BLOOMINGTON, Ind.—The fishing was extremely tough during the Old Milwaukee B.A.S.S. Nation Northern Divisional at Monroe Lake so Kurt Denning took the slow route to victory.

“There was only one bait for me and I was fishing it brutally slow,” said Denning, a 38-year-old high school teacher from St. Meinrad, Ind. “I fished a Yamamoto Senko (green pumpkin or green pumpkin/watermelon) between 4 and 16 feet of water and let it fall straight to the bottom. If they didn’t hit it I would pick it up and throw it again. I did a little shaking with it on the bottom but not moving it a good distance.”

The fishing was so tough at Monroe that no one in the entire field caught a limit during the three competition days. Denning won the event with only seven keepers weighing 17 pounds, 12 ounces.