Pat Mills and Trevor Burgess

Blustery weather with northeast winds approaching 30 mph and a soaking rain in mid-afternoon turned off the really good fishing for the 16 teams that participated in the Steel City Challenge on March 28, 2009 at Joliet's Bicentennial Park. However, Pat Mills and Trevor Burgess hit a hot streak with only about an hour and a half to go in the tournament and easily outdistanced the field with a total weight of 60 pounds, seven ounces for the day. The winning team used 'Biosource' bait additive to catch some carp under really poor conditions.

Frank Rink and Jim Rink

Amy Franz and Mike Kozak, who were in the tournament lead for most of the day, finished third with 22 pounds even.

Mike Kozak and Amy Franz

The Big Fish Pot was won by Mark Mahoney with an 11-14 eclipsing Frank Rink's 11-8 that had been atop the big fish board for most of the morning.

Mark Mahoney's 11-14	Frank Rink's 11-8

The third place total weight winning team (Amy Franz and Mike Kozak) and the BFP winner (Mark Mahoney) are new to carp fishing and appreciate the help from more experienced catch and release carp anglers with landing the fish and bankside procedures.

The turnout at the event was nearly the best we have had, and we had hoped that more fish could have been caught. MCAA thanks all participants and congratulates the winners.

A few stats from the tournament:

Number of carp caught and weighed: 34
Total weight: 181-13.
Number of teams: 16.
Actual number of participants: 30.
Number of teams who reserved spots but did not show up: 3.
Number of new personal bests for MCAA members: 2.
New MCAA members signed up: 9.
Less than 2 pounds separated the top 6 teams throughout much of the tournament.

Click here for 30+ photos
from the March 28, 2009 MCAA Steel City Challenge

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