2021 - MAPLE LAKE - #1
Lots of hours planning and getting ready for Season 8 of Minnesota Made finally came to fruition on Sunday. Getting back out on the ice with our friends and Made family finally brought a little sense of normalcy back into all our lives and hopefully you enjoyed The Live Weigh In with us.
We also put a lot of hours into our new broadcast for the live weigh in. A huge thanks to Tony Dahlberg for his efforts and technological knowledge in being able to pull this off. As always, you're able to view on Facebook Live and follow along through the weigh-in. But, new for this year, you're also able to tune into our YouTube channel and watch, which means, if you have a smart TV you can watch it on the big screen. We have a live ticker across the bottom updating the current leaders and quick pop ups of names/weights for teams. It's only going to get better as we learn from our mistakes and correct issues.
We've had some unusually nice weather this winter which has made the lake tougher to travel on. Slush, snow drifts, and safety concerns slowed down travel a little bit, but the weather was as good as you can ask for. We had overcast skies and mid 20's until an hour before weigh in when the sun popped out and seemed to add 30 degrees on our bodies.
Walking around in the morning it seemed like the fish were snapping and everyone was sorting through fish to find the right ones. As the morning went along, so did the hot bite. A little slower, but these anglers don't let that bother them - they continued to grind and chase schools. More holes being drilled again and a lot more moving towards the mid-morning.
The main answer when asked "How's it going?" was "Got our bag, but desperately need to upgrade a lot of fish". Maple Lake is well known by tournament anglers to have lots of potato chip gills to sort through, but also has some rewarding fish if you can target them and trick them into biting.
We had multiple crappies caught over 14" during pre-fishing and the buzz about the hybrid gills was circulating fast.
Al Escobedo and Mario Perzichilli were tucked away from the crowds as much as you can on tournament day and it paid off for Mario when he hauled in the big crappie of the day at 1.30 lbs. I believe it was shortly after I jabbed him about not catching any fish. Their 8.10 lbs bag was good enough for 5th place.
One of our father/son duo's - Bob Vincent and Dave Vincent put together a nice day and were able to squeak past them at 8.12 lbs for 4th place. Always awesome to see Bob out there working his tail off at 70 years old.
Dan Rollings picked up a new partner in Ed Wilkens and they picked up where they left off after their Frankie's finish. Dan predicted a top 5 finish with a little over an hour left in the day and he was accurate. They came in 3rd place with a limit that weighed 8.38 lbs.
A new team to MN Made, but not the ice fishing tournament scene, was Jim Roberge and Travis Jacob. They put the hammer down and made a splash in their first event with us. Not only were they .01 away from big crappie with a pig that weighed 1.29 lbs, but they took 2nd at 9.10 lbs. Welcome to the league guys - you will fit right in!
Last but not least, the men, the myths, the legends - the team the whole tournament community is talking about - Nick Mueller and Leif Nereson. They won 3 out of the 4 tournaments in 2020 and had a huge target on their backs. Nick was asking for his zip ties before I had the 2nd foot out of my truck after pulling in. That's a good example of how dialed and prepared this team is.
They got their limit early and then moved on to upgrading. The day could have turned out differently if they would have made the call to move. They actually did make the call to move and shortly after, Leif stuck an "upgrader" crappie. They stayed. Some other teams moved in to fish near them. They contemplated moving again. Shortly after, Leif stuck two nice "upgrader" hybrids, which also took big gill at 0.62 lbs.
Their preparation, effort, and timing stood out once again as they were the first team to weigh and sat comfortably in the Clam Hot Seat for the next 45 minutes. Their 9.14 lbs bag held up to some stiff competition and they once again, went home with the hardware.
Their wives are looking for contractors to build additions on to their house for more wall space to hang their plaques.
Next Up: January 24th on Lake Waconia
Dinkfest 2021 Continues....