Category: Tournament Results

Great Herring Smallie Smash

May 26, 2018 0 Comment

Today we hit up Great Herring Pond in Plymouth, MA, for our fourth tournament of the season. Nineteen anglers showed up, and we paid out four spots, plus lunker largemouth and smallmouth.

Water temp was 62 degrees to start, which is ridiculous. Par for the course this year, though. The weather was good otherwise, if a bit breezy.

Herring and post-spawn conditions (though some caught some late spawners on beds) kept the bigger fish tight-lipped. Still, over 100 fish were caught and submitted.

With this being the first lake we’ve fished that has an abundance of smallmouth, all but two of us opted into the smallie lunker pool. Bryan Limeburner ultimately took home the smallie lunker prize with a 16.25.

(I mistook Lee Kennon’s 16.25 for a smallie—or assumed it was, I don’t know—and tried to give the lunker money to him since his next biggest was bigger than Bryan’s. Thanks for being honest, Lee!)

Kevin Amaral Jr. landed the biggest fish of the day, an 18.50 largemouth (one of only four caught), so he took home the lunker largie prize.

Kevin also came in fourth place with 64.50.

With 65.25, Brett Krill took third.

Ken Wood lost a 15-incher off the board early in the morning. After culling up two times late in the day, he wondered if that lost fish would have been the winning fish, but with twenty minutes left in the tournament, Domenic Eno settled the matter by culling up with a 15.25.

Ken ended up with 67.50 and second place, while Dom’s late-day bass gave him 71.75 and the victory.

You can see the full results here.

Great job, Dom, and everyone else! Good times, as always.

Big THANK-YOU to Michael Sales and MGC Fishing Equipment and Supplies for providing T-shirts and hats to the winners!

And thanks to everyone helping out with loading and unloading and shuttling guys back and forth to the ramp. We did not expect the ramp to be so busy at the end of the day, but it all went smoothly enough.

Good seeing some new faces as well. Sean and Willian, hope we see you guys at future events!

Speaking of which, our next event is a split-location tournament. You can fish either Ponkapoag Pond or Canton Reservoir. Your choice! The event page is already up on TourneyX, so register there. We will have the Facebook event page up shortly.

Very Close Finish

May 19, 2018 0 Comment

Winter temperatures greeted us this morning as we geared up for the third MAKB event of the year at Agawam Mill Pond. (Seriously. It was 37 degrees in Taunton! Absurd.) With the promise of rain, we anticipated a pretty uncomfortable day.

Twenty-one anglers were brave enough do battle with Mother Nature.

Fortunately, it warmed up somewhat and the rain held off until around noon, and even then it was little more than a sprinkle. Still, the cold morning temps and rain from the night before did us no favors (nor did the herring or the post-spawn conditions).

With water temps ranging from a ridiculous 53 degrees (likely just surface temps, but still…) to 62 degrees, the bite proved tough for a lot of us. Of those who caught fish, most caught small fish.

As always, though, some guys found quality bass when others could not.

Big fish were hard to come by. Five 17-inchers, one 19.25—caught by Julio Lopes—and 89 smaller fish. Julio obviously had lunker for the day.

He also came in fifth place, with a solid 73.75. Good job, man!

Chris Diranian put up 74.50 and nabbed the fourth-place slot, while Peter Arruda’s 75.75 landed him in third for the second tournament in a row.

For most of the day, one angler sat atop the leader board. That was Kevin Amaral Jr. But while a win seemed all but certain early on, another angler had other plans…

Just before 1 PM, Troy Brown culled out a 10.75 with a 12.75, giving him 76.50 inches and the victory—by a half inch!

Very nice finish, fellas! And congrats on your first MAKB victory, Troy!

Complete standings can be found here.

Thanks for coming out, everyone, especially considering it was supposed to rain most of the day. We appreciate it! Great time, as always.

Our next tournament is this coming Saturday at Great Herring Pond in Plymouth. The event page is live now. Register quickly, as it will most likely max out.

115 Bass, 112 Dinks

April 30, 2018 0 Comment

Dark Brook Reservoir is in the books! Interesting start to this one…

We’d gotten permission to park at the fire department training lot across from the ramp. We’d also gotten a promise from the water department that they would unlock the gate for us Friday night, then dummy lock it so we could open it when launching and leaving.

Well, not only was the gate locked in the morning, but at 7 AM, right as we were about to paddle away, someone from the fire department stopped by to tell us that they were conducting training today (something they insisted they were NOT doing) and that we had to move our vehicles!

All good, though. We moved to the school lot right there and were back on the water by 7:10.

We had 20 anglers today, and paid out five spots plus lunker largemouth and smallmouth.

