Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Tuesday, September 30, 2025
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Casting Couples Report
Lavon and Jennifer Raber - 1st Place
Lavon and Jennifer Raber won the Casting Couples season finale at Klinger Lake last weekend.
It was the Rabers’ first-ever event with Casting Couples. They used drop-shot rigs to catch five fish totaling 9.11 pounds. They won $255.
Ryan and Alissa Yoder - 2nd Place
Ryan and Alissa Yoder were second ($130) with five bass totaling 8.44 pounds. The Yoders fished Spark Shads in 10 feet of water.
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SW Kayak League Report
Kevin Hopson of Crooked Creek, Ind. - 1st Place
Kevin Hopson of Crooked Creek, Ind. outpaced 10 other kayak anglers to win the SW Kayak League tournament at Magician Lake Sunday afternoon.
It was an encore performance for Hopson who took first at Corey Lake seven days earlier.
In fact, we could run pretty much the same story we did after the Corey-Harwood season opener, as Corey Breseman of Union, Mich., took second place and big fish, a repeat of his accomplishment at Corey in the league opener. In third was Steve Boekhout, Fremont, Ind.
Hopson, who won $170, focused on boat docks and pontoons, also similar to his approach at Corey, where he won with a Missile Ned Bomb on a 1/8-ounce jighead. At Magician, that lure wasn’t working nearly as well.
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Arjays Report
Timothy Eicher and Jeremiah Yoder - 1st Place
Timothy Eicher and Jeremiah Yoder won the Arjay’s weeknight season finale on Klinger Lake.
The winners had five fish weighing 9.44 pounds.
Gary Butcher and Scott Smith - 2nd Place
Gary Butcher and Scott Smith were second with an 8.52-pound limit.
Ryan Hershberger and Dale Raber - 3rd Place
Amy and Steve Martin - 4th Place
Ryan Hershberger and Dale Raber were third with four weighing 8.20 pounds while Steve and Amy Martin finished fourth with a 7.86-pound limit.
The Jaywalker Restaurant Junk Fish Prize went to Justin and Hunter Kosmerick with a pike weighing in at 2.40 pounds.
The Tackle Shack LLC Big Bass honor went to Ryan Hershberger and Dale Raber with a 3.30-pound smallmouth.
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Travails Report
Travail's Big Bass - Waldron Chain
The Waldron Chain (Duke’s Bridge) continues to kick out big ‘uns as proven by the results of the Travail’s Tournament Circuit season finale held there last weekend.
Arthur and Calix (no other names provided) won with 18-14 – and had two over 6 pounds. They won the big bass pot with a 6-6.
Sutton and Sutton (no first names provided) were second with 12 pounds while Greg and Paul (no first names provided) were third with 11-5
There were 14 boats in the event and most anglers said they caught their fish with frogs, jigs and some by drop-shotting.
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MLF Report
Matthew Davis of Morenci, Mich. and Sam Shoemaker of Martinsville, Ind. - 1st Place
The Adrian College duo of Matthew Davis of Morenci, Mich. and Sam Shoemaker of Martinsville, Ind., won the MLF Abu Garcia College Fishing Presented by YETI event on Lake Erie last week with a five-bass limit weighing 19 pounds, 8 ounces. The victory earned the Bulldogs’ bass club $2,000 and a slot in the 2023 MLF College Fishing National Championship.
The Western Michigan team of Branden Burrill, Galesburg, Mich., and John Simmons, Kalamazoo, was third with 18-9.
“There wasn’t a whole lot of wind (Friday), and that kind of scared us,” said Adrian’s Shoemaker. “But when we got out there, there was still a little bit of chop to the water. On one of the first couple of pitches, Matt hooked up on one right underneath the boat. It came up to the surface and jumped, and I don’t know if there was a nick in the line or what, but it snapped off. That fish was every bit of four pounds.”
The Bulldog team didn’t let that rocky start faze them, and they continued to focus on their game plan – using their Garmin LiveScope to toss baits at boulders in 16 to 24 feet of water in the Middle Bass Island part of Lake Erie. Davis said he threw a Ned rig with a green pumpkin Z-Man TRD, while Shoemaker used the same bait on a drop-shot rig. Their tactics resulted in seven smallmouth during the course of the tournament. Davis said they caught all of their fish between noon and 2:30 p.m.
“We went and fished a couple of other areas, but for some reason, that spot was just a gut feeling. It was calling our name,” Shoemaker said. “We caught a lot of drum and catfish, but once we caught some brown fish in between, it gave us the confidence to stay in that area and put our nose to the grindstone and try to make something happen.”
Davis said the key to their victory was moving into shallower water. He said the bright sun was moving smallmouth into the 16-foot range to hold on large boulders.