NBAA Detroit river open

[dartag]

started the day off letting my partner draw our number.  it was his first tourny on st-clair.  he draws number 125 which i later find out is the largest number in the barrell.  we launch and idle down the river.  we waited in the channel until the last boats were launching and head out.  the river had 3 footers until we got around the corner heading east.  we did get to see which way the winners went on the river.  since i did not get out to pre-fish in canada ( which was not legal ) i headed to some points from last year.  i catch a 2 pounder on the second cast and the day is on.  my partner loses 4 keepers in a row on a tube.  he gets frustrated and ties on a new hook.  i tell him to relax you will lose fish. but it would be nice to get a couple of them big ones in.   about 9:00 the smallies start ripping the surface eating fish flies.  i saw a big one and casted my dropshot to it and bang.  4.5 pounder.  we caught a limit this way in less than an hour.  then the weighing and balance beaming started.  it was fun watching for surface fish and casting to them,  they were definately aggressve.  we ended up with 16.4. i think last place money was a little over 17.3   must have caught 50 keeper fish all day.   the weigh in was interesting.  parked in a field and was happy to not have 6 flat tires when i got back to the truck.  NBAA put on a great event.  hope it works out to have it next year.

wished i would have had an Elephant Ear or Corn Dog while we were at the weigh in.

ss

[VinceR]

First off, congrats to all the big finishers, Mike and Dave, Mark and Don, and Mike and Will. Awsome job, you guys.

Kudos to the NBAA staff. You guys pulled it off. You all did a fantastic job with little time to work out the logistics. After seeing what you could do with such a large turnout (at Houghton Lake), and launching out of two ramps, I figured that you could pull this off (despite my apprehension about the ramp parking situation). I have to agree with the others who mentioned how weird it was (in kind of a "cool" way) to haul a sack of fish through the carnival midway, to weigh them in.

We caught a lot of fish, and actually figured out how to get the fish that were surfacing on the mayflies to bite. We just couldn't get rid two 3 pounders that we needed to upgrade from 17.02. We saw the fish that we needed, but only after we started working another (smaller) fish. It was still a blast. This is probably my favorite type of fishing.

Dartag, we were just ahead of you. We were boat 122.

I'll definitely fish this again.

[squid]

Thanks guys.  I was worried about the launch site being one way in and out.  Once we got that mess cleared out things went smoother. 

Sounds like this might be something everyone wants to see again.  Myself, I would like to see a different launch site...lol.

I thought everything in the morning went smooth, and was glad to see that we were launching at 8 am since it took 2 1/2 hours to get all the boats in the water.

I am glad to see everyone enjoyed the event.  Even the eye candy was nice to look at.

[Genie]

Not sure what you saw after we tookoff from the ramp ... all I saw was the back of Jim ... that's not candy ...

[VinceR]

I, definitely, wouldn't mind doing it again.

As for the ramp situation, unfortunately, that's the only (public) ramp within the city limits. The next public ramp is downriver. There might be others in some of the privately owned marinas. Years ago, there was one near the Ambassador Bridge, at the foot of West Grand Blvd. That one is long gone. On the plus side, we now know that it can work. Now that we know the setup, it should be a little easier to plan for.

It's possible that there could be some more improvements made to the St. Jean ramp. I understand that there were some changes in the works that have been stalled for one reason or another. There is some expansion planned for Tri Centennial State Park, as well as more riverfront developement. Hopefully, that includes some improvement to the riverfront parking area that we used for the weigh-in.

[tritonman]

Not sure what you saw after we tookoff from the ramp ... all I saw was the back of Jim ... that's not candy ...

Well Genie you could of stayed back and worked with us at the setup of the stage, lots of eyecandy there..lol

[Genie]

I will next time ...

[silverminnow]

I would personally like to thank out own Mr. Kimmell for the wonderful strip tease in the dirt parking lot that helped to keep me awake on the way home.  In fact I don't think I have actually slept well since then.   Good Times Folks...Good Times!!!!!!

