UMBCS anglers compete in their last Tournament of Champions

The Upper Midwest Bass Challenge Series anglers from three divisions took on the Turtle Flambeau Flowage at the end of last month. Sixty teams competed over two days to bring in the heaviest five fish per day. Totals from each day were tallied and it would take over 30 pounds to make it into the top 13.

Preston Johnson (left) and Jason Miloszewicz took second place, and big bass, in the UMBCS Tournament of Champions with 33.69 pounds of smallmouth. The duo also had big fish of the two-day tournament at 4.88 pounds.
(Submitted photo)

There were 452 bass brought in over the two-day Tournament of Champions. Of those, 400 were smallmouth. The biggest smallmouth to cross the scales was 4.88 pounds. Over 580 pounds of fish crossed the scales in those two days.

“The last week the Turtle Flambeau Flowage dropped about a half foot of water each day,” said tournament director Gregg Kizewski of St. Germain. “Warm weather and no wind were contributing factors to an ever-changing bite. It was a game of making changes and at the end of it all, it was our closest TOC in our 14 years of running these tournaments. Only five pounds separated the top 15 teams.”

Even with difficult conditions on a body of water where many teams had little experience prior to this tournament, and with a stacked field of great anglers, it was well known that there would still be teams that would find the elusive fish. 

Jake Haskins and Chad Bauer took third place in the UMBCS Tournament of Champions with a 33.26 pound total with 10 fish over two days.
(Submitted photo)

In the end, Chris Flanagan and Ken Darton took fifth place with 31.84 pounds. Fourth place went to Jake Lund and Tony Biron with 32.55 pounds. Jake Haskins’ and Chad Bauer’s 33.26 pounds was good enough to put them in third. Preston Johnson and Jason Miloszewicz grabbed second place with 33.69 pounds. The duo also had big fish of the tournament. The winning team averaged over 17 pounds per day. Nick Trim and Nick O’Keefe wound up with 34.31 pounds for their two-day total and grabbed the top honors.

This was the last year of the Upper Midwest Bass Challenge Series and many anglers expressed their thanks to Kizewski for running tournaments for all of the years. In return, Kizewski thanked all of the anglers for fishing and for becoming part of his “fishing family.” 

Beckie Gaskill may be reached via email at [email protected].