we all know, we are competing for 2nd and Dwight cheats. Anyone that fishes MN has an unfair advantage of winning that competition but Dwight messes everything up. On my last day fishing, i caught 27 fish and had six over 4 pounds with nothing over 5 but still a ton of fish and i realized, i had not caught more than 13 fish in any outing throughout the week. That is just absurd for these lakes but that water temp will do it to you on some of these lakes. It was a great week and can't wait to get out to the land of 10,000 lakes. 

 

 

 

 

 

[Tuckahoe Joe]

Awesome trip man...got some real fatty's there!

[Dwight Hottle]

Outstanding trip there bud. That's what prespawn is all about, big heavy slobs. WTG shimmy. 

[A-Jay]

^{Congrats shimmy}

^{What a  great trip with so many fantastic Bass}

^{Pre spawn & jiggly piggly wiggly go together so well.}

 

^A-Jay 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[AK-Jax86]

Man those are some massive fish! Congrats

[Big-O]

Great post and Fatty Foto's    WTG! 

[Grizzn N Bassin]

Nice fish!!

[hookset on 3]

Minnesota Studs for the Shimmy Clan!   Awesome fishing there in that far North.

[Jay Ell Gee]

Very nice trip!

My bass were in prespawn mid February and were post spawn by mid March. I caught a few tubbies but all of my bass now are already skinny summer fish.

I do hate the cold, though. It's not so bad.

[Teal]

Awesome trip dude!! Love the way you guys were methodical and worked as a team!!

[shimmy]

Thanks for the kind words. I am fully convinced that most here on Bassresource could pull off these numbers in MN. I am just grateful to have access to it like i do. Just imagine pulling up to a nice sized lakes with great structure, incredible picturesque scenery, no traffic, minimal farmhouses in sight, and you could potentially be the only bass boat on the lake the whole morning. Pretty much a formula for success and increased luck. Get the net. 

[Bankbeater]

What a great trip! You guys did excellent!

[zbigbadaaron]

LOL you seriously expect people to believe you caught a 26 pound largemouth, or is that a joke?

[shimmy]

LOL you seriously expect people to believe you caught a 26 pound largemouth, or is that a joke?

it made these fish look like minnows. It was probably closer to 30 pounds but no big deal. I'm sure i'll catch her again, the lake isn't too big, just sometimes fun to target smaller fish for the fun of it. Plus, i was using a jig which very few bass fisherman use on structure so through old neural connections, she'll remember to instinctively bite it again at the same spot. The fish was pulling me all over the place, twisted line around me and started pulling my leg...But, i did the online weight test and her length and girth put her at least 30 to 35 pounds but, there are a ton of them in that lake that size so you just got to put your time into it. Every lake has big bass, we just usually only catch the 90% and not the 10%. Words of advice, location location location, feel like your going slow, slow down, watch your line, when in doubt set the hook, repetitive casts, last cast of the night, lake record, no camera, just let the fish tell you what they want, and establish a pattern. Good luck.

[Hyrule Bass]

nice trip to MN, mustve been fun. but youre telling me there is a world record bass in VA?

[shimmy]

no, i'm just playing around. But there are big one's in that upper teens at Briery, just amazing. 

[Hyrule Bass]

no, i'm just playing around. But there are big one's in that upper teens at Briery, just amazing. 

 

yeah i hear briery is managed as a big fish lake by the state