This concept was again proven false during our 4th annual tournament. Fifty boats blasted off as the fog began to lift at the Midland Marina. At 6:30 a.m. heavy fog upstream and downstream was definitely a strong factor with the early morning fishing this year. The fog didn’t lift until around 10:30 a.m. and many contestants could not reach areas they had pre-fished.
Sixty-eight bass were weighed in by half the boats out. Nine were largemouth and the rest were smalleys. Hundreds of short bass were caught indicating a bright future for bass fishing on our area of the Missouri River from Omaha to Yankton. Minimum tournament length is twelve inches. Due to the low water this year, anglers found it impossible to access some backwaters which generally hold a heave concentration of largemouth bass.
This area of the Missouri River is truly on of the most difficult waters anywhere to catch the ever-elusive small and largemouth bass.
Winners this years were Jeff & Travis Combs of Friend, NE weighing seven fish (tournament limit) at 15.78 pound total.
Second place was taken by Wendell Newcomb of Norfolk, NE and Walt Jay of Tekamah, NE at 12.13 pounds.
The winning team caught largemouth downstream of Sioux City and smallmouth upstream. Most teams had best results with crankbait, spinnerbaits and tube jigs.
The biggest largemouth of 2.16 pounds was caught by the Combs team. Second largest largemouth at 1.50 pounds went to the team of Bill Knoell of Fremont, NE and Terry Hussy of Fontanelle, NE. Third largest largemouth at 1.36 pounds was caught by Jim & Jesse Kirkendall of Sloan, IA. The smallest legal bass was caught by the team of Mark Kozol and Steve Glub of Omaha, NE. Tom & Brett Logue took third place with 10.78 pounds and won the largest smallmouth division with a 3.12 pound smalley. They are from Tyndall, SD. The second largest smallmouth went to Tim Seitzinger of Yankton, SD and Willard Bryon of Avon, SD at 2.96 pounds. The third largest smallmouth from Jeff & Travis Combs was 2.76 pounds. Dick Bower and Bob Allen both of Ainsworth, NE had the smallest legal smallmouth at 1.10 pounds. The biggest walleye/sauger prize went to Don Torgerson of Sioux City, IA at 2.82 pounds.
