20th Grand River Bass Derby

Post by **GrandRiverReaper** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 8:19 am

Hi All,

Nice to hear the fly enthusiasts speak of their experiences recently. Down here on the Grand, the bass are smashing the wooly buggers. Usually black and brown suit their fancy best, and I've yet to trigger any kind of strike on olive colour. What can I say, chacon son vous.

Me and the GrandRiverGod and Bassputen fished the 20th annual Grand River Bass Derby (the second year for our club) and ended up catching over 100 fish b/t the three of us; the largest being 17", which is just under 4" shy of a winner. We've found a new spot to replace "The Bank Machine", which used to be so money.

This year the organizers introduced a flyfishing division (I was one of the brave dozen that entered) with a $700 fly reel as the top prize. One lucky angler managed to bag himself an 18.5" football to take the prize. In the final hour of the derby, I found a great hole under some fallen brush that I know would be holding big copper bullets. Sure enough on the first cast, I smashed into something large on my black bugger. Pulling up on my rod (tsk-tsk) and holding the line taught with my casting hand, I fought this beast for a good 10 seconds with my heart lodged in my throat. My inexperience cost me the fish. Realizing that I should've let out the line a bit, I saw it was too late, as my line snapped at the junction, where I coupled my 6X leader and 8lb fluorocarbon tippet. Next year, I'm going in with something a little heavier.

All in all, a good derby, with my largest stretching the tape at 12". And the ultimate bonus of catching the first fish on GrandRiverGod's wooly skunk bugger pattern. Achieving this validation on his tying skills reafirms GRG's accumen and adds yet another weapon to the arsenal.

I will post pictures of our results soon. Oh, and one of the first fish in the open division to be entered was caught ca. 6:00 AM; an hour before the derby was to begin. Got to love those cheaters.

Keep it reel,

GRR
PS GrandRiverGod left a dark blue takle case in the Glen Morris area with a ton of plastics, lures and various other items. If anyone found one in the area on Saturday evening and Sunday morning, please send me a PM. thx

Post by **Salar** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 9:53 am

Great report. 100 fish days are always nice

Sorry to hear the big one broke you off. When fishing streamers (for bass or trout) I typically fish a 2X tapered leader (7 1/2-9ft) with 3x flourocarbon tippet (2-3ft) on the end.

Cheers,

Salar

Post by **Sof** » Fri Jul 11, 2008 11:15 pm

Sorry about your loss man, but gotta love the thrill/rush lol

I was up river with my friend, I think I seen you guys down river from us on Saturday. We caught lots of 10 - 12" 's. Our biggest were 16-ish. Next year I gotta enter that Derby.

Post by **beachburger** » Sat Jul 12, 2008 6:35 am

Outstanding GRR

That bruiser will come back another day.

I use the Ian James leader for bass and pike fishing but I bump it up to 8 lb test as I fully expect to hook up with 3+ lb fish that are going to take me into the weeds and wood. I just feel more comfortable using a leader that doesn't involve me adding more knots to it.