Weather was the biggest factor in this years Fall Sturgeon Bay Open at Sawyer Park. The weather did not cooperate much during the weekend and conditions were not safe enough to have anglers on the water on Saturday, so the event was moved to the following day, on Sunday. Wind greeted anglers on Sunday but out of a different direction that at least allowed then to move around on the fishable body of water.

As with any day, no matter how nice or rough the water, someone will find the hungry fish and win the event. This event was no different. Jesse Vanlaanen and Ted Boehm found the mother-load and turned it into a nice payday that afternoon. Jesse and Ted weighed a limit of fish that weighed a very health 28-15 pounds to take home the first-place prize of $2200. Their limit was anchored by a beautiful 6-04 smallmouth that also won them the Big Fish honors. Adam Neu and Grant Ehlenfeldt were runners-up with a very respectable catch of 23-15 pounds. Finishing in third place was the team of Sid Johnson and Griffin Cole for their 22-06 pound sack. Fourth place went to Jimmy Doering and Dylan Jennerjohn for a limit that weighed 19-14 pounds. Fifth place was taken by Mitchell Huenink and Mark Capelle with 17-07 pounds.

Most all the teams talked about catching their big smallies in anywhere from 13-35 feet of water. Some were on drop shots, others on tubes and some on small jigs. The largest majority of the smallmouth weighed were in the three to four pound range with several over 5 pounds and the biggest one that weighed 6-04 pounds.

Wendy and crew with Pamp’s Marine were on hand to help raise money for the community and thanks to the generosity of the anglers, a lot of money was raised during this great annual event. They also have a two-day Sturgeon Bay Open in the spring each year out of Sawyer Park as well. Make plans now to attend and get involved with Miss Wendy, the Ranger Dealer, next spring.

For results and photos of this event CLICK HERE.

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The 2023 Sturgeon Bay Open Bass Tournament won by Spencer Samplawski and Paul Castellano airs multiple times this spring starting TOMORROW January 16th at 7:00pm CT on the Pursuit channel!  (Full Schedule Below)

Tune in to watch all the action. Registration is open NOW for the 34th annual event in May of 2024. YOU could be the star of that show!  Sign up for the 2024 event online HERE

Pursuit is Channel 604 on Direct TV and 393 on Dish Network!

Full Pursuit Schedule:

Week of January 15th airs;
Tues @ 8:00pm ET
Tues @ 11:00pm ET
Fri @ 7:00am ET
Sat @ 8:30am ET

Airs week of March 25th 
Tues @ 8:00pm ET
Tues @ 11:00pm ET
Fri @ 7:00am ET
Sat @ 8:30am ET

after that you can always watch it 24/7/365 on Pursuit UP or Outdoor Action TV under the Federation Angler block!

The North American Bass Challenge held its Big Fish event on Kentucky Lake at Paris Landing on September 16^th.  One angler was destined to walk away with $5000 plus in winnings with just a single fish.  Anglers had four different, two-hour periods in which they could weigh one fish per period.  Cash and prizes were awarded to the three biggest fish of each of the four periods and then the three biggest fish of the entire day were awarded more cash and prizes.

Carl Lee started off by winning the first period with a nice 3-10 lunker.  Kimmy Perryman nearly doubled that weight to win period two with a huge green fish that weighed 6-02 pounds.  Eric Law would have none of that and brought his 6-15 giant to win period three.  The final period was taken by Coleton Jennings with a solid 4-00 largemouth.

Eric Law – 1st place overall

Kimmy Perryman – 2nd place overall

Barry Burton – 3rd place overall

Eric Law won the Overall division with the 6-15 lunker and claimed the $5000 cash prize.  Kimmy Perryman took second overall and a nice prize package for his 6-02 he weighed in the second period.  Barry Burton pulled double duty by finishing third overall for a 5-09 that was weighed in period 3 to claim some nice prizes.  He then doubled up as he was the highest finishing Garmin owner and claimed the $500 Garmin Bonus Check.

The anglers were kind of split on how they were catching their fish.  Some anglers said they were still finding quality fish in 8-15 feet of water, while others said there was barely enough water to cover the fins on the fish they were catching.  Soft plastics and jigs were doing most of the damage on Kentucky Lake during the event.

For full results CLICK HERE and for pictures CLICK HERE.