Ben Felton is a semi-professional bass fisherman out of Marshall, Mich., and competes in FLW tournaments among others, but it’s the one he yearly fishes with his wife, Hedy, that’s most important to him. It’s the Annual Wonderland Marine Open and for the past three years has competed with his wife as his partner, and it’s in honor of his youngest daughter.
“I compete in a lot of events that may be larger and hold more significance within the industry, however, time in the boat with my wife is irreplaceable and my daughter’s birthday makes the whole week somewhat of a big celebration,” Ben said. “I’m very family oriented and competing takes you away from home. This tournament allows the entire family to be a part of my fishing career firsthand.”
This year marks the 11th Wonderland tournament, and the Feltons won the whole shooting match, but let’s step back to the eighth year when Ben competed by himself while is very pregnant wife stayed ashore.
“After fishing all day and preparing to weigh our catch I noticed that I had six missed calls from my wife,” Ben said. “She was due any day, and when I returned her call she simply told me to weigh my fish and get to the hospital as quick as I could. I couldn’t believe how calm she was.”
Ben made it to the Oaklawn Hospital to be by her side for the birth of the couple’s youngest daughter, and they decided to fish the tournament together from then on as a celebration of that momentous occasion. The couple has placed in the top 10 all three years, topping all of the other anglers this year. This year they faced almost 200 of the best anglers in the Midwest. The Wonderland Open is Michigan’s biggest team event in terms of payout, prestige and level of participation, drawing anglers from surrounding states and Canada.
“This year was really unique with so many distractions like the economy, cooler summer temperatures and poor finishes as an individual, and I really didn’t know what to expect,” Ben said.
The couple used 3-inch YUM green pumpkin tubes to catch five Lake St. Clair smallmouth bass that weighed an impressive 21.13-pounds to win the tournament. Ben is one of the lake’s top anglers and does not mind navigating his boat 50-plus miles through the Detroit River to the lake he enjoys fishing most of the year. Ben and Hedy took the lead during the weigh in and never relinquished it, outlasting some big names in tournament fishing.
Ben said he and Hedy found a small area in 13-feet of water that contained small rockpiles, and the smallies were in there feeding on the crawfish and gobies around this structure.
“This year has been unseasonably cool and the fish haven’t been as easy to catch,” Ben said. “Technique was very important in presenting the tubes. We concentrated on five or six small rockpiles, which was tough because of the 20 mph winds. Complicating the matter was that the tube had to stop and sit on the rocks to get a quality bite. My Motorguide trolling motor got a work out but performed perfectly.”
Ben said the couple cast 20 feet past the structure and reeled the tube back to the rockpile and tried to hold it in that position as long as possible. When the tube bumped into the rock or came to rest just past it, the bass would eventually eat it as it sat there. Ben said he used the 3-inch tube instead of his normal 4-inch selection because he’s noticed that the crawfish are smaller this year.