2024 Bandits Ice Bowl -Lake Nelson

March 23rd
Location: North Boat Ramp
All times are Central time zone
Rules & Registration: 8:30 am
Tournament starts: 9 am
Tournament ends: 2 pm
Free entry
Anglers can fish from shore OR boat.
This is a catch- measure-record format
Two person team.
Teams will be determined by draw (your not required to fish with your drawn teammate, you can fish with whoever you want).
Teammates will determine their biggest 5 fish and report to tournament director.
Teammates that have the longest total length win.
Winners names will be added to the travel trophy.
*We will have measuring tools available but it would be good to bring your own as well.*

 

Classic Championship Weekend


Final results of 2023 Classic Championship! Congratulations to Team Ron and Cody Arth! Congratulations to our JR Division champion Mariah Maslanka!! Big fish honors went to Team Olson with a 4.70lb smallmouth!

 

Spiritwood Showdown


The 8th stop of the 2023 Badlands Bass Bandits schedule is in the books. 12 teams met on Spiritwood lake which is one of North Dakota’s premier smallmouth fisheries. It was a cool foggy morning that was later met with sunny skies and light winds for the remainder of the day. Most teams were able to cash in on the smallmouth that this little 500 acre lake had to offer. Some bass were caught deep early in the day while the most dominating pattern seemed to be a shallow bite by targeting areas that had an abundance of perch for the smallmouth to feed on. While the majority of the field were able to enjoy a relaxing day on the water there were two anglers that were biting their nails as the day progressed. Defending angler of the year Michael Messal and avid angler Cody Arth have been running off with the angler of the year points race. The gap has been narrowed in the points and will be setting up for an exciting finish at our Classic Championship which will be held on Lake Tschida!

 

Club Camping Weekend Update


As previously mentioned our club camping weekend will take place on September 16th &17th which is the same weekend as our 2 day Classic Championship.

Listed below is the itinerary for that weekend as well as campsite information.

Camping Information:
Our club is camping at the Rim Rock Area Loop A, please take a look at the map photo below, we currently have the sites circled in blue. If you have already received a notification from me that you have a site reserved you are all set, for those who have not and need a site please let me know so I can reserve a campsite in Loop A to keep you near the rest of the club members.
The campsites are reserved for a two night stay with an arrival of Friday the 15th and checking out Sunday the 17th. (Check in times are 2 p.m. MDT and Check out times are 1 p.m. MDT)
I’ll see if we can have our checkout extended for Sunday.
Campsites are reserved and paid for by the club, you must pay the camping fee to the club not the camping office.
Cost per site: $48 total owed to the club.
If you would like to arrive at an earlier date please let me know so I can make those arrangements for you.
Date: September 16th and Sunday 17th
Ramp Location: North Shore Boat Ramp
Team Entry Fee: $160.00
Registration: 5:45 a.m. CT
Rules: 6:00 a.m. CT
Start: 6:30 CT (daily)
End: 2:30 CT (daily)
Camping Festivities: (will take place at Loop A)
Saturday starting at 5:00 CT
Presidents Supper
Fishing Seminar
Ladder Ball Tournament to follow Presidents Supper and Fishing Seminar.

Lake Sakakawea


We had 14 teams for this event and probably the nicest weather for this lake in club history. Next stop Lake Isabel, SD! See you there!

Lake Sakakawea Tournament Update


Date: July 22nd
Location: Dakota Waters Resort
Registration time: 5:45 am Central time
Rules: 6:00 am Central time
Tournament starts: 6:30 am Central time
Tournament ends: 2:30 Central time
Entry fee: $80/ team (no more than 3 on a team).
Graciously Dakota waters resort approved for us to use their ramp. Please return the favor and give them your business during our visit. They have a full line a snacks and drinks, gas, campground and cafe.
*Although the tournament is still on, the club camping weekend festivities will be postponed to a later date.
Click on the link for location and directions

Lake Oahe Results

July 8th Lake Oahe, SD from Indian Creek State Park

1st - Mike Reid & Richard Mollison - 11.77
2nd - Team Bullinger - 11.61
3rd - John, Gayla & Cordell Wadsworth - 10.44
4th - Team Reinbold, Paul - 10.13
5th - Bob & Matt - 7.25
6th - Team Massal - 6.45
7th - Joe, Lorie & Alex Reinbold - 6.06
8th - Team Arth - 3.72
9th - Team Eldridgy - 2.85

Lake Oahe

July 8th Lake Oahe, SD from Indian Creek State Park

Registration: 5:45
Rules/Boat draw: 6:10
Tournament starts: 6:30
Weigh in: 2:30
All times are Central time Zone
*NOTE: We will be using the low water ramp on the East side. *

 

Lake Audubon


New John’s


 

*Froelich Dam Tournament Moved To East Park Lake (New Johns)*

Due to bad gravel/dirt road conditions from the highway to Froelich Dam, our tournament event has been moved to East Park lake (aka New Johns) We had a club member check the road to Froelich this morning and got stuck. With more rain expected it is best to move our event location . We will be launching from East Park lake. See you there.

Froelich Dam Tournament Moved To East Park Lake (New Johns)

Nelson Lake Recap

For only the second time in the clubs 17 year history a tournament was postponed. The Nelson lake event scheduled for April 22nd on the 500 acre lake impoundment had to be move to the 23rd due to icy road conditions in Center and the surrounding area. While most of the state did not have these conditions, the roads nearest to Lake Nelson were ice covered and for the safety of the members and their equipment it was best to wait a day.
When Sunday morning rolled around the outside temp was only 22 degrees, with the hopes of a balmy 45 degrees forecasted the field of 15 teams set out to start their 2023 season. The fishing was tough due to rising cold muddy water coming from the Square Butte creek but the Bandits were ready for the challenge as most teams were able to put together a limit of 5 bass. Full Recap

2023 Ice Bowl

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March 25th 2023 was certainly one of the coldest ice bowls in club history. Morning temps of 12 above with a breeze straight out of the North made very cold conditions. Nonetheless 14 hardcore bass fisherman showed up to have a little fun for our annual Ice Bowl derby on Lake Nelson. The field included 5 teams who competed from a boat and 2 teams fishing from the bank. Thankfully Lake Nelson provided good fishing for both groups!

Taking home top honors were Colton Blomberg and John Lancaster whose best 5 bass totaled 88 inches, they also took biggest bass honors with a 20.25 inch beauty! Taking home second place and doing it all by fishing from the confinements of the shores of Lake Nelson was team James and Brayden Francis of Minot with a total length of 76.75 inches with a 17.5 inch bass anchoring their best 5. Coming in with a very close 3rd place finish that boasted a 75.5 inch limit of 5 was Matt Schnieder and Matt Rose.

During the “spill the beans” portion of our event the top 3 winners shared what they caught their fish on. Bass were caught early on crankbaits and then as the tournament went on the bass seemed to prefer something small like a ned rig with a very precise finesse presentation. Listed below are full event standings, see you all at our official season kick off event on April 22nd at Lake Nelson!

