Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Friday, October 10, 2025
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Stars and Stripes Report
Big bass continue to dominate at Gull Lake, especially for anglers using forward facing sonar.
Kyle Smith and Rickey Lynch won with a whopping 21.16 pounds.
“We caught them out deep on a minnow,” they said. “It was a tough bite but we were fortunate to get a few big smallmouth to bite which are key to being successful on Gull.”
They fished from 40-60 feet deep. Their biggest smallmouth came within the first 30 minutes of the event.
Jesse Richardson and Lance Cole finished a close second with 20.71 pounds.
“All the fish caught today were on Tightliner's Customs ball head. We used a bunch of different minnows today we got at The Angler, Inc.” They were targeting similar depths. They also mentioned they caught LOTS of bass and culled up throughout the day.
Third place Luke Toliver wasn’t far behind with 20.65 pounds.
Travis and Charlie Terry caught the biggest bass of the tourney, a 4.87 pounder.
The season finale is at Austin Lake on August 24th. Entry is $100, no membership required. It’s an eight hour event that will start at safe light.
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SMAC Report
Docks were in play Tuesday night in the Southwest Michigan Anglers Club tourney on Diamond Lake.
Scott Crocker and Terry Smith returned to the winner’s circle with a limit weighing 11.56 pounds. Their sack was topped by big bass of the tourney, a 4-pound largemouth. They said they fished Senkos and jigs in shallow water.
Billy Mathews also fished shallow and alone to finish second with 11.47 pounds. He fished BAFA jigs.
Third went to Mike VanderReyden and Brett Gessinger with a 9.19-pound limit. They fished tube jigs in 5 to 10 feet.
There were 53 bass weighed in and three were smallmouth for a total weight of 94.13 pounds.
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D&R Sports Report
Randy VanDam and Miles Hanley, two top veterans who have won their share of tournaments over the years, hit the jackpot in the D&R Sports Center Series last weekend on the Grand River.
VanDam and Hanley had 17.43 pounds, anchored by a 4.04 pounder.
"We caught them on anything and everything,” says VanDam, D&R Sports Center owner, brother of Kevin VanDam and father of Jonathon VanDam. “We were junk fishing, honestly, working through the main river and hitting bayous here and there. Miles would cast to a spot with a Rage bug and I would go in behind with a Crush City bait and we tag teamed most of the water.
“The wind picked up and I pulled out a spinnerbait and caught a few on that - I actually had lost a few good ones that we thought were going to hurt us, but everything turned out just fine.”
It sure did. They won by nearly three pounds.
Cyrus and Foxx Ruel were second with 14.54 pounds.
“Foxx and I started the day trying some deep cover off the main river where we were able to boat only a single keeper,” Cyrus explains. “After an hour or so of fishing deeper isolated cover we decided to make a change and ran to another rather popular area with a little current and lots of shallow vegetation.”
They were flipping mixed grass and lily pads in 3 feet or less.
“We caught two keepers pretty quickly, targeting areas closer to the edge of the pads,” he adds. “We really took our time and picked that area apart, catching several keeper fish and filling our limit in one stretch less than 200 yards long.
“We passed another boat on the opposite bank that also flipping but we didn't see them boat any fish. We debated on fishing the other side where he had fished and Foxx thought we should run it because whatever we are doing, it was working. I'm glad we did, as our two biggest fish, both over 3.5 pounds, came off that bank and we were able to upgrade by several pounds.”
Third place went to Brian Burmania and Don Watts with 13.37 pounds.
David Hooker and Kyle Borst were fourth with 13.11.
Paul Simonis and Marc Rosel finished fifth with 12.76 pounds but they also had the biggest bass of the tourney, 4.97 pounder.
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Michiana Singles Report
Eight of 10 teams competing in the Michiana Singles on Diamond Lake last week weighed in a limit.
Bill Mathews, who broke a rod trying to swing a big bass into the boat, still ended up winning with 11.68 pounds to earn $210 and also had the big bass of the day, a 3.68-pound largemouth which earned him another $45. Mathews used a 3/8-ounce BAFA jig in shallow water and around docks.
Rick Kedik also fished docks to finish second with 9.86 pounds. Kedik fished used Trokars Pro V worm hooks topped with Butchers Baits custom color stick worms to take home $100.
Tanner Hursh used forward facing sonar to garner 3rd place with 9.20 pounds, to pocket $50. Hursh cast jigs and drop-shots in 15 feet.
The last two Open Singles events are Thursday, Oct. 9th at Eagle Lake and Sunday Oct. 12th at Magician Lake.
The Michiana Singles Classic will be Nov. 1-2 with one day on Muskegon Lake and day two at Benton Harbor. Contact Rick (269) 240-4917 or rkedik13@yahoo.com for info.
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SMAC Report
Forward facing sonar dominated the Southwest Michigan Anglers Club tournament on Paw Paw Lake over the weekend.
Although fishing was tough for most other anglers, the top finishers had big weights with smallmouth dominating their catches.
Tanner Hursh and Hayley Dodd took home the top prize with a limit of smallmouth weighing 17.74 pounds by fishing jig rigs and swim baits in 15 to 25 feet of water.
Second place went to Pat Filmore and Brent Burgess who also had a limit of smallmouth. Their fish weighed 15.35 pounds also caught on jig rigs and swim baits in 8 to 14 feet.
Justin Hahaj was third with 14.71 pounds. He used drop shot rigs in 11 feet of water.
The highlight of the weighin was Scott Smith and Gary Butcher’s 6-pound largemouth caught in 2 feet of water on a topwater.
There were 34 fished weighed in and 12 were smallmouth for a total weight of 93.83 pounds.