September 14, 2017 at 3:20 p.m.
River Series anglers take on Minocqua Chain for series Championship
Chain gives up several fish over four pounds
River Series anglers take on Minocqua Chain for series Championship
Saturday morning provided little in the way of angler comfort at the 32-boat field took off shortly after 6:30 a.m. Air temperatures were hovering just under 40 degrees and a predicted 6 mph wind was much stiffer than expected.
Tournament director Phil Skoug placed a 12-inch minimum size limit on the anglers for the championship. Although there is no minimum size limit for bass on the chain, he wanted to make it a bit more challenging for the anglers. For most, this would not be a difficult mark to supersede. Only two teams overall were unable to bring in a limit of fish either day. In those two days, only 16 bags were weighed that did not hold a full limit.
Over the course of the two days, 12 fish over four pounds were brought to the scale. Four over five pounds were brought in on day one alone, with six fish over five pounds crossing the scales over the weekend.
The big fish for the tournament, a 6.11-pound largemouth, was brought in by RJ Waite and Steve Scofield on day one, anchoring their 15.72-pound bag. If they could put together a solid bag on day two, it seemed their chances would be good to take home the big prize.
Waite and Scofield's limit put them in the lead on day one, almost a full pound ahead of the team of Todd Holtman and Joe Heitschmidt. Holtman and Heitschmidt's 14.75 pound day one bag was anchored by a 4.75-pound largemouth. Each team in the top four brought in a fish over four pounds on day one.
Day two of any tournament is usually a bit tougher. All of the "easy" fish have been taken on day one. Docks and visible wood are not likely to hold as many fish on the second day as the first. Weights can be down, as can numbers of fish.
In this tournament, though, something changed. Maybe it was the warmer night on Saturday. Air temps reached 50 before take off Sunday morning. Maybe it was something else. But regardless, fishing was almost as good on Sunday as Saturday. While 145 fish were caught on Saturday for a total of 263.83 pounds, Sunday the scale weighed 132 fish for 236.58 pounds. The teams weighed just short of 500 pounds of fish last weekend in two days. The biggest fish brought in on Sunday did not unseat Waite and Scofield, but it was one of the few smallmouth to cross the weigh stage all weekend. It was brought in by the third place team of Matt and Dan Hirman and weighed 5.41 pounds. Their two-day total of fish was 24.17 pounds. The Hirmans also took home Team of the Year by accumulating the most points of any team in the four qualifier tournaments held this year. Those tournaments were on The Stevens Point Flowage, Boom Lake in Rhinelander and Lake Mohawksin and Lake Nokomis in Tomahawk.
The race between the top two teams was tight, with all four anglers being confident but unsure if their weights would hold up to retain those top two places when they returned to shore on Sunday afternoon. When Skoug announced the scales closed at the end of the tournament, Waite and Scofield found themselves still in first place. Their 11.45 pound limit brought their total weight to 27.17 pounds. Holtman and Heitschmidt brought 9.84 pounds to the scales on Sunday, bringing their total weight to 24.59. It would take better than 17.5 pounds to make the top 10 in this derby. Fifth place was over 20 pounds. The father and son team of Scott and Kyle Kettenhoven took fourth place with 21.24 pounds. Jon and Jim Backes rounded out the top five with 20.35 pounds.
During the awards ceremony, there was also a 50/50 drawing. Each team who entered the drawing put $10 in with a possibility of winning half of the pot back. Arbor Vitae Marine donated $500 to the pot, so the winning team took home over $400. The second half of the money was donated to the Northwoods Veterans Post. The series donates to a different nonprofit for each tournament, and Northwoods Veterans Post was chosen for the recipient of the championship funds this year.
In closing Skoug thanked the Minocqua Chamber of Commerce for all of their support as well as The Beacons of Minocqua. The Beacons was tournament headquarters for the weekend and many anglers stayed there during that time. This tournament, whether it was the timing, angler talent or a combination of the two, brought some excitement back for bass anglers with the good weights being brought to the scales. Several anglers also commented on the venue, The Beacons, being a great place to hold a tournament. The hospitality of Minocqua, Skoug said, will not be forgotten as the series sets their schedules for years to come.
Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].
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