Indiana Bass Federation Youth – Conservation – Fishing
ZONE #1
MAY 4 & 5, 2013
LAKE WAWASEE
What a great weekend for the Top-8 on Wawasee / Syracuse. A few clouds, a light wind out of the South East at about 5- 10 mph. The check-in at the High School went well, (thanks for the help from Potato Creek Bass Club Member) all the partners found each other and no one was late. It was a smooth flow to and from the ramp. There was a wait for the shuttle truck as we had just one (thanks Fulton County Bassmasters). Guys got ride from some of the boaters that were going to the ramp (thanks to those drivers). Everyone was in the water and back at the ramp ready to go by 6:10 am with the start time set for 6:30 am, (thanks to the help from Team Bass of Marion). We proceeded to start the IBF Release boat and it would not start and if it did fire it would not stay running! We were lucky that IBF Director Mike Goins was still waiting to go out for the start. At this point the decision was made for him to start the field. This is what put us behind about 10 minutes for the start. Sorry ladies and gentleman we had no control over the release boat as it ran on Friday night when we launched it. Everyone was started by 6:50 am.
Lou Rich and Jeremy Robinson and I got the boat back on the trailer and tried to get it to stay running after Jeremy pulled it to Moors Boats and found that they had no service on the weekend. Jeremy drove to Warsaw for a new fuel line. Decided to use it for the release tank and pull it to Syracuse and release the fish. Short story IBF Release Boat won’t run, bad batteries (3) pumps all died soon into the weigh-in! Not good for the fish! We had no time to line up boaters to be used as release boats.
The weigh in had a couple of hold ups because of the computer program locked up, restarted and then it went well from there. There were 224 fish weighed in. They weighed 392.97 pounds. The Big Bass was 4.66 and the Big Bag was 15.22 both for Curtis Werner, Osceola, St. Joe Valley Bassmasters. After the first day the cut for sixteenth place was 7.44 pounds.
Day two was overcast and a little windy at 4:30 am at the High School. Things were going smooth until our driver got stopped by the policeman that was going to give him a ticket for having people in the back without seat belts but didn’t because he was getting off duty in a few minutes, thanks for shift change! We had a boat for the start and was on time (6:30 am). It was a little slow with boats being bunched up instead of a numerical line. When you are in line it is a steady flow. We did not wait on someone that was out of line and they forfeited their position and went to the back of the line. All started by 6:40 am. We had lined the four boaters from Fulton County Bassmasters up to be release boats. Josh Goins (Marco Bassmasters) also used his boat as a release boat. The DNR (Jed Pearson and his helper) were doing a size survey after the fish were weighed. Jed P. said thank you for your fish, it will help them monitor the fishery.
The Top angler was Curtis Werner, Osceola, (St. Joe Valley Bassmasters) 22.90 $150. Curtis had the day 1 Big Bass 4.66 $500.
Day 2 Big Bass was 5.46 caught by Chris Howe, Mishawaka, (Potato Creek Bass Club) $500.
Ranger Cup Winner: Brad Hostetler, Jr., Franklin, Grant County Bass Anglers
TOP 16 ANGLERS Top 8 Boaters if they have boats next 8 Non Boaters Will be adjusted as needed.
1) Curtis Werner, Osceola, St. Joe Valley Bassmasters 20.90
2) Chris Howe, Mishawaka, Potato Creek Bass Club 19.76
3) Brad Hostetler, Jr., Franklin, Grant County Bass Anglers 19.64
4) Mark Lester, Albany, Grant County Bass Anglers 18.56
5) Danny Abrams, Greens Fork, Grant County Bass Anglers 17.00
6) Doug Bradley, Syracuse, Syracuse Bassmasters 16.86
7) Henry Cavazos, Kokomo, Kokomo Bass Anglers 16.50
8) Phillip Duracz, Chesterton, Fish Lake Bassmasters 15.89
9) Patrick Sweet, Garrett, Cedar Creek Bassmasters 15.78
10) Lyle Hammond, Silver Lake, Syracuse Bassmasters 15.55
11) Shawn Kertai, Bremen, Potato Creek Bass Club 15.38
12) Lee Duracz, South Bend, Fish Lake Bassmasters 14.55
13) Mike Eck, Portage, Indiana Bass Club 14.27
14) Jason Patterson, Bluffton, Cedar Creek Bassmasters 13.97
15) Mike Foor, Huntington, Indiana Bassmasters 13.06
16) Mark Wieke, Michigan City, Fish Lake Bassmasters 13.00
TOP 6 CLUBS
1) Potato Creek Bass Club $600 79.69
2) Grant County Bass Anglers $300 77.03
3) Syracuse Bassmasters $240 69.75
4) St, Joe Valley Bassmasters $200 63.97
5) Fish Lake Bassmasters $160 60.87*
6) Cedar Creek Bassmasters $160 49.00 *
The total fish weighed in was 379. We had three fish that did not get released. Total weight was 660.22 pounds. Average fish weight 1.74
EXSPENSES: ($2300)
Top Angler $150
Clubs $1600* plus an additional paid $160 from 50 / 50
To Run Top 8 $500
Bump Boards $150
TOTAL $2400 with the added $160 from the 50 / 50 money.
IBF Director Zone #1 Mitch Hayes