heart-stopping acrobatics
F ew things in life and in fishing can stop your heart like an acrobatic smallmouth . Whether it ’ s a 2-pounder or a 6- pounder , when that brown beauty makes a run for the surface and breaches like a killer whale harpooning a seal , there ’ s not much you can do but hold on for dear life and hope it ’ s still on the hook when it dives back to the depths .
That adrenaline-inducing display of aerial activity is heightened tenfold when you ’ re fishing for $ 200,000 and the first-ever Tackle Warehouse TITLE presented by Toyota champion ’ s belt .
Matt Stefan wasn ’ t alone in feeling that excitement at Sturgeon Bay in August , though he certainly was the beneficiary of the best photo of one of those moments . Jody White managed to capture an entire sequence of electrifying jumps from the smallie in question , which aided in Stefan weighing 68 pounds , 5 ounces in the Qualifying Round to make the top-20 cut and fish in the Knockout Round on day five .
PHOTO BY JODY WHITE
OCTOBER-NOVEMBER 2020 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM | FLWFISHING . COM 9