Vose & Rubin Make it Two in a Row on Lake Geneva

Big Fish the Story of this Tournament  

 By: Brad Rubin

Going into the last event on Lake Geneva many teams were still reporting the same tough bite from 2 weeks earlier.  Talon Lures pro staffer Matt Vose from Aurora, IL predicted that the same patterns would probably still be going and that teams that had been successful last time out would do well again.  Because of this, Vose and his partner Brad Rubin of Antioch, IL chose not to practice as extensively for this tournament and instead focus their efforts on Big Green Lake for the championship.  They spent the day before the tournament on Green Lake and then drove home that night for the Geneva finale.  The pair decided to just take their knowledge from the last tournament, apply it to this one…and hope for the best.  It didn’t take long to see that the patterns had stayed consistent.

At one of their first areas, Rubin hooked a four pound smallmouth on one of his first few casts.  After some serious acrobatics and a few tense moments, the fish made it into the livewell.  Soon after Rubin added another solid largemouth and smallmouth to get the day started right.  After that however, the team was stuck on three fish for quite some time.  It was then that Matt Vose went to work.  Rubin stepped off the front deck to take care of some mechanical issues with his boat and Vose took control of the front.  Picking up Rubin’s favorite rod, he made one cast and began to comment on how sensitive the St. Croix Legend Elite rod was and how much he liked it.  That sentence was never completed however, as Matt set the hook into a beastly 6.16 pound Lake Geneva largemouth.  By the time that big momma was swimming safely in their livewell, the two figured they had at least 15 pounds with 4 fish.  They figured if they simply caught two more keepers, the tournament would be over.  With weights being down last tournament, 19 or 20 pounds would be tough to beat.

After Rubin made his way back to the front of the boat, it was clear his “mojo” had faded and so did their area.  So Matt took the helm once again and quickly proved why he is such a versatile fisherman.  Casting into places his partner said “any self respecting Lake Geneva bass would not be caught dead in” Vose proceeded to land another 4-pounder and a 15-inch largemouth to fill their limit.  While Rubin continues to express disbelief over the utter stupidity of these two fish, he gave his partner all the credit in the world for thinking outside the box and putting this tournament away.  While the remaining 4 or 5 hours was a complete waste as the team never caught another keeper, they still had 23.65 pounds and took home the victory.  Vose and Rubin collected $1,500 for the win and secured the Angler of the Year title for the division.  Congratulations to Brad Rubin and Matt Vose, Lake Geneva Anglers of the Year for 2009.  Rubin is sponsored by: Action Marine, www.dirtyjigstackle.com, www.Davesreelservice.com, and Captain’s Boat Wiring.  Vose is sponsored by: Xtreme Lubricants, www.Talonlures.com, KicknBass Fish Attractant, and www.Matthewvose1.com.

Interestingly, the winners would have won an additional $250 for Big Bass, $750 for the roll over pot and $500 for big bass of the year had Billy Heim not caught an absolute mutant largemouth weighing 6.52 pounds.  Heim and Gronke weighed in a very impressive 20.53 pounds with their 6 fish limit on another tough day.  The big fish may have bit today but the overall bite was still off.  Many teams reported catching some good fish but not getting enough bites.  Billy Heim and his partner reported their best bite came late in the afternoon as a front came through that almost crashed the party at the weigh in.  It just goes to show that you should never give up and listen to the old adage that the fish bite well right before a front.  Billy and his partner netted around $1,500 for their big fish in addition to their solid second place check around $1,100.  Congratulations guys.  Billy is sponsored by Action Marine and Skeeter Boats.

Finishing in the top 3 for the second tournament in a row were Morrell and Jurs with a solid limit weighing 17.89 pounds.  This team also had a behemoth largemouth over 5 pounds that tipped the scales at 5.80.  They only weighed 5 fish and wondered what may have happened had they been able to land their limit fish.  Hopefully this team will make it out to the Geneva circuit again next year as they have clearly proven that their leave of absence hasn’t slowed them down a bit.  Great way to finish the season guys.