The Red River was a wild ride, a roller coaster of weather and changing conditions that made it tough for many of the Federation Nation Championship contenders. In this event, the bite changed every day and the fish seemed to be scattered about or shut down.  While some anglers figured out high potential spots and were able to capitalize on bites, my bites were few and far between.  On day two, I missed five fish, which is a deal breaker in an event like this.  No excuses, decisions needed to be better each day, there is nothing like a 19 hour drive to reflect on what could have been and should have been.  Events like these are priceless, it was a great experience and that in itself was worth the time.  Fans at the event that took a break from shopping to cheer...

2010 MFBA State Championship

The location of the 2011 TBF Northern Divisional Championship is still pending approval, but the good news is that it will be in MN.  After a 6th place finish this year in Patoka, this was a rewarding event for me.  The main bite was flippin with a craw bait and a spinner bait to end the day.  The previous week, Justin Ohotto and I took 4th in the Excel Bass Team TOC, this proved to be valuable time on the water.  In many events we meet folks and share tips, this was no exception as the primary team from Patoka was open with patterns of the day.  Lee provided me with some advice that helped cap off the victory and respected an area we shared.  Overall, I would rate the TBF events as one of the best.  Hopefully more anglers will give this organization a try in 2011. (pictures will be posted later)

Here is a bonus catch on Old Hickory, too bad it was not a keeper.  We had interesting weather in TN, every day was different.  During prefishing, we caught better fish every day, thinking that 12 pounds per day would not be an issue.  Wind, rain, and cold weather really changed the area that I was fishing...day one only produced 3 very small fish and 3 more on day two.  Still a great trip, we caught a huge variety of fish (bluegill, catfish, white bass, stripe bass, sauger, small mouth, large mouth, spotted bass, gizzard shad, and some other species of shad, one that was 14" long)

Minnesota State Tournament gets hit with heavy fog on day one, I only weighed (2) fish for 7.93 pounds, making a long run was a bad idea.  The fog lifted at 10:30, taking the first 3 1/2 hours of the day from all angler.  Day two was a better start with no fog, so I again made the long run and it paid off.  Weighing the largest bag of the entire event with 19.55 pounds of largemouth, for a total of 27.48, this moved me into 6th place and earned a spot on the Minnesota Team.  The next event is in Michigan, the location does not sound final.  Meet the MN 2009 State Team.

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 Minnesota Bound Youth Event (First Place)

Working clumps of weeds was the ticket for Austin and Neil as they took first place at the Ron Schara Invitational Youth Event.  Using Tournament Tackle craw tubes and an Outkast RT jig with a Yomamma trailer in clumps of cabbage produced 3 nice bass weighing 7 pounds.  Neil also took big fish honors with a nice 4 pound fish.

September 2008

Bob Perkins takes home a top 5 overall finish and a 1st place MN team finish, fishing at the TBF Northern Division Tournament on Lake St Clair. Taking the number one spot for MN  advances him to Nationals.  More details can be found at www.bassfederation.com and follow the links to results from the Northern Division.  Here is a nice smallmouth brought to the scales on day one, which was 5 pound 8 ounces and day two was 5 pound 7 ounces. The Nationals will be on Bull Shoals.