Big Smallies in FOM tournament!

Does anybody know how the big sacks of Smallies were caught in the Fishers of Men Tournament on 4 and 5? I guess a couple boats weighed in almost 20 pounds worth. I went fishing today and caught some largemouth and a couple smaller smallies, most in the 14-15″ range

Who won and with what weight?

Why would anyone let that information out…..They were doin somethin that nobody else was…thats all I can say…

How about catching over 19 pounds for 5 fish and NOT winning!? There were some dandy bags caught.

All I wanted to know was if they were caught on Pepin or what type of water and how they caught them. I dont care what specific bait they were using or the exact location. Trust me if someone is on big fish good for them, I wont steal their spot if I ever fish in a tournament against them, that is just wrong.

i watched the weigh in. there were two divisions as most know. i know over 19 took either the wi or the mn, and two 19 pound sacks took first and second for the other. thats like almost a 4 pound average. big fish i cant remember exactly but watched a few 4 lbers and i know big fish was over 5. most if not like 90% of the pigs were smallies. i hear topwater was the key presentation

Peanut Butter and Jelly middle of Pepin 40ft of water OH, point you boat north, just what I heard

Hey Mikemac,

Your question is fine, you will find some very tight lips around for a bit as the touney season fires up.

The wise responses are not needed but some cannot resist.

I have not found out much nor have I has much of a chance to get out but this time of year you may want to try the back side of islands with some sand on a current break.

toss a tube, white swimming jig or spinnerbiat and see what you can do. The rip rap walls tend to hold a few now as well. When the water warms just a few degrees it will turn on fast.

Good luck and keep asking those question.

We fished the FOM and had 5 smallies that went 14.77. We fished the back sides of islands and wing dams that had very little flow. All of our fish were caught with a very slow to a deadstick presentation. Last year we caught all of our fish on jerk baits, this year we couldn’t get em to go on the jerk bait. I hope this will help you. Later BC

I know some guys that caught some largemouth on spinnerbaits and tubes, and some smallies mixed in. A few guys said that minimal current was key to catching fish. I did see some fish surfacing after minnows so I wouldnt doubt some fish were caught on topwater, probably not a lot though. When people are talking about swimming jigs what do they mean, like a jig and twister tail or like a flipping jig type?

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We fished the FOM and had 5 smallies that went 14.77. We fished the back sides of islands and wing dams that had very little flow. All of our fish were caught with a very slow to a deadstick presentation. Last year we caught all of our fish on jerk baits, this year we couldn’t get em to go on the jerk bait. I hope this will help you. Later BC

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Holy smokes, has the almighty Snowman come out of retirement and finally made a post . I’m glad to see you got off all those other sites your wife doesn’t want you looking at and made it back over here

Good job Saturday

Alot of people swim a jig now. Not like you described though. A pointed jig with eye out the center top, light weed gaurd, 1/8 to 1/2 oz, 1/4 being the popular. I’m not the expert on them though.

i have been lookin around checking wing dams too. man is there alot of current out there. see ya this weekend snowman. good job at the f.o.m. see ya wallerbass1

I believe why people say that minimal current break is the key is becuase many fisherman won’t try to fish strong current becuase it’s such a pain in the . Any one knows if your willing to put up with the current there’s always smallmouth there. If you don’t believe that, OH Well.

Ghostzapper, you are correct to a certain extent, smallmouth will use fast current, but they are not always there, just like a largemouth, they also will find current breaks in stead of fighting the current

Don’t get me wrong you can catch giant bags of smallies in no current, but if there’s 80 boats and only 5 of them are fishing strong current, the concensus at the end of the tournament will be that the fish were caught in slack water.The great thing about strong current bass is the weather and other changes don’t effect them as much. If you want to consistantly catch smallies on the river I would head to strong current areas.

Are you saying the fish are in the strong current, or the boat is in the strong current? Also, I thinkthe fish will be in areas of strong current, but only if there are breaks (rock, wood, ledges) for them to hide behind. I think smallies are rarely just roaming and fighting current like white bass sometimes do.
Maybe I’m wrong.

You would need a current break regardless where the fish are. Unless your fishing a 3 oz jig you could never get your lure consistently in the strike zone anyway this time of year. I’m not talking about fishing in the current persay, but fishing by strong current areas.

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You would need a current break regardless where the fish are. Unless your fishing a 3 oz jig you could never get your lure consistently in the strike zone anyway this time of year. I’m not talking about fishing in the current persay, but fishing by strong current areas. [say it loud, say it proud, can I get a Booyah!/quote]

Thanks for the tip. I am not a tournament guy but did manage five decent smallies last week in fairly strong backwater current. As I mentioned in another post all but one were caught on Shad Raps via trolling. Next time I will give the back sides of those islands a try.