Mississippi River
8/20/09 - 8/22/09 -- Mississippi River
Captain Kirk's Marina, Ft. Madison, IA 

Mississippi River Test of the Best! 

Stetich cements third-place status!
For three straight days, Shaffer and Kerr finished in first and second place respectively. Apparently not wanting to be left out in the consistency category, Michael Stetich of Omaha, Neb., managed his third straight third-place finish the standings as well – completing a statistical anomaly that might never again be duplicated in the history of FLW Outdoors.

However, statistics are one thing, making the top-10 in one of the most difficult tournament of the year is quite another.

“It’s been a good year so far,” said Stetich. “I just wanted to come here and catch a couple of fish for points. But it wound up being a lot better than that.”

Stetich, whose primary fishing strategy was to cover as much water as possible, said he targeted bass with a 3/8-ounce Dirty Bait Company swim jig in a black and blue color coupled with a Senko trailer.

“This whole week I had the trolling motor down and covered as much water as possible,” said Stetich, who walked away with over $5,000 in prize money. “It was a tough tournament. But it was a good experience overall.”

Stetich ultimately boated a total catch of 18 pounds, 9 ounces

Stetich ensures top-three spots on leaderboard go unchanged on Day 2

Proving that consistency is key to fishing the Mississippi River, Michael Stetich of Omaha, Neb., used a total catch of 14 pounds, 13 ounces to maintain third place overall in the standings for a second day in a row.

“I’m still trying to cover as much water as I can,” said Stetich. “For the most part, I’ve stuck with my game plan – trying to catch two, three, four keepers every day – so I’m proud of that. And I’ll be using the same strategy tomorrow.”

Stetich said he’s targeting bass in three primary areas using a combination of flipping techniques as well as a Dirty Bait Company jig in a black and blue color.

“Tomorrow I’m going to be fishing those same three areas all day long,” said Stetich. “Hopefully the sun comes out and the winds lay up a little bit. If that happens, I feel good about my chances.”

2009 YTD Standings