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86 teams took to Rockyfork Lake on October 6th for the Southern Ohio State Regional. The weather forecast called for rainy conditions, but the weather held out until right when the teams were weighing in. "The tournament went off with out a hitch, it was a cloudy day but got miserable at the end. We had rain and 60mph winds and I ended up losing two tents in the wind," said John Johnson. The fishing itself was typical for the lake: tough fishing and small fish. "Rockyfork gets pounded all of the time. There were alot of 5lb bags and plenty of small fish," added Johnson.
The father/son team of Chad and Greg Feldman figured them out and weighed in 10.78lbs including the big bass of the tournament at 5.42lbs. The team prefished a week earlier and had a good game plan going into the event. 'We caught all of our fish in water that was 8 feet or less. We focused on wood, rocks and shallow grass. If we were fishing the rocks we were using Strictly Bass jigs with Uncle Josh Meat Craws as trailers as well as Secret Lures Stupid Tubes," said Feldman. They also focused on grassy areas with a Stricly Bass Buzzbait. If they encountered scattered timber, the team used a Bandit squarebill crankbait. Overall they only caught six keepers. "We had a rotation of spots and just focused on that isolated cover. We only culled once but did catch six or eight short fish as well," said Feldman. For the win the team brought home just under $5,000.
Second Place was the Father/Son duo of Mark and Dalton Rand who had a limit weighing 10.60lbs. This team caught approximately 25 keepers and had a limit by 8:00 AM. "We were really just following the shad around the grass. We caught more numbers on spinnerbait and buzzbait, but the better fish came on frogs," added Rand. It was an all day bite for the team and they were able to catch them throughout the day.
Third Place was the team of Kevin White and Kevin Tschudy with five fish for 9.35lbs. Thank you to all of the Southern Ohio Regional anglers who competed during the event.
By: Tyler Brinks
