MN Hawg Hunters June 7th 2016 Lake Calhoun Tournament Review

The long tournament off season was finally over. Our first stop for the Metro Hawg Hunters Bass Club was June 7th on the Lake Calhoun chain (Lake of the Isles & Cedar), nestled in SW Minneapolis. This lake is an electric motor only so it made decision making extra important with the slow travel times.We opted to fish on a Tuesday to avoid the weekend traffic and to make parking easier with the big rigs. 

My partner for 2016, Mike Thompson and I were unable to pre-fish the lake but looked over some maps and committed to fish Calhoun for most, if not all the day. The weather was in the low 60s with a NNW wind around 8mph. The water temp was approx. 67 degrees, a clear indication the spawn was over and the fish would be off shore and you would need to work for them.

We started off drifting over a main lake weed flat where we picked up a 2 lber on one of the first few casts. We alternated between a jig worm setup (3/16 oz white mushroom head jig tipped with a 7.5inch black culprit worm) and a 1/2 oz pegged plastic ( chigger craw, power worm, tube craw).We didn't catch anything after fishing the area for another 15mins. We proceeded to the south side of the lake where we caught our limit of 2lbers, culling several times to gain a few ounces. The key to catching fish was pitching the Texas rig into large open pockets of weeds, the depth where the fish were holding was between 4-6ft but out on the main lake. 

We eventually proceeded back to where we caught our first fish witch was a popular location. We ended upgrading several times with some nice healthy 3lbers, again the jig worm and Texas rig was working. My partner was able to get that big bite we were looking for, a dandy 5.7lber on a Texas rig tube craw. This weed flat varried from 8-12ft in depth, the fish keyed mostly to the deeper outside edge.

With only 1.5hrs left we opted to head to Lake of the Isles looking for one last big bite. Lake of the Isles is much different than Calhoun, more weeds and dirtier water but know for some big fish. We located a few "bait balls" in the weeds and were able to upgrade a few ounces after catching a male who was over 3lbs. The bait balls are always guarded by a male after the spawn and can be very aggressive, it's a pretty fun way to fish if you haven't tried it.

We headed back to the scales with our best 5 that weighed in at 17.42lbs, good enough for second. The winning team had 17.52lbs (not a typo). All in all we caught around 25 fish. A great day on the lake, especially with out pre fishing. 

Please "Like" our Facebook page( Metro Hawg Hunters Bass Club Minnesota) and check out our club website for more! We hope to have some giveaways over the summer! Tight lines!