Mercury Classic

[Guest]

Is anyone participating in this year's Mercury Classic?

[Terry Hagstrom]

I can't this year because my daughter graduates that weekend from high school.<BR>Plan to next year though.

[jester]

My brother Jason and I are fishing the Mercury Classic this year. Jason has fished it the last two, doing pretty well both times.

[jester]

Well, my brother Jason and I fished the "Classic" again this year....<P>We did pretty good on day one. We brought in six fish which weighed 15.64 lbs, sitting in 31st place after day one (out of 200 boats). We were excited to get out Sunday and improve upon our position, but things didn't turn out so well for us. We struggled in the morning and missed out on the all-important morning bite. We didn't have a fish in the boat until about 11:00 A.M. We worked hard, catching a few fish in the bright afternoon sun, but it was too late. We had to weigh-in at 3:30 and ended up weighing in a measly 6.90lbs on day two. We ended up with a total of 22.44 lbs. I haven't seen the final results yet, but I think we finshed about 40th place...<P>Anyway, it was a great time and I look forward to doing it again next year.<P>

[Guest]

Jester-<BR>In my opinion you did pretty well. I did the classic last year and my partner and I struggled for fish...period. I saw several boats come in with no fish last year. I wanted to do it this year, but my tourney partner couldn't make it. <BR>I did manage to fish Leech on Sat. of the classic and later went to see some anglers come in to weigh in and one team (that I saw) brought in 22 or 23 lbs on Sat. alone! Wow. Better luck next year, maybe for both of us.

[jester]

CD-<P>I think I know the team to which you refer. I believe his last name is Christenson and is a member of the Leech Lake guide coalition. He caught another monster stringer this year on Sunday, catching about 22lbs while alot of teams were struggling in the "bluebird" conditions.<P>Where we screwed up was Sunday morning. While waiting for our start time, we planned to go to a spot where we got alot of fish Saturday. However, once we motored to the main lake it was apparent that the wind had changed, coming out of the East. We were fishing a little "nub" off the West side of a sunken island. The East wind ensured that our spot was not getting any wind, but we stubbornly fished it anyway. We payed the price by wasting the morning hours on a spot that didn't have many fish.<P>Oh well, hindsight is 20-20, and I hope to learn from this and do better next year!<p>[This message has been edited by jester (edited 06-07-2001).]

[Guest]

Jester-<BR>When I competed in 2000 I believe Christianson's (sp.?) team won that year. I know they were LLGC guides. It is tough competing against those guys. Wow, can they produce. I am curious to see who placed this year. <BR>In 2000 my partner and I wasted too much time on a dead hole that did produce while pre-fishing prior to the tourney. We also wasted a bit of time trying to re-catch a 30.5" walleye I caught the day before the tourney too. We were on mission impossible, but desperate for lbs!<BR>It was a blast and I hope to do it again. I am learning more about that lake everytime I go out there. <BR> <BR> <BR>

[jester]

CD-<P>I can relate to your story. We went prefishing on the Thursday before the tournament. We were on our spot only about 15 minutes before I hooked a really nice fish. It measured 27.5". Not a monster- but it would have looked good on Sunday as the large fish caught that day was 6lbs 8oz (the large fish pool was about $1300 and we were in it....). <P>It was no coincidence that the spot we wasted our time on Sunday morning was the spot I caught the 27.5-incher.