September 21, 2003 Rend Lake, IL
Lingle And Holt Win Last So. Illinois

Lingle And Holt	Walker And Atchison
Rosenthal And Dalton	Pass And Wagner
Results

The Southern Illinois division of Angler's Choice held its seventh and final event of the 2003 season on Rend Lake. Leading up to the event fishing was reported to be very good and the timing seemed to be right for a good weigh in. The somewhat overcast skies on this day seemed to have the fish roaming and a little harder to find but all teams were still able to bring fish to the scales. Rend Lake has been tough for the last couple of years but looks as though it may be coming back with reports of many short fish just under the 14" limit size being caught.

The first place team of: Rick Lingle from Ava, IL. and Mark Holt of Jacob, IL. used a combination of spinner baits and jigs. The team fished extremely shallow water in many cases a foot or less. The sun also played a major role in their success as all of their keeper fish were caught before the skies became overcast, after which the team was only able to produce short fish. The team brought a five fish limit to the scales weighing 14.43 lbs. and worth $1060.00 plus an additional $1,000.00 Bass Cat bonus bucks. Great Job Guys!!

Second place went to the team of Jerry Walker from Zeigler, IL. and Bobby Atchison of Sesser, IL. Bobby was fishing as an alternate for Dave Dobil. The team found the riprap to their liking as they culled through seven keeper fish during the day. The team reported catching their fish in two or three feet of water on both spinner baits and jigs. The days best five tipped the scales at 12.02lbs and was worth $535.00 and second place plaques.

The third place team of Rusty Rosenthal from Coulterville, IL. and Glenn Dalton of O'falon, IL. also found the bite to be better before the clouds rolled in. They caught most of their fish during this time on crank baits. The fish were located in shallow water on or around wood. The team did also manage to catch additional fish later in the day on brush hogs. The team had a total weight of 11.97lbs and received checks totaling $265.00

Big Bass of the day goes to the team of Cliff Pass from Lenzburg, IL. and Rich Wagner of Swansea, IL. The fish tipped the scales at 4.03lbs and earned the team $170.00

The year-end divisional points champions are Jack and Ben Doan from Desoto, IL. Jack and Ben will be fishing for an additional 15,000.00 prize package against the other North divisional qualifiers at the Classic on Kentucky Lake. Congratulations!!

Angler's Choice would like to thank all those who fished this year and we hope to see you at our 2004 winter events on Lake Egypt. 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, 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, Adventure Sports Outdoors, and Bobs Marine in Hillsboro, IL.