Jim Krocak 
“Go West” They Said (and records will fall)!
This past Sunday, the Minnesota Bass Tour fished our first tournament on Lake Washington presented by FVP Parts. After 9 seasons, we finally heeded the call to “Go West” if we really wanted to experience a true hawg factory. Let’s just say Washington and adjoining Lake Stella did not disappoint!
Before I get to the run down on our top finishers, I have to state some perspective from the days leading up with pre-fishing and then the day’s results.
For beginners, this was a new lake to at least two thirds of the 28 Minnesota Bass Tour members. Pre-fishing reports were iffy at best with more than a handful of teams reporting a tough bite or simply a general nervousness in navigating the poorly marked shallow hazards. To me and others, this tough bite wasn’t the usual “dock talk”, it genuinely felt like it was going to be a grind.
225.10 Pounds
With a week of stable weather, Minnesota Bass Tour members did something quite extraordinary: 14 teams weighed in 225.10 lbs. of largemouth and smallmouth bass. In looking through the records, this is the highest total ever in our standard “catch-weigh-and-release” tournament format, bypassing the insane total of 217.50 lbs caught on Woman Lake in September 2016! Only our Mille Lacs “catch-photo-release” tourney in June 2016 represents a higher number (244.85 lbs were amassed by use of a paper scale and photo proof method).
Anglers fishing new lakes, bass fishermen learning to adapt to new fisheries. That’s what we are all about and the Tour now raised the bar for itself all over again. With that, let’s get to the results!
The Double D’s Notch First Win of 2019
Dane Dornbush and Dan Lindahl, Team Double D’s, are not strangers to success since they joined the Tour in 2013. The 2014 Team of the Year winners are routinely in the guys to keep an eye on at the end of each day. I mean, for “On Plane Dane”, it’s frankly hard not to see his red skeeter blazing trails and burning gas on the water while partner Dan is munching a boat sandwich favorite of crunchy peanut butter and pickles.
These guys bullied the largemouth early in the morning for a reasonable 15 pound limit by 8am. What happened in the following hours was an all together fun time of upgrading – but to smallmouth! The duo reported high numbers of 3 pounders to be culled as they sought the elusive big ones settling on their big bass of 5.00 lbs. These guys reported various active bites on swim baits, bladed jigs, and senkos while targeting unique rocky areas on the water in route to a splendid 19.85 lbs. Besides the cash payout, these guys get their choice of Quantum reels for taking first place!
The Rest of the Field
As mentioned earlier, members caught very respectable bags from Washington and Stella with the standings making for a very tight leaderboard.
Just behind the Double D’s was the father-son combo of Jared and Jaxon Tidd – Team Money Shots with 18.85 lbs! Not to be missed with all the day’s action was this was the first time these guys finished in the money! Their bag was a full collection of the brown love as they caught their smallmouth on chatterbaits, DT6 and buzzbaits throughout the morning. In doing so they earned 2 Onyx A/M-24 life jackets, courtesy of platinum sponsor Onyx Outdoor.
In 3rd place, another familiar team – Shake N’ Bake. Lucas Matzke and Derek Born weighed in 18.30 lbs of largemouth bass that catapulted them to the top of the team of the year race, 5 points ahead of Team Roboworm who have 30 points. Shake N’ Bake earned All-Terrain Tackle gift cards along with their payout for their day’s work.
Blackfish Gear Big Bass #1 Award
The father-son team Bag’em & Tag’em (Aaron and Ron Schmoldt) reclaimed their MN Bass Tour Big Bass Belt after losing it following the first tourney of this year. A 5.40 behemoth largemouth earned them $100 cash and $120 in Blackfish Bucks to for some of the most advance performance gear on the market today! Aaron caught the largemouth while pitching at shallow weeds. See more at the BlackfishgGear.com and their Facebook page!
FVP Parts Big Bass #2 Award
Shake N’ Bake did it for the second tournament in a row, taking the second largest bass honors with a 5.25 lbs largemouth bass. As a result, they also win a fuel and wash package from platinum sponsor FVP Parts.
Check out the Full Results Here!
See the complete Lake Washington Results and Team of the Year Points Race by clicking here
Pictures and video will be posted soon here and on the Minnesota Bass Tour Facebook page.
WIthout a doubt, the Minnesota Bass Tour will be back at Lake Washington in an upcoming season. Thank you to our event sponsor FVP Parts for presenting Lake Washington and ongoing support of the Minnesota Bass Tour!
Next Up: Tourney #4 North & South Center | July 28
Minnesota Bass Tour members and their fans only have a brief 2 week rest until we are back at it on North & South Center Lakes! This will be the 3rd time in 9 seasons that we have fished this system and should be an awesome mid-summer bite!
Pre-Tournament: Lake Washington
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