CBA 2002 Championship Season

CBA 2002 Championships (Match 7 & 8)
Barth Pond, Downers Grove, IL. October 5-6, 2002

Saturday - Day 1

Sunday - Day 2

CBA 2002 Championships Final Standings:

Despite the changing weather and cold front moving through, Barth Pond proofed to be one of the most reliable venues that we have.  Nobody expected the fishing to be so good and the weights to be so high.  Peter Wolan put a great finish to a remarkable season.  On both days, Peter caught well on the long pole fished over groundbait.  He used corn or maggots on the hook to put two impressive nets of bluegills mixed with bonus fish: carp, catfish, and goldfish.  After finishing second in her section on day 1, Elise made a big come back with nearly 30 lbs of bluegills on day 2.  Elise fished a top 3 to hand with maggots on the hook.  Derek put together 2 good weights of bluegills to finish in 3rd place overall.

CBA Match 6
Lake Milliken, IL. September 8, 2002

 Derek's notes: Lake Milliken is one of my favorite venues and I gladly come back here every year. The weather was extremely hot and we started the match half an hour earlier to escape the mid day heat. Like usually on this lake, fishing the drop-off just few feet from the shore was the best approach.  Elise was fishing with her 3 meter top kit for most of the match and was catching nice shiners steadily.  Elise fished with maggots on the hook and fed small balls of groundbait regularly throughout the 4-hour match.  Libby was also fishing the top kit to hand and managed to hook 5 lbs. bonus carp.  I used both the top kit to hand and then 6 meter pole with short line to catch bluegills, few shiners, and one small carp.  Most of my catch was done with double white maggot. 

CBA Match 5
Plumgrove Reservoir, Palatine, IL. August 18, 2002

CBA Match 4
South Ridge Park, Hoffman Estates, IL. July 14, 2002

Derek's notes: It was another tough day of fishing even though the conditions seemed to be favorable. I think that everyone started the day on the whip trying to put some bluegills in the nets before trying for bigger bonus fish.  It was pretty slow for everyone and fish didn't respond well to feeding.  In the second hour of the match Paul Wells managed to hook one of the lake's giant grass carp.  After 1 hour and 25 minutes of battle Paul finally put the fish in the landing net.  At 21.9 lbs. it is the biggest fish ever caught (as far as I know) in CBA  match history.  Paul fished with 11 meter pole, #14 elastic, 6 lbs Vanish line, and #12 hook with 2 grains of corn for the bait.  On this hard day this one fish was more than enough to win the match.  Gary Fritz came in second.  Most of Gary's catch consisted of nice shiners (roaches) caught on long pole with a light rig and maggot on the hook.  Elise DeVilliers finished third and her catch was mostly made up of bluegills.     

CBA Match 3
Fox Canal, Montgomery, IL. June 6, 2002

Derek's notes: The match was planed for the river but once again it was just impossible to fish due to the high water level.  So it was back to the canal. The fishing has improved slightly since the Open '02, but the canal was still far from its best form.  Peter Wolan recorded his third win in the third CBA match of the season.  Peter's approach was simple: five balls of groundbait at 11 meters and corn fished on size 14 B611  hook. Peter had a good first hour but then things slowed down for him. Toping up with one ball of groundbait in the beginning of 4th hour did the trick and Peter started catching steady again  in that final hour.  I had a good run in the second hour but I lost 2 carp in the final minutes of the match after my #12 elastic broke twice. Lesson learned:  change elastic on regular basis, especially after it gets some beating  (I reckon that one thing that destroys the elastic is leaving it wet in the tops for few days, which I did).  Robert Wolan finished third also fishing the long pole. Paul Wells, with his broken finger, chose to fish the method feeder; he landed two carp but lost three more.      

CBA Match 2
Lincoln Park Lagoon, Chicago, IL. May 5, 2002

Derek's notes: I have to say it was definitely worth it to pay the $9 parking fee to fish this venue.  The fishing was great! We started at 10 AM and I don't think it took more than 5 minutes before the elastics started stretching out.  Most of us thought that catching small fish may be the right approach but it soon became obvious that carp were willing to play the ball.  Long pole dominated the match but it was best to fish it close to the drop off just few meters from the bank.  Peter fished at 6 meters and that was where he caught all his fish.  His 113.8 lbs is a new US 4-hrs match record. Peter fed 5 balls of groundbait to start things up and then loose fed small amounts of corn throughout the match.  He caught some fish with maggots on the hook but most of them took corn.  I fished 8 meters pole and all but one of my carp were caught on corn. My feeding started almost the same - 5 balls of groundbait with some corn and chopped worm.  But after that I topped up with small balls of groundbait after every 1-2 fish.  I think that the bigger carp were closer to the drop off and that's what made the difference in the final weights.  

CBA Match 1
Barth Pond, Downers Grove, IL. April 6, 2002

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