Lake Minnetonka is known for being one of the best largemouth bass lakes in the state. Each of its many bays is like a separate lake, with a wide variety of different cover types. However, it has been well established that the majority of the bass head for deep water and out of range of fly rodders soon after the spawn. It was hoped that there would still be huge numbers of fish in the shallows for this tournament, but the weather had been a little too nice, and fishing proved to be tough for all competitors. Chris Hansen and Kyle Dunham edged out the competition with a four bass bag weighing 8lbs 60z. They caught their fish on cork poppers and deer hair divers around a variety of shallow cover. Second place was won by Troy Anderson and Perry Smith who had 7lbs 4oz with only three fish. They caught their fish on poppers around inside weedlines. Chris Munchow and Jon Marshall took third with 7lbs, 3oz. They spent their time casting poppers around docks and pads.

The Mississippi River is world famous its smallmouth bass, and mid-July is considered to be prime time by local experts. This section of the Mississippi is divided into two sections, the upper and lower. The lower, from the bridge down to the dam, is slow and deep, and is suitable for all boats. Above the bridge, the water is much shallower and faster, suitable for jon boats or other small watercraft. The upper river is considered to have the best fishing, but a few boats chose to stick to the lower river, including the winners, Don Wilson and Nick Altringer. They were fishing from a bass boat; so upriver was not an option. By casting foam poppers around docks and sea walls, they were able to catch their impressive winning bag of four fish for 10lbs. Chris Hansen and Mark Bolton also fished the lower section, and brought in four fish for 9lbs. They caught their fish on both poppers and weighted streamers. Dan Essig and Scott Struif brought in the third place bag. They ended up with four fish weighing 7lbs 4oz, and caught them on foam poppers in the upper section.

These two connected lakes in Chisago County are known to be bass factories, with abundant shallow cover, perfect for fly rodders. The weather was perfect, calm and sunny, and the bass were cooperative, for most boats anyway. The team of Chris Hansen and Tom Schlief came in with the biggest bag of fish, with four bass weighing 8lbs 8oz. Casting Inverted divers around thick lily pads and docks was how they caught their fish. Second place was won by Don Wilson and Nick Altringer who had only two fish, but they weighed in at just over 6 lbs. Third place was secured by Chris Munchow and Jon Marshall, with only one keeper, but it tipped the scales at 4lbs which took big fish honors also.

This was the third fly rod challenge held on this lake, and all competitors were eagerly anticipated another day of great fishing. In last year’s tournament, there were several bags over 10 lbs brought in. This year, things would be much different. The conditions seemed perfect, but the fish were not in their normal locations (pads, bulrushes). Fortunately for Don Wilson and Nick Altringer, they spent the day before the tournament pre-fishing the lake, and determined the fish were on the docks. They only brought in three fish in the tournament, but the weight was 10 lbs 12oz, more than enough for first place. They lost several other big fish, too. Chris Hansen and Phillip Vaughan came in with three fish for 6lbs 12oz. Two of their fish came from docks, and one from pads. Chris Munchow and Jon Marshall only caught one fish, 1lb 12oz, but it was good for third place. Even thought the fishing was tough on this day, we will return in 2005.