Pikes Peak Bass Masters: Tournament News!

Conway wins

2013 "Season Opener"

 at Pueblo Res!

The season opening tournament for the Pike Peak Bassmasters took place this weekend at Pueblo Reservoir.  The weather decided it was time to cooperate with one of this club's early season tournaments.......for once.  Temperatures were predicted to be 45 at launch and into the 70's sometime during the day.  Mother nature decided to wait until after 10:00am to start the warm up into the 70's, as most contestants had to keep their jackets on until that time.

The fish were/are still in transition and traveling from their deep water haunts towards the backs of the coves and to the points and flats.  They were catchable to most the anglers and the size was pretty average across the board for all contestants.  With Crankbaits being the preferred choice of bait for many of the anglers, others found different techniques worked better for them.

Joe Conway started catching fish from the start of the day, but chose to use a Lucky Craft Bevy Shad jerkbait, thrown with a Castaway SB2, 5' 9" rod and a Curado baitcasting reel, along with 8 lb Berkley 100% Fluorocarbon line.  He threw this set up amongst all the other anglers in the same cove that were throwing crankbaits, etc.  It proved to be the bait for him, as he had four fish in the boat by 6:45am, and was well on his way to getting his hoped for 7-lb limit to get things started.  He tried other methods for awhile, to eliminate potential patterns for the day, and finally caught his 5th fish around 8:00am, a 2 lb-9 oz Smallie.  That good fish was caught by throwing a 3/16 oz Falcon Tackle 2-1/4" tube into key areas along the channel walls.  He used a Castaway 7' Medium Action Spinning rod paired with a Shimano Stradic Cl4 spinning reel full of Berkley 8 lb XT line, to get the tube to act like he wanted it to.  Once this pattern was established, Joe caught better fish throughout the day.

Coming into the final hours of the day, Joe and his partner, Louis Torres, decided they needed to find an area that would get Louis 2 more fish to complete his limit. The area where Joe wanted to go had a fisherman fishing past it very slowly, so they decided to hang out and fish within eye-sight of the other angler, until the area was vacated. Then they could investigate and see if there were any fish left behind.  In the minutes spent waiting for the special area to open up, Joe was fortunate enough to catch a 3 lb-2 oz Largemouth to add to his limit.  What a nice "kicker" upgrade! 

About 20 minutes after that big fish catch, and only an hour to go in the tourney, they made their way over to the section of flats that they knew held some "shale steppings" out in deeper water where good Smallies had congregated this time of year in the past.  The two immediately caught fish and had a flurry of 6 fish getting caught in a matter of 15 minutes or so.  Unfortunately, only one was caught by Louis, but the fish were eating up Joe's set up.  Fearing that Louis would not get his limit and there chances for "Day Money" would slide away, Joe handed over his Castaway rod and bait set up to Louis in hopes that he would catch his final fish needed in his limit.   

Louis received numerous bites, but needed more time than they had left to adjust to the new gear and be able to hook a fish.  Time was ticking away fast and pressure was enormous on Louis!  With about 20 minutes left to go in the event, Joe decided he needed to demonstrate a cast to Louis and show him how he should do the "Conway drag" with the tube and how to better notice the subtle pick-up of a Smallie.  In that moment of demonstration, Joe hooked and caught a Smallie that weighed in at 1 lb -14 oz, culling a 1-13, and that would be his last fish of the day.  Louis did catch his final fish right after that and they were off to weigh-in! 

Turns out that the one ounce cull in the final minutes, gave Joe a weight of 11 lb-6 oz for the day, and slid him into the position of a tie for 1st place with the two time PPBM "AOY," Todd Gentzel.  As luck would have it, this time, Joe's big Largemouth, caught while waiting for "the good spot" to open up, was the tie breaking fish that gave him a big win over Todd to start the season!  A tough break for 2nd place finisher, Todd G., as he fished a winning style today.  As everyone knows.........that's fishing! 

Next up, Trinidad, June 8th-9th.  Sign up at the June 3rd meeting!

Club Standings

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Gentzel wins 2012 

Club Championship!

If you didn't come to the Pikes Peak Bass Masters in 2012 to learn anything, you learned something anyway.  The lesson this past season was, although we all have fun, "you had better take the Pikes Peak Bass Master tournaments very serious, and be fishing to win, or you aren't going to beat Todd Gentzel!"

This year's Championship event was held on Norton Lake located in Kansas.  Although a Denver club was also on the water with 11 boats, the PPBM members that attended put on a pretty good showing, with good double digit weight limits of fish.  Todd chose to fish a Buzzbait almost exclusively throughout the tournament. All of his fish on Day 1 came on the Buzz.  After losing his special Buzzbait from Day1, to a giant fish in the lumber, his Day 2 limit comprised of mostly smaller fish that came on a "similar" Buzzbait. 