1st Colton Blomberg / John Lancaster 88”
2nd Jame and Brayden Francis 76.75”
3rd Matt Schnieder / Matt Rose 75.5”
4th Michael and Angela Messal 75”
5th Attie Heystek / Duncan Swart 74.5”
6th Bob Reinbold / Quinn Reinbold 70.5”
7th Peter and Geremy Olsen 15”

 

Ice Bowl March 25th!

Starts 9 am Central time @ Nelson Lake
Ends 1 pm
No Entry Fee
Members can fish from shore or boat for this event.
Teams will be determined by draw. Teammates are not required to fish out of the same boat. In other words anglers can choose who they want to fish with.
Fish will be measured and then released. No fish will be weighed in.
Fish must be measured to the nearest 1/4 inch.
Full rules and format will be discussed prior to the start of the event.

 

2022 Classic Champs and AOY'S Crowned!

The 15th annual Classic Championship is in the books and new champions have been crowned! To know one’s surprise Team Bullinger took the top place of North Dakota’s most prestigious bass event! Lake Sakakawea did not make it easy for them nor anyone else competing in this event, the waves were relentless on day one and the bite was tough both days. Plenty of smallmouth were caught but catching a qualifying size of 14” was very difficult to many surprise and the results were some of the lowest weights to come across the Bandits scale in a decade.
1st Team Bullinger 13.36lbs
2nd Michael & Angela Messal 10.73
3rd Paul, Tony & Bob Reinbold 8.30
4th John Wadsworth & Gayla 7.43
5th Mike Reid 0lb
Coming into this event Team Messal was leading the Angler of the Year race by just 2 points over Paul Reinbold, certainly the closest AOY race in club history. As shown above Team Messal rose to the occasion and came out on top and won by 3 points to capture their 1st AOY title! Congratulations to Team Messal your hard work and dedication has paid off.
End of the Year Awards:
Angler of the Year Michael and Angela Messal
Horizon Award (Most Improved) John Wadsworth & Gayla Lloyd
Bag Buster Award Colton & Jamie Blomberg (Lake Isabel 22.70lbs)
Biggest Largemouth of the Year Alex Martel 5.82
Biggest Smallmouth of the Year Michael and Angela Messal (Lake Ashtabula 4.45lbs)
As they say in show biz “That’s All folks!” See you in 2023!

 

So Far So Good!


 

It’s been a wild and crazy 2022 season so far so let’s recap what has happened in our 2022 season as we head into the final two tournaments!

Let’s start by reaching way back into the month of March prior to all of the April snowstorms and recap the annual Ice Bowl. There were 5 teams that competed during the frigid temps of March, anglers were dressed up like Eskimos to battle against the damp crisp air of Lake Nelson. The bite was consist throughout most of the day which provided anglers with plenty of action. Team Bob and Paul Reinbold took 1st place honors with a 20” fish that helped anchor that win. The rest of the results are as followed:

1. Bob and Paul Reinbold 93.75”

2. Colton Blomberg 91.0”

3. Justin Kangas 90.75”

4. Michael and Angela Messel 84.75”

5. Gary & Matthew Haider 80”

This year the Bandits chose to host only 6 lowest tournaments which ties with the fewest ever since the clubs beginning dating all the way back to 2006. The first stop on the 2022 tour was Lake Tschida. This was also the site of our annual club camping weekend filled with camping fun, annual ladder ball tournament, regular tournament and a bonus Big Bass Clash event. Bob and Jeanette Reinbold took home the 1st place trophy which is no surprise there, Bob and Jeannette are always tough to beat on Lake Tschida. Their winning weight of 14.81 was enough to edge out Team Cody Artha and Paul Reinbold who came in a very close 2nd place finish with a total weight of 14.24lbs. Third place went to Michael and Angela Messal with 13.58lbs. Ladder Ball Championship went to Shawn Keena and Cody Arth, this was Keena’s 4th time making it all the way through the tournament bracket and was finally able to secure the win and take home the coveted Ladder Ball trophy.

The second stop on the tour was Lake Nelson, this popular lake holds some of the best bass fishing in the country and always has a strong turnout of anglers. Coming in with a big bag of largemouth was Team Scott, Logan and Brandon Bullinger that weighed 19.48 lbs! Second place went to John Lancaster and James Francis who brought in 18lbs and 3rd place went to Kyle Okke and Lewis Kuppler with 16.86lbs. Big Bass of the tournament was Alex Martel and Parker Crooks with a classic Lake Nelson bass that weighed 5.87lbs!

Lake Audobon was next on the list which typically draws a great number of members but as usual the weather forecast was not in the anglers favor. With high winds, cooler temps and a mix of rain it turned away many anglers and fish. The smallmouth were in a post spawn funk and made it difficult to catch bigger fish. Regardless of how the fish are biting there will always be someone who catches enough to take home the trophy. For this year that trophy went to team Michael and Angela Messel with a winning weight of 16.55lbs and also took home big fish honors of a 3.49lbs smallmouth. This marked Team Messel’s first club victory! Congrats! Second place honors went to Grant and Cooper who brought in a 5 fish limit of 15.23lbs and rounding out the top 3 places was Cody Arth and Paul Reinbold with a 5 fish limit of 15.03lbs.

Lake Ashtabula is the 4th stop of the season and this lake can boast some giant smallmouth, but that wasn’t the case this past weekend as anglers struggled to find the post spawn smallmouth. The winning weight of 9.96lbs went to Michael and Angela Messel as well as big fish honors with a 4.45lb beauty! Second place went to Alex Martel and Parker Crooks with a 8.69lb bag anchored by a 3.97lb smallmouth and 3rd place went to Justin Kangas at 4.87lbs.

The next stop will be a largemouth fishery in South Dakota as the Bandits return to Lake Isabel, this will be the Bandits 3rd time visiting this lake since the formation of the club. The lake is in great shape with all of the runoff this spring and should provide ample room for boating some big largemouth! Good luck to all and stay tuned to see the finale to the Angler of the Year race!

2022 Season is Near!


 

Our 2022 season is upon us and it is coming fast! The first event of the year is Lake Tschida on May 14th, this will also be our annual club camping weekend so if you have not booked your campsite yet you may want to do that soon. We will be camping in the downstream camping area of Lake Tschida (Heart Butte Reservoir) a lot of members will be there Friday to pre-fish and camp. Below is the schedule and format of events for this weekend:

-          May 14th Lake Tschida Tournament

o   Entry Fee: $80/team

o   North Shore Boat Ramp

o   Rules meeting at 6 a.m. CENTRAL TIME ( be there prior to get signed up )

o   Tournament Starts 6:30 a.m. CENTRAL TIME

o   Tournament Ends 2:30 p.m. CENTRAL TIME

-          Saturday (following the tournament)

o   Annual Presidents Supper (club will provide Hamburgers & Hotdogs/Brats)

§  Club members to bring a desert or side dish to share

o   Fishing How to Seminar (while food is cooking)

o   Annual Ladder Ball tournament (following supper) this is a blast!

