There were very tough weather and fishing conditions for the Angler's Choice February 9th qualifier at Lake of Egypt. With a take off temp in the low twenties and heavy snow starting just after noon. 18 of the most diehard angler's from the area set off to do some fishing. Please take a look at the names on the results page; these guys are truly dedicated anglers. There was not one team that came in early and the boats had over an inch of snow in them when they did arrive at weigh-in time.

With it taking nearly 18lbs to win the last two events most that arrived on this morning anticipated it would take 18lbs are more but it was not to be. The very cold and unstable weather leading up to this day plus the current conditions meant for a tough day of fishing. The winning wait dropped over 6lbs from the last two events but nearly every team weighed in fish. Lake of Egypt is truly a great fishery and even with the tough conditions it still took over 11lbs to win. Everyone that fished the event was treated with grilled burgers, chips and sodas courtesy of Pyramid Acres Marina and Tom Samples. You could not ask for a better host.

The first place team of: Shawn Panick and Ed Withaeger from Plainfield, IL. braved the tough conditions to take the win. The team fished jerk baits extremely slow to amass their winning weight of 11.52lbs. They also captured big bass honors for the day with a large mouth weighing 3.98lbs. They reported a very slow day with the exception of about one hour when all their keeper fish were caught. The magical time of day was somewhere around noon just before the heavy snow started falling. The fish came off of four separate areas on the lake that where near the warmer water. They fished suspending jerk baits in water depths of 6 to 12 feet to catch their fish. Great Job Guys!!!

Going into our last event the race for the point's champion has tightened up a bit. The top two teams are less than 4 points apart and have several within striking distance behind them if they stumble. Our final IL. Winter division event is on 2-23-03, remember you can fish this event and still gain points through the North travelers division.

Angler's Choice would like to thank all those who came out and fished and we hope to see you at our next event on Feb 23rd. I would also like to thank all of our sponsors for making this possible. National sponsors include Bass Cat Boats, Mercury Outboards, Motorguide Trolling Motors, Hamby's, Lowrance, Competitive Edge Fishing and Yamamoto Custom Baits. Also a big thanks to our divisional sponsors: Harrison's Sport Shop, Rend Lake Sporting Goods, Strike On Lures, Great Net, Lucky Craft, Solar Bat, Wayne's Props, MWBT.com, Pyramid Acres, Cotton Mouth Lures, Adventure Sports Outdoors, and Bobs Marine in Hillsboro, IL.