We have yet to fish a pond with a large population of smallies, so once again a dink won it. That went to Brett Krill with a 10.75-incher. I know Jesse Phipps is kicking himself for not getting in one that pool because he caught an 11-incher. Haha.

Lunker largemouth went to Jake Schur, who hauled in a massive 23-inch, 7.10-pound beast. And it was a new personal best! CONGRATS!

The top five was tight today. Hell, the top 14 or 15 was pretty tight for most of the day. Any one could have propelled himself into the lead with one big fish. Unfortunately, it was a dinkfest for most of us.

Ken Wood caught nearly all his fish on a Rocky Ledge Tackle RL 2.5 square bill (Coach Craw color). At 1 PM, when we turned off the standings, he was in fifth place, and after a few small upgrades after that time, he thought—or hoped—he still had it. At the end of the day, though, he’d been bumped down to sixth and Jay Sebastian, who had 65 inches, had taken his place at fifth.

Deeka Collins had a solid day. He stuck to a pattern and it paid off with 67.75 inches of bass and a fourth-place finish. Good job, bud!

Peter Arruda also had 67.75, but his biggest (15.50) bested Deeka’s (14.75), giving him third and his first money win with MAKB! Congrats, man!

In the last hour, Lee Kennon put three fish on the board, culling two smaller ones, pushing his total to 68 inches even, which was enough to take second. With a lunker win in our first tournament (and currently sitting in second place in our Spring Challenge), his season is off to a nice start.

For a good part of the day, Jake Schur sat at the top of the standings with around 69 inches, well within reach of over a dozen anglers, despite his 23-inch slob anchoring his position. But at a little after 1 PM, he hauled in a 19.75, which sealed the deal with a grand total of 81.50, a 13.5-inch margin of victory.

To put this into perspective: out of 115 fish caught, only one other bass (caught by Lee Kennon) was bigger than 15 inches. Hell of a win, Jake!

Check out the full standings here.

Excellent day out there, fellas, despite the inconveniences in the morning. Great team work, too, helping everyone with getting the yaks over/under the gate!

Our next event is at Agawan Mill Pond in Wareham on May 19. I’ve never fished there, know nothing about it, but I’ve heard it’s a great fishery.

Hope to see you there, and thanks for coming out today!

All About the Weed

April 18, 2018 0 Comment

The first tournament of the year is in the books! We had 26 anglers—our biggest turnout yet!—and paid out five spots and lunker.

We were supposed to fish Santuit Pond but were forced to relocate at the last minute, so we fished Norton Reservoir instead. I think most of us would have preferred to fish Santuit, but at least we didn’t have to cancel the event entirely.

The day was windy, but not too cold, with water temps in the upper 40s to start. This made for a tough bite (last year’s weed kill no doubt played a role as well).

A handful of fish were caught early, but the bite died down after that. One of those early bites was a fat 19.50-incher, caught by Lee Kennon. That would remain the big fish of the day! Congrats, sir!

Lee was fishing a thick bed of weeds in about six feet of water when he caught that lunker. After last year’s weed kill, weed was sparse, but it was the key to victory on this day. Four of the top five anglers happened upon a small area at the back of the pond that had an abundant amount of weed near relatively deep water.

Ken Wood had 68.25, which had him bringing up the rear of the winner’s circle and taking fifth place. Valber Santos took fourth with 69.25, and Craig Page landed in third with 70.25. All separated by a single inch. It was tight at the top.

(The margin between fifth and sixth place was over 42 inches!)

Chris Diranian found his own pattern—throwing a white spinnerbait shallow—catching four fish in the last few hours to launch himself up into second place with 73.75.

And for the second year in a row, the season opener victory went to last year’s Angler of the Year champion, Bruce Levy, who found the weed first and hauled in 79 inches of bass! Thus he once again takes a seat upon the Angler of the Year throne…

For now.

Congrats, man! And everyone else who brought home some loot and caught fish. It was tough out there!

Thanks to everyone for coming out and sticking with us after the childish drama that ensued yesterday. Our fishing community is plagued by too much negativity, and it’s heartening to see that our group can rise above such petty nonsense. We appreciate it very much!

As always, it was great seeing everyone, especially the new guys—Bob, John, Nate, Matt, and Zachary! Hope we see you at some more this year.

Speaking of more, our next event is on April 28 at Dark Brook Reservoir in Auburn. See you there!

One More Time!

November 18, 2017 0 Comment

Though a lot of New Englanders have retired their fishing gear until next Spring, eight of us ventured out to Lake Sabbatia today to compete in one more tournament. It was cold in the morning, but with virtually no wind it wasn’t unbearable. Pretty nice day overall, actually, especially for November 18.

We paid out two spots and lunker, and it was a battle between this year’s Angler of the Year, Bruce Levy, and runner-up, Ken Wood.

