2021 - Lake Waconia - #2

A snow storm the night before made travel a little dicey but didn't seem to effect the bite.

There were stories of ATV's crapping out and not starting, augers not working properly, and I'm sure many more issues these anglers had to deal with.

The pre-fishing consensus was that there weren't large schools of fish to chase around, instead it was small schools of concentrated fish living in weed beds or "The Jungle" as it was being referred to by the anglers.

As the arm dropped, teams scattered South, West, and North.  Within two minutes of teams taking off, the East side of the lake was quiet and picturesque.  Not a single team stayed near the access.

Checking in throughout the day was the same story, team after team.  This will be a theme throughout all four tournaments.

"Got our bag, but not happy with it"

As the sun popped out, the bite got tougher and chances of upgrading were getting smaller as time was running out.  More grids to punch and more searching continued up until it was time to be in for weigh in.

We had 23 full bags and a couple new teams put their first full bag together in their young MN Made careers.  Sam Guidarelli and Nate Parenteau from Della Bay Custom Rods put together a full bag for an 11th place finish at 6.37 lbs.  Kristina Ringold and Ashlee - our first all female team - put together their first full bag for a 19th place finish with 5.60 lbs bag.

Neil Horan and Chris Schroeder put a full bag together, which included the big gill of the tournament.  That pumpkinseed came in at 0.56 lbs.

Paul Ghizoni and Evan Pheneger were tucked back in a little weedy area and were fairly happy with their bag half way through as Evan iced another seed.  At the end of the day it was good enough for 5th place at 7.22 lbs.

Jacob Stolquist and Darrel Thole had a quick visit with the Clam Hot Seat and were able to walk away with their heads held high, finishing in 4th place with a 7.52 lbs limit.

Jim Roberge and Travis Jacob used a little local knowledge to put another great showing together.  They put together an impressive bag that included big crappie for the day at 0.99 lbs.  They also finished 3rd with a limit of fish that weighed 7.53 lbs.

Leif Nereson and Nick Mueller were not all that confident heading into the day but time after time they seem to find a solution to any problem.  They were knocked out of the winners circle for the first time in quite awhile, but still were right there in 2nd place with a 7.56 lbs bag.

Chris Ball and Tim Kehren were all smiles during the morning.  Having their bag and a decent one at that early had their spirits lifted, but it didn't stop them from putting in the work the rest of the day to upgrade some fish they may have needed to for the "W"!  This is their first MN Made Plaque and the smiles on their faces were pretty special to see.

The winning bag came in at 8 lbs even.  Heck of a bag for DINKFEST 2021.

Next Up:  Hometown Hero Event - Feb 6th - West Rush

Next Up: Event #3 on West Rush Lake - February 7th