Category: Tournament Results

The Grind of All Grinds

September 19, 2021 0 Comment

The Western Division wrapped up its first season yesterday with the grind of all grinds at Lake Garfield in the mountain town of Monterey.

We had a dozen anglers, a foggy start, and a tough bass bite. The juvenile Pickerel bite, however, was on fire.

Garfield has both largemouth and smallmouth, but by the midway point of the day, just over a handful of fish had been submitted. Nelson da Costa took an early lead with a 15.75 and a 17.75 (the eventual lunker), while myself, Jerry Howes, and Scott Rhodes stayed within striking distance.

There was a flurry of action after noon, when Nick Ringgard and Michael Williams both caught their second fish to join the leaders, but a third fish submitted by Scott with about fifteen minutes left in the day earned him the win. Huge congrats to him for outlasting the field!

Nelson, as mentioned above, took lunker with his 17.75 and finished in second for the day. Congrats to him!

Michael landed a 20.75 Pickerel to snag the lunker there. Nice job!

Finally, Nelson and I would like to thank everyone that participated in the trail this year. We weren’t quite sure what the turnout would be but were happy to have so many folks consistently make it to the events. Also HUGE thanks to Ken Wood, John Ferreira, Kevin Amaral, Donald Davis, and Bruce Levy for the support and help throughout the year! This was our first year doing this, and their experience made it much easier on us!

The list of championship qualifiers will be out soon, so hope to see you then!

Slow Day, No Limits

September 19, 2021 0 Comment

The Eastern Division closed out its regular season yesterday at Walkers Pond and Upper/Lower Mill Ponds, three connected bodies of water in Brewster.

Unfortunately I wasn’t at this one, so I don’t have all the details. I did, though, check the standings a few times throughout the day, so I knew it was a tough bite. I fished these ponds quite a bit back when my in-laws had a house in Chatham, so I know the numbers put up are not indicative of what those ponds can produce.

Despite the slow day, one that produced no limits, some good fish were caught. Three of the top four bass were smallies, including a monster 20.50 caught by Torrence Davis.

For a while, it looked like Torrence was going to win the smallmouth lunker pool and the overall lunker pool, but with a little over 30 minutes left in the event, Mike Morcone smoked a 20.75 fatty largemouth, which ultimately took the overall pool, leaving Torrence’s big sally at the top of the smallmouth leaderboard.

Mike also smashed a 22.25-inch pickerel to take home the pickerel lunker pool as well.

We paid out four spots for this event, and landing in fourth place was our resident hip-hop star Kelvin Nova. It wasn’t much, but his 40.50 was enough.

Kevin Amaral didn’t have much either, but his 46.50 bested sixteen others for third place. Can’t complain about that, right?

Like Kelvin and Kevin, Bruce Levy only had three fish, but he had two on the bigger end, which gave him 49.25 and second place—and pretty much locked him in for Angler of the Year. But we still have the Championship, so we shall see…

The angler of the day, however, was Mike Morcone, who sat on a grass line all day and waited for the bass to come to him. He only caught four, but three were good ones, including that 20.75-inch slob. His 71.75 was more than enough to take the win. Add in lunker and pickerel lunker, and that’s a pretty good payday. Congrats, man!

And congrats to everyone else! Seems that the bite was tough all across the state, with the Western Division closing out their season on a stingy bite as well.

Maybe we’ll put this one on the schedule again next year since it was an off day. Who knows?

You can check out the final results here.

Our next event is the championship on Webster Lake on October 23. I will post the list of qualified anglers soon!

In the Last Twenty…

September 10, 2021 0 Comment

The latest Thursday Night Throwdown took place last night on Snipatuit Pond. Six anglers showed up, two backed out last-minute, so we’re still paying out eight spots.

With the evening drop in temperature and rain all day, the bite was definitely tougher than expected out there.

For a while, Matthew Conant was the only one with a fish—a dinky 13.75. Nate Chagnon then moved into first with a 14.50, where he stayed for a while. Scott Rhodes then moved into first with two fish, and he later added a third to keep the top position for most of the night.

I wasn’t paying too much attention to the leaderboard, so I missed some other movements, I’m sure, but I know Matt tied Scott at one point, but Scott still had the lead with a bigger fish for the tie-breaker.

Derek Brundle lost a phone overboard, then had an 18.50 he couldn’t take a photo of because his other phone wasn’t working properly in the rain, so he left. Had he gotten a photo of that fish, he’d have won with a solid 52.75.

But in the end, it was Matt who pulled off the win, landing a 15.75 twenty minutes before the buzzer that put him ahead of Scott by two inches.

Great job, fellas! Congrats.

Results can be found here.

