The 2017 Bassmaster Elite Series season is almost over. This week we will wrap it all up here at Mille Lacs Lake in Minnesota. There is a lot on the line this week with the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year up for grabs and in my case trying to seal up that all-important Bassmaster Classic berth.
At this point I’ve scratched and clawed in the past three events to get myself back in contention to make the Classic, and one more decent finish here will lock me in. With that being said don’t think I’ve got it set on cruise control this week because that’s far from true. The goal is always the same — go out every day and catch as much as possible and let the chips fall where they may. If you go out thinking you only need a subpar finish, that’s all you’ll ever get. Plus, the higher you finish in AOY standings the more money you win so that’s always a plus too.
As far as the fishing goes this week it has been pretty tough out there for me. I’ve been fishing my tail off every day for six to seven bites on average. The size of the fish has been decent, but bites are not easy to come by for sure. I didn’t make the AOY championship last year, but from what I’ve been told by the other guys that were here the fish are a lot smarter this time around.
I think this will be one of those events where the leaderboard makes it look like we’re setting the place on fire but in reality it will be a grind start to finish. No doubt this lake has them though and if they live here, somebody in this group will find them. I’ve got three places where I had multiple bites in practice so my plan is to rotate through those three places slow and methodical and hopefully find a few willing participants along the way.
The last three events you’ve heard me talk a lot about a drop shot and a ned rig, and for good reason. Both of these techniques are smallmouth killers, and I don’t see any need of changing now. I have found one other bait that I’ll throw into the mix today, but we’ll talk about that one a little later. All my MHX Elite Pro Series spinning rods are rigged up and I’m ready to do battle with some big Mille Lacs smallmouth.
Y’all stay tuned to Bassmaster to see how it shakes out.