Wetzel Hits His Stride...

It was a cool crisp morning at the ramp on Saturday,and the Bandits were ready to cash in on Lake Sakakawea's smallmouth fishing. All season long curiosity was lingering throughout the club on how the first ever tournament on Sakakawea would turn out. Calm and hot. The weather was perfect for the Bandits to get around the lake without worrying about rough water conditions. There were a lot of smallmouth caught that day which was anticipated by the Bandits prior to the tournament, however the majority of the fish that were caught were relatively small. But that didn't keep the bandits from enjoying there day on a new lake. The Bandits were well aware of the good salmon fishing that can be had on this lake, and all of them were hoping to hook onto one of them. Many anglers did including Janine Wetzel, Dick Roland, Marty Mantz, and Geo Wentz just to name a few. When everyone got back to the boat ramp for the weigh in there were lots of stories being told about catching salmon as of course how the big smallmouth's got away!
  At the end of the day it was Jeff Wetzel winning his first ever Bass Bandit tournament since joining the club when in started in 2006. Make no mistake about Jeff, he has plenty of top 5 finishes under his belt and he is one of the clubs most experienced bass anglers, but it is tough to win tournaments on a consistent basis when your married to his wife Janine, who is a past Angler of the Year and Classic Champion. So a BIG congratulations goes out to Jeff on his first ever win, now you can look up at that wall Jeff and say "that trophy there is mine!" Coming in with a strong 2nd place finish was Cody Arth. Cody has been working on his bass fishing skills all summer long and it has definetly shown in the tournament results book this year. Not only did he take 2nd place this past weekend but he won the New Johns tournament earlier this season. He also has been in the top 5 category for the Angler of the Year race all season. Keep up the good work Cody. Marty Mantz was the angler who brought home the biggest smallmouth of the tournament, it weighed 4.20lbs! Mantz has been strong and consisitently bringing in the big smallies at all of our smallmouth tournament sites....hmm...maybe next year we should vote for all largemouth lakes! Marty's big bass also helped him secure 3rd place by narrowly defeating Paul Reinbold who weighed in 3 bass with a total weight of 4.12lbs. Coming in with 3.64 lbs and a top 5 finish was Ed Crawford. Ed also brought in a dandy of a smallmouth that weighed 2.64lbs which was the 2nd largest smallmouth weighed in.

  All in all the first tournament on Lake Sakakawea was a success with great weather, lots of fish caught, and the bonus salmon fishing! Hopefully next year when the club comes back the bigger smallmouth's that were spotted during the tournament will cooperate a little better. A special thanks goes out to Johnathan Campbell who did an excellent seminar on how to fish and rig a drop shot rig. It was definetly a treat Johnathan and we look forward to other seminars from you!

  The next tournament on the Bass Bandits schedule is September 24th, this is the first day of the clubs' first ever two day classic. The angler who comes in with consistant weight for both days will win this convinent event. This is a tournament that is anticipated to qualify for as soon as the ice comes off in early spring. So tune in the following week of the tournament to here all about the the Badlands Bass Bandits Classic Championship weekend!