Category: Tournament Results

Brazil Takes the Win (and Thanks, Sarah)

August 24, 2019 0 Comment

Twenty-three of us hit Lake Massapoag early this morning for the second to last regular-season event of the year, and the lake was in a giving mood. Everyone caught at least one fish! Cool.

First, thanks for judging, Sarah.

We paid out five spots, the 50/50 raffle, plus lunker pools for largemouth, smallmouth, and pickerel.

Gerard won the 50/50 raffle. Second time this year!

Ari Stonehill smashed a massive 27-inch, 5-plus-pound pickerel, which was more than enough to win that lunker pool. What a fish!

The biggest smallmouth was put up by Mike Elrick, but he failed to get in on the optional lunker pool. I’m pretty sure I hooked one bigger, but failed to land it. Lame for us, but great for Lee Kennon who walked away with a cool $180 for his 15.50-inch smallie.

(I fished the hell out of this place as a kid and never once caught a smallie. I barely believed they were in there, but I caught about seven of them today. Crazy.)

Gabe Portes caught some big fish pre-fishing, and he followed that up with a giant 20.50 today, which nabbed him the largemouth lunker cash.

Great stuff, fellas!

Let’s take a moment to thank Sarah for judging. Thanks, Sarah! You’re the best.

Here’s your top five…

In his little sit-in, Donald Davis braved the wind and waves, spending most of his day fishing offshore. When I passed him he was throwing a little crankbait, but that was probably a decoy. Haha. Whatever he was throwing, it netted him 81.50 inches of Massapoag bass and fifth place!

With two weddings to attend today, John Ferreira still managed to fish all eight hours, haul in a solid 85.25 inches, and rake in some fourth-place cash. Kick ass!

Before I forget. Thanks for judging, Sarah. You’re awesome!

I have lost fish in two recent events, all of which would have put me in the money. I lost two more today. Bruno Casagrande watched me lose a good-size smallie, and Gerard Elias witnessed my agony as a big largemouth spit the frog in the pads. Luckily I still pulled out a third-place finish with 86 inches. Phew!

Chris Catucci has been dropping the hammer at Ocean State Kayak Bassin’ and Rhode Island Kayak Bassin’ events this season, so it’s no surprise to see him at the top of our standings. Chris grabbed the second-place spot with 86.50!

Pre-fishing and a “magic” dock paid off for Gabe Portes, who killed it today, winning by five inches with 91.50 inches, tying our all-time second-best limit! Excellent job, bud. Brasil! Porra sim!

Or something like that. Haha.

Check out the full standings here.

And thank Sarah for judging.

Great job, everyone, especially those in the money. Always good seeing those who don’t often fish with us—Tyler, George, and Steve in particular.

I’m often distracted at the end of these things. Fairly common thing—SQUIRREL!—but I appreciate everyone coming out and all those who lend a hand to me or others. Thank you!

Speaking of thanking people… Sarah, thanks for doing all the judging. You rock!

With the KBF Regional Trail Championship coming up on Lake Erie, our last regular-season event of the year is nearly a month away. We’ll be fishing Long Pond in Plymouth on September 21. We have two permits for this one, as we’re including Little Long Pond, so let’s hit 30 anglers and make this one a National Championship qualifying event!

By the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Sarah for judging the fish today. Thanks, Sarah!

Crushing the Competition

August 5, 2019 0 Comment

This past Saturday Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ ventured north of Boston to Upper and Lower Mystic Lakes in Medford. Twenty-two anglers made the trip.

We made this one a roadrunner event, which allowed anglers to launch from any public launch area on either lake, but most dropped into Upper Mystic from the main ramp, while four of us gave Lower a go.

The baitfish were going crazy in the morning, right at the ramp and along the dam on both sides, so much so that it looked like it was raining. And the bigger fish were feasting. I expected everyone to start there, but from what I saw, only three—one on Upper and two on Lower—chose to fish those spots.

Like most tournaments, this one came down to making the right decisions, and while many of us did well, two absolutely CRUSHED it!

Smallies are present in Lower Mystic, so Troy and I opted into that lunker pool since we started on that side. We both got our money back. Had Donald Davis got in on that he’d have won himself a big fat $20.

We also had an optional pickerel lunker pool, as we often do, and out of 22 anglers only Gerard Elias caught a pickerel, right before the end of the tournament. Nice!

