PARK FALLS, Wisc. (September 13, 2022) – Eugene Kim of Lindenhurst, Illinois caught 16-0 to top a talent-stacked field of 135 competitors in the Co-Angler division at the recent 2022 St. Croix Bassmaster Open at Chesapeake Bay. In addition to valuable Open Series points and a significant cash prize, Kim took home $500 in St. Croix Rewards for winning the event while fishing St. Croix Rods.
“I have fished St. Croix rods exclusively for my entire eight-year tournament career and throughout 25 years of fun fishing before I began fishing competitively,” Kim says. “The Best Rods on Earth have definitely been a key to my success.”
Kim caught 8-2 on Day 1 of the Bassmaster Open at Chesapeake Bay, fishing shallow, tide-flooded grass flats and humps with a Texas-rigged worm. “I was fishing a light, 3/16-ounce weight and a finesse worm in four-to-six-feet of water,” he says. “They wanted that slender profile and slow fall.”
Kim says he favors St. Croix’s Legend Elite Series rods for their extreme sensitivity and full-cork handles. “They’re just my very favorite rods, and the EC71MHXF was the perfect tool for the job on Day 1,” ads Kim, who says he switched to a chatterbait later in the day. “I also had success with a green pumpkin and with Z-Man Jackhammer Chatterbait with a Yamamoto Zako trailer. I love the St. Croix Legend Glass 7’4” medium-heavy (LGC74MHM), especially around grass. It’s just the perfect chatterbait rod.”
Kim started Day 2 in 5th place riding a tide of optimism, which quickly ebbed when his new boater decided to fish an entirely different pattern, opting to target bankside laydowns.
“One thing you learn as a co-angler to adapt, so that’s what I did,” Kim says. “And it worked out okay. I picked up a Legend Tournament Bass rod rigged with a prototype spinnerbait and ended up catching 7-14 – which turned out to be just enough to win the tournament.”
The spinnerbait was one of the most-recent designs from Convergence Tournament Tackle, a company Kim started a few years ago with his good friend, Frank Williams. He fished the chartreuse and white lure with downsized, gold, willow leaf blades with a pearl white Strike King Caffein Shad trailer.