Severson scores TBF Northern Divisional victory
Angler takes Minnesota state title to advance to championship as a boater
SANDUSKY, Ohio – The Bass Federation Northern Divisional championship wrapped up today on Lake Erie with yet another different name atop the leaderboard. On the day it counted, Jim Severson of Stillwater, Minn., caught 16-15 to cruise to a Minnesota state victory as well as top the overall leaderboard.
Severson led his state yesterday after catching 20 pounds, 15 ounces, a feat considering he weighed in nary a bass on day one. But it was Michigan’s Philip Borsa who led the overall weight list on day two, a title Severson claimed today with a three-day total catch of 37 pounds, 14 ounces. As the overall winner, Severson earned a $500 Wal-Mart gift card as the Castrol Maximum Performer.
As the No. 1 angler from the 12-man Minnesota state team, Severson earned a slot in the 2008 TBF National Championship as a boater, where he will compete for cash awards as well as entry into the 2008 Wal-Mart Bass Fishing League All-American. Doug Pietrzak of St. Cloud, Minn., ended up second on the Minnesota team, meaning he advances to the national championship as a co-angler.
Six states – Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio and Wisconsin – each sent 12 competitors to this week’s Northern Divisional, with half of those competitors entered as boaters and half entered as nonboaters. Competition among the six states was fierce, as tournament cash awards are given to the states with the heaviest overall total catches. The Indiana team ultimately won that race with 201 pounds, 5 ounces of bass caught over three days, followed by Wisconsin with 187-1 and Minnesota with 171-6. In fourth through sixth place, respectively, were the Michigan, Illinois and Ohio teams.
Severson battles waves to land in first
Though Severson competed this week as a nonboater, he was fortunate enough to be paired with anglers willing to take him to his spot, a place he had found while competing in another event here just a couple of weeks ago. While boaters and nonboaters are expected to share front-of-boat fishing time at TBF divisionals, this week the wind – and thus travel time – didn’t always make equal time possible.
“I got partnered up with a guy from Ohio who had an 18-foot boat, so we had to make a decision this morning if we wanted to go back out there,” Severson said, referring to the vast waters of Lake Erie, made choppy in an instant by a stiff wind. “We battled the waves, and we didn’t catch as many fish, but there were twice as many boats as yesterday. But we caught enough.”
Indeed he did. Severson’s three-day, 37-14 haul was enough to win Minnesota by an incredible 16 pounds, 7 ounces – almost the weight of his entire day-three catch – and overall by a margin of 3 pounds, 10 ounces.
Severson caught all smallmouths off his lucky spot, which he describes as a reef with rock piles.
“If you could drift on those rock piles, there seemed to be some pretty good fish,” he said. “Today I was using a drop-shot with a Berkley Gulp sinking minnow. It was green pumpkin with some red flake in it. Today they were deeper; I would say we caught most of them between 26 and 29 feet.”
This will not be Severson’s first championship qualification, but he is excited nonetheless.
“It’s wonderful,” he said of making the nationals. “I love fishing, so I can’t wait to go down there.”
McWilliams’ Stupid Tube serves up Indiana victory
Keeping his No. 1 spot on the Indiana state team is Terry McWilliams of Greenfield, Ind., with a three-day catch of 34 pounds, 4 ounces that put him in second place on the overall weight list. As the Indiana winner, McWilliams will represent his state as a boater at the 2008 TBF National Championship. Mike Seal of Fountain City, Ind., advanced as a co-angler.
“I basically did the same thing as I did the last two days except I was allowed to go farther,” McWilliams said of his winning strategy. “Yesterday I stayed in the harbor and fished; today I ran around to the other side of Marblehead, where I caught four of my fish yesterday. I couldn’t get anything going on there, so I went to East Harbor and caught three largemouths.”
McWilliams caught those three largemouths on the Stupid Tube, his custom bait that he has relied on for quite a bit of tournament success over the last few years. After fishing East Harbor for three or four hours, he decided to return again to Marblehead, the spot that gave him the Indiana lead on day two.
“I was fishing a steel break wall with some shade on it with the Stupid Tube,” he said. “I caught a 5-2 smallmouth on the Stupid Tube, and about 20 minutes later, I caught another keeper largemouth.”
Though McWilliams is no stranger to Federation success, he has set for himself a brand-new goal this time – making the elite Forrest Wood Cup championship event, which he can do via the TBF National Championship or the BFL All-American, which he could qualify for at the nationals.
“My goal this year is to make it to the Forrest Wood Cup,” he said. “I know I’ve got a few steps to get there, but that is my goal, and I’ve got two steps overwith. If my Stupid Tube doesn’t let me down, I’ll make it.”
McWilliams retired two years ago and now guides for a living, and with fishing as his official job now, he’s become an even more ardent supporter of the TBF.
“If you don’t belong to a club, then join one,” he said. “It’s an opportunity to get into the national championship, the All-American and the Forrest Wood Cup. Being in a club is all it takes to do this. It’s awesome.”