Lunker largemouth went to both Kevin Amaral Jr. and Bruno Casagrande, both of whom tied with a 20.25. Technically, per KBF rules, it should have all gone to Kevin (because he had the next biggest fish), but at a previous event I mistakenly announced that the tie-breaker goes to the fish uploaded first. That’s an old KBF rule, one I’ve always hated, but for some reason I had a brain fart at that event. The right angler got the lunker money then, but this time Bruno was expecting to win it based on what I’d previously said but Kevin had the next biggest fish. Thankfully they were both gracious enough to split the winnings. Thank you for that! And sorry once again for making that mistake.

And speaking of lunkers, Donald caught himself a giant carp and Paulo DeMorais landed a big ol’ striper! Not what they were looking for, but a fun ride I’m sure.

Mike Elrick stuck it out in the lower pond the entire day, the only one not to switch over to or from Upper Mystic. His 76.50 inches of Mystic bass scored him a fifth-place finish!

Coming in fourth place—and placing in the top five for his fourth time this year—was Lee Kennon with an even 77 inches.

After catching four fish in Lower Mystic, I jumped over to Upper just before noon. I’d planned to shoot up to the north end where it was shallow and weedy, but decided to try the dam first. I had a shaky head setup ready to go, something I haven’t fished since I flipped my yak in 2018 and lost all my shaky head hooks. It was the right decision.

At 11:49 AM I caught my fifth fish, then got a small upgrade at 11:53, and then another at 11:56, all just left of the spillway, all on the shaky head, on back to back to back casts. Those three fish bumped me up to third place with 78.75.

Had I started in Upper Mystic, I would have gone north, to the two small, shallow, weedy “ponds.” My kind of fishing. Part of me regrets not doing so because Bruce Levy did, and we both fish so similar and like the same kind of stuff that we often end up in the same areas. And Bruce killed it!

Just after 10 AM I got a text from Lee that said: “Wtf Bruce?!” I thought: “Huh? I’m not Bruce.” And then thought: “That bastard just caught a tank!” Haha. Nope. He caught three—a 20, an 18.75, and an 18.25—in roughly 30 minutes, and out of nowhere was in the lead with 89 inches.

By what everyone else was catching, it seemed like Bruce had it in the bag, but Kevin Amaral Jr. was fishing up north and slaying giants as well…

At the end of the day, Bruce was able to cull up a half inch to 89.50, but it wasn’t enough to best Kevin who dropped a hefty 90-inches on the board for his second win of the year!

Congrats to both of you! You beat the field by 10+ inches! Hell of a job.

The top five also received MAKB hats kindly donated by Bruno and Krazy Kats Embroidery, all featuring the MAKB logo on the front and their placing and lake name on the back. Very cool gesture, man. Much appreciated!

Great job to everyone else, and thanks for coming out, as always. Chris Kincade joined us for the first time as well. Great meeting you, man, and I hope everything goes smoothly wherever you’re deploying to. We’ll see you next year!

Full results can be found at this link.

Our next event is on August 24 at Lake Massapoag in Sharon. Hope to see you there!

A Sweet Victory Turned Sour

July 13, 2019 0 Comment

Thirty anglers fished our annual Three Lake Throwdown today, nine of which were at Lake Sabbatia, ten at Lake Nippenicket, and eleven at Neponset Reservoir.

The weather was hot, mostly sunny, but at least at Nippenicket it was pretty windy at times, which took the sting off the heat somewhat.

I don’t know all the details on how the other lakes fished, but it seemed like there was a decent bite going on at all three lakes until about 9:45 AM, when it just shut off. It was a struggle after that (and before it for some).

But for three lakes known to be tough, 125 bass were put on the board. And a few pickerel.

(For the love of God, stop submitting pics of pickerel! Sarah texts me every time to make sure it’s not a bass! Haha.)

Speaking of pickerel, Lee Kennon had to leave early due to a work emergency, but not before he landed a state-pin-length pickerel at 25 inches, which was more than big enough to take the pickerel lunker prize.

Big bass of the day went to John Ferreira and his 19.50! Good job, fellas!

Sitting on a weedbed for most of the day paid off for Donald Davis, who hauled up from the depths 73 inches of Sabbatia bass. In the money for the first time since his win at Neponset Reservoir last year. Congrats, bud!

And never placing in the money with MAKB before, Chris LaCourse worked the far back channel and river outlet at the Nip to the tune of 74.25 inches and a fourth place finish. Great job, man!

