Newton Lake Bonanza practice

[fishndinty]

Got out for some Big Ten Classic practice with the club, since I'm graduated and can't actually fish the tournament itself. Shared a boat with John Coulston and Matt Vose, both excellent fishermen and fun guys to be on a boat with. Won't say how we caught em, but we caught em! Here are pics of three of my five "Newton keepers" (18 inches plus) from the trip. I'll tell anyone interested how they were caught after the Big Ten Classic this weekend. Good luck, Illini!

[Tim Rhee]

So how'd you catch em' Dinty?

[fishndinty]

The first of my keepers, a 4 lb fish, was caught on a 4 inch Storm wildeye shad colored swimbait. I was fishing it like a jig, with lifts, falls, and jiggles when my line jumped and headed for deep water. We then found the fantastic flippin' bite in practice that numerous other teams found. The key was that grassy brush stuff in 3-5 feet of water in any pocket, and blue black beavers and jigs (anything with a big profile) was the key to getting strikes. If I was you guys, I woulda tried heavy jigs or bullet sinkers to pitch into the heart of those thick brush stands on tournament day....high sun normally makes a flipping bite better and it seems reasonable that a lot of fish might have been located IN the brush that day rather than on the edges....but you guys won, so I won't nitpick! But I did think the swimbait fish was awesome/noteworthy
-Dinty