St. Joe River  (Benton Harbor)

11/1/2008

This was officially the last tournament of the 2008 bass fishing season here in Michigan.  I was expecting the weather to be cold and snowy but instead we were surprised by 60 degrees and sunshine.  Overall the fishing was slow for most of the boats fishing the tournament.  Only one boat brought in a limit of smallies.  Luckily John Gipson Jr. and I seemed to have the magic touch today.  We were on fire most of the morning!  After the first 2 hours John and I caught 3 limits of bass and our best five weighed around 18 pounds.  We were able to steadily upgrade throughout the day as well culling our way up to around 21 pounds.  We caught most of our bass on home made blade baits and home made plastics.  I think another one of the keys to our success was using 6 lb Gamma Edge Fluorocarbon line.  The fish were picky but Jr and I managed to catch at least 30 keepers today. 

Ron and Randy Nelson ended up finishing in second place with around 17 pounds.  The team of Rank and Miles ended up finishing in third place with 8 pounds 10 ounces.  John Gipson Jr. and I were the winners with 20 pounds 5 ounces.  We also won big bass honors with a 4 pound 6 ounce toad.

20 pounds 5 ounces

St. Joe River (Benton Harbor)

9/27/2008

I don't even know how to express how fantastic the smallie fishing was today.  I caught 5 limits of fish using multiple techniques.  I started the tournament fishing shallow with top water baits up river.  The area I was fishing was loaded with bait and the smallies were gorging themselves.  My best five from this spot weighed 15 pounds and that included a 4 pound 14 ounce hog.  I fished a couple other shallow spots and culled up to 17 pounds.  There was 3 hours left in the tournament when I headed out into Lake Michigan looking for a couple giants.  I only managed to land two out of six bass I had on but they were both giants.  One weighed 5 pounds and the other was 4 pounds 5 ounces.  I was up to around twenty pounds on my X-Tool.  What a day!!!

I thought I had the tournament all wrapped up but Mike Mabry and Matt Wenzel had a great day themselves.  They were pulling one huge smallie after another out of their livewell.  They had a limit that weighed 17 pounds 4 ounces and their biggest bass weighed a little over 4 pounds.  I ended up having five bass that weighed 18 pounds 14 ounces but I didn't put the plastic top over my fish so I think I had more like 19 pounds 14 ounces.  I also won big bass with a 4 pound 15 ounce toad.

17 pounds 4 ounces

19 pounds

Paw Paw Lake

August 30, 2008

We had 6 boats that came out to battle Paw Paw Lake's monster bass this foggy morning.  I mean it was seriously foggy outside!!  I couldn't see 30 yards in front of me.  The fog hung around most of the morning too.  It finally cleared up by 9:00 am and the game was on.  The fish were hanging out around docks for the most part.  We skipped various baits around docks to catch our limit of bass.  It sounded like most of the anglers caught their bass around docks. 

Third place went to Herman Barry and Phil Strakowski with a good limit weighing 12 pounds 12 ounces.  Ken Plencner and Rich Osgood finished in second place with five bass weighing 13 pounds 1 ounce.  They also caught the biggest bass of the tournament with a 4 pound 11 ounce giant.  John Gipson Jr. and I won first place with a limit weighing 15 pounds 1 ounce.

15 Pounds 1 ounce

12 pounds 12 ounces

 The Next Van Dam!!!!!