 1st Place Benny Rose & Jack Pieron |
Angler's Choice - Southern Illinois
6-27-2004
The erratic bite at Smithland Pool continues with rapidly changing water levels. Angler's found the going to be tough and most blamed the ever-changing pool levels over the past few weeks. Just as soon as the water seemed to stabilize and the bite seemed to be improving the water level dropped moving the fish once again. The main river was still very muddy and moving quickly and most fishing was limited to the creeks and rivers that feed the pool.
The first place team of Benny Rose and Jack Pieron both of Murphysboro, Illinois bested a strong field of angler's on their way to the win as they brought a five fish limit to the scales weighing 10.68lbs and narrowly edging out the second place team by two hundredths of a pound. They used chartreuse spinner baits with gold blades in a favorite river slough and had their limit by 10:00am. They were only able to catch one other keeper during the rest of the day but it did allow them to cull a small fish. The team took home checks coming to a grand total of $1,710.00 for a tough day on the pool. Great Job Guy's!!
The second place team of Lonnie Bowlin of West Frankfort, Illinois and Jerry Bate of Zeigler, Illinois headed north on the pool and fished near the mouths of creeks. The baits of choice for them were jigs and crank baits. The team patiently offered their presentation around lay downs and stumps to draw their bites. The team brought a five fish limit to the scales weighing 10.66lbs and earning them checks totaling $860.00 for their efforts.
The third place team of Randy Stewart from Marion, Illinois and Terry Burks of Herrin, Illinois fished plastics around the many stumps and lay-downs that line the creeks and tributaries of the Smithland pool. A very slow presentation was key to the teams success as they brought a five fish limit to the scales weighing 9.78lbs and earning them checks totaling $626.00 for the day. The team is sponsored by: Lunker Lure and R.C. Lures
The Falcon Rods/Dunn's “Big Bite” of the day went to the team of Cris McCabe and Stan Barnett both of Carterville, Illinois. The fish was taken on a black and blue Cotton Mouth jig fished around lay-downs. The fish tipped the scales at 5.18lbs and earned them $420.00 for the “Big Bite”. The team also had two other fish that were caught on Lunker Lure buzz baits and on this day the three fish weighing 9.71lbs would also be good for fourth place. All checks included the team took home $798.00 for their three fish and the day on the water.
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 July 25th at Smithland Pool. 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, Lowrance, Eagle, Competitive Edge Fishing, Solar Bat, Bass West Magazine and Bass Medics. Also a big thanks to our divisional sponsors: Lunker Lure, Dunn's Sporting Goods, Falcon Rods, Harrison's Sport Shop, Rend Lake Sporting Goods, Great Net, Lucky Craft , Solar Bat, Wayne's Prop shop, Pyramid Acres, Adventure Sports Outdoors, Foothills Marine and Bobs Marine in Hillsboro, Illinois
2nd Place Lonnie Bowlin & Jerry Bate