-          Sunday May 15th Big Bass Clash tournament

o   Rules / format meeting at 6 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. CENTRAL Time

o   Lake Tschida

o   North Shore Boat Ramp

o   NON-POINTS EVENT (does not count for AOY/ROY awards)

o   FREE EVENT – No entry fee

o   Teams weigh in their biggest bass

§  Winners receive custom built rods

§  2nd & 3rd place teams will win prizes

o   Conclude for the weekend

Reminder: Lake is off limits from midnight Sunday to midnight Thursday the week of the event. Anglers are allowed to pre-fish Friday.

Classic Championship at Lake Ashtabula!

 north dakota bass fishing

A great event for the classic! We had 11 teams show up! A tough event for some and incredible for others! We also handed out end of year awards and the top 5 teams will be headed to Wood lake on October 9th.
Classic results(2 day combined total)
1st place Team Blomberg 47.67lbs BF 5.60
2nd place Alex and Dan 38.44lbs
3rd place John and Gayla 34.38lbs
4th Michael and Angela 32.5lbs
5th place Matt and Matt 31.99lbs
6th place Tanner Mallams 31.22lbs
7th place Team Bullinger 31.03lbs
8th place Paul and Bob 29.71lbs
9th place Cody and Ron 29.65lbs
10th place Justin and Scott 27.91lbs
11th place Kim and Casey 17.22lbs
End of year awards
AOY Colton Blomberg and Jamie Blomberg
Roy Jamie Blomberg
Big largemouth(5.33) Brandon Bullinger
Big Smallmouth (5.60) Colton Blomberg
Bag buster (24.97) Team Blomberg
Sportsmanship award Kyle Okke
Horizon award Lewis Kuppler
Thank you everyone for a great event and great season!

Arth Comes Out on Top at Audubon

 north dakota bass fishing

Fifteen teams made their way through the pea soup thick fog to the cabin sites boat ramp on Lake Audubon on the morning of the 28th. Flat calm and thick fog not only made for a late start but also an idle only launch for the first hour of the tournament. So, like a herd of turtles the competitors were off at a blazing speed of 5 mph navigating the thick fog in search of their favorite honey holes. Within 2 hours of launch the fog burned off, the wind picked up, and the anglers were hard at searching for the largest smallmouth Audubon can offer.

As always Audubon produces, and for those anglers that have homed in on a pattern found some larger size class fish. Cody Arth, who is no stranger to the winner’s circle on Audubon takes first with 18.29 pounds with a 4.26-pound kicker giving him big bass honors for this tournament! In second came team Blomberg with a heavy 17.07-pound bag and in third team Tanner Mallams and John Lancaster with a 16.73-pound limit!

As the tournament awards were being handed out, the group spilled the beans as always and shared what their winning patterns were. The winning pattern was using a dropshot, with a bait color that had white, dropped into weeds at 8-10’ of water. Other techniques used were whopper ploppers, that called them up from all depths, and using a swimbait in very shallow water late in the day. So the moral of the story is, you can catch your fish just about any way our here, you just need to stay consistent and find your fish.

Our next tournament is out last of the season, the Classic. Originally planned to be out of the Little Missouri ramp on Lake Sakakawea, needed to be changed because of prolonged drought and a dry boat ramp at that landing. The club members voted to switch locations to Lake Ashtabula at the West Crossing ramp. The Classic will be held on September 11th and 12th this year, we hope to see you at Ashtabula as this will be a big fish shootout!

Team Blomberg Dominates New John’s

 north dakota bass fishing

On the last day of July, a group of anglers started congregating at the Chain of Lake’s boat launch during the twilight hours on the morning. Seventeen teams in all that have their sights set on the giant smallmouth that this fishery has to offer. Once the rules meeting was held and chips were drawn, the group of anglers split off east and west from the launch in their hunt for giant smallmouth.

As boats started to congregate back for weigh in, anglers success sounded all over the board; from some having a great day of fishing to others struggling to fill their limit. This fishery can be tough for some but to those who figure it out, they are always rewarded. This tournament was no different and those that dialed in a pattern came in on top. In first place was Team Blomberg with a commanding 12.54 pounds limit, which is the third biggest limit in bandits’ history, and a 1.5-pound lead over second! In second place was the dynamic trio from Minot; Drew Morgan, Ty Gray, and Felipe Ferreira who hauled in a 11.06-pound bag with a 4.56-pound kicker which won them big bass honors for the tournament. And in third place, nipping right at their tails was team Keepers (Mike & Angela Messall) with a 10.69-pound bag, these two have been fishing hard this year and their success keeps improving every tournament!

As the group spilled the beans, most of the leaderboard shared a similar story. Smallmouth were located on deeper weed edges and were not overly aggressive. The use of technology like live scope were shared to play a role in locating fish and finding a presentation that would get them to bite. Our next tournament is August 28th on Lake Audubon at the Cabin Sites ramp, we hope to see you all there!

Some Like It Hot, in New Town


With some concerns over rough lake conditions with the club’s original plans to launch from Tobacco Gardens resort on the western shores of Lake Sakakawea, the alternate ramp was used at New Town Marina. Five teams came ready to battle it out on the big lake in blistering hot weather.

All teams shared fair luck catching fish, all did say it was a struggle to find fish big enough to reach the clubs self-imposed minimum length of 14”. With that being said, there were two teams that did dial into a pattern that the rest of the field did not figure out. Coming in first was team Bob & Paul Reinbold weighing in 8.66 pounds of smallmouth and shortly behind in second was Team Keepers (Mike and Angela Messall) with 8.16 pounds with a 2.17-pound kicker giving them big fish honors for the tournament! Rounding out the field in third was Tanner Mallams with 4.88 pound for a short bag of 3 smallmouth bass.

As you all can imagine after reading these tournament results that fishing was in general tougher but both Team Reinbold and Team Keepers did key in on a pattern that proved successful. They both shared that fish were on shallow gravel flats and either caught fish on the initial reaction seeing the bait drop or leaving it lay still for them to eventually pick up.

The next event is at New John’s south of Mercer, ND. This is usually the event that produces the largest average smallmouth bass of the season, so come prepared for some hungry footballs! See you all there!

Club Camping Weekend Shadehill

 north dakota bass fishing

Club camping weekend this year was held at Shadehill Reservoir in northwestern SD, a lake that many call a twin sister to a club favorite, Tschida. Nine teams made it for this tournament, all ready to see what Shadehill had to offer. As the day progressed and anglers got their bite dialed in, many discovered it was going to be a tough day fishing where many scrambled across the lake looking for schools of smallmouth bass that were biting. In the end it was Team Blomberg taking the win with 9.77 pounds for their 5 smallmouth and a 2.37-pound kicker that gave them big bass honors. In a distant second was team Tanner Mallams and Kyle Okke with 7.67 pounds for their 5 and team Bob Reinbold and Matt Bowen in third with 5.94 pounds for their best 5. As club members spilled the beans, no one technique dominated the field, but Colton did share that most of their fish were caught on a very small, isolated patch of grass, which nobody else ever found. It is the small details like that that make a big difference in a fishery with little to no structure.

After weigh-in, all club members met up at the day use area for the club’s annual potluck dinner held during the club camping weekend. After everyone got their fill of delicious food, the real competition started with the annual ladder ball tournament. After a long and argus battle of a double elimination tournament bracket, team “TNT” Tony Reinbold & Tiffany Steiner rose to the top winning a long fought latter ball tournament!

