This is the third time the Champions Tour has visited Lake Pokegama and Mother Nature for the third time has thrown a curveball at the Tour anglers.
A stiff 20 to 30 mph wind greeted the anglers Thursday morning, along with off and on rain showers, with gusts up to 40 mph showing up around mid-day.
Regardless of the conditions, forty-four of the Midwest’s top bass anglers showed that they can catch em at the final regular season event of the 2020 Champions Tour presented by Skeeter Boats.
Coming out of the gates right away was Skeeter Boats – Warner’s Dock Pro and Champions Tour rookie Chad Smith, who braved the wind and waves to target the offshore smallmouth of Pokegama. Smith ended the first half in third place.
Great Lakes smallmouth guide and Minn Kota/Humminbird Pro Adam Rasmussen relied on his One Boat Network to not only locate the key Lake Pokegama structure for smallmouth, but also keep his boat in position to rack up 33 pounds of Pokegama bass to put him in first place at the conclusion of the first half.
Following the mid-day lunch and break, the anglers headed out in reverse order to start the second half of the day for the Lake Pokegama event presented by Visit Grand Rapids and Humminbird.
Coming out firing at the beginning of the second half was 2019 Championship and Leech Lake winner, Noah Schultz, who started the afternoon off with a 4 lb 12 oz smallmouth. Noah battled all afternoon and caught a total of 22 bass for a total weight of 53 lb 13 oz to take home the win!
Schultz targeted smallmouths during the first half of the day and initially in the second half, but quickly turned to a shallow water reed largemouth pattern to quickly climb up the Reel LiveWell App leaderboard to surpass his competitors.
Rasmussen continued to rely on a two-prong approach of a Ned Rig and a Minnesota legal Alabama-rig. Building off his impressive first half, Adam added another 6 lb 8 oz of bass to finish in third place.
As the anglers beached their boats at Tioga Beach, they were ready to warm up and get out of the wind, all while still being on edge as they awaited to see who would not only be the winner of the Visit Grand Rapids and Humminbird Lake Pokegama event, but also qualify for the 2020 Championship.
The YETI Big Bass award winner was Matt Peters with a 4 lb 14 oz smallmouth and the winner of the Wenzel’s Major Mover award was Connor O’Connor who increased his weight by 5 lb 9 oz. This was O’Connor’s second time winning award this season and because of his persistence and efforts during the second half, he finished the day in second place with 21 bass that weighed 41 lb 1 oz.
The full results from Lake Pokegama presented by Visit Grand Rapids and Humminbird can be seen here. https://scoringapp.classicbass.com/PastEventsLeaderBoard/632
The twenty-four Champions Tour anglers that qualified for the 2020 Championship, where they will have the opportunity to win a brand-new Skeeter Boat/Yamaha Outboard package include:
| Kyle Schutta |
| Matt Peters |
| John Figi |
| Jacob Novak |
| Adam Rasmussen |
| Chad Smith |
| Noah Schultz |
| Connor O’ Connor |
| Tony Hatten |
| Matt Thompson |
| Jason Stangel |
| Jeff Bosshardt |
| Jim Moynagh |
| Andy Nitchals |
| Dean Capra |
| Arnold Helgerson |
| Tadd Johnson |
| Thor Swanson |
| David Larson |
| Chad Grigsby |
| Brad Leuthner |
| Shane Raveling |
| Chase Hull |
| Brad Leifermann |
Stay tuned to ClassicBass.com, the Reel LiveWell App and our social media channels tomorrow to see these twenty-four anglers compete on Trout Lake for the 2020 Championship. Here is a look at what these twenty-four anglers can expect tomorrow.
