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April 28, Tonka Crappie Tourney by Gander, any adivce for 1st?


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This will be my first time fishing the tourny, never had the time for it, but will try this year. Any advice? Launch? weigh in? whatever you guys can advise... Thanks.

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First, it WILL be a zoo out there. Expect many boaters to NOT follow the rules of the water, and many that just don't know.

Second, if you are not at the ramp by 5:00 AM, do not expect to get a legal place to park. Many are out there the night before. And DO NOT park illegally, as the locals and the Sherriff will tag you. They may even tow you depending where you decide to park.

Third, getting in and out of Fletchers is a nightmare during this. Be prepared for people that cannot handle their boat in close quarters.

Fourth, all of the community holes (Seton, etc.) will be so packed, you can literally walk across the boats. And believe me, people will NOT respect your water.

Having fished it for about 5 years, I no longer even get near the lake on that day. It is just not worth it. If the weather is nice, you can also count on a lot of pleasure boaters trying to get into Fletchers, and they DO NOT like anglers boats in "their" slips.

To me, it is just not worth it. But everyone should experience it at least once...LOL... tongue.gif

Glenn

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Thanks Imbass for the heads up. I never get time to fit it into my schedule, but this year looks good. I will give it a try since its all for a good cause. Good luck, hope I can manage a few nice ones.

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Last couple of years, I had no problem finding a space in landings (Grey's bay, North Arm, etc.) at 8 AM. Weather had been very bad (cold and rain). Not many boats fishing for the contest.

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Most folks fish Seton, Black and Emerald. Two years ago I completely forgot about the contest and put in at Grays with no congestion and fished Carman's Bay with moderate success and then decided to motor over to Seton and came under the bridge from Spring Park, witnessed the flotilla (HOLY HANNAH! - boats gunwale to gunwale!), turned around and headed back to the Lower Lake. If you have a honey hole on the lower lake, fish it, otherwise you'll feel like you're partying on Big island on the 4th of July.

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I assume that you launch any where you want and fish any where you want- and show up at lord fletchers before 2:00pm for weigh in- do you need to sign in some where first?? Thanks-

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Quote: I assume that you launch any where you want and fish any where you want- and show up at lord fletchers before 2:00pm for weigh in- do you need to sign in some where first?? Thanks-

If you've purchased a ticket already, do you have to go to Fletchers before fishing? Thanks.

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I don't think there is any sort of check in unless you get a fish you want to weigh...CedarNarrowsGuy you going to be out there? I'm taking my 4 year old out...will look for you at Fletchers...if you want to hook up on the water shoot me an email...

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I just bought a registration at Gander this afternoon.

It says that the winners will be annouced at 2PM. If you get one and it is a tie for a large prize, the first one to weigh in wins...

also it's a buck more if you register at fletchers day of.

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Thanks for the info. I'm tagging along with a couple guys who know the lake a little bit. Not sure where we're going. I'm sure it will be a zoo......

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had a spot to myself, must have caught 60 fish. 15-20 over 11" and a 13 1/4 incher. did not weigh it till i got home 1 pound 4 ounces, should have brought it in earlier to fletchers oh well nice day on the water

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Yes, We did well also. What a great day out on Tonka

Stopped in to Fletchers, and saw the winning fishes. Nice crappies!

I spent most of the morning checking differnt spots. Ended up catching the most in Seton.

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Cedarnarrowsguy how'd you do? We only got about three keepers...Fortunately one was the biggest of the tourney.. grin.gif Buddies wife got it...

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4 of us caught 6 keepers. 10.5"-12" We also caught lots of smaller ones. What a great day for fishing. The catching was a little slow...We tried a lot of areas, but never got out to seton area. Sounds like that area was pretty good.

Heading up to the bush this week, hopefully get out for a few lakers...

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Looks like you guys had a good time. I was out there early...I'd have to say the early bite was the best. We came ontop of a good school around 6ish in the morning and landed mainly slabs only. We managed 20-30 11"-14". Between the two of us it was everyother cast into the shallows, jig and minnow was the trick in a shallow 3ft spot. We had 20 in the livewell when we were at fletchers trying to figure which one was the biggest, all seemed to look alike. I had my bro give it a try with one of our passes, but it didn't make it, tipped the scales at 16oz. Wasn't enough to place. Was fun though. There wasn't that many people as I thought. I prefished a few spots friday until about 11pm which helped alot. We hit close to 6-7 walleyes when we prefished in that spot. They were hitting the minnow good. Wish I could post pix, but only had camera phone. I could say all the biggers ones at 13-14" came right off the shore in 2ft of water right as the fully showed itself over the horizen. Lost half of my flu flu's also due to them northerns. Also nailed a 21" and 23" bass with same technique. Overall good experience for the first. We fished our spot from 5-9am with no one to compete with us, funny huh? After 9 we cruised to Tanger and oh my god it was loaded there, heard there was no action there, left and hit a few other places with nothing to show for it. Not to be mean but I notice a lot of people fishing deadzones...i reckon someone parked, some passes by and thought it was a good spot and fished next to them and so forth... There was a spot that must of had 10 boats, gurantee there was no crappie to be found there, well maybe one loner or so.

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Quote:

Looks like you guys had a good time. I was out there early...I'd have to say the early bite was the best. We came ontop of a good school around 6ish in the morning and landed mainly slabs only. We managed 20-30 11"-14". Between the two of us it was everyother cast into the shallows, jig and minnow was the trick in a shallow 3ft spot. We had 20 in the livewell when we were at fletchers trying to figure which one was the biggest, all seemed to look alike. I had my bro give it a try with one of our passes, but it didn't make it, tipped the scales at 16oz. Wasn't enough to place. Was fun though. There wasn't that many people as I thought. I prefished a few spots friday until about 11pm which helped alot. We hit close to 6-7 walleyes when we prefished in that spot. They were hitting the minnow good. Wish I could post pix, but only had camera phone. I could say all the biggers ones at 13-14" came right off the shore in 2ft of water right as the fully showed itself over the horizen. Lost half of my flu flu's also due to them northerns. Also nailed a 21" and 23" bass with same technique. Overall good experience for the first. We fished our spot from 5-9am with no one to compete with us, funny huh? After 9 we cruised to Tanger and oh my god it was loaded there, heard there was no action there, left and hit a few other places with nothing to show for it. Not to be mean but I notice a lot of people fishing deadzones...i reckon someone parked, some passes by and thought it was a good spot and fished next to them and so forth... There was a spot that must of had 10 boats, gurantee there was no crappie to be found there, well maybe one loner or so.


Sounds like you need to take me fishing, I'd take 1 of any of those fish you caught!

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You can find them yourself...just find a place that noone really has access to because their boats too shiny and new or too big. Back of the back bays...where you have to raise motor and float+paddle into a creek(probably scratch here and there but my boat is tough.) And I bet you havn't nightfished for crappies during boating season.. they hit good also...but walleyes like to join in usually. Having fish fry this weekend...will go fish tomorrow morning and plan for 3 person limit(30 fish in 10"+ range, feeding 13-16 drunk guys later at night). Will take pictures. And my dumb brother fishes this lake 4 nights a week about. (Contact Us Please) knows wehre they are i think.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Quote:

Buddies wife got it...


That would be Corey G's wife!! Jileen.

'saw shocked.gif

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