Detroit River- Bass Northern Open

The "Motor City" was the site of the 2nd event on the BASS Northern Open Tour. What an awesome city with some of the BEST people I have had the pleasure of meeting while on the road. I was hosted by a great family(Jeri and Jessica Toner) in the city of Royal Oak not far from Lake St.Clair, which is where I had planned on fishing when the event started. For those that dont know, Jeri is the National Sales and MArketing Director for Zipper Worm Company. I use a ton of their hand pour baits on drop shots and we are working on doing a line of colors that I came up with that are sure to be a huge hit in the future. I was there a few days before the cut off so I was able to carry a couple of great guys fishing that I had met while on the trip.

I had met a guy here on Facebook named Brian McCarter. He is the owner of Nemesis Bait Company and makes some killer Goby baits. We got out on the water so he could show me some of the baits and kinda how to navigate the lake. This lake is like nothing I had ever seen in my years of fishing on the road. Water as far as you could see and most of the time not seeing land at all. Brian was a master of working a dropshot and I can say makes one of the best hand poured Goby baits I have ever seen and trust me I have seen alot of them during this trip(be sure to check out his baits at www.nemesisbaits.com)

I was totally lost when it came to finding fish on this body of water. This was honestly the first time I have seen a lake and had no clue where to start. There were no breaks, points, humps, or other things we southern anglers look for when on new water. I knew very quick I had a lot to learn in a short period of time if I planned on even catching a fish to take to the scales much less cashing a check. I had caught some awesome smallmouth so far but had no clue why the fish were there or what they were holding on.

One thing I can say to readers is if you plan on going to Lake St. Clair make sure to have all of your USCG equiptment in the boat and learn how to drive in big waves. What we see in the south as huge storms on the lake is normal there and when your in 3-4 footers and cant see land it's not a very comforting feeling. What's bad is when you get back to the ramp and talking with locals and they remind you it was a calm day and you should see it when it gets nasty. Which I did get to see a few times while there.

After several days on the water the event started with Official practice. I had spent most of my time on St. Clair so I made the choice to go to Erie and stay in the River for the rest of practice. Lake Erie is a BEAST of a body of water and running that lake(and I use the term lake very loose, more like small ocean) can eat a boat in a matter of seconds. I made the run to an Island that alot of anglers talk about and once there(only took 3 hours to get to it) I had a limit of about 17 lbs.. Only problem was it took me 4 hours to catch it and in the event that would put me an hour late getting back to weigh in. This was a problem for about 9 anglers in the event later.

I took 2 days of practice and stayed in the Detroit river section. This was alot better on the boat, the pocket book(fuel cost), and my brain(after being beat to death for a week by waves) but the fish there were not going to get me a check. I did have a chance to master drifting in some heavy currents running anywhere from 2-4 mph all the time. This is why the anglers up north say nothing fights like a smallmouth. These fish swim all day in current and are STRONG for their size.

On day 1 of the tournament, Chris Bowes, the Tournament Director let everyone know the "no wake" areas(none of which were posted) were and started blast off. I made the run to St. Clair then up 24 miles into the lake(total of 42 miles) to my first stop. I started with a Jackall Muscle 15+ in shad pattern. I noticed the fish were less active due to the cloud cover so I swithed to the Crosstail Shad in Ayu. I was catching cookie cutter smallmouth and switched baits alot keeping the bite going. Most fish were on the Jackall but I did have several on a special color I had poured by Zipper Worms and then swtiched again to the Goby bait that Brian had poured me. In fact thats the bait my co-angler had his limit on.

After I decided that the fish wouldnt get any bigger I moved out to an area I found that was holding big fish but stil no clue why. I stood on the Minn Kota and worked the area hard with the crankbait and Lake Fork Swimbait. I ended up loosing 3 fish that are still waking me up at night with nightmares. Those of you that know me know I rarely loose a fish. Well I am also rarely fishing in 4 footers and that was the only reason I can think of why I lost them. Trying to stand on the deck was not easy and it was just a plain bad late hook set on my part. This is where lack of local experiance comes into play. Like I said I learned a lot on this trip. I ran out of time knowing with rising winds and waves it would take longer to get back. The lake was ok(after all the practice here and Champlain) but the River, well thats a monster of it's own. The best way to describe it is like driving a boat in a washing machine. Waves come from all 4 directions and there is nothing you can do to avoid it. After getting back I was sitting in the middle of the field again and knew I would have to go for broke on day two to make the cut.

On day 2 I told my co-angler we were going for big fish after he had his limit(he still had a shot at the cut). I went to my limit spot and it took a little longer to get his but once we got it we moved out. I still only had 3 fish but knew if I boated 3 solid bites I had a shot. Well the old term I am famous for fishing came into play"go big or go home". The local weather was wrong again and the east wind was plain nasty. I worked 3 areas hard and only had one more bite but not the one I needed. We then had to make the run back. I stopped at our limit spot but never got another bite in the 30 mins or so I had to go. We moved back to the ramp and I was not happy with my preformance but learned a ton ready to get to the next event.

After the weigh in was done the locals put a beating on all of us who tour the country fishing and I think all but 6 of the top 30 were from the area. Congrats to all of the top 30 and the winner for a great event and a huge thank you to the City of Detroit for the welcome.

Although this event was not the most ideal conditions or outcome I have to thank a lot of people that made it wonderful. First and formost to Jeri Toner and her Daughter Jessica for putting up with me for almost 2 weeks and showing me all of the sights, Brian McCarter for the great Goby baits and teaching me how to navigate the lake, Dave and Rob for showing me alot about that style of fishing, and Zipper Worm Company for getting me some baits I really needed fast.

Lastly a HUGE thanks to our sponsors, Federated Auto Parts, Jackall Lures, Lake Fork Tackle, Bluewater LED, Gator Grip, Gemini Sports Marketing, Wired2Fish and American Bass Anglers. Also a special thanks to God, my wife Beth and my family. If it was not for them I would never have the chance to live the dream and continue to travel the country meeting new fans, friends, and learning and to all my friends and fans. You have truely been an inspritation and your support and comments keep me going even in the hard times. Thanks again and see everyone at the next event.

God Bless

Phil.4:13