Steelheaders Tournament Underway

Day 1 on the Scoreboard Now - Day 2 Fishing Underway!

The 2012 Schu’s Summer Challenge kicked-off on Friday May 11 with a great day for fishing – and concluded with some great catches.

Weather was ideal and the fleet dropped lines beginning at 6:45. The first boats began weighing in with their limits around 11 AM and fishing concluded at 1 PM. Southwest Michigan Steelheaders volunteers did an outstanding job landing the arriving boats at the weigh-in station at Pier 33’s west marina and all 52 Pro & Am boats were accounted for and scored by about 2 PM.

Boats fishing in the Pro Division weigh the best 12 out of the first 15 legal-sized fish boated. Amateurs weigh 5 and each division also awards prizes for Big Fish.

On the Amateur side, Utopia captained by Thomas Peterson is atop the standings with 112.57 Total Points and leads the Amateur Big Fish competition at 15.16 pounds. Utopia is followed by Reelbucks (106.11), Nail Bender Too (105.12), The Viking (103.04) and Trophy (99.63).

See all Amateur standings, updated live during Saturday’s weigh-in: www.pier33.com/am.

Big Fish - 21 Pound Laker

The Pros are tightly bunched, but the early lead established by Phoenix held-up thru out the rest of Friday’s weigh-in. The top 10 boats all posted over 200 points (10 points per fish, 1 point per pound). Phoenix, captained by Arnie Arredondo leads with 227.63 total points, with Team Fish Hawk (220.68), Win-n-Angel (216.28), Sea Flea (214.60) and Maxed (209.23) rounding-out the top 5 Friday finishers. Best Chance Too, Fin Scout, Living the Dream, Originator and Tail Chaser complete the remainder of top 10. Jerry Link & Originator boated the Pro Big Fish, an impressive 21.11 pound Lake Trout.

See all Pro standings, updated live during Saturday’s weigh-in: www.pier33.com/pro.

Captains & crews were treated to complimentary hot dogs, wings & beverages provided by Schu’s Grill & Bar at the weigh-in site.

Saturday’s fishing concludes at 1 PM. Early morning thunderstorms moved thru the area and will likely linger throughout the remainder of the fishing period, so challenging conditions await today’s competitors.

To add to the excitement, Saturday’s Top 5 Pro boats will have their coolers sealed at the weigh-in site and those catches will be weighed separately during the wards ceremony Saturday at Pier 33.

Watch www.pier33.com/pro and www.pier33.com/am for live updates during the weigh-in.