Lake McConaughy

Conditions – generally hot (90+ afternoons, variable winds, mostly light though occasionally heavy) Tournament had East winds which was important to “fill” the west end.

Justin Lauby and I fished the 148 team Nebraska Walleye Trail (NWT) “Shut Up & Fish” tourney at Lake McConaughy on May 20 & 21.

Historically this tournament has been won:

1. Livebaiting on various points, bays and a west end flat.
2. Using creek chubs by the dam early then going to another technique
3. Casting jigs local lure called a doll fly generically for any maribou jib, spinnerbaits, and wiggle warts predominately, usually in white colors to imitate alewives
4. Trolling
5. This all depends mightily on the wind, temps, water height, flooded elements, inflows, etc.

Justin pre-fished the previous Saturday and only caught 2 fish. On Wed he and two friends caught six and on Thur AM only 2 fish using traditional methods in non-typical locations. I arrived Thur afternoon and pre-fished Thur and Friday. Justin and I could not get a trolling bite to go in 3-15’anywhere on the lake, my preferred method that time of year. It can be typical to catch 30-50 fish per guy/day that time of year with the right cranks in the right milk run of locations. However, we did develop a spinner bite in 10-13 on nothern points and southern lake drop-offs on Friday, some fish to 22″. The key was using my PTSv to follow contours exactly. The difficulty was the two key areas we wanted to fish seemed to also produce for some other teams and recreational anglers which led us to believe our spots would be crowded.

After much discussion Justin and I decided to live bait in the west end on a large flat in 10-13′. We felt, after talking and sharing with a few other teams we trust, that is was likely for teams to get limits but not a certainty. Many teams were not getting typical fish for the time of year on the lake though the weather, wind and rising water temps pointed towards a take-off in the bite.

We felt that we could get a limit by drifting and then either stick with it if the fish were large enough or go to trolling or spinners depending on the other boat coverage of some keys spots to try and get some kicker fish. I had some key areas identified from previous years and the depth from pre-fishing and would simply go where the mass of boats didn’t in the west end, we would be flexible to start.

On our first two drifting passes we were lucky to be south of the main group and had our 5 fish by 830 am. Two of the fish were 22″ and none were under 18″. We continued to fish til 11:30 and switched to pulling jointed, regular and glass raps. We fished til 3:30 in 6-12′ with boards and upgraded two fish weighing 14+ pounds for the day. Two bags of 21+ led the tourney, which pays out each day.

On day two we were in the last flight and went to the same area and found the boats were on our saturday area so we adjusted away from the main pack and struggled. I couldn’t decide whether to go in the pack on top of our icons and slug it out or keep away. I decided to get more on the edge and compromise. Our first fish was a 24″ and by 11:00 we only had three fish though an 8# fish was caught very close to us by recreational anglers. We decided to live or die with live bait and switched to pulling back up wind (which was very light to non-existent) and drifting down a 300 yard key stretch we wanted to live or die with. Eventually we got the fish to take off and ended up with 14+ again with a 24″ as big fish. Unfortunately we could never upgrade a 18″ fish we had to weigh.

The tournament results have not been posted though we are probably in the top 25?, it was a bit hard to determine with 148 teams. This was the type of tournament that many techniques proved to be successful – and – unsuccessful. Anglers trolled, casted onto points, drop-offs and flooded biomass along with drifting, jigging and everything else you could think of. I know many anglers that are quite good struggled also, it’s definitely a tournament where you simply have to have one or more 7# class fish to have a hope of placing in the money usually.

The fishery seems strong and I noticed the fish were probably feeding on 5-7″ white bass judging by the barfed up skeletons (lost weight) in my livewells. They were too heavy boned to be alewive or shad.

I enjoy this lake immensely and was proud of our effort though I was disappointed trolling wasn’t our game plan. Sometimes in tournaments you simply have to be able to catch heavily pressured fish better than the next guy, we did ok but not enough.

I think ultimately key components for us being successful was

1. Making a high percentage decision to fish with livebait as we did. In the past when I’ve done well in this tourney it was done with cranks so this was a difficult decision. I didn’t have the pre-fishing effort to “go for the win” with confidence.

2. I got the best, largest leeches I could find. I also used a #12 hook so they could do their job. Yes, you can catch walleye on trout hooks. I missed one bite in two days.

3. We caught one of our larger fish on crawlers though it was tempting to go away from them because of seeming prefence for leeches about 2:1. (Was that ultimately a mistake though too?)

4. I do believe that pressured fish get away from a boat pack and we tried to stay with that idea.

5. In a high boat traffic area it’s easy to lose focus. I found myself getting frustrated by boats going by 30′ away on plane, other competitors using cell phones, people dropping within casting distance on the downwind side of our boat while we were on a drift then having them drift slower. It probably wasn’t true, but it felt like a few boats tried to follow me with their electrics no matter what I did to try to ease away. In other words, it’s important to control your emotions and pay attention. For the most part I did that, but it’s tough when you feel etiquette is out the window. As a tournament angler, it’s imperative to be polite and considerate even when you feel there are issues around you and focus on what you can control.

6. I’m a believer in having bait handy and getting your rod RIGHT back out. I generally keep a few leeches and crawlers in my minnow well in the front in leech bags when water is cool or in a small cooler when hot. I ALWAYS have my crawlers cleaned and in ice, water, and strips of paper. They live for two days and plump up nicely and are much cleaner to use. Just my obsessiveness coming out By the way, crawlers are good for 48-72 hours in water, ice and paper they can crawl up on.

If you get a chance, definitely get to Big Mac in the next three weeks and get to fishing. If you are looking for a great meal. Eat at the Front Street Steakhouse in Ogallala. Mac is a beautiful lake, lots of services, striking to see and big fish are there!