Cade Laufenberg Posted July 27, 2009 Posted July 27, 2009 I had the opportunity to fish the Detroit River Stren this past weekend and what an amazing experience i had. i caught 18-12 on day one and got myself in third place. day two i drew Keith Pace. I caught over 20 keeper smallmouth but couldn't get a big bite and weighed 11-3. i did not think i had the slightest chance of making the cut, but sure enough i only slipped to 5th place and 5 lbs out of the lead. i thought i needed18-20 to win the sucker, and i swung for the fences. my second fish of the day was a 5 lb St. Clair smallmouth. i proceeded to catch 2 more over 3 lbs but I just couldn't get rid of 2 babies. i thought i fell short but boy was i wrong. i weighed 15-5 and edged out Kenny Woods by 12 oz. for the win. it was unbelievable! i could hardly contain my emotion on stage. i will post pictures and more details next week when i get home but you can read the story at flwoutdoors.com, search 2009 detroit river stren. it sure is sweet to see the career earnings at $30,131!! Quote
Spanky SC Posted July 27, 2009 Posted July 27, 2009 Great for you. You stayed positive and it paid off. Congratulations and people like you give others hope that one day even we might be able to finish in the money one day. Tight Lines Foodeefish Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted July 27, 2009 Super User Posted July 27, 2009 Way to go Cade! Somehow I'm not surprised. I was actually wondering what you were up to the other day. Enjoyed your cold season posts. Would like to see more the rest of the year. Congrats! Quote
endless Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 I had the opportunity to fish the Detroit River Stren this past weekend and what an amazing experience i had. i caught 18-12 on day one and got myself in third place. day two i drew Keith Pace. I caught over 20 keeper smallmouth but couldn't get a big bite and weighed 11-3. i did not think i had the slightest chance of making the cut, but sure enough i only slipped to 5th place and 5 lbs out of the lead. i thought i needed18-20 to win the sucker, and i swung for the fences. my second fish of the day was a 5 lb St. Clair smallmouth. i proceeded to catch 2 more over 3 lbs but I just couldn't get rid of 2 babies. i thought i fell short but boy was i wrong. i weighed 15-5 and edged out Kenny Woods by 12 oz. for the win. it was unbelievable! i could hardly contain my emotion on stage. i will post pictures and more details next week when i get home but you can read the story at flwoutdoors.com, search 2009 detroit river stren. it sure is sweet to see the career earnings at $30,131!! congratulations! Quote
senko_77 Posted July 28, 2009 Posted July 28, 2009 Cade, again, congrats man. I was so pumped when I saw that you had won it. Proud of you dude. See ya on the trail soon! Quote
preach4bass Posted July 29, 2009 Posted July 29, 2009 Congratulations! When are you going to start signing autographs? ;D Quote
Simp Posted July 29, 2009 Posted July 29, 2009 Dude that's freaking awesome! Congrats man and BTW I need a new boat. ;D Quote
Super User Fishing Rhino Posted July 29, 2009 Super User Posted July 29, 2009 Congrats. Hope it's only the start of bigger and better things to come. Quote
Olebiker Posted July 29, 2009 Posted July 29, 2009 Congratulations. So, when do you get the new Ranger you won? I liked the picture of your Mom on the FLW web site. There is nothing quite as satisfying as seeing your kids succeed. Quote
Super User Paul Roberts Posted July 29, 2009 Super User Posted July 29, 2009 So...Where did you find your fish? How did you catch 'em?? Quote
Big-O Posted July 29, 2009 Posted July 29, 2009 WTG Cade, keep on gunnin' and keep on learnin' young man Big O www.ragetail.com Quote
Cade Laufenberg Posted July 30, 2009 Author Posted July 30, 2009 Thanks for the support everyone! I caught all my fish this week using a drop shot. My friend Zac Cassill and I fished on Lake Erie Monday-Wednesday just for fun and we found that the best weight was a 3/8 oz and we were getting bit best with a short dropper.. 9-12". We used mainly wacky rigged senkos on our drop shots on Erie, but all 3 of my boaters for the Stren went to St. Clair. I had a skewed perspective going into the tournament that all the weight was coming out of Lake Erie and man was I wrong. Lake St. Clair is an absolutely incredible fishery! I started with the senko again and didn't get bit in the first 20 minutes so I switched to a 3" berkley Gulp! Leech in black and immediately had success. I caught 2 4-1/2 lb smallmouth and a couple over 3 to propel me to a limit of 18-12. That night we ran to the bait shop where i picked up 2 more packages of the gulp leeches and I stuck to them the whole tournament. I did weigh a few fish that came on a yum dinger but I never caught a St. Clair bass over 3 lbs on the senko. I really only used 1 rod all week, a 6'6" KVD medium spinning rod/reel combo spooled up with 8 lb Seaguar. The only reason I brought 3 rods a day was in case I broke my KVD, in case I wanted to drag a tube (which I didn't), and a baitcaster for fishing Detroit River largemouth on the way back to weigh in. The drop shot was great, especially on day 3 where my boater was on big fish (19 lbs day one) but he was catching them on a DT-16 crankbait. I knew the night before that I would do just fine dragging the D-shot behind him and picking out his leftovers. I caught bigger fish and far more fish behind him, and that crankbait bite really seemed to have died for him as he only had 11 lbs. The whole experience was just incredible, and I'm still having a hard time soaking it in, but I am extremely excited! Here are a few pics, I promise I'll post many more when i return home from vacation and get on my own computer. -Cade Quote
Cade Laufenberg Posted July 30, 2009 Author Posted July 30, 2009 above is a 5+ lb smallmouth that bumped my weight from 10-4 to 15-5, overtaking Kenny Woods by 12 oz. next is me doing a dance, followed by me holding up the boat! Quote
NOVA Angler Posted July 30, 2009 Posted July 30, 2009 Awesome story man! Congrats! Is that your first bass boat? Quote
BrnzeBckStalker Posted July 30, 2009 Posted July 30, 2009 Congrats man! Your earnings per number of tournaments fished put some of those guys to shame. Keep it up. Good Luck! Quote
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