A reel Payne

Bait switch delivers EverStart win on Detroit River

TRENTON, Mich. – He’s been holding his place near the top of the co-angler field and today, Arnold Payne Jr. of Noblesville, Ind., made his move and took home top honors in the EverStart Central Division tournament on the Detroit River.

Payne started strong with a 19-pound, 1-ounce day-one limit that earned him second place. His first day’s catch included a 5-15 that won the Snickers Big Bass prize.

The next day, Payne caught another limit, this one weighing 15-7 and sending him to the day-three finale in third place. Today, Payne again caught a limit and won the tournament title with a 15-pound, 9-ounce bag that gave him a total weight of 50-1.

“I drop shotted all week,” Payne said. “I probably caught 35 keepers this week on that rig. I was popping it off the bottom just a little bit. I hopped it about a foot off the bottom and then let it sit. They’d come up and hit it then.”

A change in rigging proved essential for Payne. He started today with a goby on his drop shot, but he soon switched to a black shad Berkley Gulp minnow and his productivity improved.

“A goby had been my bait for the last two days but it wasn’t happening today,” he said. “My pro (second-place Jared Rhode) was catching them on the Berkley Minnow and I said `Well, I’ll switch over.’

“I dug around in my (tackle bag) and I had one bag left. I threw that bait out there and immediately started catching fish. Throughout the day I ran out and Jared said `You reach in my bag and get all you want.'”

Myers mixes it up for second

Mark Myers, of Cedar Falls, Iowa, used a mixed bag of baits to catch a 14-pound limit and hold on to the second-place spot with a tournament total of 49-6. Remaining versatile was important for Myers, who coaxed his keepers with a variety of baits.

“Today, I caught every fish on a different bait,” said the biology professor from the University of Northern Iowa. “I caught two on two different tubes, I caught one on a drop shot darter, one on a Gulp leech and one on a finesse worm on a drop shot.”

Knowing when to change up was important, but Myers said it was also important to understand the diversity of an often over-simplified bait. “A lot of people scoff at the notion of dragging a tube on (this fishery) but there are a lot of intricacies to tube fishing – line size, head size, different profiles of tubes. Knowing when to change based on the light or wind conditions is critical.”

For example, Myers had been fishing a Tender Tube for its ability to come through weeds easily. However, when his day-three partner (pro winner Mark Modrak) set up to fish the current eddies of the St. Clair River, Myers fared better by switching to a larger profile jig.

Brian Somrek, of Calvert City, Ky. started day three in 10th place, but after sacking up the day’s heaviest co-angler catch – a 17-pound, 8-ounce effort – he bolted up the standings to finish in third place with 47-14. Somrek caught his fish on a prototype finesse bait that he has helped develop.

Chris Reiger, of Clinton Township, Mich. finished fourth with 47-8 and John Miller, of Clay, Mich., took fifth with 46-6.

Best of the rest

Rounding out the top-10 co-anglers at the EverStart Series Detroit River event:

6th: Derek Raider, of Lexington, Ky.,46-2

7th: Gary Emery, of Eastpointe, Mich., 45-9

8th: Spencer Mussio, of Belle River, Ont., 45-7

9th: Robert Prebeck, of Norwood, Mo., 45-2

10th: Tony Grindstaff, of Toledo, Ohio, 43-13