Brumbaugh Leads Gator Classic
Category: npaa
Sep 16th, 2009 by OutdoorsFIRST
Modified Sep 16th, 2009 at 12:00 AM
The Western Basin Sportfishing Association (WBSA) held the inaugural Starcraft Marine, Crown Battery Gator Classic Pro Am on September 12th and 13th out of Lorain OH.
Touring Pro and NPAA member Mark Brumbaugh #70 of Arcanum, OH took the top spot in the Pro Division by putting together two very good days. He brought a total of 71.26 lbs to the scales for the event. This outdistanced Joe Nadzam of North Royalton who weighed in 67.5 lbs of walleye. Jason Kopf of Avon Lake brought in 67.36 lbs to take the third spot. Brumbaugh went out Sunday in third place and put together the largest one day weight of the event, 36.55 lbs, to propel himself to the top spot.
While the majority of the field was pulling spinners, Brumbaugh stuck with his Reef Runner crankbaits to capture the win. He trolled the baits on Berkley Trilene 10# XT fishing line, Berkley trolling rods, and Abu Garcia 6500LC Linecounter reels. “I feel like I can catch larger fish on cranks when I can get them to go on them” Brumbaugh shared during the weigh in.
In the Pro-Am format amateurs’ fish with a different pro each day of the event to come up with their accumulated 2 day weight. Topping the Am division was Kris Klingman of Novelty with 69.91 lbs. Jay Gullet of Willard was 2nd with 68.13 lbs and in 3rd was Joe Dennison of Stow. Rounding out the money winners in 4th was Michael Doornink of McCandless PA with 66 lbs and Dave Knierieman of Fremont with 64.45 lbs good for 5th.
Big fish winners in the Pro division was Jason Kopf with a 10.09 lb walleye on day one taking the top spot and Nadzam on the second day with a 10.23 lb fish good for the top paying spot. Each of those fish were worth $700 to the anglers. Touring Pro and NPAA member Greg Yarbrough #903 of Port Clinton, OH took the second place honors both days with a 8.98 lb walleye Saturday and a 9.28 lb fish on Sunday.
Greg Reed took top spot in the Am division on Saturday with the big fish of the event which tipped the scales at 10.97 lbs. Doornink took the top spot on Sunday coming in with a 10.23 lb walleye. Second place Saturday was won by Dennison with a 10.09 fish and Sunday by NPAA member Mark Komo #554 of East Amherst, NY with a 9.28 lb walleye.
The 26 boats brought over 1400 lbs of fish to the scales for the 2 day event and all of those were donated to the Second Harvest food bank for them to distribute. Most of the teams were pulling spinners in a variety of techniques to get them to the fish. In addition to Brumbaugh a couple of other top finishing teams reported pulling Reef Runners and other crankbaits. Firetiger, Pink Panties, Purples and Pink Lemonade were mentioned as working during the event for the anglers. In addition the guys talked about changing speeds up throughout the day to trigger strikes.
The WBSA is a Social based Club for fishermen and women that fish in the Western & Central Basins of Lake Erie and its tributaries. Membership is open to all fisher people no matter what their location. Our goal is to present information in a manner that will help sustain and improve fishing in one of the greatest inland sport fisheries in the world. Scientific information, fishing techniques, locations and presentations will be presented at our monthly meetings by expert and knowledgeable speakers and tournament anglers in our group. These anglers are very open with techniques and methods and will help any member that is trying to learn new methods.
For more information about the WBSA you can visit www.wbsa.us Listed below are the 2009 sponsors: Starcraft Marine, Crown Battery, Medina Plating, Tom Sharpnack Chevrolet, Buick and Pontiac in Willard, South Shore Marine, Reef Runner Lures, Cranberry Creek Marina, Vics Sports Center, Sharpnack Ford, Denny Braun, Erie Outfitters, Ole Pete’s Tackle, Yant Beef Jerky, Navionics, OhioGamefishing.com, Cyclops Lures, Bad Boys Tackle, Catch Em Trolling Sinkers, Michigan Stinger Spoons, Jim’s Taxidermy, Cisco Fishing Systems, LPG Fishing Systems, Balboa Fish Cleaning and J & J’s Harbor Drive Thru and Tackle Shop.