Tiffin angler Chris Aswegan continues string of success

Chris Aswegan recorded his biggest bass tournament victory last weekend with a lure given to him on Father's Day by his 5-year-old son John.

Aswegan of Tiffin, relying on the lucky Zara Spook topwater lure, caught 15 bass weighing 47 pounds, 4 ounces to win the three-day FLW Bass Fishing League Regional Tournament on Kentucky Lake.

Aswegan said his youthful ambition to become a full-time bass tournament angler, while tempered by family and work obligations, 'is not 100 percent behind me.”

'I still think about it once in awhile” and especially now at the height of a two-year hot streak that includes several titles and considerable prize money, he said.

Aswegan outfished 179 other anglers last weekend to win the top cash prize of $20,000, plus a new Ranger bass boat and motor valued at $45,000.

The win also qualified Aswegan to compete in the 2017 FLW Bass Fishing League All-American tournament on Pickwick Lake, which, like Kentucky Lake, is a large impoundment of the Tennessee River.

Aswegan has been on a roll since last year, when he won both the spring and fall BASS Nation state tournaments on the Mississippi River and earned the title of the Iowa Bass Nation's Angler of the Year.

The roll continued this year with a third-place finish in the FLW Great Lakes Division Super Tournament, Sept. 17 and 18 on the Mississippi River at La Crosse, Wis., which yielded a $2,827 prize, and a third-place finish in the Great Lakes Division's angler of the year quest.

Mike Bruegger of La Crosse, who won the division super tournament, finished second behind Aswegan in the Kentucky Lake regional.

During five practice days on the 160,000-acre Kentucky Lake, Aswegan said he discovered he could catch bass along a slight drop-off (from 8 to 18 inches) on a sand flat 50 miles from the launch site.

'That played into my strength. I have a lot of confidence fishing top-water lures in the fall,” he said.

Aswegan said he had the spot to himself each of the three tournament days. His main challenge, he said, was finding the sweet spot along the 100-yard drop-off. To ensure maximum stealth in the shallow water, he shut off his trolling motor and electronics and cast his lure 'as far as I could throw it,” he said.

Another factor in his success, he said, was vacating the spot for an hour or two each day to relieve the fish of the constant angling pressure.

'That might have been the key decision - leaving them alone and letting them reset. The bite would stop after a couple of hours, but I could always catch more after I rested them,” he said.

To achieve the sudden changes in direction that make the Zara Spook effective, Aswegan said he uses 50-pound-test braided line. The retrieve, he said, is a succession of hard rod snaps interspersed with half turns of the reel handle.

Some strikes were triggered, he said, by slowing or speeding up the tempo of the retrieve.

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