Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Wednesday, November 26, 2025
Monday, November 24, 2025
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Michiana Singles Report
Rick Kedik rallied on the second day of the Michiana Singles Classic last weekend and took home the top prize.
The two-day Classic was fished for eight hours on Muskegon Lake on Saturday and the St. Joseph River at Benton Harbor Sunday.
Kedik had a combined weight of 28.40 for the two days, edging out Tanner Hursh who had 27.50.
Mike Martin - 3rd Place
Mike Martin was third with 24.18 and Rob Swem fourth with 23.84 pounds.
Steve Martin led day one with 14.62 pounds and had the biggest bass, a 4.22-pound smallmouth, but faltered on day two and wound up fifth overall. He won $110 for fifth and another $60 for having the biggest bass on day 1.
Kedik caught 11 pounds at Muskegon but posted 17.40 on the river. He also had big bass the second day, a 4.82-pound smallmouth. He said he fished blade baits along step breaks and a large flat. He earned $550 for first and $60 for the second day big bass.
Hursh utilized his forward-facing sonar to fish tubes in 15 feet of water to win $350 for second place and a bonus $40 for the second biggest bass on day 2, a 4.76-pound smallmouth.
Martin fished blade baits in channels on the river to win $220 for third while fourth place Swem used A-rigs to win $130 plus $40 for the second biggest bass on day 1, a 3.32 pounder.
Every competitor in the Classic went home with at least $100.
There are still a couple fall open events left, including Saturday at Diamond Lake. Entry fee is $60, it’s a four-fish limit and the opens are for one or two anglers. Call Rick, 269 240-4917 for details.
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Polar Bear Report
Perry and Nick Tirotta won the Polar Bear Open Saturday on Webster Lake.
The lake temperature was 49-50 degrees but that didn’t prevent the bass from biting for many of the 15 teams competing.
The Tirottas had 16.71 pounds that included big bass of the derby, a 4.56 pounder. They won $420 for first and $140 for big bass. They said they fished spinnerbaits and swimbaits along seawalls in 1 to 3 feet.
Second place went to Ron Fabiszak and Dave Hoffman who had 12.56 pounds caught on A-rigs. They also won the critter pot with a monster 23.73-pound muskie.
Third place was won by Kevin Jones and Jesse Richardson with 12.43 pounds. They fished A-rigs in shallow weeds to pocket $170.
Vikki Black won the Tackle Shack Lew’s Baitcast reel.
The next event is Nov. 8 at Lake Wawasee from 7:30 to 2:30.
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Tackle Shack Report
Ron Fabiszak and Dave Hoffman grabbed a narrow win at the Tackle Shack Fall Brawl on the St. Joseph River at 6 Span Saturday.
Thirty-eight teams participated despite a sub-freezing start for the morning take-off. The benefit tournament raised more than $1,000 for Toys for Tots, according to Bristol Fire Department’s AJ Robertson and fundraising will continue at Tackle Shack now through Black Friday.
Fabiszak and Hoffman had 10.52 pounds anchored by the biggest bass of the tournament, a 3.60.
Dustin Hamilton and Kyle Kaser were second with 10.50 pounds.
Fabiszak said his team caught nearly a dozen fish over the slot limit and landed one of two big bites. They fished Ned rigs, a Kietech swimbait, and an A-rig.
“We fished current breaks early and got a limit in the first hour then went looking for bigger bites,” said Fabiszak. “The bite seemed to slow for us around 11, and after that, they just wouldn't hold on."
Hamilton said their second place finish came in 8 to 12 feet of water.
“We were LiveScoping and dragging a tube around in areas we found in pre-fish,” he added.
Special recognition went to Eric Howell and the Forest River Fishing Club for running the tournament. Other contributions were made by Varns & Hoover Hardware, Satellite Industries, Martin's Ace Hardware, and Grand Design RV.
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By Louie Stout
If you still hunger for bass tournament competition, there are a couple fall circuits that can keep you in the game.
Lee Duracz will be running the Polar Bear Opens and Rick Kedik will be handling a series of Fall Opens.
The fall season kicks off Saturday with the annual Tackle Shack Brawl – as part of the Polar Bear Circuit - on the St. Joe at 6-Span launch near Elkhart. Entry fee is $100 and $20 for big bass pot. Registration is at 6:45 a.m. and boats must be in the water by 7:45. Hours are 8-2. Call Tackle Shack for additional details.
Forest River Fishing Group will host the event and Bristol Fire Department will be conducting fund-raiser drawings. For more information visit the Tackle Shack
The rest of Duracz Polar Bear tourneys will have an entry fee of $80, which includes big bass and critter pot. He will allow a five-fish limit.