The following morning, the big bass contest was held on North Lemmon Lake, only 4 teams made it out for the contest but there was no lack of largemouth caught for those who came. It was team Mike and Angela Messall who came in with the largest bass weighing in at 3.78 pounds! That big bass won them both a custom rod and reel combo made by fellow club member Kyle Okke that will be awarded later in the season.

Thank you for everyone who made club camping weekend a success and we will see you at the next event!

Largemouth Love Hot Weather!

 north dakota bass fishing

The Bandits tread new waters this past weekend fishing on Froelich Dam, a largemouth mecca directly located 50 miles south of Mandan. Eleven teams made the trek into the badlands of Sioux county, the weather was scorching in the mid 90’s, and the bass were hungry! Nearly all teams brough in full bags with an average weight of 3.12 pounds per largemouth!

Taking the win this tournament was team Tanner Mallams and John Lancaster who brought in a hefty bag weighing 11.69 pounds! Right on their tails was Team Blomberg, Colton and Jamie only trailed by 0.17 pounds weighing in 11.52 pounds for second place. In third was team Kyle Okke and Lewis Kuppler with a 10.73-pound bag and a 4.75-pound kicker which earned them big bass awards for this tournament!

As club members spilled the beans after awards were handed out, the pattern was very consistent among members, a classic post spawn bite. Casting baits like stick worms, flipping plastics, and throwing buzz/spinner baits up shallow into heavy cover produced some explosive bites with many bass giving a spectacular fight with many acrobatic jumps. What was more interesting was what members shared that their bass spit up in their live well’s; crawfish, minnows, bluegill, and even mice were being eaten by the bass on Froelich!

Our next event is our club camping weekend, held on Shadehill Reservoir in South Dakota on the weekend of June 25th – 27th. June 26th is the Shadehill tournament that will count for AOY points and June 27th is a big bass tournament on North Lemmon Dam, free of charge for those that compete on Shadehill. As always there will be a ladder ball tournament and our president’s supper, so you won’t want to miss this weekend. Please check our Facebook page the week leading up to this event for further details and hope to see you all there!

Kyle Okke

Adverse Conditions and Great Fishing at Ashtabula

 north dakota bass fishing

It was a cold misty morning at the West Crossing ramp as anglers started rolling in at 5 am for the Ashtabula tournament. In all, 17 boats arrived all wanting their chance at the infamous 20+ pound bags of smallmouth that this lake is known for.

Shortly after takeoff a heavy rain showers started to downpour soaking everything in its path. Although wet and less than ideal conditions existed, all anglers powered through the weather and kept fishing. Fishing was exceptionally good as all anglers brought in full limits to weigh in, most shared that dragging tubes, drop shots, and wacky rigs were what worked best for them.

Weigh-in brought much anticipation as all caught great fish and many were excited to see what their biggest 5 weighed. The bags of smallmouth weighed is the largest our club has ever seen with four limits over 20 pounds and four more that were 19 pounds.

With a commanding lead, Corey Haag and Matt Commerford came in with an incredible 24.94 pounds with their big bass weighing 5.73 which took big bass honors for the tournament. In second, team Bullinger weighed 22.13 pounds, in third team Martel with 21.25 pounds, and in 4th team Blomberg with 20.03 pounds.
-Colton Blomberg

 

Spiritwood Sluggers

 north dakota bass fishing

The morning of May 22nd was looking to get a little western as thunder, lightning, and heavy rain was present as anglers started filing into Spiritwood lake to kick off a back-to-back tour of eastern North Dakota’s best smallmouth fisheries. 18 teams arrived from all directions ready for showdown on Spiritwood lake. Although overnight was rather eventful with the weather, the worst of the weather broke prior to launch and conditions were good to fish!

Although weather conditions were better for the people fishing, all discovered that fishing that day was going to be TOUGH. Post-frontal, calm, and late spawn made for some incredibly tough fishing. But as always during tournament fishing, there are those that have done their homework and brought in some good bass!

In first place was team Matt Schneider and Mat Rose with a great bag weighing 11.6 pounds for 3 fish! Right on their tails was team Bullinger weighing in 11.17 pounds, and not far behind was team Todd & Gary Burks who brought in 10.54 pounds with a 4.19-pound kicker taking the big fish honors for the day!

As stated earlier, post-frontal spawn conditions make for a tough day of fishing and for the teams that were most successful, being the first on bedded fish with ned rigs and drop shots proved to pay dividends! Although fishing was tough, all learned a valuable lesson in bed fishing and are ready to get to the next day’s tournament on Ashtabula!
-Tanner Mallams

Badlands Bass Bandits 2021 Season is off with a BANG on Nelson!

Badlands bass bandits north dakota

As rigs started pulled into the Nelson lake boat landing during the early hours of April 10th , everyone knew it was going to be a big day. With 45 anglers making up 22 teams, this makes the largest showing the Bandits have had for a Nelson lake tournament in the 16 years of the club’s history! With a calm and cold start, boats blasted off shortly after 7 and raced to their favorite fishing holes. With 22 competing boats, and then other fishermen enjoying a beautiful day to go fishing, everyone found out fast they would be sharing spots and pressure would be at an all time high. Although the pressure was high, most anglers found success filling their limits in a variety of ways!

Here are some fun tidbits of information to put the days catch into perspective: 58 bass were weighed in totaling less than 1 pound from 200 pounds at 199.3 pounds total weighed! This statistic CRUSHES the old total weighed fish record by 22 pounds (177.03 pounds weight total in 2013). The average bass weight for the day came in at 3.41 pounds per fish, which also is at an all-time high for Nelson Lake. Were the conditions perfect for big fish? Are the club anglers getting better? Did the stars align? We will leave that for your interpretation, regardless of its was a record setting day!

In 3rd place with a strong showing was team Tanner Mallams and John Lancaster weighing in a 12.45-pound bag with a 4.82-pound kicker.

In 2nd place was the perennial powerhouse, Team Bullinger with an astounding 13.95-pound bag with a 5.33-pound kicker! And sweeping the field taking not only 1st place but also big bass awards was Tony McKay, he weighed in a commanding 15.14-pound bag with an absolute stud kicker that weighed 6.28 pounds!! Tony’s limit officially lands at 3rd largest ever caught on Nelson and his big fish is the 5 largest bass recorded in a Nelson tournament and is only one of five largemouth ever caught on Nelson that weighed in over 6 pounds! Making this victory bittersweet is this was Tony’s last event with the Bandits since joining the club back in 2018, he is being re-assigned to a base in North Carolina and is moving in May. Tony joined this club with a Victory and is ending his club career with another win, this was his swan song. Even though the club will miss Tony greatly, we wish him the best on his new chapter in life, and if its any consolation we do hear the bass are bigger in North Carolina

So, if you made it this far, we still spill the beans! The top teams shared a remarkably similar story to their success. The bass were not biting hot and heavy, but their specific locations were patternable, the top bass were all caught on the edge of ledges that broke to deep water. The baits varied from jigs to tubes and colors were all different, but the presentation was the same…..SLOW. Those teams that keyed in on this pattern stuck to it all day and were rewarded with some stellar bass!

