Top Midwest bass anglers to compete on Lake Minnewaska this Tuesday, Aug. 27

By Tim Douglass

tdouglass@pctribune.com

Some of the top anglers in the Midwest  will be on Lake Minnewaska this Tuesday (Aug. 27) for the Classic Bass Tour Championship.  This unique tournament is an invitation-only tournament featuring 32 of the top anglers from Iowa, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Wisconsin and they will be competing for the first-place prize of a brand new Skeeter boat/Yamaha outboard.  There will also be cash prizes.

“It’s the championship of the year,” said Scott Bonnema, Classic Bass owner and longtime bass tournament angler.  “So it’s a no-entry fee event with the top anglers in the Classic Bass Tour invited,” Bonnema told the Tribune in a recent interview.

The Champions Tour is a very unique style bass tournament, where no bass are EVER put in the boat’s livewell.  Each bass over 1 lb, is weighed on the water, recorded in the Reel Livewell app, and then released right back into the lake in the same location it was caught.

 What also sets the Champions Tour apart, is that in each of the anglers’ boats, doing the weighing of the bass, and enforcing penalties, is a high school boat official.   This opportunity provides an incredible learning opportunity for these young anglers to watch along as Champions Tour anglers break down and react quickly to ever changing fishing conditions, according to Bonnema.  

Tournament’s origins

Since 1994, Classic Bass’s mission has been to support bass tournament anglers of all skill levels with access to comprehensive information on tournaments, techniques, results and products. In an effort to further support tournament anglers, Classic Bass has recently added a new tournament series to its portfolio. 

In 2017 the Classic Bass Champions Tour, presented by Skeeter Boats and Yamaha Outboards, was launched and thus began the most exciting tournament circuit that the Upper Midwest has seen. A four-event regular season schedule plus a year-end Championship captivated and engaged bass fishing anglers as they watched the Champions Tour events unfold via live scoring updates, photos and video via the Classic Bass website and social media channels.

The tournament series was created Bonnema. The goal of this circuit is to bring the finest anglers from various regions of the Midwest together to compete. 

“For several years, anglers had expressed interest for new, fresh, and exciting tournament concept,” commented Scott Bonnema, Owner of Classic Bass. “With the Champions Tour, we aim to bring the finest Midwest bass anglers together to compete on some phenomenal fisheries.”

Why Lake Minnewaska?

Lake Minnewaska is the chosen lake for this year’s Champions Tour, Bonnema said.  “It’s a great fishery.”  He said the tour fished the lake in 2007 and “loved the lake.” 

“It’s a fun lake to fish,” he added.   

On Monday, those in the tournament can be on the lake briefly  using their electronics, but there will be no pre-fishing allowed on that day.  He said the Champions Tour on Lake Minnewaska was first announced at the first event of the year, so anglers have had the entire summer to spend some time getting to know Lake Minnewaska. 

He added that they conduct the tournament during the week to “get out of the way” of locals and visitors who visit the lake on the weekend. 

Bonnema said all activities for the tournament will be at Waters Edge in Starbuck.   The tournament will be broken into two sections, the first half runs from 7 a.m. until 11 a.m. with a lunch break at the Waters Edge and then anglers will be back on the water from noon until 4 p.m.  A private tournament banquet kicks things off at Waters Edge on Monday evening.  The Stage and weigh-in ceremony will take place about 5 p.m. on Tuesday at the Waters Edge.  At the ceremony, anglers will talk about their fishing techniques and successes and all of it will be streamed live, said Bonnema. 

The Classic Bass Champions Tour is an individual tournament series, where each angler is paired with a high school angler through the Student Anglers Association.  Those student anglers serve as the boat officials, on each boat and who will track and record each legal fish and enforce the Champions Tour regulations. 

Every smallmouth or largemouth bass that is caught, which meets the minimum size requirement will count toward the angler’s weight/score. At no time will any bass be placed in the boat’s livewells or brought to a weigh-in, Bonnema emphasized. 

The Champions Tour displays the results and content real time via ClassicBass.com and on social media on the Reel Livewell app.  Competing anglers will also be providing viewers with helpful fishing information on Lake Minnewaska, along with the techniques and lures they are using.

Some of the Midwest’s and Nation’s top anglers have competed in the Champions Tour, with trophies being hoisted by the likes of Brian Wood, Seth Feider, Tadd Johnson, Shane Raveling and Matt Peters, just to name a few.