This may be the last Throwdown of the season. They’ve been fun, and we’ll undoubtedly do them again next year. But we’ll see. In two weeks, if the weather is looking good for a Thursday-nighter, we’ll set one up.

Kicker for the Win

September 5, 2021 0 Comment

On Saturday, twenty-one anglers hit Lake Rico for the eighth Eastern Division event of the season.

Lake Rico is an interesting spot. It has some monsters, but it’s also stocked with trout and has a lot of small bass, both of which make catching the big ones more difficult. But if you can find one or two above 16 inches, you’re very likely to win.

And that’s exactly how this one played out…

At the end of the event, there was a three-way tie for pickerel lunker. But one angler gave himself a quarter inch too much, while the other shorted himself a quarter inch. After correcting the lengths, Christopher Nardi came out on top with a 16.75.

Steve Hedges’s 17.75 largemouth was the hero of the day, as well as big bass of the event.

Valber Santos was a hair’s length away from a one-inch deduction, which would have put him in seventh place. Luckily the open mouth that almost cost him was open exactly a quarter inch—which is a deduction in KBF, but not one in MAKB per our rules addendum—so he landed in fifth place with 63.50 inches.

Also with 63.50, but winning the tie-breaker with a 14.25 big fish, was Anthony Campbell, who grabbed fourth place.

Chris LaCourse rolled into a spot Nate Chagnon had been fishing most of the day before moving to another area, and he was able to put together something decent. (Much to Nate’s regret, I’m sure.) His 64 inches was enough for third place.

Separating himself from the pack with two over 15 inches was Patrick Brown, giving him 68.25, second place, and his best finish of the season!

As I mentioned, the angler who finds a good kicker or a few fish upwards of 15 inches typically wins at Lake Rico. Steve Hedges nailed that 17.75 at 6:05 AM. Remove it from the equation, and he ends up with 63.25 and fifth place. But coupled with a 14.25 and three 12s, he was hard to beat on this day.

This is Steve’s second win of the season, having also taken down the Route 57 Run tournament over in the Western Division. Great job, man!

And congrats to everyone else!

If you want to see the full results, click here.

We have one regular-season event remaining in each division before the championship. The next Eastern Division event will be on September 18, down in Brewster on Walkers Pond and Upper/Lower Mill Ponds (they’re all connected). A great spot to end the season!

Then it’s on to the championship!

Long Day on Long Pond

August 30, 2021 0 Comment

This past Saturday, for the first time in a long time, we had a full field of 25 anglers! Was good to see. Unfortunately, by the end of the event, most had already gone home.

Anglers were met with strong winds almost right from the start. The eastern shoreline was relatively calm, at least in comparison to the washing machine that was the western side of the lake. With this place being notoriously tough, the wind did not help matters.

Only six anglers caught a limit!

At the ramp after the event, I announced another angler as having won the pickerel lunker pool. He entered an incorrect length, however, and after correcting it, Mike Morcone’s 21-incher moved into the top spot!

Lunker bass for the event went to Steve Hedges, who nailed a 19.50 just after 7 AM. Great job, man!

Torrence Davis kindly donated one of his Bubba Bass Anglers tackle boxes to the first person out of the money, and that angler was Domenic Eno!

Thanks again, Torrence! And if you’ve not checked out the Bubba Bass Anglers YouTube channel, do yourself a favor and do so. Then smooch the like button, kick subscribe, and headbutt the bell, or whatever. Something like that.

Seriously, though, it’s a great channel.

Speaking of Torrence, with 65.75 inches, he landed in fifth place, his first time in the money with MAKB. Congrats, man! Fishing rocks was where he found the most success.

Also with 65.75, Steve Hedges nabbed fourth place, with his tournament lunker being the guaranteed tie-breaker.

I landed five fish all day, and it took me fishing the entire western side of the lake to do so. Those five fish went 71.25, good enough for third.

Troy Brown almost backed out after his car was rear-ended the day before. Luckily he woke up not feeling as bad as he feared, made the event, and threw 72 inches on the board. Anchored by a solid 18.50, the second biggest of the event, this hoisted him up into the winner’s circle and second place. Glad you made it, man!

As I made my way up the shoreline, noting that the farther north I went there were less weeds and more rock and hard/sandy bottom, I lamented not bringing my bag full of Z-Man products. I felt the ned rig would have been perfect for that stuff. I had the rod, the hooks, but not the baits.

Toward the end of the day, coming down the eastern side, I passed Matthew Conant, who said something along the lines of, “Keep going. Nothing to see here.” I saw he had a ned rig in his hand, which confirmed what I was thinking earlier…

As he said, once he tied that on, it was “like night and day.” After struggling most of the day, the ned produced for him almost immediately, and he continued to catch fish and cull up to a solid Long Pond limit of 74.25, plenty enough to give him yet another notch in his belt! Congrats, brother!