John Ferreira is having a great year in KBF events and he’s making a habit of finishing in the money at our events, either by landing in the top five, winning one of the lunker pools, or, like today, doing both. John frogged his way into third place with 74.75 inches. Awesome!

My kids like to use my soft plastic baits as toys. At first they were content with my ripped and torn baits discarded after tournaments, but eventually they wanted to “go shopping” in my tackle closet. Instead of continuously giving them baits I liked and used, I started letting them each pick out a cheap pack when at Walmart or Bass Pro. Whatever they wanted, usually the brightest, ugliest baits on the shelf.

Well, as many of you saw from my post yesterday, my daughter made me promise to use her “beautiful worms” (aka ugly, sparkly silver senkos) today. I pinky swore because she said they would “make me win.” Well, after an hour and a half with no bites, I grabbed that rod and tossed that beautiful worm to the edge of some weeds and—KAPOW!—I had 16.50 on the board.

I proceeded to catch at least a dozen more bass on those senkos before the last one broke in half (I only had two). I caught one other fish on a frog, and another on a chatterbait. The rest came on those two senkos—which I’ve since learned were Yum Dingers, “tinfoil” color. I know this because I now own three packs. Haha.

Anyway, I didn’t win it all, but I did win second place with 78.50, all thanks to my daughter. The most joy I’ve ever gotten from throwing a damn senko!

And it was all ruined by a cheater…

Originally this part detailed someone else’s win, but due to some questionable submissions and an extensive investigation later that day, it was determined that the angler in question willfully and shamefully cheated. Ultimately, when all was said and done, this gave me a rightfully earned victory, and a sweet one it should have been. Should have, but wasn’t…

Check out the full adjusted results here.

As always, thanks for coming out. Great to see some new anglers fishing with us—Liriano John, Medicen Rexx, Jim Silva, Derek Ramsey, and Angelo David. Hope you had a good time and come back and fish with us again!

Thanks to Sarah for judging once again! You rock!


Cheater removed courtesy of Photoshop.

We venture to the north shore (or as close as we’ve ever been to it) for our next event at Upper/Lower Mystic Ponds on August 3. Hope to see you there!

First MAKB Victory

June 29, 2019 0 Comment

I’m exhausted. And depressed. Who picked this damn lake?

Anyway, twenty-three of us fished Long Pond in Freetown/Lakeville today. Eleven anglers had limits. Bruce, who is laid up with a back injury, judged today, and said mid-lake seemed to be the most productive area.

Whatever the case, five anglers put enough fish on the board to walk away with some cash. =)

We ran an optional pickerel lunker pool today, and [a cheater] took home close to $200 for his 23-inch snot rocket.

There was a tie for overall lunker between Paulo DeMorais and Kevin Amaral Jr. Per KBF rules, ties are broken by upload time. Can’t say I’m a big fan of this rule (think we’ll change it next year), but this time it went to Paulo, who caught his fish early while Kevin caught his in the last hour.

But hey, Kevin’s 18.75 was a seven-inch upgrade, bumping him up six places to fifth with 73.75. Not bad!

Lee Kennon also surged up the leader board in the final hours, finding a sweet spot in a small cove and putting a number of upgrades on the board. His 75 inches of bass was good enough for fourth place.

Mike Elrick took a page out of John Ferreira’s playbook and pulled off a third-place finish by tossing a ned rig in weeds. I can’t figure out how to make this technique work, but it certainly does. Mike had 75.75 inches. Great job, man!

Also putting 75.75 inches on the board, with a bigger fish being the tie breaker—Bruno Casagrande! Good enough for second place.

Anyone who pays attention to the various local fishing groups knows that Paulo DeMorais is a hell of a fisherman. He’s been in the money twice already this year, and today makes three and his first MAKB victory! Paulo won by four inches, with 79.75. Congrats, sir. Well done!

Full results here.

As always, thanks for coming out. We had a new angler, Chris Nardi, join us today, along with Chris Catucci. Don’t think Nardi has a Facebook account, but if you see this, Chris, it was great meeting you (should have said this at the end, but I was distracted as always). Hope to see you at another one! You too, Catucci.

Thanks to Bruce for judging and giving Sarah a well-deserved break.