Bruce and Ken found the same pattern—ripping a chatterbait through the weeds—in pretty much the same area. Ken, however, made a mistake: he left that area and headed down toward the dam after catching his first two bass. Bruce, on the other hand, went on to fish the area Ken had just left—and he killed it!

Ken caught nothing down by the dam, and then caught two more in the same spot he’d caught his first two bass. He shouldn’t have left.

Never leave fish to find fish, right?

In the end, Ken took second with 56 inches, while Bruce took first with 79.50 and lunker with an 18.75-inch kicker!

Congrats, Bruce!

Click here for the full results.

Thanks for coming, everyone. This will probably be the last one of the year. We’ll have next year’s trail posted soon!

A Season End Grind

October 28, 2017 0 Comment

Seventeen anglers closed out our final regular-season tournament of the year, which took place on a foggy morning at Lake Maspenock. In a few words: it was a grind. Super-tough bite for everyone. Only two limits were caught!

With just 28.75, Donald Davis took fourth place. He also caught one of two smallmouth on the day (Ken Wood caught the other), with his being the bigger of the two, which was good enough to win the lunker smallmouth pool. With a last-minute 18.50-incher, Ari Stonehill propelled himself into third place while also taking the lunker largemouth crown.

This year’s Knockout Series started with 32 anglers and ended with two going head to head at this event: Ken Wood and Shawn Renes. Fitting, then, that both of them would battle it out on this day for both their final Knockout Series match (see a future post to see who won) and this tournament.

Both found fish early, but it was Ken who was heading for victory until Shawn caught a late-inning lunker and bumped Ken down to second place with 72.25 inches. Shawn bested him with a solid 74.50.


Dammit, Jim, I’m a fisherman, not a photographer!

You can check out the complete results here.

Thanks for coming, everyone! As of right now, this is our final tournament of the year. If weather permits, we will hold another. Maybe more. If not, we’ll see you next year!

A Lesson in Irony

October 16, 2017 0 Comment

Well, for the second year in a row, our No Limit tournament turned out to be a lesson in irony. Only one angler caught more than five fish today!

It was a struggle.

Fish under 12 inches were abundant, but finding fish over that was a challenge for all 21 of us. Out of 61 fish submitted, only six were over 14 inches long. Awful.

Four of those six were big ones, though. Michael Andreasen dragged in a 19.50 early. With so many small fish being caught, it was assumed that Michael’s fish would be the lunker for the day—until Ken Wood caught a 20-inch fatty! Certainly that would hold as the day’s lunker, right? Nope. Shawn Renes caught himself a beastly 21.50! And then Peter Arruda was like, “Pffft,” and hauled in a 21.75, which ended up taking the top lunker spot of the day.

Current Angler of the Year leader, Bruce Levy, struggled for most of the day, but he finally landed four in the last two hours, which was enough to secure fifth place with 54.25 inches.

Only four anglers caught more than four fish. One of them was Mark Johnson, who took fourth place with five 12-inch slobs that went 61.25.

Ken Wood didn’t catch his fifth fish until 2:30, and five was all he caught. Luckily for him, one of those fiver was a 20-incher, which was enough to hoist him into third place.

Shawn Renes has fished with us two times so far, and both times he’s come in second place. He had five fish—four dinks and a tank—that went 71.25.

(Shawn and Ken Wood also fished the first half of their Knockout Series finale today. Based on each of their three biggest, Shawn is leading Ken 47.25 to 45.25. They will fish again at our next tournament in two weeks and crown a winner!)

Craig Page hadn’t fished with us yet this year, and hasn’t fished much at all in fact, but that didn’t stop him from getting the “W” with six fish totaling 75.50. That sixth fish made all the difference! Congrats, Craig!

And congrats to everyone else! You had to work hard for this one.


Yeah, I may have Photoshopped my head into the picture

You can see the full results here.

Anyway, great seeing everyone again. Good to meet you, Gerard!

Our next tournament is at Lake Maspenock (aka North Pond) in Hopkinton on October 28. This will be our last regular-season tourney of the year (we’ll do a few more if the weather’s nice enough).

You can register for that one here.

See you in two weeks!

Big Turnout and Big Fish

October 4, 2017 0 Comment

So we had 23 anglers today! Our biggest turnout to date. And on a relatively crappy day, too. Pretty awesome!

It rained off and on throughout the day, heavily for a bit. Ken Wood’s wife warned him of a storm that was clobbering Taunton and then heading our way—torrential downpours, thunder, lightning, and hail! Luckily it passed just west of us. Dodged a bullet there.

Anyway, we expected a tough bite today, and it was for some, but lots of big fish were caught, including four over 20 inches. Jesse Phipps hauled in the day’s biggest bass, a 21.25-inch tank. Congrats!