Next tournament(s) are a double header! May 22nd on Spiritwood, and May 23rd on Ashtabula, this weekend will be an absolute smallmouth smash fest! Stay tuned on the Badlands Bass Bandits social media on Facebook and Instagram in the coming weeks for further details about the next two events and we hope to see you all there!!

Ice Bowl Blast!


An un-seasonably warm and dry winter has set up for a Badlands Bass Bandits Ice Bowl that does not feel deserving of the name. Instead of snow-covered boat ramps, blistering cold temps, and a giant temperature gradient from one end of the lake to the next; anglers had 65, sunny, and relatively warm temperatures across the entire lake!

26 anglers in 13 boats came to compete. In typical Ice Bowl format, boaters and co-angers were paired at random from different boats to for a two-person team that combined their longest 5 bass competing for the Ice Bowl traveling trophy. Although the weather was perfect for a day on the water, many of the competing anglers had to work hard to fill a 5 fish limit. When the dust settled at the close of the tournament those 26 anglers registered 87 largemouth bass via the Fish Donkey app.

Coming in third place was team Brandon Bullinger & Mat Rose with 82.25” in cumulative length for their 5 largest. In second, Justin Kanges & Daniel Martel with 83.75” and in first was Justin Enney & Kyle Okke with an 85” bag! Bandits’ newcomer Justin Steele caught the big bass of the day at 19.5”! All anglers shared that finesse was providing the better bite with baits like worms, stick baits, and tubes all worked slowly providing the best bite.

The official start to the Badlands Bass Bandits 2021 season is April 10th, all are welcome and pay attention to our social media pages for more details as we close in on our first tournament of the season!

ICE Series #4 is a wrap!


The inaugural Badlands Bass Bandits ICE series has come to a close with the 4th event held March 6th. Five teams came ready to compete and although temperatures were much higher vs the previous event, mother nature decided the wind needed to blow up to 20 mph to make things interesting for the competing anglers.

At launch, all teams set their heading for the warm water discharge as that area proved to be the hottest bite during the previous weekends event. The Fish Donkey notifications saying, “GOT ONE!” were not blowing up everyone’s phone like they have for numerous events prior, instead it was a slow trickle of entries during the mornings progression as teams were having a difficult time filling their limits with an awfully slow bite.

Although the bite was slow, the action on the Fish Donkey leader boards was hot with each catch changing the leaderboard dramatically. Team Bullinger came out with an early lead and as morning progressed Team Okke/Kuppler were giving them a run for their money overtaking the top position later in the day. Team Blomberg started lighting up the boards in the afternoon bringing in an 18.25-inch fish giving them the current big bass and moving them into position to overtake top spot with one more good catch. In the final minutes of the event team Bullinger registers a stout 18.5 incher that earns them the biggest bass award and catapults them into top position sweeping the field in dramatic fashion! Congratulations team Bullinger on the buzzer beater win!!

As members were loading boats and sharing how the day went we all spilled the beans and shared what worked on a very tough bite. Spinnerbaits, some on crankbaits, and slowly worked soft plastics like the ned rig contributed to this event’s catches.

Remember March 20th is this year’s ICE Bowl event, water levels are still low so the launch used will be the ramp on the SE side of Nelson. This is a free event for ANYONE who wants to attend, you can shore fish, fish from a canoe/kayak, or from boat. We hope to see you there!

ICE Series #3 in the books

The ICE series event for February 6th was postponed due to extreme cold temperatures: -5 degrees for a daytime high with 15-20 mph winds! That extended cold snap caused Nelson to freeze over a large portion of the lake during most of February, but with a week to go with the alternate tournament date of February 27th the weather did heat up and ice thawed from the south boating access so boats could launch on tournament day!
Tournament day 6 teams came to compete, and conditions were COLD, 20 degrees in the boat is not easy on anglers or their equipment. But the desire to fish for these 6 teams outweighed those “minor” inconveniences and all set off into the fog of Nelson lake with one intention, to catch bass. Water temps varied greatly across the lake and all competitors found themselves sharing the same fishing holes, but the bass were hungry, and the competition was tight!
Team Colton Blomberg and Malikye Toliver came in first place for largest 5 bass with 84.5 inches only beating Tanner Mallams by 1 inch! Alex Martel took home the big bass prize with a 19.25-inch football that was just as big around as it was long weighing over 5 pounds. Finesse was key this event as Texas-rigged worms, drop-shots, and tubes were what gave our winners their best fish.
Next Saturday March 6th is our last ICE series event of the winter, we hope to see you there!

ICE Series #2 is a Wrap

January 9th with no snow, temps in the 30’s, and no wind? Is this North Dakota….? Although a meteorological anomaly, mild winter weather makes for great fishing conditions out of the boat and that is exactly what 6 teams did this day chasing the bucket mouths of Nelson Lake.

With a heavy winter fog, the boat launch was set to idle speed only and boats all disappeared into the haze to position themselves on the hunt for largemouth. As soon as the clock hit 9:00 anglers were lighting up the boards on the Fish Donkey app with catches coming from all over the lake. Team Okke/Mckay jumped to an early lead but in no time teams Bullinger/Duchsherer and Mallams would be competing back and forth for the lead position. As the day carried on and fog lifted, so did the fish’s appetite and anglers were having a tough time upgrading their bags. The competition was close and only 6” separated most anglers so everyone fished hard to the last minutes. With only 17 minutes to spare to close the event Tanner Mallams hooked into and lands a 17 incher that pushed him into the lead and takes the event by a mere 0.25”! Congratulations Tanner! Big fish went to Kyle Okke with an 18.5” chunk that was caught early in the day.

Although all anglers shared great numbers of bass being caught on multiple power and finesse techniques, size was hard to come by and was ultimately the finesse techniques that encouraged the bigger ones into biting. Ned rigs, Carolina rigs, and Texas rigs were proving to catch the bigger fish this time around. Thanks to everyone for a fun filled day of fishing!

First Tournament of the ICE Series in the Books!

 north dakota bass fishing

50 degrees and sunny, not what you expect for weather on December 5th, but this is what the 6 teams got while participating in the first ever Badlands Bass Bandits ICE series event! The weather was awesome, the bass were biting, and each team’s phone was constantly getting notified with the “Got One!” voice from the Fish Donkey app letting them know a new catch was registered.

Early on limits were filled and the largest fish of the day were caught, including Alex Martel’s 19” largemouth that took big fish honors. At the conclusion of the day only 4.75” separated 1st from last, making the competition fierce, but the anglers who fished hard throughout the day slowly upgraded their stringers and persevered. Tanner Mallams (81.75”) came in 1st and Team Bullinger (80.25”) on his coat tails in 2nd.

All anglers shared in the “Spill the Beans” session and most fish were caught in less than 5 feet of water using various power and finesse techniques like burning crankbaits, dragging Carolina Rigs, and Ned Rigs. Reminder, the next tournament is scheduled for January 9th from 9 am to 3 pm.

