The Grand Haven Offshore Challenge was held on June 1st, 2nd, and 3rd out of Grand haven, Michigan.  This is one of the premiere events on the Lake Michigan tournament trail and despite the price of gasoline had a very well attended tournament with great Pro turnout and some minor retraction on the Am side.  This is a well run tournament with a strong tournament committee that does excellent non-pofit work all year round providing scholarships, supporting chinook in the classroom in five schools, as well as donations to groups including Teen Challenge where the first day catch was donated.

Friday saw a great time had by many boats as the Kids and Ladies tournament was a big success.  Strategic rule changes by the comittee for 2007 garnered increased particpation as teams were allowed to run unlimited rods and fish until 12:30 which meant that the day could be a good pre-fishing day as well.  The format was catch 12 fish weigh best five and then a kicker smallest fish contest which weighed in at a whopping .3 lbs - yes three/tenths of a pound.

Saturday saw near perfect weather as Reel Action called the start of fishing and boats ran in almost every direction as conditions were mixed and variable moving from foggy and overcast to bright and clear and back and forth.  Fishing is always tough for this tournament which makes it highly competitive as the silver fish are on the move going to wherever they go so flexibility is the key and boats with a strong Lake Trout and King/Coho/Steelhead program faired well.  Black Betty came in with the top box of Day One leading the Pro division by 8 or 9 points over a tight cluster of boats including My Tiara, Thunderduck, JJ and others.  The Am division saw Lake Effect bring in the top box of the day at 192+ point followed by Stike Zone, Miss Shelby, and Double Down and a tight field behind.

Sunday was weather delayed until 8am on a very professional call by the tournament committee which held people at the ramps, docks, and minimized exposure to a strong storm cell that downed trees and caused much damage from high winds on shore.  The major storm moved through and fishing started at 8am with a 30 minute extension until 2:30.  Sunday proved to be a hard day fishing for many of the competitors, boats that ranged to the north were able to get their fish more easily while those that were closer to Grand Haven had to work hard to get what they got.
The Pro Division Top 5 were:

1. My Tiara
2. Black Betty
3. Best Chance Too
4. Hitman
5. Blue Chip

1. Strike Zone
2. Lake Effect
3. Double DOwn
4. In Pursuit
5. Maatley Crew

1. Blue Chip
2. Lake Effect
3. Miss Shelby
4. Fishwich
5. Reel Action (Am)

333 Full Field Results - Click Here

Discuss on Educated Angler ( 0 )