Clearwater Curse is Reversed

Clearwater Lake, a 3,000 acre lake found in Wright county near the city of Annandale. This lake is home to some of the largest metro-area crappies and bluegills. This lake is also the home of the YouBetcha! Outdoors Clearwater Curse!

Chris and Mike competed in the final UPL event of the year this past weekend. The team was feeling less than enthusiastic about their chances. In the past two seasons Team YouBetcha! Outdoors had not caught a single crappie on Clearwater Lake. Even worse, last year they fished in 20 below weather only to come up completely empty handed.

The team set out on Saturday morning with hopes of finding some fish. They even enlisted the help of Matt Fuchs and Mike Freeman of Willmar, MN to help the search. The group was able to ice a few fish, but very few that would count towards their bucket weight. Needless to say the team did not feel confident going into the actual event.

Sunday morning came an hour early due to daylight savings. Chris and Mike decided to fish a weed-line about 300 yards from the starting point. They had hopes of nabbing a few fish in the early morning light. Take-off was at 8:01 and the first auger was through the ice by 8:03. There were a few other teams in the area working the same piece of structure. By 8:30 the team had iced 3 gills and were starting to feel a bit of relief. The spot continued to produce gorgeous gills and a few bass for good measure. The team stayed on the same spot for the duration of the tournament. At 12:30, Mike was given a gift by having a 10 inch crappie come through the hole.

Chris and Mike ended up weighing in 7 gills and one crappie. The total bag weight was 4.36 pounds. This was good enough for a 10th place finish.

The team was very pleased with their finish and feel as if they broke the curse! This time at least...

Hot Tip of the Tournament

The gills were biting extremely light. When you are marking fish that chase, but don't seem to commit, try switching to an ultra-sensitive rod with a smaller presentation. Rely on watching the rod tip instead of the Vexilar. Any movement you see is likely a fish!