[squid]

OK...I JUST GOT AHOLD of Jay Andrews(boat 83).  They ended up stuck on Erie with a dead battery.  Got a jump and got back to the ramp at 8pm that night.  He appoligized for not calling anyone back that night, or any night...lol.  But Jay and Paul are back and fine. 

[DDBethke]

All,

Can anyone get a link up showing the Results from the Detroit River Open?

Much appreciated....

Duane

[squid]

I am still waiting for it...then I will be posting it all over..unless someone else beats me to it...lol

[squid]

HERE ARE THE RESULTS:

Detroit River Open – Huge Turnout!
Over $15,000 paid out in Cash & Prizes!
Over 100 boats turned out for the first ever Detroit River Open. This was no ordinary event; with a guaranteed first place of $7500 on the line this was sure to be a shoot out till the end. With the boats launching in the morning from Tri-Centennial Park and being covered by local news Channel 4 this was surely the first time for many of these anglers to have been on TV for such an event. After all the boats cleared Tri-Centennial Park NBAA went to work in setting up the weigh in stage right at the waterfront of the Detroit River Days Festival.

This weigh in was the first of its kind being right on the water front with hundreds of spectators and anglers. This would surely prove to be an exciting event not only for the anglers but much of the crowd who have never witnessed a tournament weigh in before. Around 3:00 pm the NBAA pro-staff and anglers started to arrive with their bags of fish, the early lead was taken by Paul Sacks and Jeff Throop but it didn't take long for that lead to be smashed by a huge sack of smallmouths brought to the scales by Don McCulla & Mark Modrak. Don and Marks giant limit of smallmouths topped the scales at 21.52 pounds which held the lead for most of the weigh in. That is until the team of Mike Trombly and Dave Hayward came to the scales and after the dust cleared and the scales settled Mike & Dave's limit of huge bronzebacks went 21.55 pounds. This tremendous catch of smallmouths was good enough for first place and a check worth $7500.

Following in third place was the team of Michael Nolan & Will Rekuc with a great limit of smallmouths tipping the scales at 20.19. Mike and Will also took second place big bass honors with a 5.10 smallmouth. First Place big bass honors went to the team of John Marchbanks & George Boston with a huge smallie weighing in at 5.16 pounds.

Also, taking place at this special event was a raffle for a 2008 FLW co-angler spot on the Detroit River and a 2007 Stren series co-angler spot also being held on the Detroit River. The winner of the FLW spot was Mike Weidman and the Stren Series winner was Rob Ross. We would like to give special thanks to FLW for stepping up with such great prizes for this special event. These prizes are coveted co-angler spots that many anglers are on a waiting list just hoping to get in. Again, congratulations to both anglers and the best of luck in your upcoming events.

Remember for those of you who signed up as NBAA members and fished this event you'll be receiving points towards the Double Barrel Shootout and a chance to qualify for championship week 2008. The results for this will be posted in the next week or two. In the meantime if you have any questions please call Paul or Barry. Also, keep a look out for the Detroit River Photo album which will have all of the photos taken at this event. This will hopefully be posted with in the next week or so.

We would also like to give special thanks to the city of Detroit and Jon Witz and his staff for inviting us to host such a great event. The city and Jon really went all out for this event and all of us here at NBAA really appreciate their extra efforts in making this the best event possible.

Last but not least we would like to thank all of the fisherman and pro-staff members who participated in this event. With out the patience of the fishermen and the hard work of the NBAA pro-staff this event would not have turned out as well as it did. Thanks again to all who participated and helped.


Download:
Tournament Results:http://www.nbaa-bass.com/plugins/det_river_open_results_07.pdf



         First Place DRO Mike Trombly & Dave Hayward




                 DRO Top Finishers



                  Second Place Don McCulla & Mark Modrak



                Third Place Mike Nolan & Will Rekuc