Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
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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.
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Four Flags Report
Dan Baerwald and Jarret Tighe took home $280 by winning the Four Flags tourney on Van Auken Lake over the weekend.
The duo, who had 14.46 pounds, said they caught their fish in 6 - 8 feet of water while using jigs.
Rob and Kim Swem finished second with 11.56 pounds and had the biggest bass, a 4.42-pound largemouth. They won $120 for the finish and another $100 for having big bass.
They caught their fish in 8 feet of water using jigs.
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Arjay’s Report
John Miller and Ashley Gibson continued to dominate Michiana lakes, winning the Arjay’s weeknighter convincingly at Lake Templene.
Miller and Gibson had 15.08 pounds AND they won the big bass pot with a 4.14-ounce largemouth. They said they caught their fish on Chatterbaits and jigs.
In a distant second was Chris Yoder who had five for 10.74 pounds by fishing a spinnerbait.
Third went to Maynard Hochstetler and Marvin Bontrager with 10.18 caught on spinnerbaits and Chatterbaits.
Timothy Eicher and Jeremiah Yoder were fourth with five weighing 9.42 pounds. They fished a combination of jigs, wacky worms and tube jigs.
Spinnerbaits and jigs helped Martin Hochstetler and Jonas Troyer to 9. 36 pounds and a fifth place finish. They said they fished spinnerbaits and jigs.
The ClearH2O Tackle first out of the money spot in was Tim and Daisy Tucker with 9.18 pounds and the Michiana Outdoors News tackle pack was won by Justin and Hunter Kosmerick.
Floyd Wolkins and Steve Martin landed a 7.82 pounds catfish to win the Jaywalkers Restaurant junk fish pot while Ray Lohr and Charlie Fouts took home the Str8-Up Mounts lucky dog pot and side pot winners ($50 gas cards) were won by Scott Carpenter and Marvin Bontrager. Seth Spaulding won the 50/50 drawing.
Arjay’s will be at the Randall chain (Waffle Farm launch) Wednesday night.