By Steve Weisman

The team of Blaine Fopma from Rock Valley and Brett Sichmeller from Rock Valley won the inaugural Team Extreme Iowa Division opener on West Okoboji’s Emerson Bay with a 10-bluegill limit weight of 5.76 pounds. They took home the first place check of $743. Second place and a check for $333 went to the team of Kyle Doonan from Storm Lake and Bob Doonan from Newell with a 10-fish weight of 5.36 pounds. They also took big fish honors with a .98-pound bluegill.

Taking third place and a check for $215 was the team of Shawn and Lon DeBoer from LeMars with a 10-fish weight of 4.89 pounds, while the team of Travis Frazee from Marshall, MN and Josh Love from Worthington, MN cashed the fourth place check of $172 10-fish weight of 4.73 pounds.

Rod Woten, Iowa Team Extreme tournament director, was pleased with the results of the Okoboji qualifier. “The teams knew going in to the tournament that the bluegill bite would be a tough one. Still nearly half of the 18 teams weighed 10-fish limits with nearly all of the teams bringing fish to the scales. We received a lot of positive comments from the teams about the way the tournament was run.”

According to Woten, most of the fish were caught in front of the Emerson Bay boat ramp. “With the clear water conditions, teams were able to sight fish. Pink and gold were two commonly used colors with lots of teams tipping their jigs with plastics.”

Woten did note that a couple of teams had success out on the bar between Eagle and Pocahontas points.

Next up on the Iowa Team Extreme circuit will be the Big Creek Tournament on Sunday, February 2.

For more information on the Team Extreme circuit, go to the Team Extreme website (www.teamextremeicefishing.com), call Woten at (515) 491-5712 or email him at coldwaterguideservice@email.com.

The team of Blaine Fopma and Brett Sichmeller from Rock Valley took home the championship at the first qualifier on the Iowa division of the Team Extreme ice fishing circuit.