***See you all at the Badlands Bass Bandits Annual meeting Saturday December 19th from 10-Noon. We have a lot to cover, so plan on attending!!! Meeting Location: Capital Credit Union, 204 W Thayer Ave, Bismarck, ND 58501***

Bandits ICE Series Debut!

Badlands Bass Bandits Ice Series Tournament Schedule

For the first time in history the Badlands Bass Bandit's are having a winter tournament series! While every other lake is frozen, here in North Dakota are special because we have Nelson Lake to get the boats on and keep fishing! Nelson Lake is a power plant lake and the warm water released by the power plant keeps the water open year round and offers great bass fishing! We will not be weighing any bass and instead be using the Fish Donkey app to measure and record our catches. The Team with the longest 5 bass will be the winner!

Here are the details for the ICE Series::

Tournament Layout
-Fish Donkey App will be used, this includes payment of entry fee’s
- Can be individual or teams
-Winner(s) of tournament will be based on longest length of 5 bass (1/4” increments)
- Biggest bass award goes to longest recorded bass (within ¼”)

Tournament Time
9AM-3PM CST

Dates:
December 5th 2020
January 9th 2021
February 6th 2021
March 6th 2021

We will be using the south east boat ramp.


Badland Bass Bandits 2020 Classic on North Audubon – Audubon

 north dakota bass fishing

It would not be a Badlands Bass Bandits event if the wind did not blow a little right? Well the wind blew HARD and changed plans for the BBB Classic which was to be held on Lake Sakakawea, launching from Ft. Stevenson state park day 1 and fishing Audubon day 2. With a backup tournament permit in hand and for obvious safety reasons with the wind forecasted, Day 1 of the BBB Classic was switched to the north arm of lake Audubon famously known as “Nobon”.
Day 1 kicked off with an “Idle Only Speed” launch from the Nobon landing by regulations per the state of North Dakota on WMA’s (wildlife management areas), it resembled a herd of turtles taking off! But after the anti-climatic boat launch, anglers were having no issues getting on the plentiful smallmouth present in Nobon coming in with a group average of 3.12 pounds a fish being weighed in. At the conclusion of day 1, only 1.35 pounds separated the leaders from most of the field.

Day 2 started with howling winds (20+ mph) out of the northwest as the bandits met at the Cabin Sites ramp on Lake Audubon. Once launched, anglers not only dealt with wind but rain as well, an all too familiar sight to this group on tournament day. Although the weather was not “ideal” for comfort, the bass were feeding and those who got on the fish forgot about the cold-windy conditions. At weigh in on day 2 there was a little more separation of weights which made the 2-day totals only hundredths separated some teams who placed.

Your 2020 Badlands Bass Bandits Classic champion this year is team Paul Reinbold and Eric Vossler with a 2-day total of 28.05 pounds, they also took home big bass award with a whopper at 4.08 pounds! In second by a margin of 0.03 pounds is team Ron & Cody Arth with 27.43 pounds of smallies and right on their heels were team Colton Blomberg and John Lancaster coming in third with 27.40 pounds! During our “spill the beans” session after weigh in, it was found that if you could find the bass, you could catch the bass the way you like to fish as successful angles shared winning tactics came from both power and finesse approaches. Tubes, Ned rigs, jerk baits, and spinnerbaits were used from the top three teams to catch their winning bags.
Day 1 + Day 2 Cumulative Results ***Badlands Bass Bandits Classic Results***

As done every year previous, end of the year awards was presented at conclusion of the BBB Classic weigh-in.
Angler of the year went to Colton Blomberg, a well deserved award as Colton put a lot of time on the water this year to earn his title, and not without competition as team Bullinger were hot on his tail all season making him work for the AOY.
Rookie of the year goes to team Dan & Alex Martel, this father-son duo had a great first year with the bandits and proved that they can catch fish on bodies of water they have never been on before, watch out for these guys come 2021!
The Horizon Award goes to team Bullinger (Scott, Brandon, and Logan), who happened to be our horizon award recipients from last season. But again, this was a well deserved title as they improved even better vs last year with their average pounds caught in each tournament!
Bag Buster award also goes to team Bullinger from their win on Nelson lake during our social distancing fishing challenge with a commanding 96”(est. 20.81 pounds) of largemouth.
Biggest Largemouth goes to Scott Bullinger of team Bullinger with a 21.25” behemoth (est. 5.71 pounds) caught during our Nelson Lake social distancing fishing challenge.
Biggest Smallmouth goes to Alex Martel with his 4.79 pound football caught in the last 5 minutes during our New Johns tournament in our loading area, this is a stark reminder to all of us that if you fish every moment possible you will be rewarded!

This concludes the Badlands Bass Bandits 2020 season, with all the roadblocks that this year brought, we all had an extraordinarily successful year! A big thank you to each angler that came to fish with us this season to make it the best season yet!

 



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Badland Bass Bandits 2020 Classic on North Audubon – Audubon

 north dakota bass fishing

It would not be a Badlands Bass Bandits event if the wind did not blow a little right? Well the wind blew HARD and changed plans for the BBB Classic which was to be held on Lake Sakakawea, launching from Ft. Stevenson state park day 1 and fishing Audubon day 2. With a backup tournament permit in hand and for obvious safety reasons with the wind forecasted, Day 1 of the BBB Classic was switched to the north arm of lake Audubon famously known as “Nobon”.
Day 1 kicked off with an “Idle Only Speed” launch from the Nobon landing by regulations per the state of North Dakota on WMA’s (wildlife management areas), it resembled a herd of turtles taking off! But after the anti-climatic boat launch, anglers were having no issues getting on the plentiful smallmouth present in Nobon coming in with a group average of 3.12 pounds a fish being weighed in. At the conclusion of day 1, only 1.35 pounds separated the leaders from most of the field.

Day 2 started with howling winds (20+ mph) out of the northwest as the bandits met at the Cabin Sites ramp on Lake Audubon. Once launched, anglers not only dealt with wind but rain as well, an all too familiar sight to this group on tournament day. Although the weather was not “ideal” for comfort, the bass were feeding and those who got on the fish forgot about the cold-windy conditions. At weigh in on day 2 there was a little more separation of weights which made the 2-day totals only hundredths separated some teams who placed.