Our next event is the Three Lake Throwdown. Random draw “mystery” event, though you’ll get one of three lakes—Norton Reservoir, Lake Sabbatia, or Lake Nippenicket. With plenty of room for all, registration will open TOMORROW night.

Experience Pays Off

June 15, 2019 0 Comment

Thirty-three anglers fished Lake Cochituate today, our second biggest turnout ever, and our biggest turnout for a single-lake event (we had 37 fish our Lake Rico/Neponset Reservoir season opener).

It was a great day to fish, with a little wind that only really kicked up at the end of the day, as we all sat there and watched those renting kayaks struggle against the gusts and waves. Pretty irresponsible of that company to continue renting to people in that kind of wind.

Anyway, the wind didn’t really affect us much, and it was to some of our backs on the way in, so that was nice for a change.

We paid out five spots and also had optional buy-ins for pickerel and trout lunker. Most only opted in for the pickerel pool, which was smart because no trout were caught and the six of us who tried got our money back.

Pickerel lunker went to Jake Schur, who had a 21.75.

Domenicio Enos took an early lead and it seemed like he was going to pull off his third win of the year, but as the day progressed other anglers started putting fish on the board and things changed.

Coming in fifth place and, I believe, placing in the money for the first time ever—Bruno Casagrande! He had 71.25. Great job, man!

Just ahead of him with an even 72 inches, Paulo DeMorais took fourth place, finishing in the money for the second tournament in a row. Awesome.

At noon, when I turned off the standings, Shawn Renes, always a contender, was leading and seemed poised to win it all. Two other anglers had different plans, though, and Shawn finished in third place with a respectable 73.50.

John Ferreira has been making waves in MAKB and KBF this year, currently sitting in third place for KBF’s Regional Angler of the Year title. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that he finished second today (unless you’re John, who was surprised). He had 76.75, less than an inch away from the win.

And taking the win for the first time ever—Steve Scott! Growing up fishing the lake paid off big time today. Not only did Steve win with a solid 77.25 inches, that total was anchored by a hefty 19-incher, which was also lunker for the day! Congrats on your first win, bro!

Full results can be found here.

Thanks for coming out, everyone, especially Steve Napolitano and George Valentine, who were fishing with us for the first time. Hope you both make it out to another one soon.

Once again, thanks to Sarah for judging, and thanks to Donald Davis, Bruce Levy, and Mike Elrick for all the help in the morning.

Our next event will be at Long Pond in Lakeville on June 29. We will be implementing a new early launch format at this one, so be on the lookout for those details soon.

Green Giants!

June 1, 2019 0 Comment

Another one down!

We hit Wequaquet Lake with a full field of 24 anglers today, and while no one knocked it out of the park, we all scored fish. Like our Cook Pond event, one or two decent upgrades for more than half the field would have been an express pass to the top of the leader board.

The weather was partly sunny and the wind wasn’t an issue at all. The water temps were 64 to 66 degrees, which is ridiculous for June 1. Some fish were still on beds! Unreal.

Anyway, we like to mix it up from time to time and offer an optional lunker pool for a non-bass species—pickerel, crappie, etc. Today we did a pike/pickerel pool. If no one caught a pike, it would default to the biggest pickerel. Well, no one caught a pike. But get this…

Eight anglers caught a state-pin-sized pickerel over 25 inches today. That’s right, EIGHT of us caught a monster pickerel big enough for a state pin. Ridiculous!

The biggest of those eight was Allan Seniuk’s 25.75-inch snot rocket. With some slight adjustments, it probably would have touched 26 inches. Congrats, man, and to anyone else who’s submitting their catch for a pin.

With smallmouth present, we had an optional smallie lunker pool. No giants were caught, but Domenicio Enos’s 15.75 got the job done well enough. Cha-ching!

He also hauled in a 19.50-inch largemouth, which, due to an unfortunate deduction given to another angler, also gave him lunker largemouth (it would have been a tie otherwise, and he would have lost the tie-breaker). Cha-ching!

As I mentioned previously, if any angler down to probably sixteenth place (68.50 inches) caught one or two solid upgrades, they’d have risen to the top or very close to it. Just 2.5 inches separated first place with fifth place, the lowest paying spot.

Troy Brown took that fifth spot with 76.25. Way to go, bud!

I spoke with Lee Kennon late in the day after he’d put a solid 17.50 on the board. He expected a top ten finish, but the lower half. He was wrong. That late-day 4.5-inch upgrade bumped him up into the fourth-place spot with 76.50! A nice surprise, I’m sure.

