Not just football in Big Ten; there's fishing

10/16/2009

T.J. Rumpf of Perrysburg didn't exactly go to college to learn bass fishing, but he is making good use of the fishing tools and skills he took along with him.

A freshman at Michigan State University, Rumpf, two weeks ago fished his way into one of two remaining slots on the 10-member MSU fishing team. Last weekend in the Big Ten Classic on Lake St. Clair, Rumpf and his fellow Spartan anglers "crushed the rest of the Big Ten," notes his dad, Tom Rumpf.

MSU anglers boated 49.08 pounds of bass to greatly outdistance the competition. The Indiana team was second at 32.04 pounds, and Michigan was third at 26.57 pounds.

The Lake Saint Clair event marked the Classic's return as a fall event. In all, 72 student-anglers from eightBig Ten schools were out casting into winds of 15 to 20 mph and below-freezing temperatures. The teams turned in 14 limits at the scales - 93 bass weighing nearly 250 pounds, all of which were returned alive to the lake.

The big bass, a smallmouth of 5.75 pounds, was entered by the MSU team.

Rumpf said his son landed a six-pounder in practice on Saturday, casting crankbaits.

"He's been fishing since he was seven or eight; he's just obsessed," Rumpf said of T.J., who turns 19 tomorrow. "His life's goal is to have a home on Lake St. Clair."

The heaviest largemouth of the tournament weighed 3.40 pounds, by the Indiana team.

For more information on the Big10 Championship or the Collegiate Bass Anglers Association, contact the CBAA at info@collegiatebass.org or call 574-780-4390.

In other tournament fishing news, Ohio anglers Matt Davis of Marion and Dan Gies of Huron, won the recent Cabela's Masters Walleye Circuit championship.

They earned a cash prize of $25,000 after weighing 85.26 pounds of walleye landed from Lake Erie over three days. The anglers just four weeks ago won the MWC team of the year title, which carried a $13,000 bonus.

"We've been a part of the MWC since the inception of the East division, for five years now," said Gies. "We had to learn the hard way and take our knocks at some of the tournaments that stretched us and our skill set. This is just such a great feeling, hard to believe it's real."

The tournament administrative headquarters was the Cabela's store at Dundee, Mich., with launches at Bolles Harbor. Davis and Gies trolled crawler harnesses about as far from the Bolles Harbor launch site as boundaries would allow - 50 miles one way to Huron, Ohio.

Typical inline planer board Lake Erie presentations were used with a favorite pink Colorado blade. The anglers adjusted their presentations in the water column each day and stackers to cover more territory.

The Wisconsin team of Wayne Butz of Mosinee and Don "Freddy" Frederick of Appleton came in second place with 77.65 pounds for a payout of $14,100 - including sponsor bonuses.

For more information on the Cabela's MWC, visit on-line at masterswalleyecircuit.com or call toll-free: 877-893-7947.

The Ohio Wildlife Council has approved regulatory changes affecting Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch, crappie minimums in 44 inland lakes, and Ohio River catfish.

Any creel limits for Lake Erie walleye and yellow perch now will become effective on May 1 instead of March 1.

Changing the effective date allows for the walleye and yellow perch quotas set by the interagency Lake Erie Committee to be considered prior to setting the bag limits.

In other action, the Council added 38 lakes to the current list of six lakes having a nine-inch minimum length-limit on crappies.

A daily creel limit of 30 crappies on all the same lakes was also approved.

The additions include Lake Ferguson in Allen County, Grand Lake St. Marys in Auglaize and Mercer counties; Indian Lake in Logan County; Lake Loramie in Auglaize and Shelby counties, and Veterans Memorial Reservoir at Fostoria in Hancock County. A complete list is available at ohiodnr.com.

Lastly, the Council approved an extension of the statewide catfish regulations to the Ohio River.

River anglers will be allowed only one channel catfish 28 inches or longer, with no limit for channel cats under 28 inches. In addition, only one flathead and one blue catfish 35 inches or longer may be possessed with no limit for flathead and blue catfish under 35 inches.

It's official: Kyle Anderson's 50-pound, 8-ounce Great Lakes muskellunge, caught Sept. 27 on Torch Lake, has been certified as the state record by the Michigan Department of Natural Resources.

Anderson, 30, was trolling with a Muskie Magnet in 40-feet of water when he caught the 56-inch fish.

It eclipses the record muskie of 48 pounds caught by Charles Edgecomb at Skegemog Lake in 1984.

Anderson's muskie had been captured in a net by MDNR personnel as part of ongoing survey work on the Elk Lake chain of lakes in the spring.

Fisheries workers measured and tagged the fish, a female, but did not weigh it.

Contact Steve Pollick at:

spollick@theblade.com

or 419-724-6068.