Sioux City Bass Open

The weigh-in for this years Bass Open out of Sioux City was better than ever. We weighed in early with a 7 fish limit of 15.60 and were told there had only been one other weight higher to ever win in its 11yrs. We were feeling pretty good till a 15.66 string crossed the scale. The winners finaly took it with 16.74 pounds of Smallmouth bass. I didn\\\’t get the whole break down but I don\\\’t think there was a team that blanked and at least the top 10 all imited out, maybe more, out of the 30 boats who fished it.

For this little corner of the world I don\\\’t know of a better tournament. Nearly $10000 in prize money, 12 places guaranteed, a steak fry Saturday night, coffee and rolls Sunday morning before blast off, all the brats and refreshments you can handle with weigh-in. If there\\\’s a better bass tournament in northeast Nebraska please post it and I\\\’ll be there.

Fluff

Congrats on the 3rd place finish.

From the Sioux City Journal

Jeff and Travis Combs, a father-son team from Nebraska took first place Sunday in the 11th Annual Missouri River Bass Open. They were among 30 two-man teams competing for nearly $10,000 in prize money in the River-Cade event under the direction of Phil Claeys.

\\”They\\\’ve been biting real well,\\” the dad, Jeff Combs, of Friend, Neb., said after the weigh-in. The team landed seven fish, all smallmouth bass, for a total of 16.74 pounds, reeling in a $2,000 check. The pair also earned $200 in prize money for their 3.22 pound smallmouth, the second-heaviest of the tournament.

Terry Svendsen and Jeff Fylstra pulled in the heaviest smallmouth, at 3.26 pounds, taking the $300 top prize.

Dan Bowlin, of Clarkson, Neb., and his partner, Larry Cloeter, of Norfolk, Neb., took the first- and second-place prizes for the heaviest largemouth bass, along with $300 and $200 checks. Their fish weighed in at 2.54 and 2.3 pounds.

Teams headed out onto the river at 6:30 a.m. and returned in time to make the 3 p.m. weigh-in, handled as usual by 12 members of the Nebraska Bass Angler Sportsmen\\\’s Society Federation. Veterans of the tournament commented that it produced the most fish they could remember. All six of the top 12 teams came in with seven fish apiece.

\\”It was real good,\\” said Larry Myhre, who teamed with his grandson, Eric Fluharty, both of Sioux City. They fished downriver, pulling in just two fish. \\”Everyone who went upstream above Ponca came back with the limit,\\” Myhre said.

Russ Seaman, tournament director for the Nebraska BASS Federation, said the teams caught the most fish ever in the eight or so years his group has done the weigh-in. And he called the tournament itself \\”the cream of the crop\\” because of the quality of fishermen it attracts. He noted that two are professional fishermen and several others are semi-pro.

Claeys is especially proud of the tournament\\\’s commitment to catch-and-release. He said in its first 10 years, only eight of about 2,000 fish have died before being returned to the river. Seaman said the federation is also proud of its aerated tanks and effective handling system for the fish. All the fish this year were returned to the river alive.

The following teams took the top six of 12 spots. See next week\\\’s Siouxland Outdoors page for full tournament results.

1st — Jeff Combs, Friend, neb., Travis Combs, York, Neb. — seven fish, 16.74 pounds total; second-largest smallmouth bass, 3.22 pounds: $2,000.

2nd — Mark Kazol and Steve Glup, both of Omaha — seven fish, 15.66 pounds total, 2.86-pound smallmouth: $1,250.

3rd — Dan Bowlin, Clarkson, Neb., Larry Cloeter, Norfolk, Neb. — seven fish, 15.60 pounds, 2.54-pound largemouth: $1,000.

4th — Martin and Jami Fralick, Martin, S.D. — seven fish, 15.60 pounds, 2.54-pound largemouth: $900.

5th — Tim Wilson, Eric Rollins, Sioux City — seven fish, 13.20 pounds, 2.34-pound smallmouth: $800.

6th — Terry Svendsen, Sioux City, Jeff Flystra, Salix, Iowa — seven fish, 13.18 pounds, 3.26-pound smallmouth: $700.

Heaviest smallmouth: Terry Svendsen, Jeff Flystra, 3.26 pounds: $300.

2nd heaviest: Jeff and Travis Combs, 3.22 pounds: $200.

Heaviest largemouth: Dan Bowlin, Larry Cloeter, 2.54 pounds: $300.

2nd heaviest: Dan Bowlin, Larry Cloeter, 2.30 pounds: $200.

11 a.m. Heaviest fish — John Gilson, Sioux City, Marty Soole, Lawton, Iowa — 2.38-pounds: $200

1 p.m. Heaviest fish — Terry Schuurmanns, Tyndall, S.D., Tim Peterson, Springfield, S.D., 2.68 pounds: $200.

Dan, It was nice to meet you in person. Congrats on a great tourney. Today, I\’m still recovering physically, mentally, and emotionally. If I never see another sandbar again, it\’ll be too soon!

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Today, I\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’m still recovering physically, mentally, and emotionally. If I never see another sandbar again, it\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\’ll be too soon!

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Parts of that don t sound very good.
Was everyone ok Wade? I hope your boat is ok.

It was Jason\\\’s boat, Ben. All is good. We caught a bar taking a corner across the river and the stern was pushed up onto the bar as the boat spun around. We spent much of our day encouraging the boat to get back in the water. We\\\’re a little sore, and a little frustrated. I\\\’m really happy that nothing appear\\\’s to be damaged on Jason\\\’s boat. He did a great job getting us back safely and we did manage some nice fish with the little time we had left.

I too am recovering. Until this morning I thought my back would never be the same. All my muscles have seemed to recovered, but I\\\’m a brused from all the lifting and pushing. Wade and I got hung up on a sandbar for a couple minutes, but it was enough to allow the last caravan of boats heading up the river to get out of sight. Once we got off of the first bar we tried to follow our trail up, but really got stuck a couple miles later. It took us close to 2 hours to dig out. We had to move the boat about 15 feet in about 4 to 6 inches of water. It was quite a job and I am really suprise we got it off. It was a long lonely day out there. I\\\’d say about a dozen boats ran past Ponca. We decided to just fish a few mile above Ponca after coming to the conclusion the the fallen water level had really impacted our route up the river. We never saw another boat until after 1pm and they stopped and fished the same series of wing dams were were fishing. Shortly afer a caravan of pleasure boats went past on the way down stream. Once you get above Ponca it gets becomes challenging to navigate and you don\\\’t see very many people at all. We were lucky we got off of that sandbar in one piece. We brought back two fish. One of them was a nice 2.5 pounder that wade caught.

Jason

Glad to hear you guys are ok. I don t have a lot of expierence fishing on rivers and landing on a sand bar definately makes me nervous every time I m on a river.

You ll get em next time guys!

Don\\\’t let the sand bars scare you off. The river is one of Nebraska\\\’s best kept secrets. Several ramps give access to different sections so you don\\\’t have to learn it all at once. It takes a little time but go slow, watch the locals for clues where to run and its not that bad. Even if a sandbar or two get in the road they\\\’re not bad if you go slow and believe me, sandbars are a lot less hazardous to your boat than the trees, stumps, and rocks I\\\’ve been lucky enough to find in most lakes…..