Ryan Stumpf wins Ohio Opener
 Indian Lake, Ohio - April 18, 2009 -The Indian Lake Chamber welcomed American Bass Anglers and the Toyota Tundra Bassmaster Weekend Series with open arms. This was a wonderful site to hold our first Ohio division tournament. Pre tournament information indicated it should take about 12 to 14 pounds to win this tournament. Come tournament day the bigger fish were hard to find, but lots of small fish did make their way to the scales. There were several smaller events on the lake and lots of pre-fishing pressure in preparation for another large event to be held Sunday kept a lot of pressure on the fish, which was evident at weigh in time. The water temperature was in the mid 50’s and it was a beautiful 70 degree day with light winds with very few clouds.
As the first flight started to check in it was evident that the bite was off and many of the anglers struggled throughout the day. It quickly became evident that is wasn’t going to take much to win this tournament. But true to form, the 2008 Ohio point champion, Ryan Stumpf of Johnstown, Ohio, showed the rest of the field that he is going to be a force to be reckoned with again this year. He continued his winning ways on Indian Lake, and claimed the guaranteed first place purse of $5000. With a 5 fish limit of 8.61 pounds, Ryan had a ½ pound margin over Michael Manor, who finished in second place. During our interview Ryan credited Warrior Baits for much of his success. He mentioned that he has only fished this lake a couple times and found his fish the day before the tournament. Ryan located his fish in the weeds. The key he feels, was that those weeds were close to a channel. He only fished a 500 yard stretch of those weeds to catch all of his fish. Big bass on the boater side went to Ryan’s brother Aaron Stumpf with a 2.70 largemouth, which earned him the $325 big bass purse.
 On the co-angler side Scott Schrock squeaked out an 11 oz win over Eric Carsten. Scott was only able to land 2 fish but was able to take over the lead with a 4.14 largemouth which proved to be the big bass of the tournament. Scott’s winning weight was 5.65, which earned him $1302 in place money plus the $145 co-angler big bass purse. Scott mentioned that he was using a black tube with red fleck to catch his winning weight.
The next Ohio division tournament is May 16th on Alum Creek. Anglers can enter the event as late as Friday the 15th when registration closes at 6:30 pm. Anyone interested in more details should call American Bass Anglers at 888-203-6222.
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