OKBT #1 at Balsam Lake is in the books. We had 45 anglers show up to put the hurt on some bass, but the cold front yesterday and the post frontal conditions today put the hurt on a lot of us instead. Bluebird skies and no wind meant some tough fishing was in store for us and that is exactly how the day went. It was a grind, but at the end, those that worked were rewarded. Only 28/45 registered fish and out of them only 7 limits were scored. It was a tight race for the lead right to the end. With 5 minutes to go Ian Schofield posted a fish that put him in first place bumping Richard Ofner to Second. But that was not the end of it as with under a minute to go in the day Paul Winkle posted a 16.50” smallmouth to upgrade and move him from third to first. And that is how it ended.
Congratulations to…
1st place Paul Winkel – 79.75″
2nd place Ian Scofield – 79.00″
3rd place Richard Ofner – 78.75″
4th place Chris Visser – 76.00″
Big Bass Michael Blumhagen – 18.25”
Every fish was definitely earned today.I would also like to send a big thank you to Rick Beauchamp for sacrificing his Saturday to stay home and judge the event for us.
Also thank you to all the participants that made the journey to Balsam Lake today. It was good to see a lot of new faces and hope to see you out again.