Bob Flowers of the Trophy Bassmasters is pretty disappointed that the fishing season is coming to an end. Flowers has really stepped it up recently. Not only did he win the club’s last regular tournament of the season at the Vermillion River and Lake Erie, but has now come back to Lake Erie with 2 consecutive victories. Flowers placed first at the Trophy Bassmasters year end club classic tournament which was held out of West Harbor with all of Lake Erie open. Club members must qualify for this event through their performance during the regular tournament season. The classic this year was rather unique in that all the competitors were allowed to trailer their boats to any launch point they chose on the Lake Erie waterway. This allowed for safe travel to and from chosen fishing grounds in case of inclement weather. It turned out to be a good decision as the tournament day saw west winds up to 30 knots with accompanying 5 to 8 foot waves. Flowers took advantage of the opportunity and trailered his rig east to the Vermillion River once again where he netted 5 nice largemouth bass that weighed in at 14.12lbs. The day before the classic event, Flowers had participated in a neighboring club’s tournament out of the Portage River and won that event also. His catch in that event consisted of 4 bass and 9.42lbs giving him his 3rd victory in less than a month. Placing 2nd in the Trophy classic was Mark Dairy. He also had 5 largemouth bass. His catch weighed in at 12.04lbs. Lance Blevins rounded out a stellar rookie season with the third place finish. His 5 bass weighed 10.76lbs and were also all largemouths. Steve Ganger captured the day’s big bass as his 4.56lb largemouth won the prize. The preferred smallmouth bass were noticeably absent form the angler’s creels as only 1 of the 31 keepers brought to the scales was the famous Lake Erie brown fish.
In other Trophy news, Judd Rarey competed in the Ohio Bass Federation classic on Grand Lake St Marys which is held to select Ohio’s team of anglers that will compete in Divisional competition next fall against 8 other states and their selected teams. Rarey finished 13th out 126 of Ohio’s best anglers to earn the alternate position on the team. Rarey will travel and participate with the team on Lake Erie out of Sandusky Bay in the prestigious event next year.