The AIM Championship was on Winnie which is a medium sized inland lake that has flats, sharp drop offs, weeds, and small rock piles. I started pre-fishing in Cutfoot Sioux and found only a few fish there. The weeds had the most fish which could be caught with spinners and worms, crankbaits or spinners over the tops of the weeds and the weed edges had fish. The top of the flats (about 10-15 foot) had scattered fish. I chose to fish rocks because that is what I do well and there were fewer fish on the rocks which means fewer anglers and a better chance to win. I was hoping to win with slipbobbers because I had a meeting with Northland Tackle about a bobber they made for me
Read More and we discussed the possibility of producing a Doctor Sonar Slipbobber kit with an instructional DVD on how to catch fish with a slipbobber.
I used my Lowrance to find the bigger rocks (see article in this issue) and I used the LakeMaster MN paper map and the map chip to find the rock spots in the evenings. Once you find the right depth you can study the maps for similar areas on the maps so you have a plan for each day depending on the wind. The biggest problem with LakeMaster is the map is too detailed and my competition can buy it!
I finished 5th using slipbobbers and I received the big fish award with a 28 1/2 inch walleye. The 3rd day of the tournament was cancelled because of wind which really disappointed me because my fish bit better in wind and I was awake at 3 am planning for a big basket and feeling I was going to win. It is a wonderful feeling to wake up alert and feel the glow of anticipation of a great day on the water. I love fishing windy days at anchor because I do it well and I have won 2 major professional tournaments with this technique. Really windy days usually complicate my competition's patterns and my anchor pattern gets stronger.
It will take me awhile to get over this loss.
