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Rubin & Northway are Classic Champs!!!
Northway and Rubin
with their 1st place Plaques and Checks
Big Bucks Anglers and Lake Wissota Impressive in Annual Classic
Heading into the 2006 Big Bucks Bass
championship tournament, there were more questions than answers. Could this
body of water handle a nearly 100 boat tournament? Were there enough fish?
Could local anglers outperform the best bass fisherman in the world who
struggled mightily on Wissota during the Elite 50? By the end of the
tournament, there was a resounding “yes” for all these questions.
Many of the anglers had never fished this
body of water before this event, including the eventual winners. For many of
them, there was great concern based on the fact that professionals like
Kevin VanDam, Mike Iaconelli and others had trouble catching 12 inch bass
last summer. For this tournament, there was a 14 inch size limit for large
and smallmouth bass and a team could bring in 6 fish per day...if they could
find them. But, the teams who spent all season qualifying for this event
were up to the challenge of finding and catching quality bass.
At the pre-tournament
meeting, most anglers complained of tough fishing – yet this must be taken
with a grain of salt (or a handful). Some anglers constantly grumble that
they never find fish in practice only to come in with heaviest weights.
Oftentimes, this is a defense mechanism to avoid “giving away” any valuable
information. Only time would tell the real story of what kind of fish this
lake and these anglers could produce.
A big thanks goes out
Camp Kenwood and Leinenkugels for the great dinner and beverages at the
tournament banquet. In practice, many teams quickly realized that this lake
and adjoining rivers were going to fish small. The areas that held numbers
of fish seemed to be relatively concentrated and were not a secret. Many
anglers therefore searched for the pattern that would set them apart from
the crowd, such as a main lake bite on Lake Wissota or Little Lake Wissota.
After the tournament, many teams commented that they had found a main lake
pattern either in the depths or shallow on docks. However, most of those
teams fell victim to the cold front and bright blue skies that swept into
the area during the event. Most fishermen could not sustain their patterns
Friday and Saturday as only two teams managed a limit both days.
Most other teams
concentrated their efforts in the Chippewa and Yellow Rivers. Key areas
were those with current as they held numbers of quality fish. With the
aforementioned cold front wreaking havoc on some patterns, other teams were
enjoying success catching current related fish. Normally, they are less
affected by the adverse conditions.
12 limits were brought
to the scales on day 1 with Willinghanz and Walls in 1st place
with 17.41 lbs. of beautiful brown smallies caught swimming grubs up the
river. It should be noted that the fish on this dark coffee - colored
system have a striking deep chocolate brown color to them, especially in the
river. Interestingly, other fish caught in the main lake had the more
typical light and dark brown pattern, which is also a beautiful sight to
see. Eberly and Brooks had 16.43 lbs. on day one for second place. In
third was the father & son team of Bob and Rob Fleming with 16.13 lbs. In
fourth was another father and son team Art and Joe Sukowatey with 15.01
lbs. Rounding out the top five on day one with 14.88 lbs. was the team of
Rubin and Northway. 22 teams managed a weight better than 10 lbs. on day
one and smallmouth bass were dominating the tournament. Multiple teams
reported filling their limits with both river and main lake fish.
With over 25 teams still in the running for
the grand prize of 20K, the day 2 blast off began at 7:00 A.M. with high
hopes and high skies. Those high skies seemed to quickly extinguish the
patterns and bites many teams had enjoyed the day before. The 5th place
team of Brad Rubin and Tim Northway had only 1 small keeper in the boat at
12:30. Having spent the day up the Chippewa, with 3 hours to fish, the pair
made a fateful decision to race to the Yellow river. This was a spot they
had up their sleeves where they’d gotten a lot of bites in practice but had
not visited yet either day.
Assuming the area had
gotten pounded thus far and knowing it was not a secret, the two realized
they were running out of time and that their chances of winning had all but
slipped away. To their surprise however, only one boat was in the area and
was on the opposite side of “their” spot. Pulling up to the “spot on the
spot” they put 2 solid keepers in the boat in a hurry. The fish were
actually slamming their tubes as the anglers tried to work free of the
snags! With an hour to go, the pair managed to land 3 more solid keepers
amid a series of smallmouth feeding frenzies. Oddly enough, this was all
taking place in an area with great depth and structure but also an odd algae
bloom on the surface that did not look like a smallie hangout. The team had
quickly gone from chokers to respectable…they thought.
After racing back to
weigh in by 3:30 as part of the second flight the pair returned to find that
most teams had already weighed in. They were surprised to learn there were
very few limits and that most teams had struggled mightily on day 2.
Knowing it would be close, the team brought their 6 fish to the scale, with
one “squeaker” that was just barely 14 inches. Needing a 2-day total of
26.17 to win, the scales read 11.87 for their 6 fish. For 30 seconds, the
large crowd gathered outside “The View” restaurant and Bar looked around and
did their best to add the ounces in their heads. Before long, it was
official…Brad Rubin of Antioch, IL and Tim Northway of Winchester, WI had
won the Big Bucks Bass 2006 Classic by less than 6 ounces!!!
Brad is a teacher at
Zion Benton High School in Zion, IL & is sponsored by Bill’s Pizza and Pub
and Captain’s Boat Wiring. Tim is a Pump Panel Designer for Pierce
Manufacturing and is sponsored by Bass Cat Boats, Steve’s Marine, and Custom
Interiors & Canvas in Winneconne, WI. Both fishermen want to say a sincere
thank you to their generous sponsors and wonderful families for all their
support. They both feel truly blessed for their friendship, their families
and their ability and passion to fish competitively.
Coming in second place
was the team of Willinghanz and Walls with 26.16 lbs. Finishing third was
Hale and Huston with 24.17 lbs. In fourth was Eberly and Brooks with 23.68
lbs. Rounding out fifth place were Meetz and Mischler with 22.94 lbs. With
these impressive weights, Big Bucks anglers showed that although they may
not be professional fishermen, many of them could compete at that level. It
should also be noted that when the Bassmasters Elite 50 came to Wissota, the
weather and seasonal fishing conditions were much different and very
challenging.
All the anglers commend
Big Bucks Bass for a well - conducted tournament and the cities of Chippewa
Falls/Eau Claire for their wonderful hospitality. In particular, Big Bucks
Bass and the anglers want to thank the restaurant/bar |
