Canadian Tire Lake Erie Open, Press Release
On Saturday October 11th 100 Teams comprised of 200 anglers blasted off from Chippawa, ON in search of the biggest 5 fish limit of bass they could find. Yet another day where forecasts were all over and conditions were very tough to predict. Lake Erie was left Open and anglers that went for it were met with waves that Lake Erie is known for and some rain mixed in. However, the rain forecasted seemed to just miss the area giving some reprieve from the waves.
Even though the lake was a bit “nasty” there are always teams that can locate and catch a big bag of bass, and this year was once again exceptional setting new records across the board!! A total of 305 were fish brough to the scales and the average bass weighed in was 3.89lbs. As the weigh in started it seemed that the weights would be down, with a number of teams pulling out early and not weighing in. However, this would not hold up long as at total of 31 bags over 20 lbs were brought in, and an incredible 11 bags over 23 lbs! Again, the anglers took good care of their fish, and we had only 3 dead fish (98.4% live release) and all others went back into the river healthy and ready to be caught again.
When the dust settled – The now TWO TIME CHAMPIONS Billy Gilbert and Brad Brodnicki topped the scales with a new tournament record bag of 28.96lbs! This mega bag, came with a total of $18,750 in cash and prizes – which consisted of $10,000 cash for first, $7100 cash for pay to play (side pot), $1000 Canadian Tire Gift Card, and the Tactical Fishing Big Bag award (2 Rods/Reels of 650 Value)!! Congratulations for HUGE win in a talented field of anglers setting the new weight and Money RECORDS! In second place (with a weight that would have won any other of the previous 11 tournaments) the team of Larry Mazur and Joe Fonzi had 27.63lbs and The Abu Garcia Big Bass #2 at 6.55lbs. They were rewarded with a total of $7050 in cash & prizes! Rounding out the top 3 – Tyler Manthey / Andrew Wengender had 25.69lbs for a total of $4150 in cash & prizes.
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