# Gator Classic wrap up



## WBSA (Feb 11, 2009)

Brumbaugh Takes Gator Classic

The Western Basin Sportfishing Association (WBSA) held the inaugural Starcraft Marine, Crown Battery Gator Classic Pro Am on September 12th and 13th out of Lorain OH.

Touring pro Mark Brumbaugh of Arcanum took the top spot in the Pro Division by putting together two very good days. He brought a total of 71.26 lbs to the scales for the event. This outdistanced Joe Nadzam of North Royalton who weighed in 67.5 lbs of walleye. Jason Kopf of Avon Lake brought in 67.36 lbs to take the third spot. Brumbaugh went out Sunday in third place and put together the largest one day weight of the event, 36.55 lbs, to propel himself to the top spot.

While the majority of the field were pulling spinners, Brumbaugh stuck with his Reef Runner crankbaits to capture the win. I feel like I can catch larger fish on cranks when I can get them to go on them he shared during the weigh in.

In the Pro-Am format amateurs fish with a different pro each day of the event to come up with their accumulated 2 day weight. Topping the Am division was Kris Klingman of Novelty with 69.91 lbs. Jay Gullet of Willard was 2nd with 68.13 lbs and in 3rd was Joe Dennison of Stow. Rounding out the money winners in 4th was Michael Doornink of McCandless PA with 66 lbs and Dave Knierieman of Fremont with 64.45 lbs good for 5th.

Big fish winners in the Pro division were Kopf with a 10.09 lb walleye on day one taking the top spot and Nadzam on the second day with a 10.23 lb fish good for the top paying spot. Each of those fish were worth $700 to the anglers. Greg Yarbrough of Port Clinton took the second place honors both days with a 8.98 lb walleye Saturday and a 9.28 lb fish on Sunday.

Greg Reed took top spot in the Am division on Saturday with the big fish of the event which tipped the scales at 10.97 lbs. Doornink took the top spot on Sunday coming in with a 10.23 lb walleye. Second place Saturday was won by Dennison with a 10.09 fish and Sunday by Mark Komo of East Amherst NY with a 9.28 lb walleye.

The 26 boats brought over 1400 lbs of fish to the scales for the 2 day event and all of those were donated to the Second Harvest food bank for them to distribute. Most of the teams were pulling spinners in a variety of techniques to get them to the fish. In addition to Brumbaugh a couple of other top finishing teams reported pulling Reef Runners and other crankbaits. Firetiger, Pink Panties, Purples and Pink Lemonade were mentioned as working during the event for the anglers. In addition the guys talked about changing speeds up throughout the day to trigger strikes.

The WBSA is a Social based Club for fishermen and women that fish in the Western & Central Basins of Lake Erie and its tributaries. Membership is open to all fisher people no matter what their location. Our goal is to present information in a manner that will help sustain and improve fishing in one of the greatest inland sport fisheries in the world. Scientific information, fishing techniques, locations and presentations will be presented at our monthly meetings by expert and knowledgeable speakers and tournament anglers in our group. These anglers are very open with techniques and methods and will help any member that is trying to learn new methods. 

For more information about the WBSA you can visit www.wbsa.us Listed below are the 2009 sponsors: Starcraft Marine, Crown Battery, Medina Plating, Tom Sharpnack Chevrolet, Buick and Pontiac in Willard, South Shore Marine, Reef Runner Lures, Cranberry Creek Marina, Vics Sports Center, Sharpnack Ford, Denny Braun, Erie Outfitters, Ole Pete's Tackle, Yant Beef Jerky, Navionics, OhioGamefishing.com, Cyclops Lures, Bad Boys Tackle, Catch Em Trolling Sinkers, Michigan Stinger Spoons, Jims Taxidermy, Cisco Fishing Systems, LPG Fishing Systems, Balboa Fish Cleaning and J & Js Harbor Drive Thru and Tackle Shop.


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## WBSA (Feb 11, 2009)

We just want to thank OGF for allowing us to promote Gator classic on here and especially the several OGF members that participated as Ams and a few as Pro's. 

If any of you live close driving distance to Green Springs we would love to have you on hand so you can share your experience at the Green Springs fire Station, tonight at 7 PM, get there at 6 if you want a burger or dog. Speakers on hand will be Travis Hartman with an update on Young of the year trawl results, possible TAC scenarios for 2010 and he'll be open to any other questions of concern. Bobby Johns of cyclops lures will also be on hand and we'll have a few Navionics computer programs to hand out as door prizes.

For those that don't know, Green Springs is a few miles NE of tiffin and a few miles SE of Fremont on Ohio 19. the fire Station is on Catherine St (Thanks Rednek) on the east end of town.


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## Rednek (Nov 6, 2006)

WBSA said:


> For those that don't know, Green Springs is a few miles NE of tiffin and a few miles SE of Fremont on Ohio 19. the fire Station is on Elizabeth St on the east end of town.


The Fire Station is on Catherine St. Turn East at the traffic light in Green Springs and then turn right on Catherine Street (2nd street on right).


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## WBSA (Feb 11, 2009)

Geez, i hate getting old! thanks for the correction Mark!


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## Mark Komo (Aug 26, 2009)

This was a great event, and I really enjoyed myself. Having fished the midwest for so long, it was nice to participate, meet some folks, and have a grand time catching some of these fat erie eyes. 

WBSA did a really nice job in setting it up and running. Everything was pretty smooth. My two pros did a great job, Jeff Juneac and Greg Yarbrough. Plus met a few characters at watering hole at the hotel bar! Overall a very fun event.


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## ski (May 13, 2004)

Wish we had more pros sign up so I could make the cut. Better luck next year.

ski


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## WBSA (Feb 11, 2009)

Ski, We too wish you and your dad could have gotten in. Alas it wasn't meant to be. Thanks for your support of a new format for club tourneys.

We still feel good bout the results though and I was in awe of the talent that showed for our first one. D'Arcy and Gary Bowman were great Emcees and we thank them both for filling in for us. For those of you that don't know Gary (Bo) Bowman, he is the new marine salesman at Cranberry Creek Marina. 

You guys that didn't get in will get your money back next week. Our secretary will be refunding them this weekend.


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