Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
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Arjay’s Report
Louie Stout and Jeremy Bunnell 1st Place
Jeremy Bunnell and Louie Stout broke out of a season-long slump this week by winning Arjay’s Wednesday League season finale on Klinger Lake.
The Wild Minnow Bait winners had a limit that weighed 9.92 pounds anchored by the Tackle Shack Big Bass, a 2.74-pound smallmouth. They fished Texas-rigged plastics in 22 to 26 feet of water to win.
Steve and Amy Martin - 2nd Place
Scott Carpenter and Brandon Flowers - 3rd Place
Steve and Amy Martin were second with an 8.86-pound limit while Scott Carpenter and Brandon Flowers were third with 8.02 pounds.
Junior Yoder and Eddie (no last name provided) finished fourth with 8 pounds while Doug and Eric Sanderson were fifth with 7.74 pounds.
Ryan Hershberger and Dale Raber took home the Clear H2o first out of money prize with 7.66 pounds. Mark Gunthorpe and Josh Roberts won the Jaywalkers second out of money award with 7.17 pounds and Mike and Mark Oldenberg the Michiana Outdoors News third out of money prize with 7 pounds.
The Pigeon Inn Junk Fish prize went to the Oldenbergs with a rock bass weighing 0.84 pounds.
Those that qualified for the Classic will compete at Gull Lake Sept. 12.
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Best Catch Report
The Best Catch Couples Circuit ran into a very stubborn fishery at the Barbee Chain last weekend.
Craig and Heather Fannin - 1st Place
However, Craig and Heather Fannin managed to figure something out and caught the only limit. It weighed 8.01-pounds and included the tournamentís biggest bass, a 2.09 pounder.
Mark and Bobbie Flotow - 2nd Place
Chuck and Emily Sidwell - 3rd Place
Mark and Bobbie Flotow were second with 4.02 pounds while Chuck and Emily Sidwell only had one fish for 1.14 pounds that was good enough for third place.
The few that were brought to the scales were caught near weeds on worms and jigs.
Best Catch Couples will end their season with the Classic Event at Muskegon Lake September 13th.
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Arjays Report
Ben Harrison and TJ Reed - 1st Place
Ben Harrison and TJ Reed blew away the rest of the Arjays Wednesday nighter field with 15.96 pounds on Clear Lake this week.
The winners fished deep weed edges, catching fish 15 to 18 feet on crankbaits, drop shots and jigs.
Steve and Amy Martin - 2nd Place
Steve and Amy Martin were second with 9.48 pounds while Ryan Hershberger and Dale Raber were third with 7.94 pounds. Steven Wickey and Jeremiah Yoder were fourth with 7.04 pounds and Sawyer and Travis Brown fifth with 6.64 pounds.
Wickey and Yoder also won the big bass pot with a 4.16-pound largemouth.
Winning other prizes were Robert Hagen and Brandon Kauffman, Clear H2o Tackle first out of the money, with 5.22 pounds; Scott Carpenter and Brandon Flowers, Jaywalkers second out of money, 5.18 pounds; Ryan Miller and Chris Bundy, Michiana Outdoors News third out of money, 3.94 pounds; and Hershberger and Raber, junk fish, with a 6 pound pike.
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By Jody White - FLW News
Michigan’s Ron Nelson Adds FLW Angler of Year to His List of Accomplishments/p>
Winning the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit Angler of the Year title is no mean feat, but Ron Nelson of Berrien Springs, Mich. made it look easy this year.
Finishing 11th or better in the first three events at Sam Rayburn, the Harris Chain and Lake Martin, the Michigan pro kept it rolling in the second phase of the season when the Super Tournaments started. At Chickamauga he made the cut and finished 41st, then finished 12th at the Mississippi River and locked up the title by making the top 50 (currently in 18th place) at Lake Erie. For his win, Nelson will get his 2021 Pro Circuit entry fees paid, as well as a nice piece of hardware for his mantle.
Nelson has an unimpeachable record, having won the Polaris Rookie of the Year title in his first year as a pro and owning three Toyota FLW Series wins.
Now, with the AOY win under his belt, he’s cemented himself as one of the hottest and best anglers in the country, but he’s not going to be taking a break anytime soon.
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By Al McGuckin
Legendary Yelas Went Old Skool at St. Clair for Another Top 10
Jay Yelas launched his pro career in 1989 by living in a van as a tournament fishing vagabond when gas was $1 a gallon. Now age 54, he is truly one of professional bass fishing’s living legends.
Yelas dominated the Bassmaster Classic in 2002 en route to victory, won the Bassmaster Angler of the Year title in 2003, and was recently voted a 2020 inductee of the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. He has notched a Top 10 B.A.S.S. finish in five different decades
At Lake St. Clair, the former Oregon State forestry major finished 9th and taught the bass fishing universe that even now in the strangest of times, it’s not all about super high-tech sonar and drop shots. Instead, Yelas proved the old skool technique of burning skirted blade baits in shallow water still gets the attention of meaty bad attitude smallmouth.
“We used to catch ‘em really good here in the 1990s by burning spinnerbaits on shallow flats, but in recent years that pattern hasn’t worked very well,” reflects Yelas. “But man, it worked this week!”
“I fished in 5 to 7-feet of water all week on a flat with scattered vegetation that had current flowing across it. I put my trolling motor on high, made a ton of casts, and burned that vibrating jig on a fast 7.5:1 Lew’s baitcasting reel, and the smallies smashed it like they did in the good old days,” grinned the Yamaha pro.
The vibrating jig known best as a Chatterbait was invented by Ron Davis Sr. in South Carolina, but it didn’t hit the market until 2004. So Yelas’s weapon of choice this past week on St. Clair wasn’t even available in those “good old days” 30 years ago. But they are now, and Yelas pays $17 a piece for them, just like you and me.
He doesn’t pay for their trailers however, as his longtime treasured sponsor Gary Yamamoto makes both a Zako swimbait style trailer, and a Zako Kicker paddle tail trailer for vibrating jigs. Yelas used both versions of the highly effective trailers on St. Clair and chose a heavy ¾ ounce vibrating jig so he could make long casts in clear water and be able to burn it back to the boat.
“I may not have won, but I’m proud of my Top 10 finish, and I’ll promise you nobody had more fun than me last week on St. Clair. That pattern is just so awesome, it’s addicting,” grins the longtime Toyota Bonus Bucks participant.
“Mark Zona watched me fish for a while out there on the water and said, “Man, Jay, you’re going old skool on us this week.” I told him, “Heck yea, I am old skool,” laughed Yelas.