Things finally came together for Todd towards the end of the event when he found some fish pushing Shad back in a corner.  He caught a smaller fish that was no help to his limit and then a 1-9 that helped his limit.  With time getting skinny, he missed a bigger fish twice on the Buzzbait, once on the frog, and then finally caught that fish on a Senko.  The fish weighed 2-7 and culled a 1-4 from his limit, just before time ran out on him.  Todd needed every bit of that 1-3 weight gain as he won by 1 pound!  Todd Gentzel continues to solidify his position as "the PPBM guy to beat," until further notice!

Mike Rathe made a hard charge for his first win as a PPBM and would have gotten there had it not been for the late heroic catches by Gentzel.  That kind of competition is what keeps us chasing that trophy!  Dang it, Todd!  

Bob Radney was also in great position to make the mad dash for the top spot and collect his 2nd win of the 2012, but stumbled on Day 2 and fell to 3rd place.  Still, a great showing for our "Oldy, but Goody" long time member! 

Just a note----Todd Gentzel has had a couple of those full seasons that come along to a guy that is determined and fully committed to limit his mistakes and fish better at each event that he attends.  When a guy gets into this kind of fishing "zone," you had better bring everything you know, and a lot of luck, or you are not going to be able to compete for the top spot....period! 

In the opinion of a past Bassmaster's Classic qualifier, this "zone" happens when a guy is mentally and mechanically ready to make that next step into bigger and more prestigious competitive tournament circuits to see if he can hold his own.  This "dominating zone," or "being in one's prime of their fishing abilities," doesn't last but for a few good years if you live in Colorado.  One has to take it and run while they are able, before things change...work schedules, marital status, etc.---lol  

Maybe Todd will chase after a bigger circuit sometime in the future, maybe not, but this year's Pikes Peak Bass Master members will always remember 2012 as the year of Todd Gentzel.   

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Derek Phillips wins #5 at Webster!

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Branden Boyd wins tournament

#4 at Trinidad!

 Race for "AOY" title heats up! 

More to come!

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"Superman"

is a Pikes Peak Bass Master?

Gentzel wins PPBM tournament #3 at Pueblo! 

 Todd Gentzel is on a pace to have one of the best club seasons on record! 

Ok here is the scoop on what I did at pueblo. Started in an area I needed to be able to see to fish. Pulled 3 fish right away. After dark moved to walls and threw crank baits all night long. In the morning threw a spook and a buzzbait. 2.8 smallie came on a crankbait at about 3 am or so. Threw senko. Crankbait spook and buzzbait and that is all I threw for the tournament.

Bob Radney, "Mr. steady as he goes"

Wins PPBM tournament #2  

at Norton, Kansas!

The weather prediction of a "hot sun and dry air" became a reality on Saturday, the first day of two, in the 2nd PPBM tournament of the season.  Temperatures "out of water" were in the 100's while the water was in the upper 70's and lower 80's.  One would have expected the bass to be running for all the shade they could find, which would make it easy to locate them.  As it turns out, it wasn't as easy to find the bigger critters as expected, but the bite was on strong in most parts of the lake and many contestants gained weight quickly, as the strong morning winds helped keep the bass up shallow. 

Most guys came knowing they had to beat Mr. Gentzel.  Todd has been cleaning house, as of late, and his name is being seen "way to much all over this site!"  With everyone focused on running Todd down, with whatever weight he came in with, Mr. Bob Radney, an old hat at this type of fishing in Kansas waters, let everyone forget about guys like him.  Bob (having many more years of experience than most the newer guys in the club, especially on these type waters), and knowing he was "beat down" from the back of his own boat by a "green" angler  many years ago (Mike Garrett), vowed to not let that happen again.  He stayed consistant both days and showed the young guns that a giant limit on the last day is no match for two days of an "experienced, consistant attack!"

Great work Mr. Radney!  Congrats at taking your place in the winner's circle............again...........finally! 

Gentzel on a Roll!

Wins PPBM #1

at Pueblo Reservoir!

Krueger  holds on to win at

 "2011" PPBM Championship!

The PPBM Championship took place at Ute Lake, NM-October 8th and 9th.  With 7 boats (13 guys) competing for the championship monies, everyone qualifying and fishing was set to come out of the tournament with a check and a smile. 

One guy's smile was destined to be bigger than the others, although the lake was determined to make it tough on everyone.  With the fish backed off the banks, and not at all willing to make it easy, contestants had to grind it out and see who came out on top after two mentally tough days.

The final day charge of Branden Boyd, who came in with his best limit on the second day and fell just ounces short of catching the day one leader, was one of the highlights of the tournament.  

Holding on from a day one lead and putting an exclamation point on a great 2011 season, was this year's PPBM Classic Champion, Larry Krueger.  Krueger used a "giggy head" senko on day one, and followed up with a jig on day two to capture "another" PPBM Championship title.  

Remember, this guy tore his bicep loose at a tournament in Missouri early in the year and was expected to take a season off in order to rehab his arm!  To win a regular season tournament, and the championship, after that type of injury, surely shows his determination to get back to his top notch fishing condition. Based on his performance for the remainder of the season that he was able to fish, one might have to say, "He's baaack!" 

Great finish to a tough year, Mr. Krueger!