By Mike Radcliffe
NWMI Fishing Club President, Founder
Massive boxes of fish were in those massive Frankfort rolling waves Tuesday!
This was not easy fishing, but 33 boats braved the borderline-sketchy winds, and 98 fishermen held down their cookies long enough to witness a very close showdown at the weigh-in.
Let’s dig in.
1st Place went to Team Kingfisher, Captained by John Faller, Larry Jennings, Tim Sitaro and Billy. They brought in 5 massive Kings for a 73.50lb total ($627). That is just shy of a 15lb average for a very rough Lake Michigan.
2nd place, again, went to The Woebbeking Clan piloting the “Finnsane” and showing up with a 70.90 box ($470), only 2.6lbs out of first. A big congratulations to Charlie, Sara, Jake, and Nick Arend hauling in a huge box-they had other fish in their cooler and probably could have weighed a 2-man limit, if not more.
3rd place went to one of the original club founders Cory Udell and former club member Austin Odziana in Team “I’d hit that”. These guys were just barely edged out of 2nd place by 2.5lbs. But great to see these guys out again and being successful. A huge box that held 1st place for almost the whole weigh in. They brought in 68.40 lbs for a $157 win.
4th place, and less than a half-pound out of 3rd, were perennial local favorites, Mike Carroll, Brian Niess and Todd Bosley in “Reel Screamer”. These guys have always placed in the money at our tournaments and did the same this year. $157 for their night with a 67.95lb box.
5th place, and the last one in line for the money was Team “Hell on Reels” with the Paquette Team (Ryan, Hunter, and Jack) bringing a 64.05 lb box to the scale for $157. This was our newest member and his first tournament with us, so a big congratulations to this father/son team!
Big Laker went to Marky Mark Lauret and Young Johnny Ratcliffe (club founder) with a 12.35lb monster for $320. Nice going team “Silver Pursuit”…not much for silver, but a great payout for the biggest and only
Laker this night.
Big King went to Team Fire Storm with a 19.35 King! Very rare that the big fish didn’t put them in the payout-places, but still garnered $320 for this beauty. Long time competitors and club member Theo Weber, Brian Kuhr and John Hill Senior and Junior teamed up on that monster for a nice payout.
A huge thank you again to Maxine for running this mayhem. It’s the busiest tournament we run and she always does the busy ones with penny-accuracy.
A big thank you to Dreamweaver Lures for sponsoring this event with a packed Big Water Box, stuffed full of the 2024 Top 10 lures in each category (J-plug, spoons, meat-rigs, spin doctors and more). Thanks Shane and crew in Ludington, and a Huge shout out to Ethan Stoops over at Mission Lures for the jig donation for raffle prizes also, check them out at your local retailer, Thanks Ethan!
And as our last event is coming up, we are chasing those beasts in West Bay out of Elmwood Marina…they are waving ramp fees and someone will win a 2026 season pass on Saturday morning Aug 30th
