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USA Bassin Illinois Regional Rend Lake

Thursday, October 08, 2009

USA Bassin held their 2009 Illinois Regional on Rend Lake Saturday September 19. There were 52 teams who qualified for the regional. Four of those teams were division champions who would be fishing for a free entry to the USA Bassin Classic held on Kentucky lake May 1-2 in 2010. Tournament director Mike Glenn held the mandatory meeting Friday night at Mt Vernon Marine. Mike went over the tournament rules, a 50/50 drawing was held with rods and lures to be won, and the drawing of boat numbers.

Saturday morning the anglers were met with clear skies and a temperature in the low 60’s and an East North East wind about 10-15 mph. As the boats were entering the water at Sailboat Harbor the dock talk, provided by Marty Derganc and friends, was it would take about 17 pounds to take first. The water temp was around 77 degrees and the lake was about 1 foot above normal pool. Several teams reported having very good pre-fishing days. The dock talk was jigs, spinner baits, and crank baits. 

As the anglers returned to the harbor, there were a mixture of frowns and smiles. The fishing turned out to be a little tougher than expected. But you will see by the number of limits, the anglers that stuck to their plans and used their experience brought in the fish. There were a total of 152 fish brought to the scales for a total of 357.396 pounds. There were 16 five fish limits brought to the scales. Five teams couldn’t find a keeper. Out of the 152 fish weighed in, there were 0 dead fish. On with the stats! 

First place went to boat #39, the team of Mickey Demoss of Hanson, KY and James Fleck of Madisonville, KY. These guys took home a check for $2250 and they were one of the four division champion teams fishing for a free entry to the USA Bassin Classic, THEY SUCCEEDED! They brought in a five fish limit weighing16.686 lbs. Mickey and James said they stuck with the spinner bait to boat their fish. They were using 14# Berkley vanish and 15# Big Game line. The spinner bait was a 1/2oz chartreuse/white with a Colorado blade made by the Brushmaster Lure Company. They keyed on shallow banks with no rocks.  

Second place went to boat #36, the well-known Illinois team of Jon Rinderer of Greenville, IL and Scott Sautman of Pocahontas, IL. Jon and Scott took home a $1350 check. They brought in a five fish limit weighing 14.208 lbs. Jon and Scott stuck with a black/blue jig to boat their fish. Their key to catching fish was concentrating on water depth 6-8 feet. Jon and Scott said they went through fifteen to twenty additional keepers throughout the day.  

Third place went to boat #46, the team of Mark Jelly and Danny Clark both of Zigler, IL. They brought in a five fish limit weighing 12.976 lbs. Mark and Danny took home $820 check. They too stuck with the jig to boat their fish. They used an assortment of V&M jigs fishing shallow rocks. Mark and Danny said they boated 10 additional keepers. 

Rounding out the top five places were; boat #47 the 4th place team of John and Daniez Dodd with a five fish limit weighing 12.938 lbs good for a $380 check. Boat #29 the 5th place team of Tracy Meyers and Bill Fuller with a five fish limit weighing 12.812 lbs good for a $200 check. 

Big bass went to boat #40, the team of Bill Hendricks and his grandson Blaine Lessicko both of Collinsville, IL. Their big bass weighing 5.480 lbs brought them a check for $520. Bill said the big fish was caught off a point in 5 foot of water using a jig.  

For myself, it was nice to get back on the tournament way of life from being off most of the summer. This was the first tournament I have fished on Rend Lake, for that matter bass fished at all on this lake. It proved to be a little tough for me, but I did manage to weigh in a limit of fish, just not enough weight 11.454 lbs. I used an assortment of baits made by the E-Factor Lure Company. Two of my keepers came a 1/2oz chartreuse/white buzz bait, one of them weighing 4.12 lbs. Two were caught on a  3/4oz chartreuse/white spinner bait and one on a 3/8oz watermelon candy pitchin jig. I am looking forward to the upcoming fall/winter tournaments on Coffeen Lake hosted by USA Bassin director Dan Blanton.

All said and done this was a well ran tournament by director Mike Glenn and his staff from take off to weigh-in. As always any questions or suggestions please send an email or comment. 

See ya on the water!