Garrett and Nolan Mandel repeated as Lake St. Clair Champions in the West Michigan D&R Series tournament last weekend.
Hayley Dodd and Tanner Hursh won the Southwest Michigan Anglers Club (SMAC) Tuesday night tourney at Magician Lake.
What’s the next new thing in fishing tackle?
It’s got to be new advancements in braided line. We got to see two new lines that anglers are going to love.
By Louie Stout
Michiana was well represented in the Major League Fishing Abu Garcia High School Fishing Championships recently at Lake Hartwell, S.C.
Tanner Banks and JJ Gruber
Mishawaka High School teammates Tanner Banks and JJ Gruber finished 31st out of 437 anglers in the World Championship, 65th out of 245 anglers in the national championship and 10th out of 354 in the second chance knockout round, in which they missed the cut by two ounces.
Banks will be a freshman this year at Southwest Michigan College and be a member of the collegiate bass fishing team at the school. Gruber, who is younger, is a student at Mishawaka Marian High School.
The team received support from Clear H2o Tackle, Pig Pluckers Custom Baits and Str8-Up Mounts.
By Louie Stout
Bo Thomas of Edwardsburg, Mich. - 5th Place
Bo Thomas proved again that he’s becoming a serious threat on the Bassmaster Open Tournament Trail with a fifth place finish at Lake Eufaula, OK. over the weekend.
It marked the second time he finished in the top five of a very tough and talented Bassmaster Open field that includes nearly 200 anglers. He finished fourth last year at the St. Lawrence River.
Thomas was at home resting in Edwardsburg Monday when he reflected upon his near-win in Oklahoma. He was in second place going into the last day but couldn’t get the big bites he needed to lock up the win that would have guaranteed him a spot in next winter’s Bassmaster Classic.
Three hours of Saturday’s morning competition was televised live on Fox Sports 1 and Thomas got a lot of that air time. Unlike a lot of young anglers in the opens, he handled it like a true professional.
“I wasn’t nervous at all,” he said. “I just stayed true to who I am.”
He was fishing a deep point in a creek near the Eufaula dam where the bottom was strewn with rocks, stumps and trees. He fished the same area for most of three days, catching bags of 15-8, 19-0 and 11-10.
His Garmin Livescope played a role but says he wasn’t “scoping” bass.
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