Cummings grabs overall lead at TBF Northern Divisional Championship

Ivy, Jezierski share big bass honors

OSHKOSH, Wis. – Aaron Ivy and Jon Jezierski not only shared a boat during the first day of The Bass Federation Northern Divisional Championship on Wisconsin’s Lake Winnebago, they also shared equal billing for the day’s big bass catch. Ivy, a non-boater hailing from Washington, Ind., and Jezierski, a resident of Troy, Mich., both landed smallmouths that weighed 4 pounds, 1 ounce. And if that wasn’t unusual enough, both anglers even caught their big bass on the same lure.

However, despite catching a limit and sharing the day’s biggest fish, neither angler could overtake Derek Cummings of Eaton Rapids, Mich. He brought the heaviest sack to the stage today, a five-bass limit that weighed 12 pounds, 12 ounces, just two ounces ahead of Ivy, who finished the day in second place. Jezierski, third, weighed a 12-pound, 5-ounce limit of smallmouths.

Cummings spent the morning on a rock pile he found during practice and threw a green pumpkin tubes while targeting humps. Nearly all of his bites came when he pulled the soft plastic over the sharp ledge on the lee side of the structure. A steady 10- to 15-mile per hour wind in the morning stirred up the water and decreased clarity, a factor that actually helped most anglers atop today’s leaderboard.

“The wind was everything today. It really helped stack up the fish behind that rock pile and it was good for the crankbait bite,” said Cummings. “Wind is always good for smallies.”

In a unique twist as well as a testament to the generosity of TBF anglers, Jezierski, a member of Michigan Bass Boys, cut off his Norman Deep Little N and gave it to Ivy after he put his fifth bass in the livewell. Anglers are forbidden by Wisconsin law to cull bass, so Jezierski was finished.

“We actually went to my partner’s fish because I didn’t find a whole lot during practice,” said Jezierski.

It worked out for the better, agreed Ivy, who caught numerous undersized bass on the crankbait his partner gave him. He also caught his final fish of the day on that lure.

“We really worked together. I was thrilled he let me go to my fish, and I was really glad he let me use the lure he caught his bass on. He didn’t have to do that, but he did,” said Ivy.

The no-cull rule had some out-of-state anglers worried about their inability to replace a smaller bass in their livewells with a larger one. None of the top three anglers seemed concerned at the end of the first day, however.

“Everybody has to play by the same rule, so no, I’m not worried about it,” said Cummings, who put his rods down at 8:30 a.m. His partner caught his fifth keeper by 10:30 a.m., which may have actually helped Cummings strategically heading into the second day.

“A hose to my livewell came loose so it was just dumping water into the hull of my boat. The bilge was running all day, so I was a little worried,” he said. “I was able to get it fixed so I’m good to go.”

Team standings update

Although only one of the top five anglers was from Wisconsin, the 12-man team representing the home state has a solid lead over second-place team Ohio. Wisconsin has 82 pounds, 1 ounce while Ohio is a distant second with 64 pounds, 2 ounces. Illinois is third; Michigan is fourth and Indiana is fifth with just over 46 pounds.

Some of the tournament’s 59 anglers struggled to figure out Winnebago’s bass. Ten blanked today; 10 brought only one bass to the scales and 13 anglers only weighed two fish. Ten anglers managed to bring a five-bass limit to the weigh-in stage.

Overall, Illinois angler Scott McIntyre is in fourth place with 11 pounds, 12 ounces; Keith Clegg of New London, Wis., is in fifth place, just three ounces behind McIntyre.

The event, hosted by the Oshkosh Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Wisconsin Bass Federation, runs from Sept. 13-15 and is presented by The National Guard.