Back to Back, Baby!

July 23, 2016 0 Comment

We fished Neponset Reservoir today for the seventh stop on this year’s trail. We had 12 anglers show up, which was great considering the forecast.

Luckily there were no thunderstorms, though rain probably would have been nice. It was pretty hot out there. Definitely not as hot as expected, though, thanks to a strong breeze.

Plenty of fish were caught today, but it was a dinkfest in general, which is somewhat typical of Neponset. In between all those dinks, however, some guys found the bigger fish.

Chris Diranian found five good ones for a total of 71.5 inches, which put him in the winner’s circle at third place.

Edward Neely reeled in 77 inches of bass, anchored by a 19.5-inch slob. Both good enough for second place and lunker.

Late in the day, Evan McCarthy tied on a Whopper Plopper and launched a Hail Mary cast, hooked up, and then tossed it some more. It paid off. All that whopping and plopping was like a dinner bell to some of the bigger fish buried down in the weeds. He took first place—and back-to-back victories—with 77.5 inches.

Good work, fellas! Congrats!

As always, thanks for coming out, everyone. Good to see some new faces out there as well.

The next tournament is on August 27 at Dudley Pond.

Battle of the 6-Pounders

July 9, 2016 0 Comment

Hell of a day today.

Eleven of us braved the potentially bad weather and fished Stump Pond and its neighbor, Robbins Pond, for the sixth MAKB tournament of the year.

The day started with some mist and a bit of a spring chill in the air. Luckily it never really rained on us. Always a good thing. And no lightning! Even better.

Some people caught fish early, but the rest of the day was a grind. Despite this, a lot of quality fish were caught. It was a quality over quantity kind of day.

How about two 6-pounders? Paul Reed caught a 6.4-pound slob on a white spinnerbait. Not to be outdone, Craig Page landed a beastly 6.2-pounder, also on a spinnerbait.

Though Paul technically caught the bigger bass, as happens in by-length tournaments, his 21.25-incher lost out to Craig’s 21.50. Lunker by a quarter of an inch—and the big bass of the year so far!

Congrats, Craig and Paul!

Ken Wood caught one bass on a spinnerbait, also white, but the rest came on frogs—one on the Damiki Air Frog, one on a Yamafrog, and the rest on a Culprit Marsh Frog. His five went 82.5 inches, good enough for third place.

Though he lost lunker, Paul slung his trusty spinnerbait out over deeper weeds and hauled in a hefty five that went 85.75 inches. A little second-place redemption.

First place went to newcomer Evan McCarthy. This was his first kayak tournament! If I remember correctly, most if not all of his fish came on a chatterbait. His biggest five went 88.75 inches, the second biggest limit of the year.

Congrats, Evan!

Collectively, we caught a ridiculous 700.25 inches of bass! Outstanding job, fellas!

As always, thanks for coming out. It is very much appreciated!

The next tournament is in two weeks, July 23, at Neponset Reservoir. Hope to see you there!

It’s Good to Be King

June 11, 2016 0 Comment

And so tournament #4 is in the books!

The day started foggy and ended rainy. The forecast called for rain at 3 PM. But of course it started at 1 PM—and it was cold! It also stopped the moment we got off the water. Figures.

Edward Neely had a pretty good day, catching all his on topwater. He had five fish for 74 inches, which got him third place. Unfortunately, with just six people showing up we only paid out two spots.

Donald Davis and his brother-in-law, Jim Coleman, found them out “deep” and they both came in with 85.5 inches apiece.

And so the tie-breaker went to the angler with the biggest fish, which happened to be Donald Davis. Again. Don’s big fish went 21 inches, which also nabbed him the lunker pool!

Since we only paid out two spots, that means Jim took second. Congrats, fellas!

Thanks to everyone who came out! Despite the final hour downpour, it was a damn good time.

Next one is Snipatuit. Hope to see you there!

Fishing Was Good—Pleasure Boaters, Not So Much

May 28, 2016 0 Comment

Ye Olde Ham is a wrap! We had eight anglers. Weather was great. Hot, but breezy enough that it wasn’t unbearable. Can’t say the same about the pleasure boaters. Maniacs, all of them! One of our guys was knocked out of his yak thanks to a boat that nearly hit him. Another angler helped a couple who were knocked from their canoe for the same reason. And at the end of the day, by the ramp, we watched as two swimmers were nearly decapitated by a boat.

