Tackle Shack Report

John Gipson and Ken Holder - 1st Place

John Gipson and Ken Holder blasted 23.08 pounds at Gull Lake last weekend to win the Tackle Shack Open.

Several big limits were caught and most came via the use of forward facing sonar in deep water. The field carried 145 fish weighing 395 pounds to the scales for an incredible 2.73-pound average.

Gipson said he and Holder fished from 20 to 80 feet.

“We had the most luck on drop-shots and Strike King swimbaits,” he said. “We used really heavy weights ½ ounce or bigger to try to trigger reaction strikes from the bass. We caught the bass we weighed by noon, and couldn’t upgrade after that, but we did catch a handful of 2.5 to 4 pounders until the end. The fish seemed to relate to baitfish.”

Ron Fabiszak and Neil Vandebiezen - 2nd Place

Ron Fabiszak and Neil Vandebiezen were second with 20.38 pounds. They fished suspended fish over water as deep as 100 feet.

“We used drop shots and swimbaits,” said Fabiszak. “We caught fish all day and slowly culled up, We probably caught 10 keepers.”

en Harrison and Trevor Jancasz - 3rd Place

 Ben Harrison and Trevor Jancasz were third with 20.09 pounds and had the Poor Boy’s Baits Big Bass of the tournament, a 6.20-pound smallmouth.

“It was a grinder out there,” said Jancasz. “Our big bass came mid-day when the sun started to shine.  We were targeting deep fish using Garmin Livescope, and used a Strike King Half Shell on a drop shot to catch the fish.”

Bill Mathews and Kris Iodice - 4th Place

 Bill Mathews and Kris Iodice were fourth with 18.70 pounds.

“We started off slow and got our limit around 11 a.m.,” said Mathews. “We were picking fish off one by one in several different spots.  Later in the day things picked up and we made a handful of culls back to back. “We found a few pods of fish schooled up in 25-30 feet of water and caught them on drop shots and Ned rigs.”