Columbus Bass Club Team Trail
2/24/2024
2nd Place
20 Teams
We “Myself and Kyler Saporito.” Fished the first event of the Columbus Bass Club Team Trail season on February 24th 2024. We are defending Team Of The Year champions and I have been a part of 3 strait Team Of The Year achievements with Columbus Bass Club Team Trail.
A quick description of the fisheries we fish in Columbus Bass Club Team Trail. It is called the Mined Land Wildlife Area in Southeast Kansas. They mined for coal in this area into around the 1960s into the 1980s. After the mining was over the area was purchased by Kansas Wildlife and Parks. The old mines filled up with water and stocked with fish of many different species and regulated by Kansas Wildlife and Parks. There is over 100 old mines called strip pits now. The club draws 1pit from a list of 16 pits to fish on tournament day depending on water levels and number of teams entered. The pits average around 30 acres a piece with miles of shoreline in each pit. Each pit offers something different, from clear water, stained water to dirty water. Many different types of grass, standing and submerged timber, rocks, lay downs and brush piles.
Outboards are not allowed to be used except to trailer boats for safety reasons. Trolling motor only during tournament hours. The biggest obstacle to overcome is the 13”-15” slot limit. Some pits have a large abundance of bass under 13” and very few over 15”.
We ended up with a 5 bass limit for 3lbs 7oz. We got fell into the slot monster curse and caught the biggest bass of the tournament but it was 14” long so it had to be released because it fell into the slot. We was able to get 2nd place though with our 5 biggest under 13”.
This particular pit is one that has a large abundance of bass under 13”. It is shallower with max depths around 20 feet. It has a lot of milfoil grass and is fairly clear in the colder months. The water temps were in the mid to high 40s. A jerkbait and a ned rig are very productive in these clearer pits in colder water temps. We caught 17 bass all together, 15 on a Megabass vision 110 in pro-blue color and a Ned rig with a chartreuse pepper colored TRD. The majority of the bass came on a submerged jump in 3-6 feet of water with submerged mil-foil.
We have 7 events remaining for 2024 and the best 5 events determine team of the year and a birth into the 2025 Bassmaster Team Championship.
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