Day on the lake with Dennis Tietje

Here's how Elite Series pro Dennis Tietje fared during his "Day on the Lake" outing for Bassmaster Magazine.

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May was Dennis Tietje’s turn at bat to fish a small lake he’s never seen before with seven hours to locate and catch bass while we log his every move. The Roanoke, La., pro has fished B.A.S.S. events since 1987, fishing B.A.S.S. Nation events for 17 years and eventually entering the Elite Series via his success in Bassmaster Opens. Tietje (pronounced “T-J”) operates a successful commercial crawfish farm and also guides for crappie when he’s not competing on the pro bass circuit. Here’s what happened May 9, 2014, when he hit a small, remote reservoir. 6:52 a.m. Tietje tries a lizard around shallow wood cover.
May was Dennis Tietje’s turn at bat to fish a small lake he’s never seen before with seven hours to locate and catch bass while we log his every move. The Roanoke, La., pro has fished B.A.S.S. events since 1987, fishing B.A.S.S. Nation events for 17 years and eventually entering the Elite Series via his success in Bassmaster Opens. Tietje (pronounced “T-J”) operates a successful commercial crawfish farm and also guides for crappie when he’s not competing on the pro bass circuit. Here’s what happened May 9, 2014, when he hit a small, remote reservoir.
6:52 a.m. Tietje tries a lizard around shallow wood cover.
7:30 a.m. Tietje spots a bass on a bed beneath a boat dock and pitches a creature to the nest.
7:30 a.m. Tietje spots a bass on a bed beneath a boat dock and pitches a creature to the nest.
8:05 a.m. Tietje sets the hook in a bass that sucked in his creature on its spawning bed.
8:05 a.m. Tietje sets the hook in a bass that sucked in his creature on its spawning bed.
8:05 a.m. Tietje’s first (and only) keeper bass of the day, a 3-pound, 1-ounce largemouth, hit his creature on its spawning bed.
8:05 a.m. Tietje’s first (and only) keeper bass of the day, a 3-pound, 1-ounce largemouth, hit his creature on its spawning bed.
9:21 a.m. Tietje probes laydown trees at the entrance to a spawning cove with a creature.
9:21 a.m. Tietje probes laydown trees at the entrance to a spawning cove with a creature.
9:28 a.m. Tietje fishes a channel bank in a cove with a creature.
9:28 a.m. Tietje fishes a channel bank in a cove with a creature.
9:32 a.m. Tietje has spotted a spawning bed with several big bass on it and pitches a creature to the nest.
9:32 a.m. Tietje has spotted a spawning bed with several big bass on it and pitches a creature to the nest.
11:29 a.m. With four lunker bass staring at him from the same spawning bed, Tietje is finding it hard to move to another spot.
11:29 a.m. With four lunker bass staring at him from the same spawning bed, Tietje is finding it hard to move to another spot.
11:40 a.m. Tietje abandons the spawning bed he’d been fishing and moves uplake to probe a flat with a square bill crankbait.
11:40 a.m. Tietje abandons the spawning bed he’d been fishing and moves uplake to probe a flat with a square bill crankbait.
11:55 a.m. Having had little success in shallow water, Tietje opts to check out a main-lake point on Lake M.
11:55 a.m. Having had little success in shallow water, Tietje opts to check out a main-lake point on Lake M.
12:13 p.m. Tietje decides to spend the remainder of his time on Lake M bed fishing. “This is why I hate targeting bedding bass in tournaments,” Tietje told Bassmaster. “I spent most of my day trying to catch those big fish off that nest with absolutely nothing to show for it. Right now I seriously feel like selling all my bass tackle and taking up golf! If I were to come here tomorrow, I’d have to run back to that bed first thing and pray that the mood of those spawners has changed overnight. It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow, which should pull the bass tighter to isolated wood cover, so after hopefully catching those four lunkers off that nest, I’d probably spend the rest of my day pitching the Rage Bug to stumps.”
12:13 p.m. Tietje decides to spend the remainder of his time on Lake M bed fishing.
“This is why I hate targeting bedding bass in tournaments,” Tietje told Bassmaster. “I spent most of my day trying to catch those big fish off that nest with absolutely nothing to show for it. Right now I seriously feel like selling all my bass tackle and taking up golf! If I were to come here tomorrow, I’d have to run back to that bed first thing and pray that the mood of those spawners has changed overnight. It’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow, which should pull the bass tighter to isolated wood cover, so after hopefully catching those four lunkers off that nest, I’d probably spend the rest of my day pitching the Rage Bug to stumps.”