Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
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Greg Mangus
Greg Mangus of Fremont, Ind. rallied in the last 60 seconds to win the Indy League Fishing (ILF) Lake Drive Marine Challenge on the Marble Chain last week.
Mangus, who had to sit through four different penalties in the unique tournament format - including one with three minutes left in the last period - edged out Ron Fabiszak in the closing seconds.
Mangus won $1,500 for his 23 pounds, 15 ounces with 24 fish while Fabiszak ($600) had 23-5 with 21 fish. Marc Evans was third ($300) with 19-10 and 16 fish.
Ron Fabiszak
Under the ILF format, which is very similar to the Major League Fishing television circuit, anglers fish three, two-hour periods and each fish is caught, weighed and released. A 12-inch size limit is used.
Each angler is assigned a boat official who weighs and records each fish and determines when violations are made. When a violation is determined, the angler must sit idle for two minutes without fishing or controlling the boat.
Penalties include throwing a fish back without releasing it beneath the boat gunnel and letting a fish touch the floor of the boat while landing or weighing the fish.
Lake Drive Marine announced plans to conduct two, 24 angler circuits next season and a 12-angler invitational in the fall.
Details of the 2018 Michigan ILF Circuit will be announced later this year.
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The annual Thanksgiving Weekend Bass Tournament will be held on Corey and Harwood Lakes Nov. 25.
Tournament hours are 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Entry fee is $40 and includes a big bass pot. If the access is frozen, Diamond Lake will be the back-up lake.
For more information, contact Bob Evans, 574-320-3366 or gkingbevans@gmail.com.
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BASS Report
One Spot Remains for 2018 Bassmaster Classic On Lake Hartwell
A star-studded field of 51 bass anglers has qualified to compete for more than $1 million in the 2018 GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods. Only one spot remains to be filled in the world championship of bass fishing. It will go to the individual winner of the Toyota Bonus Bucks Bassmaster Team Championship, to be held in December.
Long known as the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing, the Classic will take place ó for the third time ó on Lake Hartwell at Anderson, S.C., March 16-18. Morning takeoffs will be from the modern Green Pond Landing and Event Center in Anderson, and weigh-ins and the popular Bassmaster Classic Outdoors Expo presented by DICK'S Sporting Goods will be held in Greenville on those dates.
Among the 13 former Classic champions competing for the $300,000 first prize are two who have won on Hartwell: Casey Ashley of Donalds, S.C., the winner in 2015, and Alton Jones of Lorena, Texas, the 2008 champion. Also aiming for bass fishing's biggest prize are defending champion Jordan Lee of Guntersville, Ala., and four-time Classic winner Kevin VanDam of Kalamazoo, Mich.
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Gary Price (Goshen) and Brian Mitchell (Goshen)
Gary Price (Goshen) and Brian Mitchell (Goshen) sacked 19.66 pounds of smallmouth to win $2,000 and the Megaward KeeGuard R&B Circuit Classic on Houghton Lake, Mich.
The R&B Classic paid out $10,000 to qualifying contestants and more than $37,000 was paid back throughout the season.
The winning Goshen team caught all of their fish on Strike King 1.5 squarebills while fishing shell beds in five feet of water. Their limit included the Native Pride Tackle big bass of the event ($250) with a 4.70 pounder.
A mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth bass weighing 17.03 pounds got Trevor Paulus (Edwardsburg) and Dave Selig (Warsaw) second place ($1,500). They also were the highest finishing team with a Megaware KeelGuard which fetched them another $500.
Their smallmouth were tricked with green pumpkin tubes on shell beds between 3-5 feet of water while the largemouth were caught with homemade jigs on a shallow rock pile with scattered weeds.
It took just an hour for Andrew Quillen (Fort Wayne) and Heath Wagner (Angola) to boat a limit of 16.59-pound smallmouth, but it was an important improvisation that got them on track and the third-place check ($1,000).
"We lost our first four fish on tubes with a 3/8-ounce weight on a spinning rod," Wagner said. "The fish would bite and run at the boat, and we couldnít keep up. So, we put 1/2-ounce weights on a baitcast rod with a faster retrieve and were able to make better penetration on hooksets."
They rotated through two spots and landed 17 keepers. Both spots were home to shell beds and were between 3-4 feet deep with sparse weeds.
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Jeff Stankovich and Mark Vantuber caught 26.40 pounds in two days to win the Southwest Michigan Anglers Club Classic on Duck and Green lakes near Traverse City.
The winners ($1,000) also had the second-day’s big bass (3.84 pounds) worth another $125. They caught their fish on tubes and Senkos.
Denise Lossee and Baird were second ($700) with 25.85-pounds by fishing tubes while Rick Kedik Jake Lenisko were third ($400) with 25.26 pounds with swim jigs.