Your 2020 Badlands Bass Bandits Classic champion this year is team Paul Reinbold and Eric Vossler with a 2-day total of 28.05 pounds, they also took home big bass award with a whopper at 4.08 pounds! In second by a margin of 0.03 pounds is team Ron & Cody Arth with 27.43 pounds of smallies and right on their heels were team Colton Blomberg and John Lancaster coming in third with 27.40 pounds! During our “spill the beans” session after weigh in, it was found that if you could find the bass, you could catch the bass the way you like to fish as successful angles shared winning tactics came from both power and finesse approaches. Tubes, Ned rigs, jerk baits, and spinnerbaits were used from the top three teams to catch their winning bags.
Day 1 + Day 2 Cumulative Results ***Badlands Bass Bandits Classic Results***

As done every year previous, end of the year awards was presented at conclusion of the BBB Classic weigh-in.
Angler of the year went to Colton Blomberg, a well deserved award as Colton put a lot of time on the water this year to earn his title, and not without competition as team Bullinger were hot on his tail all season making him work for the AOY.
Rookie of the year goes to team Dan & Alex Martel, this father-son duo had a great first year with the bandits and proved that they can catch fish on bodies of water they have never been on before, watch out for these guys come 2021!
The Horizon Award goes to team Bullinger (Scott, Brandon, and Logan), who happened to be our horizon award recipients from last season. But again, this was a well deserved title as they improved even better vs last year with their average pounds caught in each tournament!
Bag Buster award also goes to team Bullinger from their win on Nelson lake during our social distancing fishing challenge with a commanding 96”(est. 20.81 pounds) of largemouth.
Biggest Largemouth goes to Scott Bullinger of team Bullinger with a 21.25” behemoth (est. 5.71 pounds) caught during our Nelson Lake social distancing fishing challenge.
Biggest Smallmouth goes to Alex Martel with his 4.79 pound football caught in the last 5 minutes during our New Johns tournament in our loading area, this is a stark reminder to all of us that if you fish every moment possible you will be rewarded!

This concludes the Badlands Bass Bandits 2020 season, with all the roadblocks that this year brought, we all had an extraordinarily successful year! A big thank you to each angler that came to fish with us this season to make it the best season yet!

Last Days of Summer on Spiritwood

 north dakota bass fishing

As the boats started to gather at the Spiritwood Resort landing it was shaping up to be a special day. Not a breeze of wind with moderate temperatures vs the weeks of 80-90’s we had be experiencing prior to tournament day and at launch 14 teams set forth to explore the waters of Spiritwood. Even though days in ND are rare, they are still enjoyable, but it made the bandits work hard to earn their fish as the bite was not as active with slick calm conditions. But as the story goes, we always have anglers who can get the job done and come with heavy bags.

Coming in at the top of the pack was team Tanner Mallams and Tony McKay with a 3-fish, 11.91-pound bag! And to top their victory Tanner earns the tournaments big bass award with a 4.14 pounder! In second place was Team Alex and Dan Martel with a commanding 10.48-pound limit and not far behind in third was team Ryan and Amber Todd with 10.36 pounds of smallmouth.

When the top three teams spilled the beans there were some consistencies in their winning tactics and that was slow, shallow, green pumpkin. They spent their time sight fishing and slowly putting their presentations of tube jigs, hula grubs, and senko’s in front of the bass coaxing them to bite.

This did end up being a record setting tournament with our top three teams weighing the new 2nd, 4th, & 5th largest limits to be brought across the scales during a badlands bass bandits tournament on Spiritwood. Tanner also earned himself the 4th largest smallmouth caught during a Spiritwood tournament. A big day for our club and our winners!

A Smallmouth Smash Fest on Audubon!

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Audubon!
Full Recap


The Bandits tournament trail has finally arrived at North Dakota’s finest smallmouth waters on Lake Audubon, with a fair-weather forecast, made the special combination to bring the clubs largest event of the year so far with 19 teams making up 38 anglers! The field was large, and the competition was strong with many shooting for a chance at being the best angers on Audubon. What started as dead still calm waters and pristine conditions gradually turned to a gusty winds that challenged the anglers. But the anglers competing had great fishing and most of the field brought back full limits of healthy smallmouth at weigh in.

Coming in 1st place was team Colton Blomberg and John Lancaster with a heaping 18.82-pound bag! Right on their tails were Travis Thiele and Matt Filkins with 18.1-pounds and in third was team Bullinger bringing in a 17.3-pound bag. Biggest bass of the day was caught by Tanner Mallams with a whopper of a fish at 4.05 pounds! This places him in the Lake Audubon records with the 4th largest bass to be weighed in during a bandits tournament here.The top three teams shattered the July Average smallmouth size by nearly 1 pound at 3.61 pounds being the average size, the July average was 2.74 pounds/bass for perspective. A record day for the club on multiple levels!

As we do in every tournament, we end with a “Spill-the-beans” session where our top 3 teams share what they were doing during the day to be successful. What we all learned is that there were bass in the entire water column to be caught! From working shallow structure like weed lines and rocks to video-game fishing weed lines in deep (12-14 feet) waters, big bass were being found. Dropshots, Ned rigs, and Tubes were the dominate players, but good kickers were caught on ploppers and jerkbaits as well. Everyone has their favorite brand of bait, but one thing was common amongst all of the top teams, green pumpkin was a go-to color.

We will be back to Audubon at the end of September for the 15th Badlands Bass Bandits Classic! But before the classic we have one regular tournament left at Spiritwood Lake on August 29th. Keep tuned into the Badlands Bass Bandits Facebook and Instragram pages for more info about these events as they get closer!


Club Camping Weekend!

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Club Camping Weekend
Full Recap

The Badlands Bass Bandits club camping weekend has come and gone already. And what a successful fun weekend for all involved.

Sheep Creek Dam Bass Fest
Saturday morning, nine boats arrived at the landing at Sheep Creek Dam ready to duke it out in an MLF style format derby where every fish over 14” counts and most cumulative inches wins. Sheep Creek has a great track record in previous bandits’ events producing numbers of healthy sized largemouth that can get any of our anglers excited for a day of fishing. Once the excitement of our idle speed only shotgun start concluded, the bass had other plans and proved to be difficult for the anglers to entice into biting. Out of nine boats, six scorable bass were recorded during the entire outing, making for a very tough bite. The young blazing gun Alex Martel and his teammate Ty Gray managed to boat 2 fish for 35 cumulative inches with Alex catching the biggest of the event at 19” that just tipped the scales over 4 pounds, earning both the winning title for most cumulative inches and biggest bass of the event. Brett Messall takes the award as tiny bass slayer fishing with Kyle Okke catching only one scorable bass but managing to wrangle 6 more fish under 14” he solidifies the smallest bass title catching a 10” largie flipping his weightless tube far up in the mats.

Ladder Ball Tournament

Saturday evening the group camped together at Tschida’s downstream campground and had a potluck bbq with an extremely competitive ladder ball tournament that followed. 12 teams played a double elimination tournament that ended with the championship battle between Paul Reinbodl/Curt Manley vs Bob Reinbold/Felipe Ferreria. Bob and Felipe had to claw their way through the elimination bracket after loosing a match early in the tournament and were dominating the racks and had to beat team Reinbold/Manley twice to finally claim the title of ladder ball champs for the event. A great night was had by all members who attended!

