Patrick and Dylan Stone take Crappie USA Pro Division Victory at Wabash, IN
Category: Tournament
Jun 24th, 2019 by Keith Worrall
Modified Jun 24th, 2019 at 10:49 AM
Patrick and Dylan Stone take CUSA Pro Division Victory at Wabash, IN
(Yeakle and Duncan win Amateur Division. )
Louisville, KY – June 23, 2019 – Crappie anglers from several states traveled to Mississinewa & Salamonie, Lakes at Wabash, IN to participate in a Crappie USA (CUSA) event. The June 22 event was presented by Bass Pro Shops Cabela’s. Local and traveling anglers fished for cash, prizes, and an opportunity to compete at the 2019 CUSA Classic which will feature a guaranteed payout of $125,000 in cash and prizes.
Mississinewa & Salamonie Lakes event was originally scheduled in May. The water was still high and muddy but the bite was on. Anglers reported catching as many as 150 fish and more on the day. The temperatures on Friday night before the tournament were in the 70’s with winds at 5 to 10 mph and rain. The day was beautiful on Saturday with temps in the upper 70s and winds 5 to 10 mph.
A total of 35 boats fished the Wabash event—11 in the Pro Division and 24 in the Amateur Division. A total of $ 6,200 was distributed to the winners.
Pro Division Results
Mississinewa & Salamonie, area bait shops mostly have fathead/tuffy minnows, what the shops call bass or crappie minnows. Some bait shops have what’s called medium shiners. The father/son team of Patrick and Dylan Stone chose the 2- to 3-inch shiners to catch more than 150 fish and claim the top spot at Wabash, IN.
Team Stone, from Anderson, IN, brought a bag of 5.98 pounds to the scales to take first place and earn a check for $1400 and the $100 Jenko Bonus.
“The shiners work really well,” reported Patrick. “We were fishing them on B’n’M Capps and Coleman rigs. We were spider rigging above the flooded willows about 4 feet deep.”
“Salamonie & Mississinewa are what I consider my home lakes,” continued Patrick. “I haven’t fished them much this year because of traveling to out of town tournaments. Prefishing on Thursday had me worried as fishing was tough. On tournament day we fished a spot that I had never fished before because it was similar to a spot I wanted to fish, but we found someone already fishing there. We caught all of our weigh-in fish in the new location.”
“The weather was windy and the water was up 14.5 feet,” concluded Patrick. “We started in muddy water but had to find cleaner water to catch fish. The wind was rough, but our Hi-Tek rod holders did a great job as always. About 1:00 we ran out of minnows and switched to vertical jigging Bluegrass Diddy Long Leggs and continued catching fish.”
Myron Etchison from Anderson, IN and Wayne Moore from French Lick, IN weighed 5.83 pounds to earn a check for $ 600. They added the Ranger Bonus for $250 and Second Big Fish for another $200.
Etchison and Moore fished Pink/Chartreuse Big Diddy baits in 12 feet of water. They were slow trolling over grass to catch more than 100 fish for the day. Their Second Big Fish weighed 1.09 pounds.
The third spot went to Kirk Wyman from Taswell, IN and Robert Raymer from Greenfield, IN. Their 5.39-pound bag earned them a check for $400.00.
Flooded brush on Salamonie Lake was the key for Wyman and Raymer. They were fishing five feet down in 14 feet of water to catch suspended fish. They used Muddy Water jigs and tube jigs in various colors to catch more than150 fish for the day.
Noel Thompson from Morocco, IN and Chester Riley from Indianapolis, IN culled down from more than 150 fish to weigh 5.38 pounds and claim the fourth-place spot. The team and earn $250 for Talon Bonus.
Thompson and Riley fished Salamonie Lake. They were spider rigging over what would have been the original shoreline when not flooded. The team used Spider Monkey Jigs and chartreuse Charlie Brewer Sliders in 10 feet of water to catch their fish.
Amateur Division Results
The Marion, IN team of Marvin Yeakle and Jeff Duncan, won the Amateur Division at Wabash, IN. The team had a total weight of 5.51 pounds to claim victory and earn a check for $1000.00. They added $460 for Big Fish.
Yeakle and Duncan fished Mississinewa Lake. They were fishing close to the dam in 5 to 10 feet of water. They were suspending live bait about 5 feet deep. The team used 10 dozen minnows to catch more than 200 fish, including a 1.34 that gave them the Big Fish honors.
Second Place in the Amateur Division went to Tom Dubensky of Clement City, MI and David Willoughby of Chelsea, MI. They teamed up to bring 5.08 pounds to the scales and claim the runner-up spot. They earned a check for $500.
Dubensky and Willoughby fished Salamonie Lake. They were long line trolling Road Runners in various colors. They were pulling in a range of 1.0 to 1.4 MPH over 14 to 34 feet of water to catch 100-150 crappie for the day.
Matt and John Mappes took the third-place spot. The Miveveh and Spencer, IN pair teamed up to bring 4.87 pounds to the sales and earn a check for $400.
Team Mappes fished Salamonie Lake also. They were casting various colored jigs over brush piles. Once they found fish they would count down to the same depth. That method got them more than 75 fish for the day.
The Fourth-Place spot went to the Lancaster KY team of Ricky Baker and David Gibson. They brought 4.79 pounds to the scales and earned $300.
Baker and Gibson spider rigged on Mississinewa Lake. They were pushing over heavy timber using Chartreuse jig heads with live minnows to catch around 100 crappies for the day
Rounding out the top five was Gary Reed and Blake Morris from Marion IN. They weighed 4.72 pounds and earned a check for $200.
The Marion IN team fished both lakes during the day. They used the same method in both lakes. They were spider rigging Big Diddy jigs in chartreuse/purple to catch more than 200 fish. They targeted water up to 45 feet deep but caught their crappies suspended in 10 feet of water.
An additional award in Amateur Division went to Antwan Roberson and Stacy Morphis of Chicago Heights, IL. They were the highest placing team in the Amateur Division and were members of the Ranger Cup Program. They earned a check for $125.
Epilogue
Darrell Van Vactor, CUSA Operations Manager, sent special thanks to Steve Jeffers and Robert Land for their assistance in setting up the event and to Bozarth Recreational Resort & Country Store for hosting the seminar.
“All the teams caught a tremendous number of crappies in the 3/4-pound range,” said Darrell Van Vactor, CUSA Operations Manager. “Some caught more than 200 for the day. Next year they will be over that pound mark and should make for a great spring fishing.”
The CUSA Classic Championship will be held October 23 – 26, 2019 on Old Hickory Lake, Gallatin, TN. It features a guaranteed payout of $125,000 in cash and prizes.
National Sponsors
National Sponsors of Crappie USA are: Bass Pro Shops Cabela’s, Ranger Boats, Mercury Marine, Mustad Hooks, Minn Kota, Humminbird, Talon, Lake Master Maps, Gamma, B’n’M Poles, Driftmaster Rod Holders, Ego Nets, Xtreme Bait Systems, Cumberland Crappie Double Seats, Brushpile Crappie, Charlie Brewer Slider, Crappie Now Magazine, Church Tackle Co., Jenko Fishing, Big Bite Baits, Lake Cumberland CVB, Crappie Magnet, AWD Baits, EFX Graphics, Fin n’ Frames, Crown Trophy, JR Madd Breading, and Freaky Franks Tackle.