TBF BONNEMA WINS WIND-WHIPPED DISTRICT 9 TBF NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS
Longtime The Bass Federation member Scott Bonnema topped a hard-fishing field of 100 fellow Federation anglers to win the District 9 TBF National Semi-Finals on Minnesota ’ s Gull Lake Sept . 24-25 .
Bonnema , of Zimmerman , Minn ., is no stranger to Gull Lake , a popular fishery nestled in the Brainerd Lakes region , having won other events there such as the 2011 TBF Northern Division Championship .
Still , he was a little nervous when high winds during pre-fishing challenged anglers to locate the lake ’ s abundant largemouths .
“ I found three good areas earlier , but when practice was tough I started getting worried ,” he admits .
To make up for it , Bonnema kicked off the competition by focusing on classic Gull Lake structure such as small points and inside turns in the 10-foot depth range . Bonnema also credits a new high-tech trolling motor for helping keep his boat in striking position when strong winds continued in competition .
“ I was using one of Minn Kota ’ s brand-new Ultrex units ,” he says . “ It ’ s basically a hybrid that blends the body of a Fortrex with i-Pilot technology , complete with Spot-Lock electronic GPS anchoring .” Bonnema opened the Semi-Finals with a banner day . “ I probably caught 40 to 50 bass on day one ,” he says . “ I would circle around the key areas I had marked , catch a fish , engage the Spot-Lock , tag my fish , get right back up on the front deck , and catch another two or three fish off that same clump . The Ultrex is the only thing that would ’ ve allowed me to do that . Without it , I would ’ ve been blown across the lake . It ’ s definitely a game-changer .”
Bonnema mainly flipped jigs into patches of cabbage and coontail . He notes that 8-foot-diameter clumps held the best numbers of bigger bass .
He began day one using a 3 / 4-ounce jig on the edge of the vegetation , but switched to a 1 / 2-ounce head after being plagued by pike .
Bonnema ended the day with an 18.10-pound limit and turned in another solid performance on day two to finish the event with 32.53 pounds . Brad Leifermann came in a close second with 31.01 . John Fairbanks Jr . topped the non-boaters with 25.80 pounds .
The District 9 Semi-Finals offered a 118.5 percent payback , with $ 18,120 in cash and prizes , including $ 2,500 for the top boater and $ 1,250 for the top co-angler . Plus , the top boater and co-angler from each state advance to the 2017 TBF National Championship .
Scott Bonnema ( left ) and John Fairbanks Jr .
TBF MEMBER TIES NEW YORK SMALLMOUTH RECORD
TBF member Patrick Hildenbrand tied the New York state smallmouth record with this obese bronzeback .
New York The Bass Federation member Patrick Hildenbrand carved his name in the record books Aug . 28 by catching a giant St . Lawrence River smallmouth that tied the longstanding state record .
Hildenbrand , of Red Hook , N . Y ., was competing in a state TBF tournament out of Cape Vincent , sponsored by the local chamber of commerce . At around 7 a . m ., fishing in calm conditions under overcast skies , he marked a large arch on his sonar in 35 feet of water .
He reached for a 7-foot , medium-light spinning outfit loaded with 15- pound-test braided main line with a 6-pound-test fluorocarbon leader and deployed a drop-shot rig . His go-to setup included a goby-colored Berkley PowerBait Dropshot Power Bass Minnow on a 1 / 0 drop-shot hook with a 3 / 8- ounce tungsten weight .
The obese bronzeback inhaled the soft bait , and Hildenbrand quickly deposited it in his livewell .
Although the fish ’ s weight was originally reported as 8.15 pounds , the scale needed to be recertified to verify the potential record weight , and after recertification the fish checked in at 8 pounds , 4 ounces . It tied the New York smallmouth record set by Andrew Kartesz on Lake Erie in 1995 .
Hildenbrand ’ s historic catch stretched out at 21 1 / 2 inches long and sported an enormous girth of 20 3 / 4 inches . After being weighed , measured and photographed , the fish was successfully released back into the St . Lawrence .
Along with tying the state record , Hildenbrand scored big bass honors in the tournament and ended up finishing in second place overall .
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FLWFISHING . COM I DECEMBER 2016