Despite the hot weather Sunday, July 30, there were plenty of fish for the taking on Lake St. Clair.
On that day, Jan’s Sport Shop, 2285 State Road (M-15), Goodrich, sponsored their eighth annual Customer Appreciation Team Bass Tournament. Stephanie Hempton, finance manager at Jan’s, helped organize the tournament along with tournament manager, Jerry Doucette.
She said a total of 61 teams took part in the tournament, which compared favorably to past years. Hempton also said the fish caught that day were larger than in past years.
‘The top 10 places each had totals over 23 pounds,? she said. ‘Most of the big bass caught were more than four pounds, and we had a couple that were five pounds. We were really surprised.?
By comparison, Hempton said last year’s first-place team had a combined total catch of 20.96 pounds.
The first-place team in the Pro division of the tournament was Tom Bates Jr. of Oxford and Todd Koehler of Dryden, who netted a combined total of 25.13 pounds. Right behind those two were Vic Cerebone and Mike Godfroid (25.10 pounds), while the team of Gary Williams and Jared Williams (25.07 pounds) finished in third place.
In addition, the team of Kevin Hoey and Todd Steele finished first in the Big Bass Pro Division with a catch of 5.12 pounds.
On the amateur side, the team of Robert Murri of Clinton Township and Vincent Dutko of Grand Blanc won with a combined 22.07 pounds worth of bass. Joseph Hyde and Robert Medley finished second (21.07 pounds), while Bob Cechota and Jon Shavrnoch placed third (20.11 pounds).
Hyde and Medley also took top honors in the Big Bass Amateur division with a catch of 4.15 oz.