Every time I’ve fished Lake Maspenock, I go in with high hopes. Then a few hours later I’m on the bottom of my kayak, curled up in the fetal position, crying and questioning my life choices…

Today was no different.

Twenty-three other anglers fished today’s event, and most probably understand what I’m talking about. With the drop in temperature, I’d hoped that it might trigger the fish into feeding instead of shutting them down. I think the latter happened, though.

I had my first fish quickly, at 7:10, a decent 15.75. Then I went exactly two hours without another bite, which resulted in a giant 10.75. At noon I had to go to my car and get a new battery for my fishfinder, and Troy was there packing up. It was an inspirational moment and I almost followed suit, but I decided to stick it out until at least 1 PM.

Just before 1 PM, I got my third bass on a spinnerbait. First cast up in the northern section, and I thought that was going to be the deal. Noooooope! Not another bite on the spinnerbait. But I did manage to yank a smallmouth out from under a dock, knocking it senseless as it smashed into the side of my kayak. I felt bad, but…8.50, baby!

Once again I contemplated leaving, but it was close to the end, so I made my way over to the beach, tossed out the ned, and caught my fifth keeper at 2:32. A limit! A rare feat for me at Maspenock.

Then at 2:48, I caught an upgrade, and another at 2:55! Never felt so good to do so bad. Haha.

As usual, though, anglers begin to buckle down and focus in the last few hours, and there were some surprises…

If you had taken bets on where pickerel lunker would come from, we’d all have bet on the northern, weedy section. Surprisingly, I caught a 21.25 down south, on a spinnerbait in ten feet of water, no weeds in sight. I caught no pickerel up north in the weeds. Makes sense.

John Ferreira caught the biggest smallie (15.25) today, but he didn’t opt in to the smallmouth lunker pool, so that rolls down to Gerard Elias, who had the next biggest at 13.50.

Luckily for John, lunker largemouth was included in the entry fee, so he nabbed that pot with his 18.25!

I passed Chris LaCourse around 11 AM, and he had one fish on the board. He caught five more after that for a total of 66.50 and fifth place. Great job, bud!

Amazingly, my two last-minute upgrades bumped me up into fourth place with 68.75 inches! Guess I’m glad I didn’t quit early.

Joe D’Addeo has been on fire this year, and that streak continues with a third-place finish today. He had 69.75.

Lee Kennon also turned it on in the last two hours, catching three of his five fish during that time, vaulting him up into second place with 71.50!

Today was John’s day, though. From the start, John had it figured out, fishing offshore in deeper water. I passed Bruce Levy at one point and we were both staring at the the sonar spaghetti on our fishfinder screens, scratching our heads, wondering why they wouldn’t bite. John had it dialed in from the jump, hauling in 80 inches and earning him his first regular-season MAKB win. Hell of a day, man!

Great job, gentlemen!

Click here for the full results.

And thanks to everyone for coming out. Our next event is this coming Saturday at Mashpee-Wakeby. They struggled there today (one fish took third place), so let’s cross our fingers and hope for light wind and feeding bass next weekend!