12-09-07 Coffeen Lake 2nd Place Mike Evanoff and Steve Evanoff
Gene Cailey’s Coffeen Winter Circuit was held this past Sunday with a turnout of 36 boats. Saturday night’s ice storm kept a lot of fisherman who travel from Missouri away. This was a chilly day from the get go. It started with rain changing to a little sleet then back to rain along with an ENE breeze at 5-10 mph. The water temp is cooling down. It was 60 degrees at the boat ramp. The fishing seems to be getting better. From the 36 teams that fished there were 145 fish turned in and 15 limits caught. As these tournaments progress through the winter the fishing will keep getting better. So come out and join in! On with the stats.

The first place team went to Josh and Brad Kirchoff of Highland, IL. This father and son team has been doing a phenomenal job on the water this year. They have placed in the check line each tournament. Their limit of fished weighed in at 16.91 lbs. They said they have using the same technique for the last couple of tournaments. They are staying shallow fishing the weed beds. They are using lipless crank baits and spinner baits. They said they are concentrating on the main lake pockets filled with the weeds. They are ripping their baits through the weeds to produce the strikes. Another great job guys!

The second place team went to Mike Evanoff of Granite City, IL and Steve Evanoff of Collinsville, IL. Our limit of fish weighed in at 16.62 lbs. We had a pretty good day on the water. We went through an additional 8 keepers. We keyed in on the great Coffeen weed beds. We were throwing an E-Factor ¾ oz spinner bait chartreuse/white skirt with diamond cut nickel and gold willow leaf blades. We would switch off with a Spro Aruku Shad 75 lipless crank bait and an E-Factor ¾ oz flesh color with diamond cut double willow leaf blades. We were using 15 # P-line and 17 # Suffix line with our 6 ½ foot Falcon rods bumping the baits through the weeds. Steve is sponsored by 7/24 outdoors, Falcon Rods, Spro/Gamakatsu, Skeeter Boats, Lewis Marine, and Flying Fisherman Sunglasses.