Long Lake Classic Recap

Our club's first annual Long Lake Classic has come and gone and it was a success. Helping put this together was a rewarding experience once it was all underway. I can't thank say enough to thank those who helped put it together.

The fishing itself turned out pretty good and as expected, Long Lake proved that it is one of the best lakes in the Northwest with multiple big fish weighed in. I fished the team event with Wes Henry and we ended up in 5th place with close to 31lbs for two days. We had almost 14 one day and just under 17 the next day. If not for a 12 inch fish the first day we might have had an even better bag and moved up in the standings a little.

We caught almost everything we weighed in on a drop shot rig. I think we had one fish weighed in on a tube, but besides that the drop shot was the deal. We fished a few different baits and would rotate through them quite often. Some of the areas we fished we would basically be sitting on one spot for an hour at a time, so switching up bait colors and sizes is a way to get a few extra bites. I can remember casting to the same spot over and over, then switching baits and catching one on my next cast. It happens too much to be a coincidence. The top producers were the Roboworm straight tail, Z-Man Finesse WormZ and the Damiki Pen 2. The colors we used were across the spectrum, dark to light and everything in between. Also have to thank 5Alive Baits for hooking us up with some drop shot weights on the second morning. They are awesome weights,  consistent and clean pours. I have realized that if you are not losing weights, you aren't fishing in the right areas.

This weekend was the first time my tournament partner had used braid to fluoro on his drop shot and he was blown away. It was an adjustment in the morning because he was casting so much further than he was used to and ending up across the docks or into the trees. Definitely a good problem to have. I like to use 15lb Seaguar Kanzen braid (4lb diameter) with 6-8lb Tatsu leader. I had two different fish this weekend wrap me around ropes or logs and I still got them in. One was a big smallmouth that got me wrapped around a rope and was stuck six of seven feet under the water. The line didn't break and somehow Wes got it in the net....it was epic.