La Crosse, Wisc. (Sept. 6, 2012) – It was another gorgeous day here at La Crosse with highs in the 70s for the 2012 TBF Northern Division Championship, presented by Cabela’s. A cold front will be hitting the area overnight, making the final day a cool and rainy one. After day two, yesterday’s leader, Ben Otto of the Wisconsin State Team has maintained his lead, bringing in another solid limit that weighed 14 lbs 6 oz. His sack today was down from his 17 lbs yesterday, but was still enough to keep him at the top of the leaderboard.
“Today was another good day, started off real well. My second fish of the day was my 4 lb 12 oz’er. I grinded away at a limit, kept upgrading throughout the day,” said Otto. “It should be interesting tomorrow with the weather coming up. There are a few areas I haven’t hit yet, so hopefully there are still some fish there. I’m hoping to get 13-15 lbs and I should be ok.” Otto had big bass of the day with his 4 lb 12 oz largemouth. Wisconsin Bass Federation is sponsoring a daily big bass prize of a customized jersey from Atomic Bass Jerseys. Not far behind Otto is his fellow teammate, Chad Richardson, who has maintained 2nd place. He weighed in a 13-12 limit today. He trails Otto by 2 lbs 6 oz.
Making a big jump, with the big sack of the day is Indiana’s Walter Wynn of Fishers, Ind. He weighed in 5 at 15 lbs 2 oz, putting him in 3rd place overall. “Things went pretty good today. We ran to several different spots, but found several key fish off of one location. We then locked through to pool 7 where I upgraded frog fishing,” Wynn said. “I plan on doing the same thing tomorrow, getting in a full 8 hours and just wack ‘em.” Yesterday Wynn had a problem with his livewell and ended up with a penalty that cost him a pound and a half. He currently has a 2 lb 14 oz lead over Dustin Burk in team standings.
Leading Ohio in state team standings is Jeff Dyer. Jeff had another solid day today, weighing in another limit of 12 lbs, giving him a 2-day total of 26 lbs 9 oz. He is in 6th place overall. “I had a pretty good day, caught 8 keepers. I didn’t have to bother any of my fish today because my partner was from Wisconsin. So I’m going to go to my fish tomorrow and hope they are there,” said Dyer. Dyer leads his state by only 1 lb 2 oz over teammate Shawn Hawks who has 25 lbs 7 oz.
In state team standings, Wisconsin has widened their lead over Ohio by almost 52 lbs. Their team did solid day today, bringing in 151-10, a two-day total of 298-07. “Our team’s been working together very well. We will make some adjustments as a team tonight when we meet,” said Otto.
Ohio is in 2nd place still with 246 lbs 5 oz. Indiana not far behind Ohio with 243-15; Minnesota 184-10 oz, Illinois in 5th with 183 lbs and Michigan in 6th with 154-10.
Tomorrow, 12 anglers will be qualified to advance to the 2013 TBF National Championship next spring. The top angler of each state team will advance as a boater and the 2nd place angler will advance as a co-angler. They will be looking to named the TBF National Champion and win the TBF $100,000 “Living the Dream” prize package where they get the use of a wrapped Chevy truck and Ranger boat to use to fish as a pro in the FLW Tour with paid entry fees.
Weigh-in begins at 3pm at Clinton Street Landing West. They are open and free to the public.
For more information about The Bass Federation, visit BassFederation.com, join us on www.Facebook.com/TheBassFederation and follow us on Twitter @bassfederation. Be sure to check out our Facebook page for updates of the tournament.
