David Kolb, NPAA #607, of Rockford, MI and has won the MWC Eastern Division event on Saginaw Bay out of Au Gres, MI this past weekend. He and his partner went out yesterday morning in 6th place with 18.29 pounds to their credit, and brought in another nice 5 fish limit to the final weigh in that weighed 20.08 pounds, for a two day total weight of 38.37 pounds.
Asked how it felt to win, he said, “It feels awesome!” When asked about their day today, he said, “We had our fish within the first hour and a half today. It was a big flurry where we only had two rods in the water at one time today, and we had almost all of our weight by nine. I think we had only one upgrade after 9 o’clock. We got them pulling crawler harnesses behind Off Shore Tackle’s new 2 oz. “Tadpoles”, which was a hot ticket for us. This win is really unbelievable. After the first day I didn’t think we had a chance, but things just worked out. It’s really incredible!”
Kolb and his partner would take home an award of $12,000.00 plus all of the Sponsor Contingency Bonus Awards:
| Ranger Cup: | $1,000.00 |
| Berkley Premier Team: | $500.00 |
| His total cash prize came to: | $13,700.00 |
As an added bonus, David entered the Big Fish Pot and would win the first place Big Fish prize on day two, with a 5.82 pound Walleye for another $700.00.Other top finishers at the Saginaw event were:
| 4th Place: | Craig Gushow | NPAA #385 |
| 5th Place: | Steve Bodinger | NPAA #419 |
| 15th Place: | Ryan Sagady | NPAA #364 |
The “Kid’s Fishing Clinic” sponsored by the NPAA and the MWC was a huge success with over 80 kids attending. There were so many kids at this event that the crew ran out of free fishing poles to give to all the kids, but no one went home empty handed. Those that didn’t receive a fishing rod/reel combo went home with other goodies handed out by several Pros who stuck around after the day one weigh in to help out and teach the kids how to tie fishing knots and put a slip bobber on the line. NPAA members that stayed to help out were:
| Dan Gies | NPAA #569 |
| Matt Davi | NPAA #568 |
| Jamie Grubbs | NPAA #965 |
| Conrad Grubbs | NPAA #909 |
The NPAA is a non-profit organization focused on growing the sport of fishing and increasing the professionalism of its members. Its supporting partners include Northland Fishing Tackle, Navionics, Mercury Marine, Evinrude Outboards, Lund Boats, Ranger Boats, Off-Shore Tackle, Fin-Tech Tackle, Berkley, AIM Walleye Series, Masters Walleye Circuit, FLW Outdoors, Frabill, U.S. Forest Service, Liddle Marketing, FPS Financial Planning Services, Do-it Corp., Optima Batteries, John Butts Outdoors, Pasha Lake Cabins, Oahe Wings and Walleyes Guide Service, Outdoor First Media, Advanced Tex Screen Printing and Worldwide Marine Underwriters.
For more information, contact Pat Neu, NPAA executive director, 920-559-6901.By: Patrick Neu, NPAA Executive Director