Ken Wood managed to put together a decent limit by 9 AM. He got two small upgrades after that, but couldn’t find any bigger fish. His 73.25 inches was enough to take fifth place (we paid out five spots today).

Coming in fourth place, with 78 inches, was none other than Bruce Levy. This is the seventh time Bruce has placed in the money this year, not including his two lunker wins.

Jesse Brady landed one of the four biggest fish of the day—a solid 20 even—which helped him reach 80.75 inches and secure third place.

Two people found more than one really good fish today. One of them was Lee Kennon, who pulled in 87.25 inches of bass. That was good enough for second.

Like Mike Elrick did last tournament, today someone made some late-day moves and muscled his way into first place. That was Domenic Eno, who, at 2:24 PM, flipped a 20.50 slob into the yak. That propelled him to the top with 88.25 inches! Congrats, dude!

And to everyone else, as always!

(No pictures today. Sorry!)

Check out the full results on TourneyX.

Thanks again for coming out, guys. Really appreciate it. Great seeing some new faces out there, too!

We have two regular-season events left this year. The next one is on October 14 at Lake Rico in Taunton. This is our annual NO LIMIT event. Every fish over 12 inches counts! Bring your senkos! Haha.

If interested, check out this link for more info.

A Come-from-Behind Victory

September 20, 2017 0 Comment

Well, that was fun!

We had 22 anglers compete at Oldham today. Our biggest turnout yet! Awesome.

The weather was great, if maybe a bit too calm at times. But it was a good day, and a lot of good-size bass were caught!

At 1 PM, when the standings were turned off, Ken Wood was in first place and Steve Scott was in second. Unfortunately in the last two hours, Steve was bumped down to fifth place (we paid out five spots today). He had a respectable 79 inches.

Both Bruce Levy and Mark Johnson ended up with 83.25 inches, good enough for third and fourth place, respectively (because Bruce had the bigger bass).

Ken Wood got on fish early, had his first bass in the net at 7:03 and a decent limit by 9 AM, with his fifth bass being a smallmouth—at Oldham! (Who the hell put smallies in there? A couple minutes later, he lost another, bigger smallie!) Ken was able to upgrade a few times but didn’t catch anything after 12:35 PM. Sadly, his 83.50 inches was booted out of first place and into second place in the last two hours—by someone who had just two fish at 1 PM!

That someone was Mike Elrick!

Not only did Mike add 51 inches to the board between 1:40 and 2:22 PM to secure the win by over five inches, he had the day’s biggest bass: a fat ol’ 20.50-incher!

Talk about a come-from-behind victory! Awesome job, Mike!

And congrats to everyone else in the top five.

You can see the full results on TourneyX.

Anyway, it was great seeing some new faces out there—Ari , Ben, Jay, and Tom! Great seeing everyone else again, as well.

And thanks for the help, Bruce and Donald, and Peter!

Our next tournament is on September 30, at East/West Monponsett. We’ll be launch from the west side, but you can go under the road and fish east as well. Hope to see you there!

Over 32,000 Inches of Bass!

September 7, 2017 0 Comment

Okay, folks, here it is, the official results for the first ever Northeast No Limit Showdown!

Once again, sorry for the delay in getting everything judged. The amount of fish submitted exceeded our expectations by quite a bit. We had been judging every submission each day, but once we got behind there was just no way to catch up.

Because a TON of fish were caught!

We had 40 anglers sign up, and 38 of them submitted fish—2,288 fish, to be exact, for a ridiculous grand total of 32,592.50 inches! Crazy.

Anyway, without further ado, here are the top four and lunkers:

1st Place: Chris Marty (4,212.75)
2nd Place: Ken Wood (3,400.75)
3rd Place: Edmar Junior (3,123.00)
4th Place: Tom Kringle (2,741.75)

Lunker Largemouth: Edmar Junior (21.75)
Lunker Smallmouth: Chris Marty (20.00)

Huge congrats to everyone! That was a hell of a tournament! You can check out the final results here on TourneyX.

Next year we’re not sure if we’ll do a month-long tournament. Some were able to remain competitive by fishing very productive bodies of water, but it’s clear that those who can fish more have a big advantage over those who cannot and those who do not have access to lakes/ponds with an abundance of fish.

Not to take anything away from those who fished their butts off this month, of course; we simply think a 2-day or 3-day no limit tournament would prove to be much more competitive and rewarding for all involved.

So, at a minimum, we will do a few short ones next year, and maybe one month-long (but don’t count on it). We will be upping the minimum length to 15 inches as well.

Anyway, thanks to all for signing up! We appreciate it. And thanks to Dwayne Walley and TourneyX for making this kind of tournament possible!

To those who placed, we will send payments in a few hours to the PayPal address through which you paid your entry fee. If you would like it sent elsewhere, please contact Ken.