Firefighter Striper/bass tourney results from South Cove

[Capt. Don Martin]

Guys:

Thought I would give you a heads up on the most recent fishing tournament out of South Cove on Lake Mead.

This was the annual firefighter tourney, which is a combo striper/bass/ and catfish tournament.

The first place team had just over 74 lbs for 40 fish. Second place was 71 lbs, third place was 67 lbs. What was crazy was big fish of the tourney weighed just 3.20 lbs

Bass division was won by always good local bass angler Fred Proudfoot who's team checked in 15 bass over two days that collectively weighed just over 20 lbs. His best was a smallie that weighed 3.55 lbs. Kinda funny when the big fish of the entire tourney is a smallmouth, not some behemoth striper!

The catfish winners, and they pay just one place, was won by a team with TWO catfish that collectively weighed just over 2 lbs! And they got a nice check for that. That team weighed in just under 60 lbs of striper too.

You guys that are coming to our Stripe-R-Rama tournament on June 2 need to come down and fish in these local tournaments to get a "feel" for the fishing at this end of the lake. Or at the least come down and see what is here BEFORE that tournament. Fish are different here guys!

I'm reading your tournament results of four fish that weigh 30 lbs and that's kinda freaky!

Glad that Johnnie Hoeft our tournament director put boundaries on our tournament so we are all fishing the same part of the lake (South Cove to Temple Bar). Otherwise I bet you guys that fish the "good part" of Mead would just smoke us!

Anyway, looking forward to meeting my fishing brothers whose passion for stripers are like mine! Someday I'd like to come up there to your water and see how you guys do it!

My gig down here is numbers, plain and simple. If we get 50 fish a night, that is considered slow for us. We've had 200+ fish nights here on occasion. Course our average will be 1.5 lbs.

Get a number of 3+ fish and you are the MAN!

Last year my private big fish contest was won by Mohave Valley resident Jim Rich with a striper that went just under 5 lbs! And we brought in over 2,000 fish during the summer, so as you can see, we caught a lot of fish! Our big bag total was in the mid 70's (40 fish) and those anglers won a trip for two this year. Our big catfish in the contest weighed just under 5 lbs.

Anyway guys, come on down and fish with us on Stripe-R-Rama on June 2. And remember my offer to stay the night before or after at my Meadview fishing camp. I've got a fish cleaning station, ice machine and power washer at El Campo De Pescado that is available for you guys for no cost!

See you out on the water!

Capt. Don Martin
Striper Hunters
Meadview AZ

[limatw]

Great info Capt, I just asked in a different subject area what was a typical or top four 40 fish weigh-ins from the prior two years. I was thinking 40 fish is extremely important to be competitive. I fished the stripe-r-rama two years ago and my team did not turn in 40 fish. This time both people will fish all night. I figured 40 at 1.5 will only give us 60 lbs and now I see from the catches of the Firemans tourney we will need a couple of 2 lbers mixed in to be competitive. We are all aware of the typical size of the fish up there and trust me we will not be bringing the big tackle. I do not know the area very well as I only fished up there the one time so I will be picking my friends brains for a good spot. I do plan on bringing a night light and plenty of cut bait, serious radio and maybe a beer or two.

[Dean Pijut]

The menu for the evening will be an appetizer of chum. Then the main course will be a frozen piece of anchovie or sardine. The room will be slightly lit by a green florescent light. The after party will begin inside a chilled 120 quart cooler with plenty of ice and water to drink so you will not get dehydrated. Then Sunday the boat that had the most and heaviest to show up to their after party will be rewarded accordingly.

Good Luck Everyone

Dean

[Capt. Don Martin]

Dean you are right on! I got to figure that its gonna take at least 65 lbs to get a check, 70+ to get into the top 5!

I kinda keep track of how many I catch and what weight they are so I have somewhat of an idea of where we are at by the time we quit.

Guys who have trolled have not done that well in the past...Well except last year when Nick got that 52+ lb cow!

Our fish are in fact kinda "dinky" when compared to your fish on the other end of the lake. Yep, don't need that jumbo tackle for this one. My rods got 6 lb and 12 lb McCoy line on them. Heavy mono looks like "rope" under the lights and I believe that when the fish get picky, that's because they "see" the line and are much more wary.

Besides, when you are fishing in 50-100 feet of water, over structure, you're not going to get hung up much. Set the drag loose and let 'em go for a while if they are big. The last 10+ fish we brought in literally died when we got her in the boat. She was completely exhausted.

That fish helped us to a victory that year and with the big fish money and the side bets, she was worth about a $1,000 to us!

Can't wait to meet all you guys this year.

You guys are serious about this striper stuff, and I'm always looking to learn new things from fellow anglers.

That's why I don't mind sharing tips and ideas. I sure don't fancy myself as the best on this end of the lake, but have done OK in the past in Stripe-R-Rama and when guiding clients.

I'll be fishing up there this Friday and Saturday night in the Striper Hunter jet boat, and if you're in that end of the lake, guarantee you'll know when she fires up! If you're out there, say HI!

Capt. Don Martin
Striper Hunters
Meadview AZ