Patoka Lake Results 3-24

Patoka Lake Tournament Story March 24, 2012

Patoka Lake was in rare form after a very mild winter and an unusual warm stretch leading up to the March 24th tournament. The Indiana Slab Masters members took full advantage of the conditions with many teams weighing in excess of 6-pound, 7-fish stringers. We had a club record weight for the win and the top teams were very close in weight. All different styles of fishing were showcased and several hefty fish were brought to the scales, along with a record 42 teams showing up for the event.

Finishing in 1st place was the Ohio team of Larry Yates and Doug Allen with a record 7-fish stringer of 9.98 lbs. Larry and Doug were fishing up above the King's bridge area of the lake tossing jigs into cover in the creek channel. Larry and Doug have proven to be very tough Ohio tournament anglers and a team to recon with! Congratulations on the win Men!

Finishing in a very close 2nd place was the always tough team of Glenn Gill and Tom Hankins with a total weight of 9.80 lbs. Tom and Glenn have been on a roll, finishing in 2nd place for the 2nd 2012 tournament in a row after winning the 2011 Indiana Slab Masters Classic! These men caught their fish spider rigging Lake Fork Tackle Live Baby Shad and caught some of the fish tipping with live bait and some without.

Glenn and Tom were fishing in the mid river area above Osbourne to capture 2nd place, targeting structure in 10' of water. Congratulations Men on a job well done!

Finishing in 3rd place is another very tough team of Tony Williams and Tim Dunigan with an impressive total weight of 9.27 lbs. Tony and Tim were fishing hand tied baits under a float in the Flemming creek area, targeting weed beds. Tony and Tim have consistantly finished in the top 5 of the Indiana Slab Masters and are always a threat! Great Job guys!

Finishing in 4th place and finishing in the top 5 for the 1st time is the new team of Mike Russell and Tim Clepper with a total weight of 8.60 lbs. Mike and Tim were spider rigging and using a specialty bait to capture 4th place. Great job and congratulations men!

Finishing in 5th place was the team of Doug Sikora and Gary "Woody" Woodcock with a total weight of 8.02 lbs. Doug and Woody frequented the top 5 last year and are always a threat. Doug and Woody caught most of their fish during a hot 2-hour stretch swimming large twister tail grubs 2' down in 20' of water on their Grandt Rods. What a great way to raise the bar for the rest of us and start the year off right!

Finishing in 6th place was the team of Kent and Anita Besaw with a total weight of 7.73 lbs. Kent and Anita were spider rigging Southern Pro baits tipped with live bait in the river area of the lake for their first top 5 finish of the year. Congratulations and great job!

Winning the Big Fish award with a very nice crappie was the team of Bret Cunningham and Josh Kleber with a 2.08 lb. slab crappie.

Thank you to all the members who competed and hope to see each of you at Geist reservoir on April 7th. Thank you to the local bait shops that donated gift certificates for give-a-ways to club members. Thank you to each of the Members for the care and handling of your tournament fish and helping to keep the fish in good shape for lively release. To my knowledge we only had 3 fish lost!

See you all on April 7th!

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