LAC COURTE ORIELLES

What proved to be a tough smallmouth bite on LCO for most of the field turned out not to be so tough for a few teams, like Gary Constant & Stacy Anderson who figured out that top water was the deal which led them to a first place finish with 14.81 lbs. A mere 4 hundredths of a pound behind was Gene & Larry Henck who came in second with 14.77. Third place went to Pete Lukasik & Doug Bierman who had 13.31. Fourth was Joe Wilcox & Eric Hermansen who's bag tipped the scales at 12.91 lbs & at fifth was Scott Cran & Chad Edwards with 12.76 lbs. Chad Constantineau's big bass a 5.18 largemouth was the biggest bass caught since Larry Henck's smallmouth on Round Lake way back in 2019. A little indication on how tough the smallie bite was on this fabeled smallmouth fishery there was 44 largemouth & 42 smallies weighed in which is unheard of for that lake. Last year's AOY champs Gene & Larry Henck have a 5 pt. lead over Wilcox/Hermansen & 6 over Newhouse/Anselmo at the halfway point. The Head to Head tournament will feature Henck/Henck vs Constant/Richert & Constant/Anderson vs Larson/Warren at the July clash. 

RED CEDAR

On a rainy cool & windy day on Barron County's Red Cedar Lake the anglers that utilized their electronics & floggers to catch the bedding smallmouth bass dominated the tournament & nobody did it better than Gene & Larry Henck. Last year's AOY winners are off to a good start to the 2025 season their bag a big old brown girls tipped the scale at a very impressive 17.48 lbs. Coming in second were Jamie Gibson & Doug Peterson w/16.87 lbs. At a close third place was Rob Newhouse & Mike Anselmo w/16.47 lbs. Their 5 fish limit moves them into a tie all time for 21 consecutive 5 fish limits with Gene & Larry & a crack to break it at LCO. Taking 4th was Joe Wilcox & Eric Hermansen w/16.45 lbs. Rounding out the money winners at fifth place were Donn Schlapper & Joel Blazer who had 14.62 lbs. A big congratulations to Donn & his family as his son & a former UNBC angler Pat won the Bassmaster Elite Series event held on the Sabine River in Texas on Sunday & somehow Donn & Jill made it down there in time to see Pat hoist that very coveted blue trophy. Randy Grinnell caught the big bass for the tournament a 4.14 lb. smallie, moving him into a tie with Larry Henck for the all time most big bass awards with 5.