The WABTA would like to welcome you to the world of competitive team bass fishing. On July 22^{nd we held our fifth tournament of 2007 on Lake Nagawicka. It was a warm and wonderful day. Temperatures were in the low 80’s with a slight wind out of the southwest. 52 teams were assembled at 6:00am for the take-off. As the first boats pulled away from the starting boat you could immediately see that teams would be using a wide variety of presentations to try and capture a limit of bass. Some headed in search of the more shallow largemouth bass while others probed the deeper waters for the numerous smallmouth bass. In the end 113 bass were brought to the scales and 112 were released back into the lake by our dedicated release boats.}

I believe the WABTA is the best tournament circuit in Wisconsin if not the whole country. Why you may ask well I will tell you. First of all WABTA is a volunteer organization where all members are counted on to help out throughout the season and everyone does their part. Granted some like Matt DeGodt have a bigger part but rarely does any member turn down a board members request for help. Second we offer an 80% payback at the tournament site of all team entries and 100% big bass payouts. The remaining 20% of the entry fees will be paid back at the season ending Classic. Any funds left over from the raffles or the sponsors will also be paid out at the Classic which means we normally pay out 108% of the entry fees. Third we have a great group of anglers who (with a few exceptions) are willing to share some information with each other so we can all catch more fish. Fourth you do not need a blazing fast 20 foot Skeeter bass boat powered by a 250hp Yamaha to compete. This can be proven by the fact that Duane and Amy Witzlib have yet to take a check while Gene and Mark Henricks have now won twice in 2007 while fishing out of a 17’ Alumacraft powered with 50hp Mercury. Fifth everyone is concerned with the image we have. We take extra good care of the fish by using catch and release in the holding tanks and we monitor the oxygen levels of our tanks to make sure they are normally double what the DNR requires. We leave the tournament sites cleaner than when we arrived and we are courteous to the general public at the tournament site and on the water. (It is fun to see how shocked they are with how many fish we can catch on a lake they normally struggle on.) I could go on but I will end on number six. We offer a more family friendly type setting. Have you noticed the five husband / wife teams that compete? And compete well I might add by winning five of the last seven Team of the Year titles. How about the half dozen of the father / son teams? Just check the standing to see how they are doing. Do not forget to include a bunch of brother / brother teams. Over the past few years all of these teams have enjoyed some success. I am not telling you to drop your partner and fish with a relative but I am saying anyone is welcome and they need not feel intimidated. By promoting all of these fine qualities this we should continue to grow. This winter the board will double our efforts to locate a major sponsor who would be interested in working with us in 2008. We (thanks to Ryan Chuckle) have been sending out press releases of all our tournaments to newspapers and potential sponsors. We are hoping to make a promotional DVD of our last Okauchee tournament so be on your best behavior and dress nice. If we all work together we can make a great club even better!

Now back to the Dick Smith’s Live Bait and Tackle Open, which is located off the Interstate and Highway 83 by the way. Becky Smith was on hand to watch the weigh-in, chat with the anglers and she even brought some wonderful raffle prizes as well. Thank you for all you do Becky! Gene Henricks and Mark Henricks topped the charts this week with their six hit limit weighing 13.74 pounds. Gene and Mark have now won twice this year. They might have the second smallest boat in the club but they once again proved size doesn’t matter. They used a variety of lures in a few locations before finding the right balance late in the day to bag their bass and to put another two trophies on the mantle. They have won $3800 in two tournaments and Gene’s first comment was, "great now I have to worry about the 1099." Gene please be quiet many of us are still trying for our first check of 2007. In second place ($1000) was Hans Juech and Ryan Chuckle. Their mixed bag of six fish weighed 13.14 pounds. They targeted aggressive smallmouth early with reaction lures and moved shallow later to catch some largemouth. Rounding out the top three was Al Freiherr and Bob "Big Bass" Bartelt. They won $750 for catching 12.16 pounds plus Bob landed the St Croix Rods Big Bass (4.56 pounds) of the day to earn a bonus $520. It was their first tournament of the year and it was nice to see them back. Overall it was a rather tough day on the water but like always quite a few teams managed to bring in bunch of quality fish.

The team of the year race is on. Leading the race with just one event to go is

• Leon Luterbach and Darren Luterbach 53.70 pounds
• Amy Witzlib and Duane Witzlib 52.28 pounds
• Tyler Nelson and Jason Burnham 49.94 pounds
• Gene Henricks and Mark Henricks 49.10 pounds
• Eric Catlin and Harold "Hop" Petsch 48.50 pounds
• George Artman and Warren Zaren 46.34 pounds

I would not be surprised to see a team further back pass these top six teams to claim the crown. The largest last day comeback was when a team made up over 11 pounds. Okauchee is a boom or bust type of lake so we will have to see who is still standing when the waves settle. Plus in the last 10 years the leading team has held on only three times. So with that thought I want to wish Leon and Darren good luck because you are gonna need it.

There are still openings in the last qualifying tournament for those teams looking to get into the Classic. We look forward to seeing you at the Auto Connectionz Open August 12th on Okauchee Lake.