Goose Ranch Bass Fishing Tourney Results

Saturday, May 17th started out at 38 degrees. The water temps were in the low 60's whereas just 5 days earlier they were in the low 70's... The wet, dreary cold overcast weather from the day before was gone and we had the typical post cold front bright blue bird skies for our fishing tournament. Basically what I am getting at is although the weather was very nice for being outside, it wasnt optimum fish feeding conditions....

Here is a pic of the weigh in overlooking the big lake. We ate very good at weigh in. Chef Todd and my mom put together a nice spread:



So naturally the tournament got off to a slow start, but after a couple hours fish started to wake up a bit and some of the guys were able to string a few bites together to make for a very respectable weigh-in! There were about 50 bass weighed in over 3 lbs.


This tournament was alot different than most typical bass tournaments... Actually it was more like two tournaments in one. The grand prize was for the team who caught the most bass and the other grand prize was for the team who caught the heaviest 5 fish over 15"...

Let me just say in private lakes and ponds, largemouth bass OVERPOPULATION is the NUMBER ONE problem. Bass are born every year, and 95% of them need to be eliminated in order to grow BIG bass. In my opinion, only about 5 bass out of a 100 should be returned back into most private bodies of water....

Here is something you must keep in mind when fishing private lakes and ponds- you still need a fishing license and you still need to follow state fishing regulations. I dont agree with this law one bit for following state regulations on private property with privately stocked fish, but hopefully someday it will change. The law is outdated, because the state no longer gives out fish for private pond stocking, so the laws need to be updated accordingly as well.

Anyhow Joe and Jon won the tournament for heaviest 5 fish with 4 fish totalling exactly 14.00 lbs. Curt and Joe had 5 fish for 12.79 lbs and Mike Q had 3 fish for 11.58 lbs and Matt and Elliot had 4 fish for 11.44 lbs....

Bryce Wegman had big bass of the tournament from highrise lake: 5.64 lbs


Chad Schieler came in close second also from highrise lake at 5.60 lbs. That fish needed to keep down her breakfast and she woulda easily won!!


We will be tracking data like crazy of all the bass from all the lakes at the goose ranch. Our goal for next year is to have 5 fish limits for the tournaments in the 18-22 lbs range to win. You will see the weights going upward from here, fish can grow fast when they have what they need to do so!!

Total payout for prizes for this tournament was over $4300! We hope to have another tournament this summer on Saturday, June 21. Email nate@hblakemanagement.com if you would be interested in reserving your spot. More details for it will come.

Hunter didnt get to weigh in a big fish for this his first bass tournament, but he was excited to still win a $50 presleys gift card and get to hold up one of the big bass for a pic!!


We actually saved all the big bass in our big white hauling tank, hit em with a good dose of oxygen and medication for a couple hours and then redistributed them accordingly back into the goose ranch lakes best suited for them!! That helps the fish recover from the stress of the tournament big time!