Winners Horvath and Sterling with their catchJason Horvath (South Bend) and Brad Sterling (Bremen) weighed an 11.08-pound limit of smallmouth bass to win the R&B Circuit Open on the St. Joseph River at 6 Span last weekend.

Fishing was tough in the 38 degree water as only 29 fish were weighed in among the 19 teams participating. The tournament was originally scheduled for Lake Wawasee but had to be moved to the river because of frozen lakes.

The winners fooled all of their fish on Silver Buddy blade baits fished between 6-8 feet of water. They won $344.

Steve Szymczak (Osceola) and Jordan Felton (Osceola) brought a 9.76 pound limit of smallmouth to finish second ($244). They boated 30 fish over the 15-inch slot limit by slinging both Milk Run Lures Chicken Lips and Red Eye Shad around wood in 3 to 8 feet of water.

3rd Place: Despite a dead cranking battery, Andy Jenkins (Elkhart) and Scott Beard (Elkhart) managed 4 smallmouth weighing 8.93 pounds for third place ($140). They tricked their fish with both green pumpkin grubs and tubes.

The 4.64-pound largemouth won Buss and Fennell big bass prizeThe big bass was a 4.64-pound largemouth caught in a channel on a swimbait matched up with a D's Lures swimjig by Andy Buss (North Liberty) and Mark Fennell (Lagrange). The fish earned them $190.