RESULTS - "Honor the Vets" Big 4 Tournament - Nov. 11, 2017 - Joliet, IL

[FJR1]

 

Justin Keaton, Cory Bohmann, Chad Bettisch take 1st, 2nd, 3rd at November 11 “Honor the Vets” Big 4 Carp Tournament in Joliet; Justin Keaton, Cory Bohmann, Anthony Hartung go 1-2-3 in Most Fish contest; Frank Rink catches big carp of the day!

The conventional wisdom at Joliet, Illinois’ Bicentennial Park and Jackson Street venues is that end pegs or bridge pegs hold the most fish. However, it was feast or famine at those particular locations at the “Honor the Vets” Big 4 Carp Tournament held on Saturday, November 11, 2017.

On the “feast” side, rarely used end peg 24E produced 11 carp while bridge pegs 16 and 8 were also productive with seven fish each. However, on the “famine” side, usually sought-after, end/bridge pegs 1, 9, 17, 23, J1, and J-3 resulted in blank sessions for the disappointed anglers who chose them.

The feast or famine theme continued based on an a.m. or p.m. bite. Of the 35 carp that were recorded, 27 were captured before noon and only eight were netted in the afternoon.

The river current was relatively mild on this cold, November day (high of 40° but it didn’t feel like 40) and the sun did not make an appearance. Carp may have been spread throughout the river, resulting in a tough bite for many of us.

Big thanks to the 18 anglers who were present at the pre-dawn, 6:00 a.m. peg draw at the lot near pegs 6-7 and kudos to them for their persistence throughout the day: 
1 Anthony Hartung
2 Chuck Ferczok
3 Cory Bohmann 
4 Emilio Montoya 
5 Walter Wheeler 
6 Mike Olinger 
7 Chad Bettisch 
8 Ronnie Harding 
9 Justin Keaton 
10 Chris Matthews 
11 Fred Rhodes 
12 Jeff Conroy 
13 Brett Du Preez 
14 Mike Tylka 
15 Mark Hubbard 
16 Jimmy Sneed 
17 Ryan Miller 
18 Frank Rink

Your commitment is appreciated!

Congratulations to Indianapolis resident Justin Keaton who chose an unconventional end peg at 24E and used his knowledge of the river and the features of that location to take the championship trophy in the Big 4 Tournament. Justin’s Big 4 total of 58-14 (15-4, 14-15, 14-12, 13-15) won the event by well over 10 pounds! Hopefully, the results were worth Justin’s 1:30 a.m. departure from Indianapolis to get to Joliet on time. Great work, Justin!

In addition, Justin won the optional Most-Carp Contest with 11 fish on the board (weights in decimals: 15.25, 14.94, 14.75, 13.95, 13.53, 11.14, 10.89, 10.22, 9.14, 8.55, 6.16). Congratulations!

Cory Bohmann, one of our most consistent participants at Joliet and one who is always in contention, did well at bridge/end peg 16! His 16-7, 14-6, 8-1, and 8-1 totaled 46-15 to take the silver medal and second place prize money for Cory. Congrats!

Cory and Anthony Hartung tied for second in the Most-Carp Contest with seven each, but Cory’s big fish of 16-7 broke the tiebreaker to win the medal and cash for Cory. Cory caught all his carp (16-7, 14-6, 8-1, 8-1, 7-6, 6-1, 4-9) before 10:30 a.m. Well done, Cory!

Chad Bettisch did not have an end peg, but his peg 11 choice produced four carp by 8:35 a.m. His Big 4 total of 33-0 (12-0, 7-14, 6-11, 6-7) was good for a third place Big-4 medal and related cash. Way to go, Chad!


 

Chad also took the medal and related tackle prize for catching the first carp of the day, 6-11 at 7:10 a.m. Nice work!


I hope the error was in labeling this photo as opposed to what was written on the scorecard (6-11). Otherwise, third place goes to someone else :-).

Frank Rink captured the big fish of the day at 18-2 at the peg 22 bridge location to win a medal and small tackle prize. However, he lost one fish to a snag and captured only two others (8-2, 6-11). Frank’s Big 4 total of 32-15 was an ounce shy of a podium finish.

Anthony Hartung captured seven carp at his peg 8 bridge location and was the fifth angler of the day to exceed 30 pounds for his big 4. Anthony’s 8-4, 8-1, 7-13, and 6-13 resulted in 30 pounds, 15 ounces and a fifth place finish in the Big 4 results. Great job, Anthony!

Anthony’s accomplishments did not end there. He tied Cory Bohmann for second place in the Most-Carp Contest with seven, but his bag of carp (8-4, 8-1, 7-13, 6-13, 6-3, 5-5, 4-3) did not include one that exceeded Cory’s 16-7 as big fish tiebreaker.


Anthony captured small fish of the event at 4-3 to take home a prize and a medal.


Anthony also netted last fish of the day at 3:51 p.m. for yet another medal. Congratulations, Anthony!

 

Other catches of note included . . .

. . . a nice 13-0 by Walter Wheeler at peg J-14.

. . . an 11-1 at peg J-2 by Brett Du Preez.

. . . a 4-15 by Chuck Ferczok at peg J-8, winning Chuck a prize for 2nd to last fish of the day at 3:25 p.m.

Thanks, again, to all the anglers who participated on a day that featured some decent bites in the morning but a tough day during the p.m. hours and some surprisingly disappointing results from some usually productive pegs.

Here’s a rundown of carp in excess of 11 pounds that were captured at Joliet on 11/11/17:

18-2 - Frank Rink
16-7 - Cory Bohmann
15-4 - Justin Keaton
14-15 - Justin Keaton
14-12 - Justin Keaton
14-6 Cory Bohmann
13-15 Justin Keaton
13-8 - Justin Keaton
13-0 - Walter Wheeler
12-0 Chad Bettisch
11-2 - Justin Keaton
11-1 - Brett Du Preez

Our next J-Town Fall 40’s Illinois Tournament Series contest will be the “Paul Wells Memorial - Thanksgiving” Big 4 Tournament held on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at Joliet, Illinois. The event will feature a trophy for the champion and prizes for the Top 5 finishers (50%, 30%, 20% split of entries for top 3, $50 Visa Gift Card for 4th, Daiwa Reel for 5th). Hope you can make it! —Frank Rink

[Todd Richer_7193]

Great report Frank.

 

Thanks

[FJR1]

9 hours ago, Todd Richer_7193 said:

Great report Frank.

 

Thanks

Thank you, Todd.  Much appreciated --Frank