(Oct. 03, 2007 - Lakes Freeman and Shafer, Monticello, IN)... The 2007 Edgewater Marine Tippecanoe Valley Anglers Bass Championship once again lived up to its billing as one of the tougher events to fish of the year. I am not sure if it is the time of year, the two lakes, the unusual weather fronts that seem to hit on the weekend of the classic, but it always seems to come down to a mental and physical battle. The anglers that had pre fished the weekend before had shared the difficulties they had on Lake Freeman and thought that would be the toughest day of fishing. The tournament was suppose to begin at 7:35 a.m. Saturday morning, at 7:20 a.m. twenty to thirty mph winds blew threw, the winds turned from the south, southwest to the west, then to the north. The temperature that had been in the upper eighties and low nineties all week, would struggle to even get out of the seventies. A tough day ahead was obvious; whoever could muster up some fish on this day was going to put them in excellent position to win the classic. There were twenty anglers that qualified to fish the event. Day 1 Weigh-in
The day on the lake was tougher than anyone could have imagined. Wade Cohagen from Monticello, IN was the only angler to weigh in more than three fish. Wade was able to catch four keepers on a lake that was as tough as I have ever seen it. Wade’s four keepers weighed in at 6.46 pounds. Frank Brown from Kokomo, IN weighed in three fish that weighed 5.12 pounds. Ron Pangborn, Lafayette, IN and Jim Han, Monticello, IN were the only other anglers to weigh in two fish. Ron’s weight was 2.89 lbs. and Jim’s 2.53 lbs. positioned them in fourth and sixth places after day one. Two anglers were able to bring a single fish that placed them in the top five. Ron Judd of Monticello, IN caught the big fish on day one, a beautiful 3.39 largemouth. This one fish had Ron in third place after day one. Adam Wright of Monticello, IN weighed in fish at 2.87 lbs to put himself in fifth place after day one. There were eight anglers that had one fish, and seven anglers that were not able to weigh in a single fish. So, fifteen of the nineteen anglers participating in the event had one fish or less. This shows how tough of a day it really was. There was a total of nineteen fish weighed in, a total weight of 33.9 lbs, which is a 1.78 average per fish.
Championship Banquet
The championship banquet was held at Sublette’s ribs. The food and service was outstanding. I believe everyone had a really good time, as they allowed us to have our own area out on the patio. After dinner, the end of the season banquet was held. Each angler received a revenue and expense report, a final standings page, a complete recap of the results from each lake, and a sheet that had the total number of fish weighed in, along with the heaviest weights from each lake that was fished by the club. The Tippecanoe Valley Anglers has made it a long standing tradition to present plaques to the ten anglers who have accumulated the most points. Here is a list of the ten anglers.
| 1. Rod Coffing | 684 | 6. Ron Pangborn | 637 |
| 2. Jeff Vandergraff | 675 | 7. Bill Kelly | 635 |
| 3. Fuzzy Dunn | 669 | 8. Bud Smart | 621 |
| 4. Dave Coffing | 650 | 9. Jim McWhirter | 573 |
| 5. Frank Brown | 650 | 10. Wade Cohagen | 565 |