Check out the full results here.

Low Numbers, High Limits

August 29, 2021 0 Comment

The Monthly Online Challenge for August is complete!

Lower numbers for this one since I completely forgot to promote it (a lesson I clearly didn’t learn from), but the twelve anglers that did fish it put up some good numbers.

I wasn’t able to get out and fish much my week, but luck was on my side! Four of my five fish came from the Thursday Night Throwdown on Norton Reservoir and accounted for 74 of my 90.75 inches. Not bad for four hours on the water.

But that was still no match for the mighty Matthew Conant, who put up 97.75, with a 21-inch kicker that was the biggest of the month!

Steve Hedges was just outside the money with a solid 90.25, and Bruce Levy and I put up the month’s other 20-inchers.

Great stuff, guys! Congrats, Matt!

Full results here.

First Early, Second Late

August 28, 2021 0 Comment

Saturday, eight of us journeyed to the northwest corner of the state for the sixth Western Division event at Cheshire Reservoir. Big fish were at a premium there, but the race for second place literally came down to the last minute.

Cheshire Reservoir has two fishable basins (north and middle), but we weren’t allowed to portage across the road separating them. If any of us wanted to switch basins during the day, we would have to load our boats and drive from ramp to ramp.

Dan Johnson Jr. was the only of us to start at the middle basin, a decision that served him well. Dan was the only angler to break 80 inches (by a quarter inch) on the back of the event lunker (18.75) and closed the door early. Congrats and nice job Dan!

Second place was occupied throughout the day by myself, Jerry Howes, Eric Graves, and Nelson da Costa. But by 1:30, Nelson looked like he had wrapped the spot up behind a 72.75-inch bag.

Then the magic happened!

At 1:45, Dan was in first, Nelson in second, Jerry in third, Eric in fourth, and I was in fifth. I returned to a wind-sheltered side of an island and caught my second biggest fish of the day, which bumped me up to a tie with Nelson. I followed that one, at 1:56, with another cull that got me to 74 inches even, and in sole possession of second place. Then I turned my phone off and headed back…

As I came around the island, I saw Jerry heading my way, and I threw my arms up and gave him a “Whooo!” Then he did the same, and I thought, Why’s he cheering about me taking second place at the buzzer? Well, it turns out he wasn’t. He was cheering for himself for breaking 77 inches, dropping me to third, and taking second for himself at 1:59.

Jerry also won the “Toothy Bastard” pool—which includes northern pike and pickerel—with an 18-inch Northern. Congrats to him on a couple exciting scores and an insane way to end a nibbler-ific day!

Waiting for us at the launch was Nelson, who had now been bumped down to fourth in the last four minutes, and he had a professional greeting for us. I also had no idea of the moon phase to that point, but was not impressed to learn that it was, in fact, full at the launch.

Great day out there, and thanks to everyone involved! Hope to see you all at Lake Garfield to close out the Western Division regular season in a couple weeks.

For now, check out the full results over on Fishing Chaos.

One Fish Away from Victory

August 27, 2021 0 Comment

Last night, our latest Thursday Night Throwdown event took place on Chauncy Lake in Westborough. A surprisingly low turnout for this one, with only five anglers registering.

Chauncy is a great little spot, so I had expected more people to sign up.

Whatever the case, I watched the standings from Maine, and it was a back-and-forth battle for a while, with the top spot changing hands multiple times.

A small cull from Steve Hedges or Matthew Conant would have given them the win.

Nate Chagnon made a late run for the top, putting up two fish in the last 30 minutes, but he was unable to find a third. A 14-incher would have given him the win.

In the end, Mike Morcone walked away with second place and lunker. Mike put up 37.75 with just two fish, a 19.75 and an 18. An 8-incher would have secured the victory, but Mike also couldn’t find that third fish.

Lee Kennon joined us for the first time in a while and found a good one within the first 10 minutes, then two more just after 7 PM. At 8 PM, he uploaded all three and jumped to the top of the leaderboard, where he stayed for the remainder of the event.

Lee also nabbed pickerel lunker with a 19.5-incher.

Congrats, man! Great job.

Check out the standings here.

The next Thursday Night Throwdown will be on Snipatuit Pond next Thursday, September 9. Registration goes live Friday morning at 10 AM. Should be a good one!

Big Storm, Big Limits

August 13, 2021 0 Comment

We hosted our second Thursday Night Throwdown last night on Norton Reservoir. Sixteen anglers came out for this one, and with that we’ll be paying four spots.

Many of us quickly found out that rumors of a weed kill were true, which left at least me not sure what to do, not having much knowledge of the lake.

