Monthly archives: October, 2020

The Lunker King Wins Big!

October 26, 2020 0 Comment

We had twenty-five anglers battle it out on Snipatuit Pond yesterday, putting an exclamation point on our fourth season.

It was a different kind of year, but given all the restrictions and hurdles associated with it, I think it turned out pretty good.

As for yesterday, the lake produced fairly well, but the bite seemed a bit off to me. Anticipating that possibility, with it being fall and all, I went for a quick limit. Good idea in theory. I had four on the board by 7:30, with another 9-incher rocketing off the board, and then shore-fishermen showed up, so I switched areas.

I caught three more upgrades after that, but none were that big. I think the water level messed me up a bit. I went looking for deeper water all day, but from what I was hearing at the ramp, a lot of good fish were caught in very shallow water. I’ve never seen the water so low there.

Live and learn, right?

No smallies at this place, so we ran just an optional pickerel lunker pool. This one was close, with Joseph Daddeo and Chris Titi (not pronounced “titty,” FYI) both entering 23.75s, with Joe’s being so close that I had to have all of the MAKB staff involved in making the call. Ultimately it was determined that we could not definitively say it did not touch the line (and then Joe provided a better, clearer photo), so it came down to a tie—which may come as a surprise to Chris since he entered his as a 23.50.

Since we do not have the option of going to the next biggest pickerel, tie-breakers go to the angler who caught the fish first, which was Joe, who caught his at 7:46 AM.

I’m not a fan of that time-submitted rule, so next year optional lunker pools will be split evenly when there’s a tie. For now, though, congrats, Joe!

Tournament lunker went to Gerard Elias, who hauled in a 21-inch tank minutes after lines in. Good stuff, sir.

With just three fish on the board when the standings went offline, two late-day 17s bumped Sean Dwyer up into the winner’s circle, taking fifth place with 74.50.

This is Sean’s first year fishing with us and his first time in the money! Great job, man.

Despite placing second when we last fished Snipatuit, Lee Kennon didn’t even remember. When I told him that Bruce backed out, and he was in, Lee replied, “Cool. Never been. Hope we have a plentiful day.” Well, I’m sure it all came back to him once he got on the water, and though it wasn’t as plentiful as last time, his 74.75 was plenty good for fourth place.

Kickers often equate to money, and the 20.25 that Paulo DeMorais landed just before 10 AM did just that, landing him in third place with 81 inches. Nice!

John Ferreira has been on a tear lately, and yesterday marked his fourth money event in a row, his sixth this season. John tossed a ned rig around rocks all day and put up a solid 82.75 for second place.

Kickers are key, as I mentioned, and Gerard Elias, who is consistently improving as an angler, keeps figuring out a way to catch them. Yesterday’s 21-incher gave him his fourth lunker win of the season, and his 21.75 from earlier in the year is the season lunker!

But lunkers don’t win events by themselves. Gerard also put up four more solid bass for a total of 85.25, more than enough for the win and a very fine stamp on a great season. Awesome job!

Check out the final standings here.

And there you have it. Season #4 is done! I’ll do a longer post about that and next season at some point soon, but I do want to thank everyone for coming out this year. It’s been a weird one, but successful nonetheless.

While this is the last regular-season event, we often do at least one more for fun, weather-permitting. And maybe we’ll finally get around to doing some ice-fishing events. We’ll see!

Thanks again, everyone!

With Three Minutes to Spare…

October 17, 2020 0 Comment

Nine down, one to go!

This morning, twenty-four brave souls launched into the cold, wind, and rain on Billington Sea. It wasn’t pleasant out there today, especially those first few hours before the rain let up and the clouds broke, but we powered through it.

I started my day in the back “pond,” looking for rock piles and a big rocky flat. It’s been a few years since I fished Billington, so they weren’t quite where I remembered them being. I managed to catch two as I puttered around looking for them. Finally, I saw a swan stand up and flap its wings, which pointed out the flat. I caught my third and fourth fish there, then my fifth came close by on a point.

At this point I had 60 inches and was sitting in third place, with John Ferreira in first, and Mike Morcone in second. At 1 PM, when I turned off the standings, we were still the top three, in that order.

But as usual, by the end of the tournament, things changed…

Mike Morcone couldn’t find any upgrades, so his limit of 13-inchers wasn’t enough to keep him in second place, but it was enough for fifth place and a little scratch.

Making a late-day run, Bruno Casagrande twitched his crankbait (seriously, I thought he was throwing a jerkbait or a blade bait) and enticed a few bass to hoist him up into fourth place! Whatever works, right?

Spending most of the day drop-shotting in what we call “Don’s Spot,” John Ferreira looked poised to win his second event of the year, as his 71.50 was well ahead of the rest of us for a good part of the day…

But I crushed those dreams when I caught two upgrades by trolling a white chatterbait, bumping me up to 72.25 and first place! Hell yeah! Wait…what?

Just as I was quasi-celebrating my victory (“quasi” because I suck at math), I bumped into Ryan Pierce, who had just caught his fifth bass, a 15.75. That fish, caught at 2:57 PM, with three minutes to spare, launched Ryan from seventh place right into the winner’s circle with a resounding 76.50!

Congrats to everyone, but especially Ryan, who notched his first MAKB win! And he did it from an old sit-in! Great job, buddy. Very happy for you!

The lunkers for this event went to Gerard Elias, who nabbed a 19.75 largie fairly early. Honorable mention goes to Sean Dwyer, who had a 19.50 that was just a sliver away from 19.75.

Joseph Daddeo landed the day’s pickerel lunker, with a state-pin-size beast that took up the entire 26-inches on the Ketch board, and then some.

Good stuff, fellas!

No one caught a smallmouth, so I will refund everyone.

Take a gander at the final results over on TourneyX.

I appreciate everyone coming out, especially in that kind of weather. Full field! Awesome.

And a shout out to those who joined us for the first time—Steve Hedges, Mike Morcone, Doug Wiebers, Josh Carvalho, and Blake Navarrette. Sorry for not properly introducing myself; it’s a bit hectic in the morning and we haven’t done any post-event results or anything like that in person this year, so the end of the day isn’t like it usually is, with everyone hanging out, talking smack and whatnot.

Hopefully we can get back to that next season. I definitely miss it.

Anyway, our final event of the regular season is next Saturday at Snipatuit Pond in Rochester. Registration for it will go live tomorrow night at 7 PM on TourneyX. Set your alarms!