New directions come with the South Shore Bass Open

Sometimes you just need to change direction.

Clint Marler and Phil Duracz of Chesterton, Indiana, did that Sunday and won the inaugural South Shore Bass Open out of Hammond Marina by less than three ounces.

‘‘Today we went the completely opposite direction,’’ Marler said.

They fished well east Sunday in Indiana.

On Saturday, Marler and Duracz fished the Cal-Sag Channel. The tournament was open to Illinois and Indiana waters. Each team could weigh five smallmouth and/or largemouth bass.

They caught limits both days on a wide variety of presentations.

On Sunday, they weighed 14.3 pounds to total 28.30 and earn $7,000. They barely edged Ross Tornabene and Ryan Whitacre, who totaled 28.12.

As he waited to weigh in, Whitacre said, ‘‘I knew we needed 15 pounds today.’’

He was right.

Marler and Duracz are all-around fishermen, becoming partners 13 years ago. They fish catfish most often, but they also learned to fish for whitefish and burbot in southern Lake Michigan.

Duracz held Indiana’s burbot and whitefish records until his burbot mark was passed this year. He still holds the whitefish record (9 pounds, 5.4 ounces).

Marler remembered that record well.

‘‘We were testing out a trolling motor,’’ he said.

They didn’t have a net with them, and Marler landed the record whitefish by grabbing it with his hands.

The inaugural 36-boat field included one father-and-daughter team. Paul ‘‘P.J.’’ Porento and George Osha weighed the heaviest bag of the tournament Sunday with 16.65 to climb into fifth. They had help from Porento’s daughter Mia, 5, while weighing in.

Hopes had been for a larger turnout, but the event was professionally staged with the Horseshoe Casino as a presenter and the South Shore Visitors & Convention Authority doing the work. DJ Mike Green spun music adeptly around quipmaster Pat Renwick, who emceed the weigh-in. The Las Mamacitas Taco Truck was a hit with food and cool bottles of Jarritos.

‘‘Hoping to get more success next year,’’ tournament director Dennis Banik said. ‘‘I think all the anglers who didn’t get in this year were scared.’’

I like that feisty jab. Maybe the SSBO can aspire to be our Sturgeon Bay Open.

Wild things

I and some readers think there are fewer monarchs locally this summer.

Stray cast

Coming off Hall of Fame weekend, Warren Zevon is still not in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. That’s like being skunked when fishing for bluegills.