September 8, 2012– 24 teams took to the St. Joe River today. They were faced with wet conditions, a cold front and a newly imposed slot limit. Tournament Director John Federnok said “it was very tough today and we now have a slot limit on the river that does not allow anglers to keep bass that are12 to15” long. The slot limit was the story of the day as any anglers would have had nice limits without the new rules.” Some anglers were able to find the bigger than average fish and those were the ones who took the top places.

The father and son duo of Chuck and Charles Fleshman managed to weigh in a limit weighing 5.75lbs. The team caught there fish on a variety of baits including tube baits, crankbaits and senkos. They caught fish between two and twelve feet deep and went through multiple small keepers and fish inside the slot to reach their total weight.

Second place was the team of Everett Daves and James Fowler who weighed in four fish for 5.15lbs. Their bag was anchored by the big bass of the tournament, a 2.92lb smallmouth.

In third was the team of Bobby Davis and Rudy Jacobs who weighed in four fish for 4.18lbs. Bobby added that “the fishing was really tough and we caught all of our fish on a 5” finesse worm fished on a shaky head.” He said the team also caught several slot fish throughout the day.

U.S.A. Bassin would like thank all of the Northern Indiana teams who fished the St. Joe River Regional. We are looking forward to the next season of tournaments for the Virginia Tracker/Nitro Team Trail Divisions.