Trout Creek’s Conlin wins Montana BASS state title
Trout Creek's Jim Conlin shows off a 6.22-pound largemouth bass he caught June 12 in the Montana BASS Nation tournament held at Noxon Reservoir last weekend. Conlin won the three-day tournament with a total of 45.39 days. (Scott Shindledecker/Valley Press)
Plains fisherman Tim Johnston was second by a hair in last weekend's Montana BASS Nation State tournament at Noxon Reservoir in Sanders County. Johnston's three-day total of 45.20 pounds was a bit behind Jim Conlin's 45.39. (Scott Shindledecker/Valley Press)
Noxon residents Austin Johnson, left, and Ethan Kruger, show off their catches from last Friday's fishing at Noxon Reservoir during the Montana BASS Nation State Championship. Johnson finished first in the non-boater group with 26.29 pounds. Kruger totaled 11.02 pounds. (Scott Shindledecker/Valley Press)
A great start and a strong finish lifted Trout Creek’s Jim Conlin to the Montana BASS Nation State Championship last weekend at Noxon Rapids Reservoir.
Conlin’s three-day total of 45.39 pounds was just a hair better than the 45.20 pounds of fish weighed in by Plains’ Tim Johnston in the boater category.
On the first day of the tournament, Conlin weighed in 20.38 pounds of fish, good for nearly a 2 1/2 pound lead on Missoula’s Jay Evans. Conlin’s total was buoyed by a 6.22-pound bucketmouth that nearly earned him lunker fish honors for the tourney.
Kalispell’s Brett Bennett was third with 15.73 pounds.
After a day of slight breezes and temperatures in the 80s, a cold front from the northwest cooled things off Saturday.
But it didn’t cool off Johnston. He was eighth with 14.56 pounds after Friday’s fishing. Johnston grabbed the lead Saturday with 18.54 pounds of bass to put him at 33.1 pounds.
Conlin, meanwhile, didn’t come anywhere near to equaling his opener as he weighed in 10.31 pounds Saturday. His two-day total of 30.69 pounds left him trailing Johnston by 2.41 pounds.
But Conlin got back into a groove Sunday and eked out the title by boating 14.7 pounds of bass while Johnston’s weigh-in was 12.1 pounds. Pretty good, but just a few ounces from the top.
Conlin and Johnston both qualified for the Western Divisional tournament. It’s not known when or where the tournament will be held with COVID-19 concerns holding up plans.
The top 10 boaters and 10 co-anglers qualified for the divisional.
Johnston caught an 8-pound largemouth earlier this spring on Noxon Rapids. The state record came out of the 8,000-acre fishery in 2009 when Idaho angler Darin Williams caught a 22.5-inch, 8.8-pound monster May 2, 2009.
In the co-angler category, Noxon’s Austin Johnson was an easy winner with 26.29 pounds. Johnson had work to do after catching 8.88 pounds of fish Friday. He was fourth, nearly three pounds off the lead.
But Johnson had another solid day Saturday with 8.08 pounds to give him the lead with a total of 16.93 pounds.
Johnson polished off his win with a final day total of 9.36 pounds. It gave him 26.29 pounds, more than 3 1/2 pounds ahead of the runner-up finish of 22.74 by Missoula’s Hunter Dahnke.
The BASS state tourney had 29 boaters and 14 co-anglers in it.
