Well it's getting near to the first bassnn night. This coming weekend is the general bassnn opener for most of the state and the St. Louis River. HWY 53 East and North of Duluth, the bassnn season is open.
I went to Island Lake Resevoir and did awesome on smallies this past Friday. I mainly fly fished and had a blast. The fish are all in different phases of the spawn. It depends on the location on a given body of water. With warmer protected shallow bays and coves warming up first and then the rest of the lake. Temp reading on Friday ranged from 58-68 degrees, depending where your at, so you'll have to hunt for them.
The river should be ready for some good smallmouth fishing by the first night of fishing. The recent warm sunny weather and lack of rain should help bring down the water levels and clear it a little and get those fish moving. Don't forget that the minimum size is 14" on the river. Anyone bringing in a fish under 14" will have their night points disqualified. Plus it is against the law to have a fish under 14" in the boat. So please be sure that the fish is at least 14" inches. Also LIVE BAIT is ALLOWED for the first and last nights on the river. If I do in pre-fishing, hopefully I might run into some of you out there on the river. If you see an older red lund with words written on the side that say www.fishingwebmaster.com, that would be me. Flag me down or stop on by and say hi.
Gas discount cards! Give me a call at 590-1712. If any team wants their cards ealier, I might be able to meet with you someplace or at my work. I work in downtown Duluth. But I'm running around all time. Or you can pick them up at my house, just give me a call to see if I'll be there. I know a bunch of teams have been using them, including myself, it's all starting to add up on the savings already.
I'll be changing some of the wording to the rules. Namely the ignition kill switch stuff and the livewell requirement. The rules state you must have a device that kills the engine in case you go overboard. Since this is not a requirement by state law, this will be a recommended practice and not a mandatory one. Also, a properly aerated live can be anything that can be used as a live well. It doesn't necessarily have to be a built in fancy live well in your boat. I've seen coolers with attached aerators that worked just fine. The main purpose is to not kill the fish and keep them breathing. Lots of dead bassnn is not a good thing for the public to see.
Remember your all pros, not matter how much you fish. Your teams actions reflect yourselfs, the league and angling in general to the public which inlcudes other anglers out on the water. This league should be fun and I know everyone will have a good time, but lets be safe and responsible out there on the water.
I don't know how many of you have had any bassnn tournament experience, but the above is a reminder to be safe responsible anglers anytime were out fishing. The league will be weighing fish in the parking lot on a well used launch, so lets give the fish some respect and handle them with some care. It sucks when you see a 5lb smallmouth go smashing to the pavement cause someone did not have a good grip on it, NOT GOOD!
If anyone has any questions regarding the league, please give me a ring at 590-1712.
Alright enough of my rambling, tight lines everyone!
You can check out nightly results and current league standing HERE!
Also don't forget to only have 6 fish at the end of the night in your boat, this will speed up the weigh in process and get those fish back to the water quickly.
14 Inch Minimum for any bassn on St. Louis River
We have added this rule to the bassn league. We want to satisfy the requirement that the DNR has set forth regarding tournaments held in Minnesota. Basically any tournament where there are more then 15 boats will need to get a permit from the DNR. DABL has no permits because the plan was stay under the 15 boat limit. There are currently 15 teams reserved for this season. So teams that have not reserved will need to call me prior to the start of the tourney to find out if there have been any cancellations. My cell number is 218-590-1712.
Reserved teams will be given priority over non-reserved teams. Reserved teams have paid the $40 for the entire year. We will only accept up to 15 teams on any league night. There will be unforeseen circumstances where the league might have more or less then 15 teams. Non-reserved teams will only be allowed to participate if there are less then 15 reserved teams. For example, if we have only 14 reserved teams, then that will leave 1 available slot each night, or until team another team has paid the $40 for the entire year. If league officials recieve word that a reserved team will not be showing for a particular night, then that slot opens for a non-reserved team. If a non-registered team wants to particpate for an individual night, they need to call me at 218-590-1712 to find out if there has been any cancellations or any available slots open.
I agree completely with that rule. We must take care of the registered teams and keep things within all the rules. The DNR likes what we are doing and we don't want to do anything to change that. And that means we need to live within the rules. I think this is the best for the entire bassn league.
Well that's my two cents worth.