After a second-place finish at Cook Pond last week, Peter Arruda still had some tricks up his sleeve, resulting in 76.75 inches of bass and a third-place finish. Great job!

An inch ahead of Peter, Paulo DeMorais took second place with a solid sack of largemouth, one small upgrade away from the top. Great stuff, man!

And then there was first…

With 79 inches and his second first-place finish of the year—Domenicio Enos! CHA-CHING! Hell of a job out there, sir! Congrats again.

Click here for the full results.

Nearly 200 fish were submitted today, and that doesn’t count all the fish we didn’t measure/submit. Most of us went home empty-handed, but speaking for myself, I had a great time.

Well, except when I donated a spinning rod to the Goddess of the Lake. That part kind of sucked. Really sucked, actually.

Thank you, Sarah, for judging all those fish! And thanks to Donald for the help with payouts and everyone who helped make the unloading and loading go as smoothly as possible. We lucked out in that I don’t think the Cape Cod season is in full swing just yet. Can’t complain about that.

And no one got yelled at! At least, I don’t think anyone did. That’s a rare fine day on that lake. Haha.

Anyway, fellas, thanks for coming out! Our next event is in two weeks, June 15, on Lake Cochituate. We have two permits for this one, two different launches, allowing for 40 anglers total, and I’m working on getting access to another launch. I’ll probably open up registration for this one early, as we’ll have plenty of room.

Post-Spawn Funk

May 25, 2019 0 Comment

Cook Pond is in the books and…well, it was a close one. And when I say close, I mean one big upgrade or two decent upgrades could have bumped someone up to the top from nearly 20 places down. That close.

But those bigger fish were hard to come by.

We had 22 anglers show up for this one. The weather was great (and the water was pretty clear, believe it or not), but the fish were in a bit of a post-spawn funk (though there were still some bass on beds). There was no shortage of 12- to 15-inch bass today, but separating yourself from the pack was difficult.

We paid out five spots, plus smallmouth and largemouth lunker. We also held a 50/50 raffle, which was won by Gerard “Gerald” Elias. Congrats!

The smallmouth were a bit more tight-lipped than the buck largies today, but Peter Arruda threw a solid 16.50 on the board, the biggest of the day, thus good enough for lunker.

Troy Brown plucked from the lake the day’s biggest largemouth, an 18.75 on a Tokyo rig. Well done, bud!

The top half of leaderboard changed all day, with anglers jumping several spots with every small upgrade. John Ferreira hauled out a quintet of 15-inchers and 77 inches—a quarter inch over Donald Davis—taking fifth place.

Troy Brown added to his lunker winnings by nabbing a fourth place finish with 78 inches.

When I turned the standings off at noontime, Valber Santos had jumped up into first place. Two other anglers scored some late-game upgrades, though, knocking Valber down to third. A great finish either way.

It is sometimes difficult judging fish on a phone—small screen, glare, etc—and anglers have the same problem when submitting fish. One of Peter Arruda’s bass was entered as a 17.50, but to me it looked like a 17.75, which would have tied him with the leader (though it wouldn’t have changed the outcome, so I didn’t worry about it there at the ramp).

After I got home, though, I verified the fish on my computer, and it is indeed a 17.75, giving Peter a second place total of 80.25. His knowledge of the lake paid off today!

But Peter wasn’t the only angler fishing today who knew the lake well. Kevin Amaral Jr. is very familiar with this body of water as well, and, like Peter, he put 80.25 inches of bass on the board—but with an 18.25 kicker caught in the last two hours, giving him the tie-breaking victory!

(EDIT: Scratch that. I made a mistake on another one of Peter’s fish. He’s back down to 80 inches. Haha.)

And there you have it! Congrats, everyone. Great job out there today.

Check out the full results here.

The top five also received a pair of sunglasses, a hat, and a bag of soft plastics courtesy of Michael Sales and MGC Fishing Equipment and Supplies. Mike has always been good to us, so please return the favor when you’re in the need for new gear or tackle—especially swimbaits. Thanks again, Mike!

Thanks to Sarah for helping out with the judging today, even though she was out with the kids and family and certainly didn’t have to.

And thanks to Donald and Bruce and Mike and everyone else who helps out before and after the tournaments. It is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, it was good seeing everyone again. Always is. Great to finally meet you, Paulo!

