LA CROSSE, Wis. — Usually, missing your daily limit means a lead lost, but not for Tom Monsoor. The La Crosse pro’s Day 2 bag held only four keepers, but that 12 pound, 1 ounce total gave him just enough to retain the lead at the Turtlebox Bassmaster Open at Upper Mississippi River presented by Battery Tender.
A Day 1 limit of 19-6 put Monsoor at the top of the leaderboard with a margin of 1-12 over fellow La Crosse resident Aiden Denzer. After the slimmer second-round results, Monsoor’s 31-7 total again leads Denzer, but by only 2 ounces.
“I can’t believe it, this was such a terrible day,” Monsoor chuckled. “I had only one fish at noon and I thought, ‘How can this happen?’
“This was the longest, hardest day. When you don’t catch fish, it’s hard. I am mentally worn out from not catching fish. I had four bites and that’s hard on a guy.”
Monsoor tried fishing the same areas that produced for him on Day 1, but that was largely a lesson in frustration. Catching an early keeper kindled his optimism, but hope soon succumbed to the day’s harsh reality.
“As soon as I pulled up to my first spot I caught one and I thought, ‘This is gonna be good,’” Monsoor said. “I didn’t get another bite until noon.”
Monsoor said the day’s bright, still conditions hurt his bite. Contrasting the first day’s cloudy, breezy complexion, Day 2’s makeup was nice for pleasure boaters, but pretty tough for anglers.
“It was too nice for what my fish wanted,” Monsoor said. “They like it when it’s cloudy and windy.”
Same as Day 1, Monsoor started in the upper end of Pool 8. When that proved mostly unproductive, he drove back down to the La Crosse area, but came up empty.
With one keeper getting lonely in his livewell and the clock ticking, Monsoor called an audible. Locking up, he caught his other three keepers in Lake Onalaska, the 7,600-acre reservoir at the lower end of Pool 7.
“I ran spots I haven’t even fished, just looking for a bite,” Monsoor said. “I got my biggest fish when I saw a spot and said, ‘I caught some there once.’ So I ran over there and got my biggest fish around 1.”
Throughout his day, Monsoor focused on grass edges. Repeating his Day 1 analysis, Monsoor said the fish are heading to certain areas for their summer patterns, but they have not completed their seasonal transition.
The key, he said, was intercepting fish on their way to summer habitat. There’s no lack of grassbeds in this region of the Mississippi River, but Monsoor said he was targeting the most fish-friendly spots.
“You can fish 100 of the same things and they’re not there, but then you’ll go to one and they’ll be there,” he said. “Clarity is the big thing and the best spots are usually on a corner or a point.
“I probably fished 40 spots today. I ran and ran and ran and ran. I even had a school of smallmouth and a school of largemouth that I was saving, but I never got a bite from either spot.”
Monsoor caught all of his fish on his homemade 1/2-ounce swim jig with a homemade craw style trailer. On Day 1, he also caught a keeper on a swim jig fitted with a homemade urchin style bait, but that setup did not fit today’s program.
“You gotta know there’s fish there to fish as slow as you have to fish (the urchin),” Monsoor said. “I fish a swim jig fast until I know where they are and then I slow down.”
Monsoor said he hopes to return to the plan that earned his Day 1 catch. He’s comfortable with his local knowledge, so there’s no need to diverge.
Denzer bolstered his Day 1 limit of 17-10 with a second-round bag that went 13-11. Tallying a two-day total of 31-5, he held his second-place position.
Denzer got off to a slow start and found himself with about 11 pounds by mid morning. Fortunately, about 30 minutes before he headed to check in, he caught a 3 3/4-pound kicker.
“I noticed more muddy water and more floating weeds today,” Denzer said. “I caught a lot of fish, but the size was not the same as yesterday.”
Denzer kept his bait details under wraps, but he said fishing slow was the key. He focused on points where current seams create feeding opportunities for largemouth and smallmouth.
Alex Wetherell of Middletown, Conn., is in third place with 30-7. His daily weights were 17-6 and 13-1.
“Today, I had a game plan and back-up plans and we started going into the whole back-up plan bag, just because it was a lot tougher than I had anticipated,” Wetherell said. “In a couple of the areas where I thought I could go and get a quick limit, I never got a single bite.
“A lot of guys hung around in Pool 8 that I didn’t see yesterday, so it was kinda hard to get on some of the stuff that I was banking on. But I got a limit and, mentally, I knew that was a big deal here.”
Wetherell caught his fish on a mix of soft plastics and crankbaits. His day ended with a couple of key bites that boosted his total.
Wetherell holds the Phoenix Boats Big Bass lead with a 4-14.
Brody Robison of Dawson, Ala., leads the Turtlebox Bassmaster Opens presented by Battery Tender Division 2 standings with 749 points. Wyatt Burkhalter of Coker, Ala., is in second with 738, followed by Zane Parker of Kingwood, Texas with 728, Brock Bila of Republic, Mo., with 727, and Yui Aoki of Minamitsurugun, Japan with 710.
Bila leads the Nitro Boats Bassmaster Elite Qualifiers presented by Bass Pro Shops standings with 1,227 points. Dillon Falardeau of Hixson, Tenn., is in second with 1,196, followed by Burkhalter with 1,146, Trey Schroeder of Theodosia, Mo., with 1,116, and Darold Gleason of Leesville, La., with 1,116.
Saturday’s takeoff is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. CT at Veterans Freedom Park. The weigh-in will be held at the park at 2:30 p.m.
Explore La Crosse is hosting this event.
