By Lee Duracz
The FishStyx Custom Rods’ Polar Bear Opens held a pair of tournaments over the past two weeks. Listed below are the details of each.
The next event is Saturday (Nov. 21) on the St. Joseph River at 6 Span that should be a smallmouth bass whack fest. Tournament hours are 8-3 with a $40 entry fee and optional $5 for the critter pot.
Klinger Lake
Lagodney and Evans - 1st Place
The third stop of the Polar Bear Opens visited Klinger Lake last Saturday where seven teams battled iced up rod guides during the early morning frigid temperatures but the fishing heated up.
Lagodney and Evans busted out a “monster” Klinger bag weighing 9.88 pounds that was anchored by the big bass of the tournament, a 2.78-pound smallmouth. They were seen covering shallow water quickly to earn their $225.
Bunnell and Duracz were second with a limit weighing 8.46-pounds by fishing a variety of techniques. They had a limit the first hour on blades and A-rigs and then switched up to single swimbaits as the day progressed. Luckily one hungry .46-pound perch decided to gobble up one of those single swimmers and that earned them the $125 critter pot as well.
The Friddles team had the only other limit, 7.18-pounds.
Steve and Amy Martin won the $200 FishStyx Custom Rod
The “super couple” fishing team of Steve and Amy Martin won the $200 FishStyx Custom Rod at the pre-tournament drawing.
Diamond Lake
Bunnell and Duracz - 1st Place
On Nov. 7, the Polar Bear Circuit visited Diamond Lake where Bunnell and Duracz won ($225) with 8.20 pounds, anchored by a 2.30-pound smallmouth. Most of their fish came on drop-shots and Ned rigs on shallow flats.
Second place ($110) went to Phillip Duracz and Tim Childs with 7.72 pounds. They reported that their catch came on Ned rigs fished on light line in shallow water.
Big bass honors went to the father/son team of Friddle and Friddle with a nice 2.42 pounder. They were one fish shy of a limit but still weighed in 7.24 pounds for third place to earn $105.
The final payout went to the team of Brunt and Ott who won $55 in the Critter pot with their 1.32-pound monster crappie. Some beautiful perch were also caught but fell short of the win on the critter pot.
The team of Mark and Conner won the drawing for the $200 FishStyx Custom Rod.