Local lands lunker largemouths, leads at La Crosse

Johnson hooks into 18 pounds on opening day at Mississippi River

ONALASKA, Wis. – They caught them hard, they caught them fast, and they even caught them hot on day one of Stren Series Midwest Division competition on the Mississippi River. When all 151 five-bass limits and then some were all weighed in, it was a local, Jim Johnson, who separated himself from the pack in the Pro Division with a relatively dominating 18 pounds, 1 ounce.

“I just had a really good bite early this morning,” said Johnson, who hails from La Crosse, Wis. “I caught about 20 legal fish, all largemouths, and I was just trying to weed through them to cull out. I had one bigger-fish spot that produces nicer, 4-pound fish.”

As expected, the Big Muddy coughed up limit after limit Wednesday – this despite the still, dry air and temperatures soaring into the 90s on the river. But Johnson’s 18-pound effort stood out from the rest of the leaders as everyone else in the top 10 settled to within a pound of each other in the 15-pound range. Johnson’s closest competitors were Aaron Hochstedler and Chad Morganthaler, who each had 15-8.

The leader fished at the La Crosse pool on Pool 8 to start the day, then moved downriver to Pool 9 later. He credited his hot spot on the upper pool for his big stringer, but he also credited the conditions.

“The water’s low, and there’s not a lot of current,” he said. “A lot of it just comes from knowing what the fish want when the water goes really low.”

If anyone here knows that, it’s Johnson. He says he lives “about four blocks down the road” from where the weigh-in was held at Clinton Street Landing in La Crosse, and he’s benefited from his local knowledge at this tournament before. In last year’s Stren event here, he finished in sixth place.

“Oh, that’s huge,” he said. “I spend months straight on the water here.”

That knowledge also helped him adjust when conditions turned high and hot for the beginning of competition Wednesday. While he was willing to reveal little about his fishing pattern at this point, except to say that he caught his fish on a Custom Lures swim jig, he said keying on baitfish and keeping an eye on the current was key.

“Definitely, the shad movement is what’s keeping fish in certain areas,” he said. “When the sun comes up high like that, the bite tends to shut down. I just thought that area had potential.”

Hochstedler, Morganthaler tie for second

Hochstedler of Greentown, Ind., and Morganthaler of Coulterville, Ill., each caught a limit of 15 pounds, 8 ounces and tied for second place in the Pro Division, but they did it in different ways.

Hochstedler threw what he generically called “plastics” in deeper water, about 15 feet, and focused his energy on wing dams in the main river channel. He caught a limit early, by 9 o’clock, and weighed in a mixed bag of three smallmouths and two largemouths.

“I was mainly catching both of them at the same place,” he said. “Hopefully, it holds up for tomorrow.”

Morganthaler fished shallower in Pool 9 and caught all largemouths. He threw jigs and a frog, saying he caught his bigger fish on the jig.

“There are a lot of fish in this fishery. I probably caught three or four limits today,” he said. “It’s not really a matter of bait – they’ll bite anything here – but you have to have deep water and current close by. That’s the main key. This is such a great fishery, I didn’t want to quit.”

Byrnes fourth

Pro Rick Byrnes of Tamaroa, Ill., earned the fourth spot with a limit weighing 15 pounds, 5 ounces.

He caught his bigger fish in the morning and landed about 10 keepers total. Still, despite the number of limits caught, he noted that weights were lower than many expected.

“I think it’s a little tougher than people thought,” he said. “The river’s down, so the patterns are different than what they should be right now.”

Byrnes caught some fish shallow in the grass, in about 5 feet of water, on a Brovarny jig. Then he adjusted and caught some deeper, about 10 feet, on an All-Terrain Tackle football jig.

Grigsby, Johnson fifth

Tied for fifth place in the Pro Division are Chad Grigsby of Maple Grove, Minn., and Tadd Johnson of Lakeville, Minn. They each caught a limit weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces.

“I think I could have done a little better. I lost a couple fish,” said Grigsby, who is fresh off a disappointing 15th-place finish at last month’s Wal-Mart FLW Tour event at Lake Champlain thanks to a penalty for returning late to weigh-in. “But hey, at least I made it in on time.”

Grigsby said he caught his early fish flipping shallow on Pool 9 and his later fish on frogs on Pool 8.

Johnson also fished Pool 9 and also caught all largemouths. He worked wing dams and lay-downs on the main river channel, saying he caught his fish on “a jig that works really well down here” plus some on a frog.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I caught all my fish by 9:30 and then just went prefishing for the rest of the day.”

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 pros after day one at the Mississippi River:

7th: Jeff Benson of Holmen, Mo., 15-3

7th: Jim Eakins of Nixa, Mo., 15-3

9th: Chris Cox of Belleville, Wis., 15-2

10th: Nathan Gray of Columbus, Ind., 14-15

Each of the top 10 pros caught five-bass limits Wednesday.

Jack Gadlage of Benton, Ky., earned $750 for the Snicker’s Big Bass award in the Pro Division thanks to a 5-pound bass.

Medlock tops co-anglers with big bag

Tom Medlock of Licking, Mo., earned his stripes from the back of the boat by posting a limit weighing 15 pounds, 4 ounces and leading the Co-angler Division with authority.

“From what I’ve been told, 10 to 12 pounds is a big limit on this lake (for a co-angler), so I feel very lucky,” Medlock said. “I culled four times today, and that’s a good day when you get to where you don’t know which one to cull, and it’s just a difference of ounces.”

Medlock fished with pro Derek Jenkel on Pool 9 Wednesday and said he caught his limit mainly by flipping Texas-rigged Zoom worms on wood and grass. He also earned $250 for the Snicker’s Big Bass award in the Co-angler Division thanks to a 4-pound, 8-ounce bass that he caught on a green-pumpkin Zoom lizard.

High five co-anglers

Second place for the co-anglers went to Michael Taylor of Muscatine, Iowa, for a limit weighing 13 pounds, 10 ounces.

Brady Farrell of Fort Atkinson, Wis., placed fourth on the co-angler side with a limit weighing 13 pounds, 7 ounces.

Mark Myers of Minneapolis, who won the FLW Tour co-angler title at Lake Champlain in June, placed fourth with a limit weighing 13 pounds, 2 ounces.

Rounding out the top five co-anglers was Neil Stout of Onalaska with a limit weighing 12 pounds, 4 ounces.

Rest of the best

Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers:

6th: Brian Brecka of Alma, Wis., 12-2

6th: David Clukey of Nevis, Minn., 12-2

8th: Brian Comer of Springfield, Ohio, 12-0

9th: James Richardson Sr. of Harrison, Ohio, 12-0

10th: Ron Fabiszak of South Bend, Ind., 11-15

Each of the top 10 co-anglers also caught five-bass limits Wednesday. The entire co-angler field weighed in 51 limits.

Day two of Midwest Division competition on the Mississippi River at Onalaska begins as the field of 200 boats takes off from Clinton Street Landing in La Crosse at 6 a.m. Central time Thursday for the second half of the opening round. Following tomorrow’s action, both fields will be cut to the top 20 anglers apiece based on two-day total weight.