(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen1.jpg)
Well, cast n blast came back from his near miss last year to take 1st place again with the help of Wolf_fisherman in the 2009 Spring DK Open Saturday May 16th on Lake St. Clair.
| BOATERS | NONBOATERS | # BASS | TOTAL WEIGHT | BIG BASS | PLACE |
| cast n blast | Wolf_fisherman | 5 | 23-10 | 6-2* | 1st |
| csfishslayer | n/a | 5 | 21-6 | 4-12 | 2nd |
| mjm6 | walleye-chuck | 5 | 19-2 | 4-8 | 3rd |
| SethV | ReelMan | 5 | 16-9 | 3-12 | 4th |
| MIBasser | mojo | 5 | 15-4 | 5-4 | 5th |
| Duran Dan | dborsa | 5 | 15-3 | 3-9 | 6th |
| MaizeNBlue | N/A | 5 | 14-9 | 3-10 | 7th |
| bassfan586 | deepdiver | 5 | 12-6 | 2-12 | 8th |
| MadWags | djkimmel | 5 | 12-4 | 5-9 | 9th |
| VinceR | Jay-MadWags | 5 | 12-4 | 4-8 | 10th |
| fowlmouth | WayneC | 5 | 11-4 | 3-0 | 11th |
| BrianB | the dude | 5 | 11-4 | 2-10 | 12th |
| River Rat | Team houston | 5 | 8-9 | 2-6 | 13th |
| LAPORTE | jerkbait | 5 | 8-7 | 2-6 | 14th |
| ABA | MiBassKid | :) | :) | :) | 15th |
Rumor has it that ABA and MiBassKid also had a limit making it a clean sweep for the first time in a DK Open if true - all limits. But I have not official weigh slip to go by since none was turned in.
*cast n blast also caught the big bass of the event - a huge 6 pounds 2 ounces St Clair smallie!!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516dko-bb.jpg)
Check out the updated DK Open Virtual Plaque here: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/dkopen/dkopenhx.html
In conjunction with the news on this message board and the DK Open Home Page: http://www.greatlakesbass.com/dkopen/
cast n blast and Wolf_fisherman raked in $84 for their 1st place finish along with hats from Grandt Rods (http://www.grandtrods.com), Flip Clips from Flip Clip Fishing (http://www.flipclipfishing.com/), P-Line (http://www.p-line.com) and assorted fishing tackle from Case Plastics (http://www.caseplastics.com), Xtreme Bass Tackle (http://www.combat-bassfishing.com) and a couple GreatLakesBass.com t-shirts (http://www.cafepress.com/greatlakesbass)!
In addition, for his big bass of the event, cast n blast received an AWESOME prize courtesy of Grandt Rods - a Gold Supreme Series 7' Casting Rod - a beautiful, light bass catching piece of art worth over $260 along with $56 big bass cash and additional prizes from the above generous sponsors!!!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen019.jpg)
Despite the forecast that probably had something to do with some of the 12 last minute cancellations and no shows, the weather ended up not too bad. Breezy, but many of the competitors stayed near the West shore and on into Anchor Bay, which made it an easy run. Only those who ran across or a ways to the South got into bigger waves. Not much more than a few light sprinkles went through and we even finished in warm mostly sunny skies during the awards presentation at the end of the event.
Because so many non-boaters showed up, we had 4 boaters without partners. Due to the plague I was suffering through, I had planned to just take a nap, but MadWags, another sole boater, talked me into jumping in his boat so I wouldn't have to do much.
I didn't do much either, but after catching a few small largemouth bass, I was lucky enough to pop my first smallie of the 2009 Lake St. Clair and it was a doozy - well worth the trip over to the big bowl!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen002.jpg)
I definitely wasn't really on my game (or any game with all the coughing) so I didn't help Dave much after that, but we managed a small limit with a few culls mixing green and brown bass.
We did see a couple of the top teams doing their damage too though.
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen2.jpg)
2nd place finisher csfishslayer didn't let being on his own slow him down by putting a big 21-6 limit of bass into his boat on a less than ideal spring day with a 4-12 kicker. Chris received his 2nd place winnings of $34 and some great prizes from Flip Clip Fishing (http://www.flipclipfishing.com/), Xtreme Bass Tackle (http://www.combat-bassfishing.com), Case Plastics (http://www.caseplastics.com), P-Line (http://www.p-line.com) and a GreatLakesBass.com t-shirt (http://www.cafepress.com/greatlakesbass).
