Fennel and Laughlin Get Big Payday in Tackle Shack Classic on Detroit River

Tackle Shack Report

Chase Fennell and Chase Laughlin - 1st Place

Chase Fennell and Chase Laughlin made a big haul in the two-day Tackle Shack Classic held on the Detroit River last weekend.

The wind and weather muddied up the water and Lake Erie was tough rough for most anglers. Yet, a lot of good sacks were weighed in.

Fennnell and Laughlin’s 44.76 pounds garnered them the win plus they won two big bass pots to take home $5,250.

They tied for Luxx Trailer Center Big Bass the first day with Brandon and Braden Bontrager with a 6.36-pound smallmouth. They caught one the second day weighing exactly the same.

They said they looked for sand and rock veins between eel grass patches. The big fish was caught on an A-rig in 18 feet of water around noon.

On the second day, Fennel caught the giant smallmouth on a crankbait in 18 feet, again around noon.

Ryan Hochestetler and Andrew Miller - 2nd Place

Ryan Hochestetler and Andrew Miller had 41.36 pounds for second ($2,400).

“We fished 50 spots a day in the river,” the team said. “We had one good starting spot on a shallow flat in 2 to 3 feet of water that had sand and scattered grass. It had a good amount of fish on it that would get us to 18 to 19 pounds quickly, and then we just ran all over, hitting 1 or 2 big fish spots.”

They said river current was really fast and trashed. They went looking for big fish early the second day and realized the current was moving too fast, so they went back to their shallow area and leaned on it. Crankbaits were the key for their bigger fish and light drop-shot rigs with Flat Worms drifted through sand caught the other fish.

Mike and Lavon Raber finished third with 39.42 pounds. They pocketed $1,500 for third and another $1,000 for the Str8 Up Mounts contingency prize.

“It was a brutal weekend of fishing the river,” said Mike Raber. “I desperately wanted to go to Lake Erie but it wasn't possible. I don't spend much time in the river anymore so we did a lot of running around to try to find something that worked.”

Raber said they started slow the first day and then bagged a good one on the A-Rig. They finished up their limit on a shallow current break by fishing tubes with a 3/8-ounce Bite Me Big Dude tube jig.

They bagged 4 good ones early the second day on two different shallow places. Those fish were caught on A-Rigs and tube jigs.

“We finished our day in the mouth of Lake Erie where we bagged a couple culls on a ½-ounce drop-shot rig with a Strike King Z-Too,” Raber added.

Most of their fish came in the 6- to 12-foot depth range.

Jake and Danny Otto won $800 for fourth place with 38.96 pounds.

“We started both days on a flat a few miles out in Erie where we found a school of holding around isolated clumps of weeds in 12 feet of water,” they said “We targeted those with crankbaits for the most part but did catch a few on the drop shots by dropping to them when they were below the boat. We would fish that until the wind got bad then run back up the river to a hump that topped out at about 3 feet with three little rock beds on it. We caught those fish on a ½-ounce Jackhammer in white or shad color.”

The Bontragers ran to Lake. St. Clair to fish break lines in 14 feet of water where they fished Poor Boys tubes. Brayden thought he was hung when he and his dad realized he had a big bass. It was the 6.36 smallmouth that tied for big bass the second day.

In other Tackle Shack news, John Gipson and Ken Holder eked out Ben Harrison and Trevor Jancasz for Anglers of the year by one point.