Our next event is this coming Saturday (not sure how I managed to schedule two in a row) at Wequaquet Lake in Barnstable. A bit of a haul, but an excellent lake! HUGE pike in there as well. Please read the tournament description as we cannot park at the ramp.

We will have a back-up location in mind, though, because Wequaquet can get nasty if it’s windy. Either way, registration will go live tomorrow night at 7 PM.

Thanks again, fellas!

Thirty-Two Anglers, Two Lakes, and…Two Limits

May 4, 2019 0 Comment

The second MAKB tournament of the year is over, and speaking on behalf of nearly everyone who fished today—praaaaaaaaaise Jeebus! Holy crap, what an awful day. Haha. Rainy, windy, cold. It’s spring, right?

We did another split-location event today, to accommodate everyone who wanted to fish, with 10 anglers choosing to fish Ashumet Pond, while the remaining 22 chose Johns Pond.


Ramp etiquette? What’s that?

One could argue choosing Johns was a better choice, and that was probably true today, but only for a few. Just three fish were caught at Ashumet, compared to 33 at Johns. But with twelve more anglers there, and 19 of those 33 bass belonging to the top 5, it’s safe to say it was a pretty brutal day at Johns as well.

Thirteen anglers caught one or two fish, while 15 blanked. But with as much talent we have in this group, someone always puts it together.

With just two fish—one being a hefty 19.50 and his new PB smallie—Kevin Amaral found himself in the winner’s circle for the second tournament in a row, this time nabbing fifth place. Not bad for two fish!

Sticking it out in a small back pond with giant, tight-lipped bass swimming all around him, Gerard Elias racked up 42.75 with three fish, which was enough for a fourth-place finish.

Bruce Levy got on them early and plucked four solid smallies off of beds by 10 AM, taking a commanding lead, which he was still holding when we turned the standings off at 1 PM.

As is often the case, though, in those last two hours some anglers made big moves, and ultimately Bruce fell to third place with 62.50.

Though that fifth bass eluded Bruce, he would have needed a big one for it to make a difference, because Kevin Amaral Jr. came on strong at the end. By shifting out to deeper water, he was able to pull out three bass for a limit, including an absolute TANK of a smallie, which went 20.75 and scored him a nice chunk of change for smallie lunker. Not to mention second place by nearly 20 inches.

Speaking of lunker and a nice chunk of change, Michael Curreri’s lone 19-inch largemouth scored him a thick wad of cash.

Domenicio Enos got everyone’s attention around mid-morning, when he slapped two big smallies on the board—a 20.25 and a 19.25. He added another 19 a few hours later, then rounded out his limit with two smaller largemouth. His five went 85.75, good enough for the victory!

Great job, fellas! Congrats!

Check out the full standings here.

With 32 anglers, we were able to award three KBF National Championship slots. Kevin previously qualified at our last event, so Domenicio and Bruce qualified this time. Awesome!

(The NC is on Guntersville next year. FYI. =) )

Thanks to everyone who came out, especially the new guys, under such less-than-pleasurable conditions. And of course Mike Oharra and Bruno Casagrande, who fished our last tournament but I failed to mention. Glad to see you guys again!

Our next event is on Cook Pond in Fall River on May 25. I am going to try to get a small increase to the number of anglers we can have at this one, but as of right now it’s capped at 24. Registration will go live on May 19 at 7 PM.

Hard-Earned and Well-Earned

November 10, 2018 0 Comment

With the weather forecast, it wasn’t surprising that we had a low turnout today at Lake Maspenock. Just seven of us were crazy enough to show up.

The morning started drizzly, but relatively calm. The wind didn’t pick up for a few hours, but when it did, it blew pretty hard. Billington Sea last year was far worse, but it still wasn’t all that fun out there today.

Worse, the bite was off. Nonexistent for most. I caught a pickerel and had a few nibbles from perch or sunfish on a dropshot, and that was it. I usually fish hard right till the end, but not today.

As I contemplated heading in early, around 1 PM, I saw three other anglers at the ramp, one of whom was in second place, just a small fish behind the leader. That should tell you all you need to know about how awful it was.

That second-place angler was John Ferreira. He had three fish for 42.25.

Shortly after I got out, two more anglers showed up, leaving just one out there on the lake: Chris Diranian. He was in the lead with four fish and 55.50 inches, so I texted him to come on in.