Tschida Tournament
Sunday morning marked the start of the 5th tournament of the Badlands Bass Bandits 2020 tournament trail with the biggest showing of the season so far with 15 teams launching for the event! Fishing was good for all teams and some great bags were brought in. Coming in 1st place was Team Eric Vossler, Thomas Leintz, and James Decker with a 5 fish bag weighing 13.04 pounds. 2nd goes to team Colton Blomberg and John Lancaster with a 5 fish limit of 12.67 pounds and right on their tail was team Tony McKay and Ty Gray with 12.62 pounds coming in 3rd! Big bass went to Team Justin and Cami Enney with a 3.29-pound smallie! After the group “spilled the beans” it was uncovered that two patterns were capitalized, a crawfish and baitfish pattern. The winning teams all caught their biggest fish using swim jigs, spinnerbaits, and topwater targeting shallow structure like rocks, grass, and docks. A solid crawfish bite was present as many anglers reported live wells full of crawfish parts but the biggest of bass that brought winning weights were caught on eliciting a reaction bite to a baitfish imitator. As always when our anglers spill the beans, everyone learns and we all improve as anglers, thank you all to attended this event and we hope to see you all on August 1st for our next tournament on New Johns that launches out of the East Park Ramp at 6:30 a.m.!

Smallmouth Frenzy in South Dakota!

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Colton Blomberg & Devin Hoffman win in SD!
Full Recap

The bandits set out on their fourth tournament of the 2020 season on lake Oahe launching out of Mobridge, SD. For some of our members in South Dakota it was nice having a fishing destination close to home, for the remainder, they made a great weekend fishing a destination they only get to once a year. For those pre-fishing on Friday, it felt strikingly like a year ago when the bandits had a tournament out of the same launch. Calm, sticky, hot, but the smallmouth were feeding and boy was it ever fun!

Weather forecasted for tournament day showed WINDY but at the morning of launch things appeared to settle down and 8 boats set forth for their “Plan A” locations and tactics. Everyone had a great day fishing, as the day carried on the wind picked up as forecasted, and everyone who had fished the Dakota Waters tournament was having flashbacks of rough waters. In the end everyone made it back safely and brought full bags for weigh in.

Coming in first place was Colton Blomberg and Devin Hoffman with a near 3-pound average coming in at 14.59 pounds. In second place was team Kjer (Elliot, Betty, & Charlie) with a 12.95-pound stringer just edging out our third-place team Paul & Tony Reinbold who brought in 12.42 pounds of bass! Big bass went to Joe, Lori, & Alex Reinbold with a stout 3.7-pound fish!

Spilling the beans uncovered a unanimous style to fish, finesse; majority of the anglers fished jigs, tubes, and ned rigs that imitated crawfish. If it was slow and crawling the bottom the bass were cooperative and wanting to eat all day. Depth did not seem to be a strong indicator of bass location as reports of 1 foot to 15-foot members were catching fish. More important was finding structure to hold bass like rock and wood as the smallmouth seemed to be holding tight to structure, even single boulders.

 

Memorial Day Weekend Fun on Wood Lake!

 north dakota bass fishing

Cody & Ron Arth get the first Wood Lake title!
Full Recap

As we continue into 2020’s uncharted waters with the impact of COVID19, the Bandits set forth on their next chapter of the 2020 season on Wood Lake! As uncharted waters go, not only did we continue to adhere to North Dakota’s social distancing guidelines by fishing a catch-measure-picture-release format via the @fishdonkey app, but this is the first time the Bandits have fished Wood Lake.

Reports from anglers pre-fishing the prior weekend were of heavy pre-spawn action for both largemouth and smallmouth bass. When the tournament kicked off Saturday the feel that the lake was in pre-spawn had faded fast as the field of competitors worked through a tough bite that felt more like spawn. But as we all know even with a tough bite, some anglers do find a pattern and are able to exploit that bringing in some great bass!

Coming in 1st was team Arth with an 89” stringer entirely made of smallmouth! Their winning pattern was fishing isolated rocks offshore with hair jigs and a Ned rig. In 2nd and only 4.25 inches behind was team Bullinger with an 84.25” stringer of largemouth. They switched from jigs to a dropshot to keep their finesse presentation from the vegetation off the lake floor. Only 3” behind Bullinger’s for 3rd place was Team Kyle Okke and Ben Wednt, they caught a mixed bag of both largemouth and smallmouth for a stringer of 81.25”, working finesse jigs extremely slow gave them success. As you can gather from the top three teams, the key to success was finesse!

Another treat for the club members fishing this event was Team Jason Mitchell and Tory Holen. They had an opportunity to fish this tournament with us and partook in our post-tournament wrap up. It was great to see a great multi-species angler like Jason fish with the Bandits and share in post-tournament festivities. We all hope to see more of them in future events!
Our next tournament will be on Lake Sakakawea at Dakota Waters Resort on June 6th. Great news is we have tournament permits for the remainder of the 2020 season! This means we will be resuming traditional format with launch and weigh ins.

Nelson Lake Social Distancing Fishing Challenge

Badlands bass bandits north dakota

Some nice bass were caught!

We are living in an unprecedented time that has changed our lives currently. Fishing tournaments nation wide have been postponed or cancelled, this was no exception for us in North Dakota, where all tournament permits were revoked for the months of April and May. Rightly so, because of COVID-19 looming, and traditional tournaments having gatherings for launches/weigh-ins, NDGF made this difficult decision with much consideration to keep anglers safe.

But the collective of anglers that make up the Badlands Bass Bandits wanted to find a way to remain competitive while fishing, to keep the 14-year legacy of this club alive. And in today’s technological era, a solution was found! Today, mobile apps exist for tournament angling that allow a group to compete on any body of water without ever seeing each other, in a catch-record-picture-release format. This created the birth of the Badlands Bass Bandits Social Distancing Fishing Challenge!

We all showed up and launched boats when we wanted to show up and where we wanted to launch from just like a regular day of fishing. We utilized the @fishdonkey app and used a catch-measure-release format to track results, and we were more than thrilled how things worked. This format is different from what we were use to but it kept our season on track and even though we fished with no entry fee anglers still competed for AOY points and the top 3 teams will receive their plaques when we can resume our season as normal! Technology is great thanks to @fishdonkey !

Although the forecast looked promising, calm winds with moderate temperatures, mother nature always knows when the bandits are competing and after the sun rose the wind came with it. But this did not stop the bandits as many fish were caught!

Coming in with the biggest stringer and biggest fish of the day was Team Bullinger with a whopping 96” stringer of 5 fish and a 21.25” behemoth big bass! This was a new PB for Scott, congrats on your new PB!! Coming in 2nd was team Blomberg (Colton Blomberg, Tanner Mallams, & John Lancaster) with a 93” stringer and close behind in 3rd was team Arth with 91” of bass.

The top three teams said it was all in the finesse; jigs, tubes, and wacky rigs were what got the job done for today’s winners. It was a new way of competing for the club, but a viable way to keep our tradition of competitive club angling alive, and the competitive spirit of our club remains alive!

Please join us for our next event on May 23rd at Wood Lake!

Ice Bowl Fun!bass boat nd

Some nice fish at the Ice Bowl!

The Bandits held there annual Ice Bowl at Nelson Lake on March 28th to celebrate the start of the new year!. 11 Teams competed to catch the greatest total length of 6 bass. It was a beautiful day and the bass were cooperatig! Lots of nice fish were caught throughout the day. Coming in first place and taking home the Ice Bowl trophy was the team of Matt Sullivan and Dylan Martell with 114.25 inches! They measured in two of the biggest fish today at 21 inches. Congrats on some great catches!

Our next event is on April 25th for our first offical tournament at Nelson Lake!