Macklin claims Michigan win despite last-minute woes
Taking over the top spot on the Michigan team is Wayne Macklin of Fowlerville, Mich., with a three-day total of 30 pounds, 1 ounce. Macklin caught 17-12 yesterday and followed that up today with another 10 pounds, 2 ounces to win his state by almost 6 pounds and earn a trip to the nationals as a boater. Representing Michigan as a co-angler at the 2008 national championship will be No. 2 Thomas Kiefer, also of Fowlerville, Mich.
Macklin competed this week as a boater, and like yesterday, he guided his rig today out toward Vermillion, looking for smallies.
“We found 26- to 30-foot rock piles,” he said. “We just drop-shotted gobies on them, though today we had to drift a little more. It was hard to hold the boat in one spot because it was rough out there. We’d go upwind of the spot and just drift over it, dragging our drop-shot rigs.”
Macklin’s victory tasted particularly sweet since an equipment scare had him thinking he might not even make it back to weigh-in.
“We decided to leave about two hours early to make sure we got back, and my motor broke a mile from the check-in boat with 15 minutes to go,” he said. “My heart was sinking. It would run, but all it would do was idle speed, and we were in 4-foot whitecaps. I’m going, `Oh, Lord, you’ve got to allow this to happen,’ and we made it in. We had a little drama, but I’m very thankful that the Lord allowed the boat to work on however many cylinders it had.”
Perhaps it was the thrill of victory, perhaps it was the near-miss, but Macklin was arguably the most enthused of all six state winners today.
“This was my first divisional to qualify for,” he said. “I am pretty pumped up (about the national championship). I think it’s going to take a while to settle in. I’ve been doing this a lot of years, and to make it is so sweet.”
Johnson busts huge sack to take surprise Wisconsin victory
After catching only two bass worth 6 pounds, 7 ounces the first two days combined, no one expected Chris Johnson of Appleton, Wis., to threaten Jim Jones, who led that state team the first two days. Proving that in fishing, no lead is ever safe, Johnson busted a 22-pound, 3-ounce limit today to leap over Jones and emerge as the Wisconsin state victor, finishing fourth on the overall weight list with 28-10 and advancing to the 2008 TBF National Championship as a boater. Jones, with 27-8 over three days, ended up in second and will thus represent Wisconsin at the championship as a co-angler.
“The day went very well,” said Johnson, who competed this week as a nonboater. “We ran to our spot about 20 miles east of Sandusky and sat down in 26 feet of water, and my first fish was more than 5 pounds.”
Like Macklin, Johnson and his partner experienced a bit of mechanical trouble today, but unlike Macklin, this particular nuisance may have benefited Johnson in the end.
“I caught my second fish out of the back of the boat, and then our GPS went out,” he said. “My boater was trying to get the GPS to work, and I was on the front of the boat, running the trolling motor, and I caught the final three. I didn’t get another bite after a quarter after 10.”
Johnson caught his bass today on a Gulp minnow and was fortunate enough to be able to fish a spot he had hit in practice.
“It was a spot I prefished, but I hadn’t been able to get there because of the weather we had the first day and because of time the second day,” he said. “Today I got to drop-shot, and I fish Green Bay in Wisconsin, and I fish for smallmouths. I don’t really fish for anything else. I finally got to spend the whole day out there, and that was the difference-maker.”
Baker wins Ohio
With a three-day catch of 23 pounds, 10 ounces, Gary Baker emerged as the No. 1 angler on the Ohio state team and will thus compete in the 2008 championship as a boater. Baker had his best day yet today, bringing in a limit worth 11 pounds, 7 ounces, to top Scott Brandenburg of Troy, Ohio. Brandenburg took second in Ohio and will compete in the championship as a co-angler.
Plank eschews Erie to garner Illinois crown
On day one, competitors were confined to Sandusky Bay after stiff winds made Lake Erie navigation a difficult proposition. Most anglers’ weights suffered in the bay, but Brian Plank of Mount Zion, Ill., used the bay to his advantage that day and today, ultimately winning the Illinois state title with a three-day catch of 21 pounds, 15 ounces. Behind him in second is Neal Earleywine of Springfield, Ill., with a combined catch of 19-1. Plank and Earleywine will represent Illinois at the 2008 TBF National Championship as a boater and co-angler, respectively.
Plank caught his best weight so far today, weighing in his first limit that clocked in at 12 pounds. He caught his bass on a crankbait and says he caught a mixed bag of smallmouths and largemouths.
“The first day we were limited to the bay, which worked out pretty good,” he said. “As a team, we put in a lot of time in the bay because it relates to how we fish in Illinois, that kind of structure and what have you. I didn’t really catch what I wanted to catch, but I held my own the second day, and I thought I had a spot where I could catch a small limit of smallmouths.”
Nevertheless, Plank said he thought he was done for after consulting with his day-three boater partner, who was from Indiana. The pair had decided to make a 15-mile run down the lake in pursuit of big smallies, but the wind kept them in the bay today as well.
“We decided to stay right here in the bay and just do what we know how to do in Illinois and Indiana, and that’s beat the bank,” Plank said. “We had two to three spots between the two of us, and we beat them up, and it panned out.”
Coming up
The TBF Eastern Divisional kicks off next Wednesday with a three-day event on Lake Great Sacandaga near Fulton County, N.Y. The Eastern Divisional will also send six boaters and six co-anglers to the 2008 TBF National Championship.