By Stosh Blondie

It was hot. It was steamy. It was smoking. But so were the competitors for the Tracker Bass Club's annual open team tournament. 'It was really hot so we made sure to remind everyone to take in lots of water and be careful out on the water,' Tracker Bass Club's president Glenn Pazanin said. 'We knew it was going to be really hot. 

I was just thankful that everyone made it back in good shape.' 44 teams entered this tournament and the payback was over 140% of entry fees with cash and prizes going to not only the teams who finished high in the tournament. 

Taking first place was the team of Brian Jackson and David Adams with 12.41 pounds of fish and the big fish of 3.31 pounds. 'Well, we started off the day and ran to Lake Michigan. It took us about an hour and twenty minutes to get to our spot.

Usually the bass seem to set up in the current but, for some reason, they weren't. It took us a while to figure that out and we backed off a little and fished in deeper water.' The first four fish that they hooked they lost. 'We were fishing in about 20 feet of water and it was hard to detect the bites.' 

Their fish came on Yamamoto Senkos or Lucky Craft crankbaits. 'We only caught 6 keepers all day. Our last one was caught around 10:45 and since we had a long run we were pretty much done fishing by then.' Brian said that he thought the day was a real mental challenge.

'It was extremely hot and extremely windy where we were at. It was tough to hold the boat in position and you really had to concentrate on what your lure was doing. I was slow fishing.' They beat the second place team by 0.01 pounds. 'You know, it was close. I'm just glad that the scale tipped our way. 

It was such an excellent run tournament. From the start with 44 boats all the way to the weigh in, it was quick and everything was run great. I can't think of a reason why anyone wouldn't fish this tournament. From the prizes which included a weekends use of a Hummer for both partners-I kinda wish we would have won that-all the way to first place. And, quite frankly, I was surprised at how many places got paid. It was awesome.'

The team of Howard and Chris Malinowski finished in second place but had a first place day. 'I haven't fished a tournament in the last year or so,' Howard said. 'So, Chris, my son, said to me that he wanted us to fish this for old time sake. Personally, I think he just wanted to see if dad still had it.' The launch was at 5:30 am, but team Malinowski didn't get a line wet until well after 7 am. 'We had about an hour and forty-five minute run. 

We ran all the way up to the north side of Chicago.' They were fishing tubes on open hook jig heads in water anywhere from 6 inches to 6 feet deep. Their first fish gave them a little bit of fun. 'I hooked a good one and thought it was an awesome smallie. But, when the fish wouldn't come up the surface they knew what it was. 'Yes, it was a nice brown trout.' But, the day turned out almost liked they planned it.

They had a limit in the boat by 9 and were culling the rest of the day. 'We caught a total of 14 fish with 12 of them keeper size.' They decided to head back at 11 am which was about one hour earlier than they needed too. 'You know, when you are on the big lake, you have to know what your limitations are. I know that the lake starts to get rough around 10:30 or 11. 

The wind usually picks up and there are a lot of pleasure boaters out. So, we decided to head back. Also, every though we ran up Lake Calumet in the morning we decided to run back through the Chicago River. There is such a big no-wake zone now in Lake Calumet and they are enforcing it and we decided to run that way. Also, I know the lake can get really dangerous around the Jackson Park area so I wanted to avoid that if possible.' Howard also had his run in with the weather.

'Coming back, I developed a very bad headache. I think it was from the heat. So, near the end of the day I just wanted to get back, weigh in the fish, and go home to lie down.' He was glad to see one thing at the weigh in. 'The DNR had their boat there and I was really glad to see that. I'm sure that by just having boat there helped to keep a lot of the fish alive.' Howard was disappointed in one thing at the weigh in. 'We lost by 0.01 pounds. That's not a lot. Maybe just a drop of water. I was tired so I didn't argue, I just wanted to go home.'

In third place with 9.73 pounds of fish was the team of Jeff Miller and Clark Davis. Forth went to Mike Meyers and Mike Hoese with 9.20 pounds. Joe Bara and Herb Brown finished fifth with 7.17 while Steve Flassing and Michael Jacobs were sixth with 6.95 pounds. Andy Haustein and John Kennedy; Ken McCartney and Bob Kenu; Hector Tellado and Jim Notter; and Thomas Sanders and Steve Rutherford were seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth respectively with 6.85, 6.71, 6.40 and 6.28 pounds. Finally, finishing in eleventh place was Mel McFarland with 6.20 pounds. 

Tracker Bass Club would like to thank their sponsors:

Holiday Boat Sales, Outdoor Notebook, Tracker Marine, Odyssey Country Club, Pepsi, Dual Pro Charger, Rizza Cadillac-Buick-Hummer, Phil's Prop Shop, Herbies Magic Dust, Mik Lurch Tackle, Fishing Connection, Mercury, Motorguide, Stricktly Fishing.