John got his fish on the ned rig, while Chris junk fished up in the northern section of the lake—which, ironically, was much calmer than the narrower section south of that. I did not expect that.

Chris also got took home lunker largemouth, a 15-incher; while Gerard, the only other angler to catch a fish, landed lunker smallie for the day, also 15-inches.

Check out the standings here: here.

Congrats, fellas! Hard-earned and well-earned!

Thanks for coming out! This will probably be it for the year. We’re looking to have a get-together (part potluck, part pig roast) mid-March, a kind of pre-season gathering and a KBF National Championship sendoff. We’ll also hand out trophies to the tournament winners from this year and Angler of the Year.

Should be a good time! Spouses and children will be welcome. Hope to see you there!

Big Win on a Tough Day

October 21, 2018 0 Comment

Yesterday concluded our official 2018 season!

Twenty-three anglers braved a very windy day on the notoriously stingy Singletary Lake. And it lived up to its reputation: the fishing was tough.

Only seven limits were caught!

With a talented field of anglers, even on tough days there are usually a few good fish caught. Chris Diranian and Chris LaCourse caught the two biggest bass of the tournament, both of which were largemouth and clocked in at 18.25 inches. The tie-breaker went to Diranian, whose second biggest fish went 16.50 to LaCourse’s 15.25. Tough break, but both deserve a tip of the hat.

We ran an optional smallmouth pool and 20 anglers opted in. Ari Stonehill took home that prize with a solid 15.50 smallie, which bested my 14.50 that had been the biggest for most of the day. So rude! Haha.

One thing I love (and hate) about our tournaments is turning off the standings two hours before the end of the tournament. It’s great being able to see where you stand throughout the day, but at the same time leaving the last few hours a mystery adds a bit more excitement to the day because everything changes in those last two hours.

Prior to 1 PM, I was sitting in third place and just two inches or so separated me from second. Right before I turned off the standings, though, I’d been bumped down to fourth. Ultimately, I landed in fifth with 61.75. Not great, not going to pay for my Toledo Bend trip this week, but I did manage to catch a limit, which was my minimum goal for the day. I caught a limit in all but the Neponset Reservoir tournament this year, which I didn’t fish. I think that’s pretty cool!

John Ferreira was having a good day right from the start, sitting in first, then second for most of the day. But in those last two hours he was booted down two spots to fourth place. He had a very respectable 67.50.

The person who initially bumped me down to fourth was Bruce Levy, courtesy of a 17.75 largie. Well, karma is real, folks, and in the final two hours he was bumped down to third. He had a pathetic 68.75 inches.

I kid! I kid! Good job, man.

Hot off his victory at Neponset Reservoir, out of nowhere Donald Davis sprinted into the top five in the last two hours with a few key bass. Not enough for the win, but 70 inches was enough for second place!

Besting the field by six inches is quite a feat on a good day of fishing, but even more so when the fish aren’t in the mood to chew. Chris Diranian did just that with a hefty 76 inches of Singletary bass, a spinnerbait being the unlikely hero of the day. Congrats, sir! Excellent win!

And everyone else, great job, and thanks for coming out on a less-than-pleasant day. Much appreciated!

Check out the full results here

We had a great season this year! It started off on a sour note, but we rose above the childish nonsense and exemplified what a fishing group, a community, SHOULD be about: respect, honesty, camaraderie, and fun, among other things. So thank you all for that!

A huge thank-you to everyone who chipped in for the gifts! Unnecessary, but Sarah and I appreciated it all very much.

Speaking of Sarah, I have failed to thank her so much this year it’s kind of a running joke at this point. Haha. But Sarah has saved us so much time by judging the majority of the fish we have submitted to TourneyX—over 16,000 inches of bass. Her contribution to this group may happen behind the scenes, but the impact is immeasurable. So THANK YOU, Sarah! Finally.

Anyway, I’ll put up a year-end stats threads, like I did last year, soon. Some pretty impressive numbers overall.

In the meantime, be on the lookout for an upcoming tournament notification. We’d like to run another one or two before it gets too cold, all depending on the weather. So it’ll probably be a last-minute kind of deal, but we should be able to get at least one more in. We’ll do a team format for the first one, random draw for teams. Something different. Hopefully we can do another after that. We’ll see.

Again, thanks for another kick-ass year! Already looking forward to 2019. We have some cool things planned.