That said…

Ken Wood started out fishing docks, but caught nothing but a giant crappie. He worked his way down the shoreline toward the back of the pond, picking up a few bass along the way. When all was said and done, his best five went 76.50 inches, which landed him in third place.

First-timer Craig Page hauled in 78.25 inches for second place. Congrats, Craig! Good too see some new blood out there.

Then there was first…

And Donald Davis did it once again! With a hefty “bag” of five bass that went 82.75 inches! He also took lunker with an 18.25-inch chunk.

So there you have it. Another successful tournament! Thanks a ton for coming out, guys. We appreciate it! And congrats!

Ponkapoag is next! June 11.

Wet, Breezy, and Cold, But the Bass Were Biting

May 7, 2016 0 Comment

What a dreary day!

Eight of us made the trek out to Billington Sea to fish the second MAKB tournament of the year. It was foggy/misty, breezy, and cold. Water temps were in the mid-50s for the most part. Not the best of conditions, and definitely not as good as it was looking just a day or two ago. But there were a decent number of fish caught.

We decided against doing a separate lunker pool for smallies, since rarely more than one or two are caught in a tournament, if any. Bummer for Donald “Dropshot” Davis since he caught a fat 16.25-inch smallmouth, probably the biggest I’ve seen come out of that place. He had two more fish, all caught on a dropshot, for a total of 48.75 inches.

That was good for third place. He also took home the lunker prize with a 17.25-inch largemouth. Nice!

At launch, Ken Wood made his way directly across the lake. He was going to try to find my way into Trask Pond, if at all possible, but then realized he’d forgotten the remote for his Power Pole. A little blessing in disguise, because on the way back he tossed a white spinnerbait into a laydown and nailed his first and biggest bass of the day. He managed a few more throughout the day and ended up with a total of 49.25 inches, taking second place.

(Four of us also chipped in five beans apiece for a pickerel lunker pool, and Ken was lucky/unlucky enough to land a 3lb 6oz aquatic snot rocket to increase his bean count by fifteen.)

Edward Neely came all the way from Springfield with borrowed gear, after some lowlife turd stole his rods. This didn’t stop him from hauling in four solid bass for 52 inches and the win!

So a big congrats to Ed! Use that trophy wisely…you know, for, like, bludgeoning to death fishing-pole thieves or something. Haha!

And thanks for traveling so far, man. I appreciate it!

Congrats to Don as well. And a respectful nod to Chris Diranian and Mike Elrick, both of whom had three fish each for 39 inches and 33.75 inches, respectively.

Our next tournament is in three weeks at Oldham Pond in Pembroke. Hope to see a good turnout! Great little pond.

Brutal Conditions Challenged All But One

April 16, 2016 0 Comment

And that’s a wrap! The first tournament is in the books, and it was brutal.

The wind blew so hard, there was a point where Ken—in his brand new Jackson Big Rig—couldn’t get ahead of it and thought he was going to be stranded on the other side of the lake. We all got our butts kicked by mother nature today.

And Don.

Don made the decision to break from the group and hop over to Robbins Pond first thing in the morning and it paid off big-time. He caught four over there early, and then caught a last-minute 13.5-incher in Stump Pond to fill out his limit for a total of 64.5 inches!

That was more than enough to take first place, $350, and a sweet trophy.

Second place went to Chris Diranian, with two fish for 29.25 inches. That netted him $100, and he also got $50 for lunker (15.75 inches).

Ken Wood managed to catch a 12.75-inch bass at the end of the day, which was good enough for third place, $50, and his dignity. He would like to personally thank Tom Padovano for leaving early, because his 14-inch dink would have beaten Ken’s dink.

(We’re talking about fish here, by the way.)

Anyway, we had 11 anglers total. Not a bad turnout at all. Good seeing some new faces and meeting new people. We hope you all join us again. The next tournament is May 7 at Billington Sea.

Congrats again, boys!