South Shore Report
The 2025 South Shore Bass Open presented by Horseshoe Hammond drew 47 teams this year compared to 36 in its inaugural year last year. Anglers from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Tennessee, Georgia and Florida registered to take on the many smallmouth and largemouth bass that inhabit Lake Michigan and its connecting rivers, lakes and tributaries.
Much larger bags were weighed in this year compared to last year with a 19.44 limit hitting the scales on Day 1. Anglers Cody Bertrand and Edan Czarobski took the Day 1 lead with that limit of smallmouth.
When the scales settled on Day 2, Scott Christy and Tyler Christy a father and son team, who started Day 2 in 14th place took home the victory weighing in an impressive bag of smallmouths. They didn’t have a keeper at 12 o’clock and decided to run to a spot 18 miles from where they were. When they dropped the trolling motor in the water, their graph lit up with smallies on an offshore structure. They said they had their winning limit in about 25 minutes, although they didn’t think at the time it was enough to win but maybe enough to cash a check.
The Day 1 leaders brought 4 fish to the scales and took home 2nd place for $4,000. They were one 14” keeper short of winning it all.
Team Christy took the Title and a check for $12,000 plus a bonus check of $400 for having the overall heaviest 5 fish limit for the tournament.
The 2026 South Shore Bass Open is scheduled for August 1-2, 2026. Information will be available at southshorebass.com.