West Michigan Bass Classic 2026 - Houghton Lake - Day 1

Anticipation was high, 3 schools to choose from, boat number 2, and some quality fish. The question wasn’t if we were going to get off to a fast start but where would it be. We had decided a particular area of the lake that held several other schools and a main school of the right ones would be our starting spot. It was hard because we knew another place had even more fish and would likely get burned down by someone else. This area isn’t as well known but it was the classic and we needed big weight on day 1.

We had a problem though; we woke up to dense fog. A fog delay was inevitable and there was no wind to push this stuff out of here. First we had to navigate the boat launching mess. If only they had made the boat basins at the launches just a little bit bigger, things would be a lot easier. Trevor was going to hitch a ride out with someone and someone I had never met asked if they could hop in and get a ride out. ABSOLUTELY! That is the best way to get this accomplished faster and without all the stress of loitering around the boat basin. We utilized the same program getting in and had a ton of people piled into 1 boat at the weigh in on both days. I never had to deal with the boat basin other than getting it off or on the trailer the entire event.

Then came the sitting and waiting, a lot of it. The small area we were in was crystal clear but the middle of the lake was a thick wall of fog. It was frustrating but I get it that we couldn’t go in it. Every minute that ticked by was making our day a lot harder. It was around 10:00 when we got released. The game plan hadn’t changed but getting a limit was a higher priority than just fishing for big ones. Thoughts of going to the extra loaded spot were tempting but we decided that we just needed to roll with the original game plan. It was a wonderfully smooth ride to the spot with no other boat wakes around and no super fast boats hot on our tail. I pulled in and started to get situated for how we were going to fish it and fired off a cast. The jig loaded up and I could see more with it. One solid fish was in the boat to start the day! I looked up to see another boat setting down on the same stuff. This stuff is small, specific, and there isn’t room for 2 boats on any of it. I had to hammer down with the Ultrex to block the side of it, cutting off Trevor’s bait in the process. I got the blocking done and caught another but things were all jacked up and scattering at this point. We might have caught another little one or missed one but it was pretty much over. Sort of a waste of boat number 2 but I was still glad to have those 2 fish. The thing about it is not only did it screw us over to start the day but when it’s a tiny spot and you are trying to weasel in on it, you’re just screwing yourself too. It’s not an area where you are going to catch some fishing around it or nearby. If you aren’t the first boat there it is best to move on to plan B in this situation. I don’t know how many times in my tournament career that someone was where I really wanted to be and I just rolled to the next spot and caught them better than I would have ever expected. I didn’t recognize the boat but I was disappointed and surprised to figure out who it was when I saw it in the parking lot the next morning.

We weren’t going to spend a ton of time there after all that because if there were still a couple feeding that late. We could capitalize on some other easy pickings areas nearby. If they could each just give us a fish or 2 we would be alright. The next closest area had a competitor but I could see other areas that were open. Our next stop had them for sure but I could tell by watching them with MEGA Live 2 in Landscape mode that they were already on the way out. We never got one there but the next 2 places each kicked out one fish. They weren’t ones we needed to weigh in but we were happy to end up with 4 relatively quickly. Things died on us then and we went into struggle mode. After striking out in some more smallmouth areas we ended up trying to get a largemouth for number 5. While we were there we got a call from Dave and Kyle that their battery was dead. They knew we had brought Trevor’s 36v Millertech up as a spare. I told them where we were and they were on their way to come get the truck keys and grab the battery. They had some big ones to start the day including a 5 pounder but hadn’t filled their limit yet, we were happy to help them keep their day going. While we were fishing around and waiting, we caught number 5. Just a 2 pound largemouth but it felt like a weight had been lifted. It felt like maybe it was time to take a gamble and dabble in some largemouth stuff. There was a spot on the Lakemaster Map that looked good and we headed there despite never fishing it before. It didn’t take long and the jig went thump. A solid largemouth came in the boat. A couple minutes later I was rigging something up and I happened to look up to see Trevor’s demeanor change and set the hook. It was a “please be a bass” moment and dang it felt good to scoop up a 4 pound green bass in the net. We weren’t where we needed to be with weight yet but those 2 fish helped a ton. We only had one smallish smallmouth left at that point. We kept at the largemouth for a bit but never caught another good one or revealed another special little area.

Despite the no wind we did have the luxury of gambling to try and upgrade that smallmouth. I was shocked to see no one on one of the other schools we wanted badly. So we headed over there and we either just timed it right or they hadn’t been blasted this morning. Right away Trevor hooked up and I threw my rod down and grabbed the net. As that was transpiring, I noticed my P-Line EndurX no fade braid was moving and grabbed the rod. This fish was much bigger and now Trevor dropped his rod. It was a relief to get it in the net and get rid of that small fish. Trevor reeled in his bass which wasn’t going to help and we got several more bites or caught smaller fish there. I had gotten two solid bites on the Carolina rig there that I was shocked they didn’t hook up. At this point there was a section of the lake that we were going to save for day 2. Today had gone much better than expected with the late start although we really only had one fish that we really wanted. So it felt like there was so much work to be done to get to that 17 pound range. I was assuming we had 13 pounds at this point. Sometimes I get fixated on only having big ones that I don’t take into account how nice the other 4 in the livewell are, today was one of those days and the weigh in would be a surprise to me.

We bombed around hitting places we’d practiced and trying new stuff the rest of the day. We had until 5 pm so it felt like it was a forever day out there. Late in the day we landed one flipping that gave us a clue for something that might work on day 2 even though it didn’t help us today. All of our weigh in fish came on a jig for day 1. TFO has a new rod out in their Resolve series that I was throwing the small jig with, the R S 715 F. It’s medium heavy fast tip spinning rod and it was awesome with that smaller jig. There’s a long list of things that it will be good for next summer and I’ll have to get a couple more. It’s always a challenge to find a medium heavy spinning setup that just feels that good.

I was pretty happy when the scales settled on 16.36 and I knew we would still be in it. Weights were a little better than I expected with the short day and we found ourselves in 10th place. Odds were absolutely in our favor to have a better day 2 if there was no fog. The feeding fish didn’t get beat on like they normally do on day 1. So we had high hopes for a fast start and a heavy weight.