Big Indiana Bass

If you're looking for something a little different, Fall Creek Valley Bassmasters is putting on a weekday tourney Wed., April 18 over on Morse Res. from 7:30-3:30. You can download the entry flyer with all the details below:

 

Download MID WEEK OPEN BASS TOURNAMENT

 

On a related tourney note, the FLW Tour journal pages for both Jacob Wheeler and Todd Hollowell have been updated. If you think you might have missed a journal posting either on the site, or the sites Facebook Page, you can be sure to stay up-to-date by following these two pages.

The annual collegiate “Ice Box” tournament took place on Sunday, March 25 at Geist Reservoir.  It was the largest Ice Box in history, with 5 schools competing including Purdue, Indiana, Ball State, Vincennes, and Notre Dame.  The fishing was expected to be good with water temperatures in the 60s, but it turned out to be a difficult day for most teams.  The fish seemed to be confused as to what to do with the warm water temperatures so early in the year, but there were still some nice fish brought in including Nick Schuetz’s 6.64 lb largemouth for Purdue, which won the big bass of the day.  At the end of the day the top 6 boat weights per school were totaled to determine a winning school and Purdue defended their title with a total of 31.57 lbs.  All of the schools would like to thank all of the volunteer boat drivers who took their time to take out students for the day.  We could not have events like this if it was not for all of you and we hope you come back to help us in the future.   

Results: Top 6 Boat Weight Totals Per School

1. Purdue :  31.57 lbs
2. Indiana:  19.22 lbs
3. Ball State: 14.32 lbs
4. Notre Dame: 8.42 lbs
5. Vincennes : 7.80 lbs

Practice is finished here at Table Rock with Wednesday being an off day for registration and our pre-tournament dinner and meeting.  Table Rock is in a weird state right now with a lot of different things happening.  I really like these tough tournaments where you have to grind for 5 bites.  We'll see how it plays out.

Tomorrow, Terrance and our are heading in to Branson to volunteer our time to help with some of the tornado clean-up efforts that are going on.  We spent some time around the Kimberling Inn yesterday, the same hotel we stayed at last October when we were here for the Everstart.  The roof was completely gone, and several rooms had windows blown out.  It didn't look like the same place with a huge blue tarp covering the roof now as workers were going hard to repair it.  We watched them for quite a while in amazement.

Terrance and I have had a great week here and really enjoyed our time on one of God's finer creations.  The lake is definitely one of my favorites that we go to on the Tour.  Boat maintenance and prepping tackle, rods, and reels will be on the agenda tomorrow.  I'll probably need about 12-15 rods for this event.

Without a doubt, West Boggs Lake is probably the best big bass water in the state at the moment. While numbers of fish are getting tougher to come by, the overall size of the bass there is impressive. If you're looking for a chance at a 6lb. plus fish, this lake probably offers you the best chance on any given day. The bite has really turned on over the past week to 10 days, as witnessed by the stats from the 3 most recent tourney events held on the lake. With a little cooler weather, the lake should continue to produce for the next few weeks. Look for an earlier than normal spawn beginning next month if things don't chill down just a bit.

USA Bassin - 3/17

• 53 bass; 169.9 pounds; 3.21# average; winning weight 22.61#; Top 3 bass: 7.71, 7.32, 7.28; at least 11 bass weighed over 5 pounds

Indy Bass Club - 3/24

• 77 bass; 237.27 pounds; 3.08# average; winning weight 26.26#; Top 3 bass: 7.79, 7.09, 6.91

USA Bassin - 3/25

• 73 bass; 240.4 pounds; 3.29# average; winning weight 24.53#; Top 3 bass: 7.67, 7.30, 7.09; at least 7 bass weighed over 5 pounds

The 2012 Federation trail started off with a great event on Sunday March 25.
58 of the best Anglers and Co-Anglers in Indiana began their Trail fishing season at 7:40 AM. The sky was partly cloudy but the rain held off. The temperatures were little cooler than the record heat recorded earlier in the week. The warm weather had the bass up and moving as some appeared to be beginning to spawn.

On the Angler side there were 87 fish weighed in for a total of 299 lbs.

