The fishing was TOUGH at Merritt. This was the first time in my life I can remember going 4 days without a keeper – anywhere/anytime. The ONLY thing close was 2003 in Oct at Merritt where I caught ONE keeper in 4 days. My partner was fishless also – although we did catch walleye under 15″, a HOG crappie and some perch. Many teams reported catching pike also.
Pretty much it’s a blade bait/spoon bite. Something I do every three years whether I want to or not, in other words I’m whipped before I hit the water.
If you go – fish sharp drops, points, trees, humps, etc. That narrows down to 75% of the lake. Spoon or blade in 8-40′. Again, that’s a big help.
if you want to see the results – go to http://www.nebraskawalleye.com under the tourney section. I think 15 of the 38 or so teams did weigh a fish saturday, though almost all only weighed one. Sunday was much the same.
I wish I could say it was us, but many many good teams went the entire time or just the tourney without a keeper, including multiple past winners of this tournament.
I could either learn to spoon or avoid Merritt in Oct – guess which one I’m picking.
The place is beautiful, ducks are coming in, the alewive are thick (I was good at snagging them!).
Todd
