Wisconsin duo come up huge in Mississippi River bass tournaments

LANSING - Mike Brueggen and Jim Caulum caught the hogs and hogged the prize money at a pair of bass tournaments last weekend on the Mississippi River.

Brueggen of La Crosse, Wis., and Caulum of Rockland, Wis., caught five bass weighing 17.6 pounds to win the Iowa Bass Nation's 10K tournament on Saturday out of Prairie du Chien, Wis. - so named because the winners split the top prize of $10,000.

On Sunday they caught five bass weighing 16.04 pounds to win the annual Spro Frog Tournament and its top prize of $2,600. Seven other two-angler teams weighed limits topping 15 pounds - impressive catches given that summer bass fishing on the Upper Mississippi has lacked its usual luster this year.

'It's been a good weekend,” Caulum understated Sunday after he and his partner defeated 66 other two-angler teams in a tournament in which competitors were limited to one lure - the Spro plastic frog.

Though there were no lure limitations for the 10K tournament, Brueggen and Caulum said they caught their winning weight to top the 99-boat field with Spro frogs and Lethal Weapon swim jigs.

Caulum, who won the 10K tournament three years ago with a different partner, said bass fishing on the Upper Mississippi had been substandard all year until last weekend.

'We weren't able to find the fish this spring and it's kept up that way all summer. Even practice for this weekend's tournament was tough,” he said.

Weekend conditions were ideal for catching bass on plastic frogs. A blazing sun drove the bass into the shade provided by lily pads and duck weed, and clear water helped the bass find the plastic frogs being retrieved overhead.

'It took the Spro frog to break the fish out of their funk,” said Spro representative and tournament organizer Vance Gordon of Marion, a known jokester who was not joking about the Spro frog's appeal to bass.

Last weekend's event was the third of four frog-only tournaments sponsored this year by Spro to demonstrate the effectiveness of their products and to thank anglers for using them.

Other top finishers in the Spro tournament were Bill Gretten and Mike Volster, second, 15.89 pounds, and Terry Flack and Bob Walker, third, 15.88 pounds.

Brian Kregel and Tony Puelz finished second in the 10K with 15.38 pounds, followed by Steve Harty and Jake Larimer in third with 15.29 pounds.

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