Jim Jr wins AOY

When I won the Angler of the Year title in 2008, I called everyone I knew to spread the news and even told a few folks I didn't know. But when I asked Jim Rice Jr. about winning this years title and how many AOY jackets he now owned he replied "I'm not sure, I'll have to go to the closet and count them." His laid back attitude hardly resembles one of a fierce competitor but for those who've fished against Jim know otherwise. He is a great fishermen and competitor and that's why he is the 2009 Angler of the Year.

If anyone is counting I personally think this title makes number six but all I know is it's a lot more than anyone else. I was thoroughly impressed by his consistency in 2009, when a lot of anglers were struggling during this weird year, Jimbo caught limits in six of the eight tournaments and won twice. Probably a more impressive stat is on day #2 at Wixom when he brought nearly 15 pounds to the scales, almost doubling anyone elses weight.

I look forward to 2010 and the chance to win my second AOY title but I realize this, as long as Jim is in the club, I will have to earn it and would not be suprised if he puts #7 in the closet. Hopefully I didn't just jinx him but I can use all the help I can get. Great job Jim.

Maurer wins Center

Bill Maurer is a Michigan Center resident and calls Center Lake his "home lake". But he claimed this was the toughest fishing he has ever encountered on the lake and probably only caught about a dozen keepers all summer combined. But Bill put it all together last Sunday, claiming his second win of the year when he dropped 8.89 pounds on the scales to win the clubs' last event of the 2009 season. Here's how it happened:


Bill paired up with fellow club member Brian Masters and he was hoping to put Brian on a few fish to lock up his classic berth. The pair started with topwaters and Bill scored a small keeper with an Iovino Splash It popper but after a while it was obvious the topwater bite wasn't happening. "We decided to go into Round Lake because I can always catch a keeper or two there", added Bill. But as he entered the small lake there were already about 5 club boats fishing it. "After fishing the whole lake with plastics I pulled out a small shallow diving crankbait I always have tied on and believe it or not, I quickly caught two more keepers."


With the bite being as slow as it was, Brian suggested they try Dollar and Alcott Lakes next and after a few hours of small fish, they decided it was time to go under the Napoleon Road bridge and fish Big Alcott. "Brian commented that he's caught some good fish from this lake and after working the whole lake we came up on a small weed clump near a sand point." Maurer pitched his patented Yamamoto grub into the clump and set the hook on the tourneys biggest fish which went 3.37 pounds. Bill then used the grub to fill out his limit a few minutes later and secure his second win on his home lake in two years. "I couldn't believe I caught that many keepers from Center after how bad it was fishing all year", added Maurer. "I think I only caught 10-12 fish all day and I think Brian actually caught more than I did". Masters did qualify for the classic despite being one of several anglers to zero at Center.

Gear Notes: Bill uses spinning tackle, a Shimano Stradic reel spooled with 30 lb braid. His grubs vary in color but are 5" Yamamoto twin tails and he uses an 1/8 oz shakey jig head.

Tourney Notes:
-17 anglers participated at Michigan Center
-13 of the 17 weighed in one or no fish
-2nd big bass went to Roy Albert at 2.82 pounds
-Three limits were caught: Maurer, Roy Albert and Connie Honsinger
-Club newcomers Matt Morgan and Craig Deck nailed down classic berths on Sunday
-Jim Rice Jr. captured another AOY title with Maurer finishing second

Michigan Center Results

1 Bill Maurer 8.89
2 Roy Albert 8.84
3 Connie Honsinger 8.43
4 Jim VanAken 3.35
5 Tim Chapman 2.30
6 Chico Gonzalez 1.90
7 Craig Deck 1.67
8 Scott Rice 1.65
9 Mike Pritchard 1.58
10 Tom Curry 1.45
11 Art Honsinger 0
12 Brian Masters 0
13 Jim Rice 0
14 Matt Morgan 0
15 Mike Maske 0
16 Nick Neves 0
17 Jerry Smith 0

Center Patterns

The final club tournament of the season is this Sunday at Michigan Center and instead of previewing this body of water which the club has already fished this year, I thought I might detail some of my practice experiences to give a little more insight as to what may transpire this weekend. Most of the club members are very familiar with Center and usually several patterns will catch fish. To me, the four main strategies are targeting the slop, fishing the vast flats and stumpfields, fishing the weededges of the several deeper holes in the lake and finally any of the above patterns on one of the other lakes in the chain. I had three days to practice and fished for a few hours each time, exploring a different option each time out. Here's what I found.