• Dave Schneider Jr. of Indianapolis won the event with a 5 fish limit that tipped the scales at 18.92 lbs. Dave earned $ 2,436.00 for his days work.
• Second place finisher Steve Quiggins of Fortville Indiana also had a 5 fish limit weighing 16.88 lbs.  Steve collected $1,522.00
• Zach Grounds of Middletown was third with 4 nice bass totaling 16.58 lbs. He walked away with $914.00
• Dave Schneider Sr. of Indianapolis was one good fish short of his son with 4 weighing 14.08 lbs. worth $609.00 and 4th place.
• Mike Quinlin of Mooresville completed his five fish limit with 13.94 lbs. His check was for $365.00 and 5th place.
• Calvin Davidson of Plainfield rounded out the 6 paying spots on the Angler side with 4 bass weighing 12.92 lbs., good for $244.00.

Michael Ruhana missed out on a check by only 2 one hundredths of a pound as his 4 fish weighed 12.90 lbs.  Michael received a nice American Rodsmith’s rod from A2O Boating Supplies and Pro Shop for his efforts.  

Sheldon Roberts was presented the Big Bass check by his friend Clem Schmidt. Sheldon’s 6.54 lb beauty earned him a cool $570.00

On the Co-Angler side it was Antwain Howard of Indianapolis leading the way.

• Antwain’s 4 bass weighed 12.82 lbs earning him $1,218.00 This was Antwain’s first Federation event as he is new to the Indiana.
• Dave Rector of Brazil weighed in 4 bass totaling 12.60 lbs good for second place and $761.00
• Third place went to B.J. Butcher of Greentown his 11.20 lbs. was worth $457.00
• Greg Smith of Ellettsville had 3 bass weighing in at 7.58 lbs.  he was awarded a check for $304.00 for his fourth place effort.
• Keith Whatley placed fifth with 2 bass weighing 7.44lbs. earning $183.00
• Drew Russell of Louisville Kentucky brought in 1 nice bass weighing 6.12 lbs. That one fish was good for sixth place paying $122.00 and $290.00 in Big Bass money.

David Dede of Loveland Ohio just missed out on a check but won a nice rod from A2O Boating Supplies for the “first out of the money” award.

All of the anglers that weighed in fish will receive points toward earning a spot in the Forrest L. Wood Classic at the end of the year. That event will be held at Geist Reservoir October 6th and 7th.  Thousands of dollars in cash and prizes will be awarded to the top Classic participants.

The results of the Angler and Co-Anglers divisions are available below in a downloadable MS Excel file. There are two separate page tabs to click and view, one for the angler results, and a second for the co-angler results.

I along with my tournament crew want to thank everyone for their support as this was our first large tournament to conduct. It went smoothly and there were only a few issues. We could not pull this off without the support of a lot of friends, family and fellow anglers. We hope to see everyone at the Brookville tournament on May 13, 2012. REMEMBER to Support the businesses who support us. Without them we would not be able to pay out 70 % at the ramp.
 
Thank You,
Kenny Swint - IBF Invitation Trail Director 2012

 

Download Patoka1_results-2012(1)

 

It's been a quick month of March that's kept me busy.  My father-in-law joined me for a trip with the Red Gold marketing team to Bristol, TN for the Food City Race Night last week.  We got to meet hundreds of people who love bass fishing and were excited to see the boat wrap.

Table Rock is up this week and is really setting up to be a fun tournament on one of the best lakes in the country.  Terrance and I have settled in at our condo for the week and finished up some venison steaks for dinner after our first day of practice. My family will be joining me later in the week as Spring Break begins on Thursday.

The fishing was pretty good today, and so was the weather.  The first day of practice was a great start, and I'm looking to build on a solid finish at Hartwell. Table Rock is a great fishery and a giant body of water that offers everything, so guys will spread out quite a bit this week.  In fact, I think I only saw 5 FLW boats today all day.  You should see some big weights this week, unlike the Everstart event from last October when I finished 11th.  This may be an outright slugfest from what I saw today.  We'll be looking at new water tomorrow to try to find another pattern and another way to put some fish in the boat.

Larry Haag and I got lucky today at Geist. We had 14.57 lbs. and big bass at 6.67 lbs. None of them came on a jerkbait.

- Jeff Gale