D and R Sports Muskegon Lake 2026 - Tournament Day
The one thing I noticed when I left the lake on Friday is that fog was rolling in. It was foggy at my house when I woke up and the first thing we said in the morning was fog delay? Sure enough it was super thick on Muskegon Lake. Of course we got a great boat draw with no place to go (boat 6). There was no rush to get going this morning as it was obvious we would be sitting around for awhile. The one day on Muskegon Lake with no wind, just happens to be tournament day and we waited it out for almost 2 hours. We did end up fishing until 4 instead of 3 so we only lost an hour of tournament time.
Realistically it might help us as it would take away some lucky largemouth for other teams. By the time we launched the alewife bite would be over and things would be more specific. Once it was time to go the fog disappeared like magic. We got to our first spot and it was just bright sun and calm water. I had planned on catching them with a topwater and an A rig here. But the fuzzy feelings for either of those were gone. We made a few casts with both of those things and just knew they wouldn’t work. We did pick up one on a drop shot although it was only a 2 ¼ pounder. We hit a nearby seawall and then were on our way before 2nd flight had finished blasting off. Plans had changed with the fog delay and instead of saving those 2 bed fish for later, it was best if we got them now. We pulled in on one that was just under 3 pounds and got to work. He was locked on and I assumed we would get him quickly. Nothing came easy on bed fish today though and after 15 minutes we decided to not waste any more time. On to the other bed fish we knew about. Sure enough there was a boat that was largemouth fishing in the vicinity so we would have to come back. It ended up being a good thing because we pulled into another area to look for some spawners.
It ended up being a key moment for the day. Not one, not 2, but 3 beds with fish on them all in the same vicinity. Trying to line everything up with Landscape mode on MEGA Live 2 can be tricky so it took some time to make that happen, they didn’t bite easy from the initial position. The third fish we found was really stuck on the bed and bit right away. Unfortunately we lost it, but we thought it would be an easy one once it settled back down. We got into position for 2 of the beds and it was the one part of the day that seemed easy. We pretty much got them on back to back casts. One over 4 and another good one. Our day was trending in the right direction.
We went back to the fish we lost and sat on it for awhile. Never getting it to bite again but we did catch a random 3 pounder just fishing around. If we hadn’t lost that fish we would be sitting so well for how we expected the day to go. Time was ticking and honestly we were pretty excited about some largemouth too. We made a bigger circle to another area that we felt might have a bed. Sure enough there was one and it bit right away, it was crushing when it jumped off right at the boat. At least when you lose these fish you know where they are going to be sitting the rest of the day. We made the decision to go dabble in some largemouth stuff because if it was on, these ones might not matter. It would also be easier to spend a lot of time on them if the largemouth stuff wasn’t working. We just had to block out that we would have a really good bag of smallies swimming in the livewell if we had fished clean. Instead we had 2 nice fish and a 2 ¼ pounder. It was a disappointment to find the other fish I was counting on gone and an isolated post spawn spot was empty. It was off to the largemouth water and a totally different set of TFO Rods.
We did know that we would fill a limit in no time with largemouth and it just took a couple casts. They didn’t mean anything except that we were going to swing the bat a bunch on the next several stops. We hadn’t practiced any of this stuff so it was going to be a mystery if we were around quality fish or not. However a couple good swings of the bat or even just one would really change our day. The faster we could get some healthy largemouth, the more time we could spend on those other smallmouth we found. We culled little by little and at least had the 2 largemouth in our bag around 2 ¼ pounds. But we got the vibe that we just wouldn’t get a good one if we kept running stuff offshore. Time was ticking and we knew about 3 fish on beds so we put the largemouth stuff away and committed. A boat was sitting on the fish we lost first thing and we really wanted that one (it looked like a big one on MEGA Live 2). We went and picked the other one we lost next. For the conditions we had a decent bag and honestly I knew we couldn’t win. I could tell you before we left the dock that Dave an Kyle were going to win (and they did). We probably had enough to get paid at this point but every ounce we could get was going to move us up. It was off to the fish we tried first thing. I was relieved that one was still there and it didn’t take long for us to get him. Our last largemouth was finally back in the lake and we had a nice bag.
Time for some more exploring while we waited for that boat to either catch the fish or leave. We found another and it took a little time but it was a really good cull. We found another one and suffered another lost fish. That one seemed really eager to bite so we had high hopes that we could get it again. The biggest thing we had to deal with now was the wind. It was important to position the boat in the right spot that it was easiest to make accurate casts to the bed. You couldn’t even see light spots on most of these beds so there was no visual reference. The other boat finally left that other fish and we knew it was going to be a challenge. Those guys are pro level bed fisherman but we were going to go all in on this fish the rest of the day. If we got him, it was going to make a big difference and if not we still had a solid day. It is a lot easier to commit and manage time in a situation like this. No more navigating the “should I stay or go”, we either would get him or not. I think we had around an hour and a half left to make it happen. We got in a good spot and fished and fish and fished. We had him bite one time but he just pulled the dropshot bait off. Eventually we decided to reposition the boat a little bit to hopefully make a more accurate casts. I cannot begin to express how helpful my Minn Kota Talons were in this tournament. Especially in the afternoon conditions. This stupid fish had sucked hours of our day away from us at this point, which is kind of crushing when you know that you could have had him on the first cast. But after the boat reposition he finally bit again and Trevor got him to the boat. Major cull and we still had a little time to try one more fish that we lost. It wouldn’t be a huge help if at all but it was a nice one. We did end up getting it after a short while but it did not help. Our only hope now was just finding another big one that would bite really quick because we were running out of time.
The theme for the day was making something out of nothing. Despite some adversity with losing fish and wasting time we still got them all. After a short and crappy practice, to find a solid bag on tournament day felt so good. We said it didn’t matter if we finished dead last, today was a great day. However when your smallest fish is over 3 pounds on Muskegon Lake, you are probably getting paid when there are 70 boats (full standings). All of our weigh in fish came on a dropshot today, that’s often not the case for me on Muskegon Lake. Usually a good mix of bed fishing presentations are in play but today it was various style of baits on a drop shot.
At the start of the day I never thought we would weigh all brown bass but it just goes to show what can happen if you don’t spin out and keep an open mind. 17.80 of smallmouth put us in the lead temporarily but I knew that we would shortly get bumped to 2nd. Luckily that is as far as we would fall. Congrats to all the top finishers on a tough Muskegon Lake. It isn’t often that less than 13 pounds gets a paycheck in that tournament series on Muskegon Lake.
The contingency prizes were crazy at this event. This list is so long and if you aren’t fishing the entire series, you can still enter the morning of. So much money is up for grabs whether you catch a bass or not. There is also a bunch of top finisher money up for grabs and we were happy to get a chunk of that at this event. We purchased quite a few of the contingency items this offseason and are hoping to see our name get pulled a few times this year.
In the end we couldn’t be happier with how this event ended up. It gives us some great points for the AOY race and some momentum to start the year. I have so much going on this summer that it won’t be until the next D&R on Cadillac and Mitchell that I fish another big tournament (I can’t wait to go back there). 30 - 40 boats every Monday will certainly keep things interesting in the mean time.