MadWags and I also watched 3rd place finishers put a good bag in the boat - mjm6 and new member walleye-chuck pounded out a very nice 19-2 limit of smallies for $22 in winnings and two more prize packs from event sponsors including assorted fishing tackle from Case Plastics (http://www.caseplastics.com) and Xtreme Bass Tackle (http://www.combat-bassfishing.com)!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen3.jpg)
Father and Son team SethV and ReelMan brought in a solid 16-9 to take 4th place and the final prize pack from event sponsors Case Plastics (http://www.caseplastics.com) and Xtreme Bass Tackle (http://www.combat-bassfishing.com). They had 3 generations in the boat by having Seth's young son along to enjoy the great day of fishing on Lake St. Clair.
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen4.jpg)
You can see it wasn't a bad day at all, particularly for those boaters who turned north for the day such as mjm6 and walleye-chuck (back seat).
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen004.jpg)
csfishslayer was stopping by to see how mjm6 was doing as MadWags and I drifted by. MadWags pops another bass a short ways off as I'm snapping pictures.
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen006.jpg)
No worry about getting the net ;D MadWags was ON these bass all day!!!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen008.jpg)
Here's MadWags checking out on the Weighmaster Golden Rule to see if this 'bigun' is a 'keeper' and what kind of weight we might be adding!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen011.jpg)
Back at the Harley Ensign MDNR public access site, none other than Captain Wayne Carpenter (WayneC on here) brought in the big 'other' fish for the coveted specialty prize!! This thickheaded sheephead (the fish ;D ) weighed in at 8 pounds 3 ounces for Wayne (who fished with fowlmouth today - BrianB and the dude look on).
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopenbof.jpg)
For his efforts in beating out our whopper rock bass and big pike, WayneC was awarded a special prize!!! Here he is with his jar of trout marshmallows!!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen020.jpg)
New secret bait this summer... At least a hot new tube color maybe...?? who knows!?!
It wasn't all bad catching the big other fish as Wayne also received a pack of assorted Xtreme Bass Tackle and Case Plastics lures and some quality fishing tools courtesy of GreatLakesBass.com! Wayne also helped tally up the official score sheets. Here's past multiple winner Jay-MadWags turning his in to the tournament crew of djkimmel (me) and WayneC. By then, it was mostly sunny and pretty nice out!
(http://www.greatlakesbass.com/images/090516sdkopen022.jpg)
Please join me in congratulating all the top finishers and everyone who showed up despite the forecast!!
Please remember the companies that sponsor this web site and our events when you are considering your next purchase. Specially for the 2009 Spring DK Open, please thank:
Case Plastics (http://www.caseplastics.com)
Flip Clip Fishing (http://www.flipclipfishing.com)
Grandt Rods (http://www.grandtrods.com)
P-Line (http://www.p-line.com)
Xtreme Bass Tackle (http://www.combat-bassfishing.com)
All the GreatLakesBass.com sponsors can be reviewed here (http://www.greatlakesbass.com/fishing/glbsponsors.html).
That Grandt rod is realy realy sweet, Ive fished it 3 days now and cought a smallmouth that was 6-10 on the golden rule with that rod, it handles them so nice...think I might need a matching set ;D
Dan nice big fish pic, what a beutifull fish to start your season off with.
Well we did catch a limit, but it wasn't very big. I gave the sheet to Anthony but he took off before the weigh in so he must not have turned the paper in. Oh well we would have been down near the bottom still. Our largest two fish i believe were greenies. Anyone know how the guys that were there in the ABA did the next day? I must be a jinx down there :-\' seems like they're never where they're supposed to be when I'm down there. Congrats to all the guys on top and thanks to everyone who was involved.
-Luke
Maybe you'll get the hot draw next year Luke!?! I think you told me you had a limit, but by the time I looked around for Anthony, he was launching his boat to go back out to practice for Sunday. Sounds like everyone caught some fish though, which is nice! :)
Quote from: cast n blast on May 23, 2009, 06:30:38 AM
That Grandt rod is realy realy sweet, Ive fished it 3 days now and cought a smallmouth that was 6-10 on the golden rule with that rod, it handles them so nice...think I might need a matching set ;D
Dan nice big fish pic, what a beutifull fish to start your season off with.
I will pass along your comments to Jim Grandt. It was a rod pretty enough to hang on the wall, but built to catch 6 pound 10 ounce smallies!!!
My 1st smallie from St. Clair of the year was big... but your's was bigger... ;D