Ed note: Matt Summerlot will offer a column after each MFL tourney. This piece covers his win at Palestine March 29)
By: Matt Summerlot, Guest Columnist
Heading into the Michiana Fishing League opener at Palestine Lake, my son Hunter and I had one goal — not just to catch fish, but to figure out how to stay consistent and put ourselves in position to win or at least stay near the top.
We were only able to pre-fish the Sunday before the tournament, but for mid-March it was a great day — light wind, sunny, and stable. We launched around 10 a.m. and fished until about 3 p.m., fully expecting that whatever we found during that window would represent what we’d see on tournament day. We didn’t think an early bite would play much of a role. Looking back, that assumption was only partially right.
Our focus during practice was finding the warmest water we could find around the main lake bowl. That decision ended up being the foundation for everything that followed. Around noon, we connected with a couple quality fish — a 4.5 lb. and a 2.5 lb. — both coming from a very specific depth range of 7–9 feet. That immediately told us we were around the right fish.
From there, we tried to expand and replicate the pattern. We worked similar edges and areas but couldn’t get consistent bites. The fish we were seeing would come up and look at the bait, but they were tight to the bottom and would peel off if the presentation got too far above them. At that point, we knew we had something, just not how strong it really was or how it would set up during the tournament.
On tournament morning, 17 boats showed up and we drew a low takeoff number. We went straight to the area we had found in practice, confident it held the right fish. Right away we could see them, but they wouldn’t commit. We drifted across the area multiple times without getting bitten, and at the same time watched boats nearby catching fish consistently on an A-rig.
That’s when the doubt started to creep in. We hadn’t thrown an A-rig in practice and hadn’t started with one that morning, but watching others catch fish made it very tempting to completely switch gears. We were close to putting the jerk bait down and picking up an A-rig but instead decided to make one more pass through the area.
That decision ended up making the day.
On that next drift, everything changed. In about five minutes we caught a couple of 2-pounders and a 3.2 lb. fish, and it was obvious the fish had finally turned on. From that point forward, every drift across that stretch produced fish, typically 3–5 per pass, and the quality was there. All our fish came from that same 7- to 9-foot zone where grass was just starting to emerge.
The key was how those fish were positioned and how they reacted. They were sitting tight to the grass, not roaming high in the water column, and would come out to chase a bait moving through their zone. The jerkbait ended up being the deal, specifically the Yo-Zuri 3DB Series Jerk bait SP 110, but not just any retrieve. Quick, aggressive jerks with minimal pause triggered bites, while any extended pause would cause fish to follow and turn away. Keeping the bait moving forced them to commit.
As the day went on, that stretch continued to produce, including the biggest fish of the tournament at 6 lb. 8 oz. At one point we estimated we had around 18 pounds and made a short move to check another area, but that didn’t improve anything. We caught a few smaller fish, but nothing that helped, and in hindsight the right decision was simply to stay and continue maximizing the area we had.
By the end of the day, we brought in 17.86 pounds that included the big bass of the tournament (6.56 pounds), which was enough to take the win. More importantly, it reinforced a few key lessons — finding the right area matters more than finding scattered fish, timing can change everything in a matter of minutes, and small adjustments in presentation can be the difference between a follow and a bite. Most of all, it reinforced the importance of trusting what you’ve found, even when it’s tempting to abandon it.
This event was part of the Michigan Fishing League, and it was great to see a strong field and solid competition across all 17 boats. There were some good bags brought in, and it’s always good to see multiple teams figure things out in different ways. That’s what makes this league competitive — no two events fish the same, and every team must adjust in real time.
As the season progresses, points and consistency will become more important, and the goal is to stay in that top group week in and week out. Next up is Lake of the Woods, which will be a completely different challenge. A smaller, shallower lake that will likely revolve more around warming trends, cover, and fish movement rather than offshore staging.
But the approach doesn’t change.
Find the pattern, trust it, and execute.