2021’s Badlands Bass Bandits season is off with a BANG on Nelson!

Badlands bass bandits north dakota

Tony Mckay's Last Dance Pay Off

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!!

Nelson Lake

Flyer PDF

Badlands Bass Bandit's
North Dakota Bass Fishing Challenge!

This is the North Dakota Bass Fishing Challenge! Hosted by the Badlands Bass Bandits. This is an online tournament where anglers of all ages and abilities can compete in a fun, season-long format in North Dakota fishing for bass! Shore fishing, kayaks, canoes, float tubes, & boats are all welcome.

Here is how it works:

How do I sign up?
Download the Fish Donkey App

Search for “North Dakota Bass Fishing Challenge”
Entry Fee: $25 per person

When: The North Dakota Bass Fishing Challenge will start at Midnight May 1st and will conclude October 31st of this year. Participants can sign up to participate and make entries any time during the contest!

Where: All North Dakota Waters are open to fish for the North Dakota Bass Fishing Challenge

Prize Categories:
[prizes may be added as sponsors are found]

Longest 5 Largemouth bass (by length in inches)
Winner receives 40% of the cash pot

Longest 5 Smallmouth bass (by length in inches)
Winner receives 40% of the cash pot

Largest Largemouth Bass (by length in inches)
Winner receives 5% of the cash pot
Winner will also receive a tackle package

Largest Smallmouth Bass (by length in inches)
Winner receives 5% of the cash pot
Winner will also receive a tackle package

Rules to enter a fish:
[all rules are in place to ensure a fair contest for all]

Picture + Video Evidence:
(if these criteria cannot be met, the entry will be disqualified), all three of the below criteria are executed within the Fish Donkey App

1) A clear picture of the entire bass on a bump board with nose up to the bump, the tail can be pinched.
2) A hero shot (you holding the fish), if by yourself a selfie will also work.

3) A release video.

We promote catch and release of bass as a fishing club
This ensures the same fish cannot be entered several times in an entry
If a fish is placed into a live well, it cannot be released. This is an NDGF law and there is no exceptions. To be clear, it would be illegal to place a fish into a live well to prepare taking a picture & video to enter a fish into this contest and subsequently releasing that fish.

Bump Boards and Measuring Fish
A bump board must be used to measure bass. A Bump Board is a flat or concave measuring device made from plastic, wood, or metal, with an end lip that turn upwards 90 degrees where you place the fish's mouth. Bump boards can range from 20 to 60+ inches in length and most commonly measure fish in quarter-inch increments.
Entries can be measured and entered down to the ¼” increment. If the bump board being used only measures in ½” or 1” increments, measurements can only be accepted by that board’s measurement increments.

Place the bass on the bump board with a closed mouth and have the nose placed against the bump (the lip or zero mark), bass can be measured to the ¼” increment, if the tail clearly breaks the ¼” mark it should be rounded up to the next largest ¼”.

Additional Rules
Bass must be caught in North Dakota Waters, if a contestant is found to have entered fish from another state, they will be disqualified from the tournaments and not be refunded their entry fee.
All ND Game and Fish Department fishing rules must be followed
Fish weighed in during Badlands Bass Bandits tournaments will NOT count for this contest.
In the circumstance of a tie:
For largest stringer of largemouth or smallmouth bass, the contestant with the largest fish will win
For largest fish, both hero shots will be shared on Badlands Bass Bandits social media pages and members will vote for which fish they feel is larger.

Team Member 1	Team Member 2	Team Member 3	# Fish	Big Bass	Species	Total Weight	Dead Fish Penalty	Final Weight	Place	Points	Average Weight
Tony McKay			3	6.28	LMB	15.14	0	15.14	1	100	5.05
Scott Bullinger	Brandon Bullinger	Logan Bullinger	3	5.33	LMB	13.95	0	13.95	2	99	4.65
Tanner Mallams	John Lancaster		3	4.82	LMB	12.45	0	12.45	3	98	4.15
Kyle Okke	Lewis Kuppler		3	4.58	LMB	12.3	0	12.3	4	97	4.10
Drew Morgan	Issac Young	Felipe Ferreira	3	4.96	LMB	12.1	0	12.1	5	96	4.03
Matt Schnieder	Mat Rose	Lexi Rose	3		LMB	11.44	0	11.44	6	95	3.81
Carl Hayden	Bryan Feickert		3	4.38	LMB	11.15	0	11.15	7	94	3.72
Justin Kanges			3		LMB	10.76	0	10.76	8	93	3.59
Taiton Weigel	Robert Weigel	Tim Clewellyn	3	3.68	LMB	10.49	0	10.49	9	92	3.50
Aaron Stenvold	LeAnn Stenvold	Cameron Hofer	3	4.18	LMB	9.74	0	9.74	10	91	3.25
Kim Fundinsland	Kelli Fundinsland-Jaenesch		3	4.34	LMB	9.7	0	9.7	11	90	3.23
John Wadsworth	Gayla Loyd		3	4.23	LMB	9.5	0	9.5	12	89	3.17
Willie Kist			3	3.15	LMB	9.47	0	9.47	13	88	3.16
Paul Reinbold	Tony Reinbold	Bob Reinbold	3	4.32	LMB	9.36	0	9.36	14	87	3.12
Wes Hall	Tyler Hardy		3	3.08	LMB	9.1	0	9.1	15	86	3.03
Bryan Coble	Becky Martillo		3		LMB	8.33	0	8.33	16	85	2.78
Dan Martel	Alex Martel		3		LMB	8.04	0	8.04	17	84	2.68
Michael Messall	Angela Messall		3	2	LMB	6.01	0	6.01	18	83	2.00
Brett Messall	Brycen Johnson		2		LMB	6.01	0	6.01	19	82	3.01
Justin Enney	Cami Enney		2		LMB	4.25	0	4.25	20	81	2.13
Jason Perius			DNW						21	50
Curt Manley			DNW						21	50