Thieme & Weber Win NBAA Championship TWICE!

It is usually hard enough to win a Championship event period, but to win them in back-to-back years is a real feat.  That is just what John Thieme and Zach Weber did this weekend.  The Illinois team bested the 72-boat field that was attending from 16 states for three days of competition at this no entry fee event.  After sailing through a standard polygraph regularly used for a event of this magnitude, the team was awarded their new $30,000.00 Ranger Boat powered by Evinrude and rigged out by Minnkota and Huminbird along with titles and champions trophies for their second NBAA National Championship in a row!

Their 3 day total weight was 58-04 pounds and they achieved that mark with a little help from a big “friend.”  They weighed 15-09 on Day 1, then followed it up with 26-11 which was the biggest bag of the event, and that bag included the big bass for day 2 which was a giant 9-02 lunker.  Then they finished with 16-00 pounds Saturday to seal the victory by just over 6 pounds.

Taking second place was the Minnesota team of Steve Galletta & Jim Nordlund pictured below with 51-10 pounds. Their weights were 8-11, 22-02 and 20-13 respectively.

Third place belonged to the Louisiana group of Jake Deweese & Tyler Lalena for their 49-15 catch.  In fourth place was Steve Jacobs & KC Choosakul, from North Carolina with 48-12 pounds.  The last spot in the top 5 was Dave Thomson & Robert Greer with 48-04.  Most all of the guys remarked they were fishing relatively shallow, in and around the bushes.  The best baits included Senkos, flukes, trick worms, jigs and Brush Hogs.

The Team of the Year (TOY) honors & $1,824 went to the Illinois anglers of Greg Trello & Eric Alberter since they were the highest finishing Team of the Year,  among all divisions teams of the year in the competition.

The top 25 teams each took home their share of the more than $53,000.00 in cash and prizes.

Congratulations to all the anglers and New Divisions from 2017.  We had a really great year.  Next year the NBAA Championship will be in April on Table Rock Lake at Port of Kimberling.  We look forward to seeing all of you there.

If you would like to start an NBAA Division in your area, simply go to www.nbaa-bass.com and click on Start a New Division.

The Bite Continues to Improve at NBAA Championship

Friday brought lots of sunshine and warmer temperatures to KY Lake and with it came a much stronger bite during the day.  Although the number of fish weighed was slightly less than Thursday, there were more big bags and more big fish on Friday.  The biggest bag of the day was 26-11 pounds turned in by the Day 2 leaders, John Theime & Zach Weber from Illinois.  That boosted their weight to a total of 42-04 pounds and a 6-pound lead going into Championship Saturday.

Steve Galletta & Jim Nordlund weighed 22-02 Friday and landed in 12th place overall with 30-13.  The next biggest bag belonged to the Michigan team of Bryan Doyle & Josh Kolodzaike with 20-04 pounds, giving them a total of 28-06 that puts them in 14^th.  The last big sack of the day belonged to the Ohio team of Steve Scott & Dave Freeman with 20-01 pounds.  Their total is 34-02 and has them sitting in fourth going into the final day.

The biggest two bass of the day belonged to the Illinois team of John Thieme & Zach Weber with a monster fish that weighed 9-02 pounds and the Minnesota team of Steve Galletta & Jim Nordlund with a monster 7-13 bucketmouth.

Here is the rundown of the top five going into Saturday.  John Thieme & Zach Weber 42-04, Chuck & Corey Jones 36-00, Terry Blackmon & Rodney Teel 35-09, Steve Scott – Dave Freeman 34-02 and Ben Chrtisty & Kevin Barton with 34-00.  This is still anybody event to win.  Second thru 15^th place is separated by right at 8 pounds.  This is just one bite here on KY Lake.  With more sunshine and more warm temperatures, it should be an exciting final weigh in at Camden, TN tomorrow beginning at 3pm.  Check out our livestream at www.nbaa-bass.com starting at 3 pm.  Most everyone seems to be fishing and flipping shallow cover, but I would be willing to bet that at least one or two of the top teams are doing something just a little bit different.

Alberter & Trello Lead the NBAA Championship on KY Lake

April 26,2018 – Camden, TN

Eric Alberter and Greg Trello from Illinois jumped to the top of the field, following the Day 1 weigh in at the NBAA National Championship on KY Lake in Camden, TN.  With a sack that weighed 21-01 pounds they will have a 17-ounce lead going into Friday’s competition.  Most of the teams today talked about only getting five or six bites during the day.  With heavy rains and muddy water condition, bites were hard to come by on Thursday.

Louisiana teams claim the next two spots as Jake Deweese & Tyler Lalena bring 20-00 pounds to the scale and Chad & Zachery Gawel bring only four fish to the scale, but they weigh an impressive 19-13 pounds.  Sitting in fourth is the TN team of Larry & Phillip Harris.  Also with only four fish, but with four good ones that brought the scales down to 19-05 pounds.  Steven Jacobs & KC Choosakul, from North Carolina round out the top five with 18-12 pounds.

Chad & Zachery Gawel claimed Big Bass honors Thursday with a KY Lake toad that weighed 7-12 pounds.  Phillip *& Larry Harris possessed the second Big Bass with a 6-15 pound bucketmouth.

Of the 72 teams participating from 17 different NBAA Divisions and 11 different states, a total of 55 teams weighed in fish.  There were a total of 24 limits brought to the scales, and a total catch weight of right at 644 pounds weighed in Thursday afternoon.  Now that the rain seems to be gone and some sunshine predicted for Friday, the bite should only get better over the last two days of the event.

Be sure and watch the live stream and follow the live leaderboard Friday and Saturday afternoon beginning at 3:00 pm Central time at www.nbaa-bass.com