Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
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(Provided by B.A.S.S.)
2016 Elite Schedule
The fan-favorite BASSfest will be held June 8-12 at Lake Texoma on the Oklahoma-Texas border, and the season finale, the Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Championship, will take place at Minnesota's Mille Lacs Lake.
"Similar to the GEICO Bassmaster Classic presented by GoPro, the Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments have become extremely popular "happenings" for bass fishing fans. By taking our fishing festivals to Lake Texoma and Mille Lacs, we will expose the sport to new fan bases," said B.A.S.S. CEO Bruce Akin. "And, our Elite Series anglers are sure to enjoy the new challenges these lakes present."
In addition, officials of the world's largest fishing organization revealed a new tournament for 2016: the Bassmaster Classic Bracket tournament, to be held on the Niagara River out of Buffalo, N.Y., July 19-22.
In that event, the Top 8 finishers in Elite No. 7 on Cayuga Lake, New York, will go head-to-head in a bracket format tournament that will pay $50,000 in cash - in addition to the prize money they will have earned at Cayuga - and award a guaranteed spot in the Super Bowl of Bass Fishing, the 2017 GEICO Bassmaster Classic.
The Classic Bracket will be streamed live on Bassmaster.com and will feature - for the first time ever in Bassmaster competition - catch-weigh-release scoring. That is, competitors will have their catches weighed instantly on the water by judges, and the bass will be released back into the water at the spots where they were caught. Only the heaviest five bass per angler will be counted.
Lake Texoma, an 89,000-acre impoundment of the Red River, was the site of the 1979 Bassmaster Classic won by Hank Parker, now a popular television fishing show host, in September of that year, and it was the venue for Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Opens in 2007 and 2010. It has not hosted an Elite event, however.
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John Gipson, Jr. (Lafayette, In.) and Tom Noe (Benton Harbor)John Gipson, Jr. (Lafayette, In.) and Tom Noe (Benton Harbor) won the R&B Classic on Coldwater Lake recently, pocketing $2,000 cash and $600 in Bass Pro Shops (Portage, Ind.) gear.
The winners had 13.61 pounds that included the big bass of the tournament, a 4.8-pound largemouth. Their bag of fish was fooled by
jigs and drop-shot rigs fished in 12-17 feet of water on Marble Lake.
John DuPont (North Liberty) and Steve Januchowski (Michigan City) sat on one spot to catch a 13.29-pound limit and finish second, worth $1,000 and $600 Bass Pro Shops gear. All of their fish were caught on a Lucky Craft 85 Pointer jerkbait fished along the breakline.
Ray Smith (Portage, Ind.) and Art Kerns (Wheatfield, Ind.) were third ($800) with 12.86 pounds caught on jigs around docks on Coldwater Lake.
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Renee and Brian Hensley (Edwardsburg) took home top honors at The St. Joe Valley Bass Masters Charity Tournament held on Diamond Lake.
The winners ($250) had a five-fish limit that weighed 8.07 pounds. Second place ($150) went to Mike Martin and Rick Kedik with five bass that weighed 7.80 pounds.
Ron Fabiszak (Mishawaka) and Ron Nelson (Berrien Springs) were third ($105) with four bass weighing 6.60 pounds. Mike Goins (Bremen) and DeWayne Wilda (South Bend) won the $100 big bass honors with a 2.46-pound smallmouth that was fooled by a swim bait.
As has been the custom, the winning team gets to select the charity or organization they want to support. At the Hensley's request Pet Refuge will be the beneficiary of the $500 in proceeds that was generated by the tournament.
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(Provided by IBF)
The Indiana Bass Federation claimed the 2015 TBF Northern Division besting 12 person teams from Illinois, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, South Dakota, and Minnesota on Lake Carlyle near Carlyle, IL in September.
The Indiana team weighed in 24 bass weighing 62 pounds. Host state, Illinois was second with 25 bass but they only weighed 56 pounds 9 ounces. Ohio was third with 38 pounds 7 ounces.
Indiana team members Ron Fravel, Laconia, IN, finished 2nd overall with 16 pounds and 14 ounces, and Matt McCoy, Indianapolis, IN, finished 4th with 10 pounds and 12 ounces. Both advance to the TBF Nations to be held next spring.
Get complete results here.
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(Provided by the IBF)
Sixteen two-person teams plus one brave soul that had to fish alone braved the 40- mile an hour wind gusts, cold temperatures and rain to battle it out for the IBF Zone 1 Tournament of Champions on Lake Maxinkuckee in early October.
The two highest finishing anglers from each of the 27 clubs in Zone 1, which make the up the north part of the state down to SR 22, are invited to attend.
The Indiana Bass Club team of Steve Michel, Wheatfield, and Mark Eck, Portage, claimed top honors with five bass weighing 11.57 pounds. The win was worth $578. They also took Big Bass Honors with a 4.01 pound largemouth which earned them another $85.