When Life Gives You Lemons…
To make lemonade, you have to squeeze the lemon. However, in this case, IU club members had to grind and then pulverize the lemon to get everything they could out of it.
The sun rose on October 22nd to reveal a thick blanket of fog over the water of Lake Lemon, forcing the IU Bass Club into a 45 minute delay to the start of their second and final club tournament of the fall semester. The boys (and girls) had all launched their boats by the original take off time, and became antsy as they waited for the fog to lift. Finally, when the club members could see outside of the bay they were sitting in, club President Zack Wojitowicz announced that the tournament could begin, but with one rule – anyone caught going faster than an idle until the fog was gone would be disqualified.
A small cold front had come through the area the week before, but what really changed the condition of the lake was two days of cold rain. The water temperature had dropped over ten degrees in some areas of the lake within a matter of days, giving the fish lock-jaw. Sean Gillenwater, who considers Lemon to be his home lake, said that the week of frontal conditions coupled with the blue bird skies made the fishing especially difficult, adding “A reaction bite was the only way to get bit.”
“I had been out twice the week before with Steve Bressler” said Clint Shireman, who won the tournament with two fish that weighed in at 4-02 pounds. “We found a couple places in practice where the shade had moved up, but the bass hadn’t followed them yet” added Bressler. Steve won big bass bragging rights with a 2-72 pound fish that came on a Team Supreme 50/50 spinnerbait. Shireman won the tournament by using fundamental advice that his uncle had taught him eons ago. “I was fishing docks when I noticed the wind had picked up on the main lake, so I ran over to a big point and started throwing a spinnerbait and a square-billed Rapala” Shireman said of his winning method.
Despite the tough conditions, many club members managed to catch fish, including IU’s own “Mr. Consistency” Chris Weiss, finishing in second place. All-American Dustin Vaal and first year club member Corey Underwood thought the lake was great, even though the bite was tough. Underwood said of the day “It was nice to get out and fish with the club. Lemon is a great lake, just getting keepers to bite on tournament day was difficult.”
IU’s next tournament, and final one for the fall, will be “The Minnow Bucket” on Lake Waveland November 6th. The tournament is a fishing version of “The Oaken Bucket,” the annual football game against Purdue University.