The slop: Two weeks ago this would have been my primary pattern, throwing frogs and toads into the slop and pads but with the recent colder weather and the weeds slowly starting to thin out, I was not able to catch many fish doing this. I will not eliminate this pattern but will check it out later in the day on Sunday.

Stump Fields: Center is basically a huge flat with a few deeper holes and getting out in the middle of the lake and covering water is a pretty good approach, especially in the fall. There are several flats with a lot of wood on them and I like to cover water with spinnerbaits, shallow cranks and then a little slower with senkos. But I think the fish are still between a late summer pattern and an early fall one and this has not worked great for me lately. If we get some good wind tourney day which I think we might then this could be the ticket.

Deep edges: There are several deep sections of Michigan Center, the most popular being the School Section and this is where most of the tournaments are won on Center. This is where I had my best luck during practice and I threw senkos, grubs and a drop-shot rig to get my bites. This pattern works great from about post-spawn on but deteriorates as the water cools. I will probably spend a lot of time on this Sunday and let the fish tell me if I should keep doing it.

Other Lakes: This is a big risk/reward scenario with greener patsures and a little less pressure over in Alcott and Wolf Lakes but there is a time investment involved and going there for just an hour or so is not very efficient. I spent significant time on Wolf Lake this week and though I did see a few decent fish cruising, I was not able to identify a good way to catch them and don't believe I will venture over there. There was a time when good stringers came from Wolf Lake but none in recent memory.

Overview: I think we are just a little early for a good fall bite and the fish are in between phases. I don't think many limits will be weighed in and really don't think it will take much more than 9 or 10 pounds to win. The nights have been cold lately and maybe the fishing will turn on by Sunday but it was not that way earlier this week. We will be launching from the 5th St. launch on Michigan Center and fishing from 7-3 this Sunday. The forecast calls for sunny skies and temps around 72. The water temps should be in the low to mid 70's and 15 mph winds are predicted.

Michigan Center Practice

I've heard a few fishing reports concerning Michigan Center lately and I've even been out there a few times myself. With Center being the site of this weekends club tournament, I thought it may be helpful to report what I know. First of all, I havn't caught much at all myself. Water temps are still in the high 70's and I believe the fish are still in late summer patterns. The only decent bites I've had have been in deeper water and with little or no wind on my practice days, the keepers have been few and far between.

The weeds are still quite heavy and there are a lot of floating weeds to deal with as well. There are a few areas that have been treated with weed killers I've heard but overall the majority of the lake looks unaffected.

I have talked to a few club members who have done pretty good recently and I heard one report of a 6 pounder being taken lately so good fish have been showing up but I believe this will be a grind it out for a few keepers kind of tournament with a 4 pounder going a long way. More reports to follow.

Wixom Day #2

Usually bass tournaments are won by the angler who makes the right decisions and adjustments during the couse of the day and that has never been more evident that day #2 at Wixom on August 30th. Jim Rice was that angler who figured it out and nearly doubled his closest competitors weights when he sacked a 14.15 lb limit to win in a landslide. Here's how he dit it:

Rice had a short practice session but was still able to weigh in a limit that tipped the scales at just over 11 pounds on day one to finish 3rd. "It was raining all day and I was able to catch them on the flats", exclaimed Jim who has failed to weigh in a limit in only one event this year. But Sunday brought different conditions with cool temps and bright sun.

"I started near the launch and tried working a weedline in hopes my wife could catch a couple", stated Rice. "I was just throwing a Zara Spook out into 27 feet of water and looked away only to have the 4 pound smallie hit it right at the boat". That smallie was the big fish of the tournament but the rest of the day did not come as easily. "After that I only caught two more keepers until about 1 o'clock in the afternoon and decided I needed to do something different". That something different was to head upriver and focus on isolated cover offering shade.

