Coralville fisherman wins boater’s division of Iowa BASS Nation spring state tournament

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. - Few anglers would not want to have been in the back of Chris Aswegan's boat last weekend when the Coralville fisherman won the boater's division of the Iowa BASS Nation's spring state tournament on the Mississippi River.

Aswegan, competing in his first state tournament, caught 10 bass weighing 33.34 pounds in a section of Pool 9 in which the smallmouth were spawning.

'You couldn't see their nests, but they were so shallow you could see their movements,” he said.

Aswegan said he found the spot while prefishing several days before the tournament.

Although he did not catch many fish there, he said he liked the looks of the spot - it was the only potential spawning area in a large expanse of water - and decided to stick with it during the tournament.

'It worked out great. The fish were where I figured they'd be,” he said.

It also worked out well for Aswegan's second-day non-boating partner, 16-year-old Cyle Grow of Waukee, who caught five bass weighing 15.86 pounds Sunday to easily win the non-boater's division with a two-day weight of 25.57 pounds.

'I didn't know what to expect,” said Grow, also fishing in his first state tournament. 'We'd see one boil, cast to it and catch it.”

Using green pumpkin-colored tube baits, both anglers caught their winning Sunday limits by 10:30 a.m.

For the first time this year, the Iowa BASS Nation kept separate standings for boaters and non-boaters with the top 10 in each classification, based on spring and fall state tournament results, qualifying to compete in next year's regional tournament.

The other top boaters (with weights in parentheses) are Joe Moyer (29.84); Trent Beier (24.82), J.J. Patton (24.26), Austin Brimeyer (24.06), Mike Bush (23.96), Ron Cherkas (23.95), Mike Leuenberger (23.71), Dan Hamdorf (23.58) and Harry Heins (22.78).

The other top non-boaters are Josh Mohn (22.29), Dennis Sellers (21.55), Frank Wickham (20.68), Jordan Irwin (19.71), Jason Hewitt (19.44), Zack Kolaas (19.32), Jason Shire (18.71), Roger Corley (16.72) and Brian Wilson (16.52).