December 6, 2019

This is a late report to all of the Nebraska federation members for the 2019 NSF hosted by the South Dakota Federation. This tournament was held at Big Stone Lake on September 14 & 15, 2019.

In a nutshell this lake produces fish in both numbers and size. Fishing for the Nebraska Federation and qualifying for the 2020 TBF National Finals at Grand Lake is Zane Ridpath and Rick Schwerzler. Zane will be fishing in the boaters division and Rick will be fishing in the co-angler division at the nationals next spring. Both finished in 3^rd place in their divisions. Zane finished with 39-02 and Rick had 28-10.

Congratulations to Zane and Rick on their great finishes and good luck at Nationals.

Nebraska TBF Semi-finals Qualifier #3 was held June 15^th at Lake McConaughy in western Nebraska. As with any Midwest lake in the middle of June the fishing is sporadic and tough at times but finding the fish is always the name of the game.

With smallmouth being the dominant bass in the lake system it was going to be challenging with changing water levels, post spawn smallmouth coupled with having heavy tournament pressure for 3 weeks prior.

Our top angler was Zane Ridpath (from the Omaha metro area). Zane managed to figure out where they moved by bringing in a winning weight of 14.04 narrowing out local angler Cameron Armstrong with 13.80. The thing to note is that Zane’s limit was all smallmouth and Cameron’s was all largemouth.

The winner of the non-boater division was Brent Jeppson. Brent brought in 3 smallmouth for 6.77 lbs.

Congratulations to our top 2 boaters (Zane and Cameron)  along with our 2 non-boaters (Brent and Kaito Ajiro) for qualifying for the 2019 District 8 Semifinal to be held at Big Stone in South Dakota/Minnesota.

Our next stop will be at Mozingo Lake in Missouri. We will be assisting Aksarben Bass in hosting the annual Travis Ferguson Memorial Tournament which is a fund raiser to combat Cystic Fibrosis on August 17^th. Then on August 18^th TBF Nebraska will be holding our annual TBF Open Team Tournament.

With the first qualifier over the anglers again went out on Okoboji for the second qualifier for another set of Semi-final spots. This day was like the “Tale of Two Days” in the tournament world. With clear skies and less than 5 mph winds greeted the anglers who unleased they skills on what was fishing for spawning smallmouth to fishing for spawn and post-spawn largemouth.

What was a “hit or miss” proposition yesterday turned into batting practice for many with several limits caught per fisherman. With the ability to sight fish a good number of smallmouth over 4 lbs. were weighed in.

Once again with his local knowledge and a desire to put an exclamation point to the previous days  statement, Jerry Pape again set a pace that was too much for anyone else to match. With a winning 5 fish bag of 21.67 lbs.. Jerry stated that he had right at 21 lbs. within 90 minutes after blast-off. On the non-boaters side Jeremy Jensen won with 15.31 lbs.

Congrats to Jerry and Jeremy.

The following tournament results are as follows for Qualifier #2.

Top Finishers:

Boaters Division                                                                           Semi-final Qualifiers

Jerry Pape                          21.67                                Mark Sexton                      B

Mark Sexton                      19.11                                  Mark Borchers                  B

Mike McKnight                 18.80                       Jerry Avis                B                           

Mark Borchers                  18.65                                                                                              

Jerry Avis                            18.41                           Jeremy Jensen                  NB

                                                                                              Billy Ray              NB

Non-Boaters Division                                                 Giles Monif                        NB

Jeremy Jensen                  15.31                                  

Jacob Her                           11.99                                  

Billy Ray                              10.13                                  

BB Mark Borchers                  4.80

Ranger Cup Mark Borchers

With the first qualifier for a set Semi-final spots the anglers were ready for what could be either a good or bad day of fishing. With lake conditions of water temps anywhere from 62 to 68 degrees and fish from pre-spawn to post-spawn depending on which lake you fished, it was going to be a “hit or miss” proposition for all. And to add to the spottiness of the fishes moods the winds increased to 20+ mph which made more than half of the West Okoboji (the big lake) virtually unfishable but like always someone always seems to figure out the puzzle.

With local knowledge and a desire to make a statement Jerry Pape set a pace that was too much for anyone else to match. With a winning 5 fish bag of 22.15 lbs. Jerry set the tone of seeing what the lakes were capable of producing. On the non-boater side Doug Paterson won with 13.87 lbs.

Congrats to Jerry and Doug.

The following tournament results are as follows for Qualifier #1.

Top Finishers:

Boaters Division                                                                           Semi-final Qualifiers

Jerry Pape                          22.15                              Jerry Pape                          B

Mike McKnight                 21.20                                 Mike McKnight                 B

Tony Taylor                       17.73                                 Tony Taylor                       B

Jerry Avis                            17.64                                                                                              

Mark Borchers                  17.03                               Doug Patterson                 NB

                                                                                 Jacob Her                           NB

Non-Boaters Division                                               Russ Seaman                     NB

Doug Patterson                 13.87                                  

Jacob Her                           10.83                                  

Russ Seaman                     7.70                                    

BB Terry Svendsen                 5.27

Ranger Cup Jerry Avis