"I threw to docks, wood, seawalls, anything isolated that was protected from the sun", said Jimbo who pretty much locked up the AOY title with one event left. Rice threw a slew of different baits from senkos to texas rigged soft plastics and even got a few more on the Spook. He ended up catching about 10 keepers with most coming during the last two hours of the event. "That's what I like about Wixom is that you can catch them so many places and doing lot's of different things."

Day two notes:

-14 anglers competed Sunday compared to 17 on Saturday

-Only 2 anglers weiged in limits on day 2

-Sundays win was Jims second win of the season

-Rices big bass was officially 3.97 lbs

Classic Berths

With only one tournament to go, Jim Rice has pretty much wrapped up the Angler of the Year trophy but the berths to the clubs classic will still have a lot of drama. First of all, due to a new rule change this year, the classic berths are based on the average number of competitors for all eight events. 50% of the average club tournament entries will determine the number of classic competitors. To make it simple, we need to have 21 anglers at Michigan Center to give out ten classic invites and any less than 21 will mean only nine get invited.

What does all this mean? Plenty to the six club members who hold spots #8 through #12 seeing only six pounds seperates them. And Jim VanAken is in 13th place but he is very good on Center and is only six pounds from 10th. Of these six mentioned, only two have fished in a classic before adding extra incentive to make it.

So not only will these fishermen (myself included) who are on the bubble be fishing for three classic spots, but it may be shrunk to only two invitations pending the participation. Lots of drama on the last day of the tourney season but I wouldn't want it any other way. Good luck to everyone involved and from the reports I've been hearing, the big fish should show up at the weigh-in making it that much more interesting.

Scott Wins Again

After being DQ'd for showing up late to the weigh-in at the Hardy Dam tournament, Scott Rice knew his chances of winning the Angler of the Year title were done. Most guys would have thrown in the towel on the season but all Scott did was win three out of the next four club events including day one at Wixom last Saturday. Here's how he did it.

Practice: When the current stops flowing at Wixom, the water will rise and coupled with heavy rains on Thursday Scott figured the higher water would drive the fish shallow. "I caught fish in two to three foot of water on topwaters and crankbaits on Friday and thought that would be the pattern for Saturday" claimed Rice. "The fish were not eating the baits very good, just nosing them but that was fine for practice."

Tourney Day: As the tournament unfolded, Scotts shallow pattern did not hold up and he decided that a change was needed. "I just moved out a little deeper on the edge and started catching fish again". Rice re-connected with his fish by throwing a wacky-rigged senko bait and caught eight keepers and culled up to 11.71 pounds by the end of the day. "You would think with the rising water that the fish would stay shallow but it was just the opposite", exclaimed Rice whos limit was anchored by a 3.02 pounder. He claimed that the bite was a little slow and he didn't catch a ton of fish but his was the biggest limit of the six that were brought to the scales Saturday. He fished the edge of a big weed flat near the Dams, a community spot he thought but none of the other anglers were able to adjust as quickly as he did and that was the key to his win.

Gear: Scott uses spinning gear to fish his cinnamon colored senkos. He wacky-rigs the worms and uses a split ring to hold the hook in place. He fishes this rig on 12 pound Berkley Big Game mono spooled onto Shimano reels.

Tourney Notes:

-There were six limits weighed-in out of 17 fishermen.

-Bill Maurer had the events big fish at 3.48 pounds

-Jim Rice weighed in his 5th limit of the year in 6 events.

Wixom Day #2

1 Jim Rice 14.15
2 Bill Maurer 8.48
3 Paul Spooner 8.34
4 Scott Rice 8.05
5 Roy Albert 7.43
6 Mike Pritchard 6.56
7 Mark Dereadt 5.41
8 Connie Honsinger 4.73
9 Tim Chapman 4.67
10 Steve Hartley 3.12
11 Brian Masters 1.45
12 Art Honsinger 0
12 Tom Curry 0
12 Trish Rice 0