Entry into Kedik’s events is $60 with a four-fish limit.
Schedule:
- Oct. 25 Fall Brawl 6 Span, 8-2
- Nov. 1 Polar Bear at Webster Lake, 8:30-3:30
- Nov. 8 Kedik at Diamond Lake, 8-1
- Nov. 8 Polar Bear Lake Wawasee, 7:30-2:30
- Nov. 9 Kedik at Benton Harbor, 8-1
- Nov. 15 Kedik at Magician Lake, 8-1
- Nov. 16 Kedik at Benton Harbor, 8-1
- Nov. 22 Polar Bear at Duke’s Bridge, 8-3
- Nov. 30 Polar Bear Bob Evans Classic at 6 Span, 8-3
For more information about Polar Bear tourneys, call Duracz 574 322 8564.
For info about Kedik events, call him at 269 240 4917.
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Tackle Shack Report
Jonathan Brock and Christopher Martin outdueled other Tackle Shack competitors on wind-blow Lake St. Clair Saturday.
The two-day tournament was shortened to one day due to high wind and foul weather forecast for Sunday.
Brock and Martin still gathered 25.29 pounds to go home with the $3,300 first-place prize money.
“We came up Wednesday, and decided to fish Lake Erie,” says Martin. “We caught some nice fish but didn't think we could ever get back with the weather forecast, so we fished the river and Lake St Clair the next two days.”
He said they located bigger fish in practice on the Detroit River.
“On Saturday we stopped short of our waypoints and proceeded to have a great first hour which we had around 22 pounds on Chatterbaits and spinnerbaits in 2 to 5 feet of water.”
Martin said they threw back a few 4-4 1/2 pounders that wouldn’t cull. Their big fish was a 6.60-pound smallmouth.
Bill Mathews and Kris Iodice were second with 23.66 pounds to win $2,200 for the tournament and added another $1,050 for being the Angler Team of the Year.
“Kris and I drove up Friday morning and got on the water around 9:30 and spent nearly a full day on the water,” explains Mathews. “We have a bit of experience on Lake St. Clair and we knew we wanted to target the lake as long as the weather cooperated.”
He said the weather was pretty dicey between practice and the tournament day, but they were able to fish a few miles out without much issue.
“We have only fished the north end of St. Clair and we knew that it was going to be out of question with the strong wind blowing north,” he adds. “We began our research a week before the event and started looking for areas on the lake we wanted to check on the south side.”
The first spot they checked during practice proved to be the key area for them. They headed further out into the lake when Kris noticed something on his Navionics App that he thought they should check.
“We pulled up, I caught a nearly 4 pounder on my third cast,” says Mathews. “Then Kris ended up catching two more around 4 pounds as well. We left the area after that. We ended up finding two more areas that had a lot of fish. We caught around 50 bass during practice.”
They started the tournament on a spot where they caught one good one in practice, but didn’t get a bite.
“We then headed out to the first spot we found in practice and Kris caught one on the BAFA F8 jighead with a 2.8" Keitech swimbait,” says Mathews. “I then followed it up with a good one on the F8 jighead and a Rapala Crush City Mayor. We went back and forth catching good ones for a while. The spot was absolutely loaded. We got to the point where we were no longer able to upgrade and decided to leave.”
They bounced around some new areas for a while without much luck, then returned to that area and managed to upgrade one more time. They decided to go find one more upgrade since they still had one bass around 3.75 pounds to cull.
“We went to the spot we found at the end of practice and Kris hooked up with a 4.25 pounder to make our last cull of the day with about an hour left to fish.”
Their key baits were the BAFA F8 jighead and a variety of finesse swimbaits including the Crush City Mayor, the 2.8" keitech and the Spark Shad. They also caught a few fish on a rig and a handful on a spinnerbait as well, but the bigger bites came on the smaller swimbaits.
Tom Bond and Brian Souza were third with 21.62 pounds for $1,200.
“With the lake being so rough and running a smaller boat our plans to run to the North Bay area got scrapped so we had to focus areas closer to the launch,” says Souza. “We caught most on A-rigs and swimbaits by drifting around 10 feet of water.”
Mason Alverado and Mike Ganger caught the biggest bass ever weighed in during a Tackle Shack tournament. The 7.45-pound smallmouth earned them 500.
They chose spots on the Detroit River where Alverado caught the giant bass late morning.
“A fish of that caliber in the current was a heck of a fight, we both kind of sat there silently after we weighed her - a world class smallie for sure,” says Ganger. “Overall, it was a struggle with the wind playing havoc with the current, but we closed out our limit with a 5.5 to get to 20 pounds. We just couldn't get another big bite to cull out the smaller ones.”
All of their fish came on crankbaits and tubes.