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65
Boats
Air Temp: 60 Degrees
Winds: NNW 20-30 MPH
Water Temp: 58 Degrees
The
second event of the year for the Illini Team Trail Southern
Division started out with very cool conditions in the morning but
warmed up in the afternoon with temperatures close to 60 degrees.
The wind was another story with winds over 20 MPH with
gusts in the 30 MPH range. It
made for tougher conditions for the 65 teams competing but
Lake
of
Egypt
continued to produce impressive numbers of fish.
A large number of limits and several fish over 5 pound were
weighed. A variety of
patterns were producing this weekend but the jig was the bait of
choice for the leading teams.
Leading
the way in 1st place was the Scott City, MO team of Steven and
Richard Armstrong. This
team was on fire this weekend.
On Saturday, they finished 1st in the FOCAS tournament with
over 21 pounds. On
Sunday, the Armstrong brothers brought another limit to the scales
weighing an incredible 24.40 pounds.
The team caught 9 keepers throughout the day and came it
with a limit that included a 6 pound even bass that barely missed
Big Bass and four other bass that looked identical that weighed
between 4 ½ and 5 pounds each.
The team caught their fish on black and blue ½ oz Denny
Brauer Pro-Model jigs with a solid blue Zoom trailer.
A big jig was the key for team in their victory.
They caught there fish towards the lower end of the lake in
5 to 8 feet of water. The
Armstrong team was pretty modest about their victory but it was an
impressive weekend for them and one of the best back to back days
of tournament fishing in the last several years on
Lake
of
Egypt
.
Finishing
in 2nd place was Bob McPeak of
Belleville
,
IL
and Frank Clark of
Benton
,
IL
. They had a limit
weighing 18.11 pounds. The
team caught 10 keepers through the day and a green pumpkin jig was
the bait of choice. They
did note catching several fish on a shakey head worm but the
bigger fish came on a jig. They
also caught their fish in the 5 to 8 foot range.
In
3rd place was the Edwardsville, IL team of Danny Schipkowski and
Steve Tucker. Their
limit of fish weighed in at 17.55 pounds.
They also caught their fish on jigs.
Big
bass of the day went to Buck Bate of
Zeigler
,
IL
and Jeff Nowland of
Waltonville
,
IL
. The big bass weighed
in at 6.04 pounds and was taken on a sweet beaver bait.
It was caught in 10 to 15 feet of water in grass.
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