30th Annual Ladies Classic extra special for first time winners Full Throttle

ALPENA, Mich. — No Big Brownie in sight after six days of the Michigan Brown Trout Tournament, even with 28 boats filled with teams of three women for the 30th Annual Jack Daniels Ladies Classic. Team Full Throttle led by Captain Jennifer Jones took home first place for the first time ever. Their 10 fish weighed in at 87.80 pounds.

“That’s pretty exciting,” said Jones. “Not going to lie about it. We had a good crew all the way around. We had fun today.”

It was a huge victory for Full Throttle, but it was an even bigger win for Jones who got to fish in the tournament for the first time in a while since battling terminal cancer.

“I have not fished in a couple years. I’ve been fishing for 15 years,” said Jones. “Pretty proud to be standing here today with my family that I love the most.”

Mom of the group, Jane Jones, could not be happier. Fishing with Jennifer is the best part. “She’s my hero,” said Jane. “She’s got it going on.”

The team was made up of boat Captain Bruce Jones, ladies Captain Jennifer, Jane, Stephanie Higgins and first mate Brady Dixon.

“We had a hook go through a finger. Cut it out with pliers,” said Bruce. “She was a trooper, my girlfriend Stephanie and her son Brady. He was my first mate. Ran the back of the boat like a champ.”

Second place finisher, Get-A-Way led by Tia Szatkowski, brought home the heaviest fish of the tournament, which was a lake trout at 15.6 pounds.

30th Annual Ladies Classic Top 10 Results:
(1) Jennifer Jones, Full Throttle – 87.80 lbs. (10 Fish)
(2) Tia Szatkowski, Get-A-Way – 83.85 lbs. (10 Fish)
(3) Jamie Smigelski -80.75 lbs. (9 Fish)
(4) Dawn Martin – 72.5 lbs. (9 Fish)
(5) Angela Soltysiak – 72.1 lbs. (10 Fish)
(6) Laura Lancewicz, Kilfish – 69.7 lbs. (10 Fish)
(7) Wendy Hauff, Stikezone – 69.55 lbs. (10 Fish)
(8) Misty Dragiewicz – 68.55 lbs. (7 Fish)
(9) Leann Knopf – 67.4 lbs. (9 Fish)
(10) Emily Vivian, Footloose – 66.95 lbs. (7 Fish)

Day Six Leaderboard
Brown Trout:
(1) Mitch Arville – 9.75 lbs.
(2) Don Muszynski – 9.55 lbs.
(3) Tim Wieczorkowski – 8.95 lbs.
(4) Don Harrison – 7.8 lbs.

Walleye:
(1) Kim Wesaw – 7.7 lbs.
(2) Dillon Schellie – 7.55 lbs.
(3) Jeff Vantorre – 7.5 lbs. (Largest of the Day)
(4) Joe Kubiak – 7.1 lbs.

Steelhead:
(1) Jon Kruttlin – 9.6 lbs.
(2) Josh Nowak – 8.35 (Largest of the Day)
(3) Kevin Lundquist – 8.2 lbs.
(4) Jim Vivian – 8.05 lbs.

Salmon:
(1) Jon Kruttlin – 15.65 lbs.
(2) Jason Rensberry – 15.55 lbs.
(3) Henry Fornier – 15.3 lbs.
(4) Brad Skiba – 15.25 lbs.

Atlantic Salmon:
(1) Melissa Kuznicki – 8.4 lbs. (Largest of the Day)
(2) Anthony Moe -4.5 lbs.
(3) Dawn Martin – 4.45 lbs.
(4) David Brege – 4.05 lbs.

Laker:
(1) Shawn Szatkowski – 21.4 lbs.
(2) Kim Misiak – 18.25 lbs.
(3) Kevin Drummond – 16.45 lbs.
(4) Adam Dziesinski – 16 lbs.

Thank you to our leaderboard sponsors: Alpena Agency and Auto-Owners Insurance, Alpena Buick-GMC, Don’s Tractor and Equipment Sales and D’s HONDA Sales and Service.