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The Wisconsin
Bass Federation – State Championship
As the 114
anglers headed out into the bay they were met with partly cloudy
skies and flat calm waters Saturday morning, but that didn’t
last long. By 9am the rain came in and the wind began to blow
from the north. The temperatures were in the 70’s, and it rained
through the morning. By 10 am there were 6- 8 foot waves which
made it almost impossible to fish, in fact 25% of the field
didn’t even make it in to the weigh-in. Those who did weigh-in
were soaked from head to toe. Due to the weather the weights
were pretty low. Day 1 leader, Russ Cable had just over 16
lbs. About the only largemouth brought to the scales came in as
the big bass as day one weighing 4.490 lbs caught by Mark Groth.
Day 2 started
out very nice with light winds and 70 degrees, and it only got
nicer. It was a very sunny day and the temps got into the 80’s.
With the fishable wind the catches should have been better, and
they were. Several big sacks were brought to the scales led by
Butch Derickson’s 20.05 lbs., the largest bag of the tournament,
with his biggest bass weighing 4.770 lbs.
Russ
Cable finished in First place with a total weight of 30.280 lbs.
The
fish on the Bay have definitely moved out to their summer
homes. I spoke with several of the top anglers and the
predominate pattern was fishing off shore structure in 10 – 25
feet of water, dragging
ISG Dream Tubes and dropshoting
ISG Dream Gobies and Poor Boys Gobies.
It was also mentioned there was a very good top water bite using
poppers and spooks. The fish have a healthy supply of gobies to
eat, they are just everywhere. They can be an irritating
distraction constantly biting at your bait.
Russ
took home a Brand new
Minn Kota Maxxum Pro 80 Trolling Motor
worth $1100.00 and will receive $1000.00 from
Ranger Boats for being the highest
finishing boater at the tournament. Ranger will also pay $500.00
to Dan Elsner for being the highest finishing non-boater and 10
Ranger Cup winners a minimum of $300.00 each at this event,
those that ran Rangers with Yamaha or Evinrude will win an
additional $300.00.
Top row(left to right) – Russ Cable, Roger Teske,
Kevin Raimer, Jim Jones, Chris Johnson, Warren Thomas, Dan
Elsner, Dru Appelhans.
Bottom
row(left to right) - Jack Stahulak, Chad Johnson, Chris Jones,
Nick Smyers, Dave Aldrich, Rick Bosshard
All
the anglers that fished this tournament had to first qualify
through their local club and then finish in the top 30% of a
regional Zone Tournament. The top 12 anglers from this
tournament will go on to the
TBF, Inc Northern Divisional
Tournament in Ohio on Lake Erie next September. From there, the
top two anglers from each state will move on to the BFL All
American and possibly even go on to the FLW Championship.
1. Russ Cable
- 30.820#
2. Warren Thomas - 29.685#
3. Dan Elsner - 28.795#
4. Roger Teske - 25.460#
5. Jim Jones - 25.300#
6. Nick Smyers - 23.840#
7. Dave Aldrich - 23.670#
8. Chad Johnson - 23.190#
9. Chris Johnson - 22.870#
10. Rick Bosshard - 21.880#
11. Chris Jones - 21.870#
12. Dru Appelhans - 21.680#
1st Alternate - Kevin Raimer - 21.645#
2nd Alternate - Jack Stahulak - 21.380#
The
Wisconsin Bass Federation would like
to thank all of our sponsors.
Ranger
Boats,
Minn Kota,
Yamaha,
Keelshield,
Lowrance,
Brovarney Baits,
Charter Communications,
FLW,
Rejuvenade,
Evinrude and
BassFan!
Their continued
support of our Federation members help keep us going strong! |