Mike Morcone had no knowledge of the lake, so he just beat the bank for 48 inches of bass, which landed him in fourth place.

Christopher Nardi launched and fished on the Route 140 side of the lake. His 49 inches nabbed third place.

From what I saw, Matthew Conant was fishing a bit offshore, likely targeting rocks. He took fourth place with 51 inches, which was anchored by a 19.75 he caught just as the big storm blew through.

I was sitting on 54 inches prior to the storm, which was solid, the best I’ve ever done there, almost beating my five-fish record! I’d gotten on a consistent frog bite in the sporadic pads around the lake, all but one of my fish coming on that or a follow-up soft plastic if they missed it. The one that didn’t was my biggest, a 20-incher that smashed my bait just after the storm passed—and came off. I skipped back in and luckily it hit again, which was shocking because I jacked it the first time (might have been a different fish, of course). That fish sealed the victory and gave me lunker with 57 inches.

Only two pickerel were submitted for pickerel lunker, and the biggest was caught by Derek Brundle.

Congrats, everyone!

These are fun, high energy events. Like I said in the previous write-up, it’s like speed-round fishing with the shortened times. Stressful, but a good time.

Tied Up on the Charles River

August 7, 2021 0 Comment

The Charles River played host to the sixth Eastern Division event of the season today. Twenty-seven anglers fished this one, launching from various locations along the near 70-mile river boundary.

The water is higher than normal, the current swifter, which made the bite much tougher than it usually is this time of year.

The leaderboard changed quite a bit throughout the day, as anglers started putting the pieces together. Every time I checked the standings, things had shifted.

One thing that wasn’t changing was the pickerel lunker standings. Steve Hedges put up a 14-incher early, but that was the only one submitted until he submitted a 17.25 in the last thirty minutes. No other pickerel were submitted!

I know I was surprised not to have caught any, but I guess they were in a collective funk all across the river. Steve wins that lunker pool uncontested!

A number of big bass were caught, though, but Domenic Eno dropped the hammer on a 20.75-inch tank within the first hour, pretty much closing the door on lunker for the day right then and there.

I didn’t pay a lot of attention to the standings toward the end of the day. All I knew was, my bites were coming few and far between. The fish just weren’t where I expected them to be.

Valber Santos pushed into the lead at one point and with his knowledge of the river it was looking like he had it all but wrapped up. His 84.75 had him separated from the pack by close to ten inches.

Justin Lacasse was a last-minute sign-up. He had a near win at the KBF Trail event last year, and he won the Ocean State Kayak Bassin’ event on the river earlier this year. A late-day cull today pushed him up into fifth place with 77 inches, tying Ryan Pierce, who won the tie-breaker with his big fish—a 19-incher—giving him fourth place.

I was out on the Charles for the Summer Brawl last weekend, and I couldn’t buy a bite on the frog. That’s usually my go-to on the Charles in the summer, but yet again today they just wouldn’t touch it. Mike Morcone had the complete opposite experience: that’s all he could catch them on! His 78.25 nabbed a third-place finish.

Around 10:30 AM, I hooked up with my fifth fish, nearly five miles from where I launched. I’d sidled up to a log jam at a bridge and cast up under it before going through. A very aggressive bass smashed my bait, and in the process of reeling it in, it got wrapped up in all my other rods that I had laying down on the deck. Complete nightmare!

Worried my line was going to break, the only thing I could do was power-lift it up into the kayak—five or six rods with it—and try to pendulum swing it in…

And then the fish came off!

Unbelievably, though, in the process of falling, its upper lip fell right onto my flipping bait and the bass hooked itself! Unreal. I wish I had the GoPro with me for that one. Just insane. I started screaming like Iaconelli! Haha.

That fish gave me my limit and pushed me up into second place with 81.50 inches. I still had a 12.50, though, so I knew I was one good bite away from taking the lead.

Then, at 1:31, Valber dropped an 18 on the board, pushing him to 86.50.

Five minutes later, I was on my way back, rushing to hit some key laydowns along the way. I came to one from which I’d watched Chris Titi pull two 19.75s back to back earlier in the morning, flipped in, and smashed a 17.50, giving me a five-inch upgrade, tying Valber’s 86.50.

My big fish was a 19, though, which trumped Valber’s 18.25, giving me the win. Crazy finish, man! Great job out there!

Full results can be found here.

An extra special shout-out to Valber and Cleiton Rocha, who assisted Scott Salvo after he flipped his kayak. A lost phone is much preferable to a lost life. Thanks, guys!

Scott was doing well, too. Who knows, maybe the day would have been his? Next time, buddy!

Thanks for coming out, fellas! Everyone caught fish, so that’s always good.