Hardy Dam usually means smallmouth and this time of year it means smallies on beds. Bill Maurer exploited just over 16 pounds of brown fish to earn his first victory of the SCMBC season and solidify himself as sight-fishing phenom. Bill weighed in nearly 21 pounds up at Burt Lake two seasons ago by fishing bedding smallmouth and used many of the same techniques employed back in 07'. Finding deeper beds that held bigger fish was the key and Bill did just that early Sunday morning when he caught a 4.3 sow that took big fish honors. That fish, as well as most of his fish were caught by flipping a chartruese tube onto the beds. The big one was taken on an upriver spot but most of the others were caught closer to the dam where the water was clearer and sight fishing was a little easier.
Unusually high winds had plagued the Newaygo area for 4 consecutive days which made finding lots of beds in practice difficult. But Maurer has won here before and had lots of old "honey-holes" to check. His practice session was very good but when event day began things changed and he had to make a few adjustments on the fly. Bill went to the clearer water as did a lot of his competitiors, but with a keen eye for the deeper beds that usually hold bigger fish and a "kicker fish" already in the books, Maurer was poised for the win. His partner and wife Kathy also had a good day and finished 5th with 12.7 pounds.
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