The second Saturday of the month means another MO’ Bass Fishing Club Tournament. Follow along as we prepare things for this tournament. We will then have a follow up post to tell you how things went. This tournament is being done as a 1 keeper fish limit due to the heat that is expected.
The MO’ Bass Fishing Club chose to go to Kinkaid Lake in southern Illinois for the July 2020 tournament. The original time was scheduled to be 6:30 to 2:30, but with the temperature expected to be in the 90s and a heat index of 103, a decision was made to end 2 hours early for angler safety and fish health. Everyone is going to have to find a keeper fish during the morning. If you read the previous post about Kinkaid Lake, you will remember that the minimum size limit is 16 inches. If you haven’t read it, check it out and you will find information about the lake and area.
The St. Louis region has not had much rain recently with some minor exceptions, and it has been sweltering hot. With the lake being off limits to MO’ Bass anglers since Monday, it is hard to say what the actual conditions will be. We are expecting the water to be clear and the weeds to be thickly matted. In past visits to Kinkaid Lake during this time of year, we have found some smaller fish in the thick grass mats, but not too many keepers. Finding one keeper that is the big fish of the day is definitely going to be a challenge and may need to be found out deeper in cooler water around structure instead of in the grass.
Wade has studied a lake map and, with his recent success, has put a game plan together. The plan is to start out with some topwater lures. You can’t rule out an early morning top water bite even in the grass. So, a frog is tied on one rod and a walking the dog action type bait is ready. After the sun gets up, it will be time to move to the edges of the grass and find some deeper water.
For the rest of the day, deeper water structures (rocks, standing timber) will be targeted. Several rods are rigged up and ready to go. The deep water presentations will include a jig and craw, a Texas rigged soft plastic worm or creature bait, and medium depth and deep diving crank baits. Wade is not the type of fisherman who likes to stop fishing to re-rig a rod, and he will definitely have a lot of rods out to rotate through during the shortened tournament.
Stay tuned for an update about which baits were successful, which were not, and what changes were made. We will also give details about the specific baits used. While there is no money on the line for MO’ Bass Club tournaments, they are still exciting and filled with a lot of anticipation for the competition and fellowship that is enjoyed at each tournament.
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We are prepared and ready to Fish!