The Taunton River tournament is done, and it has been banished to the black list for all time! If it gets voted in again? Executive veto! Haha.

Surprisingly, a lot of fish were caught. I caught a ton myself, mostly small, but I put together a decent limit when all was said and done. I lost a giant at the end (the winning fish), which still has me confused. The thing hit my chatterbait three times, the last time right next to the kayak. Never got a hook in it. I think it was blind.

I also caught a big fallfish. I think, anyway. Not sure how big they get, but this one was 13.5 inches, which seems big. PB fallfish, though, so…yay or something.

Anyway, I fished one of the tributaries. Lots of grass with small open areas in between and clear channels running along the edges. I caught most of my fish on Jason Gardner’s Dirigo Bait’s ned craw paired with a Ned EWG Jig Head by Lifted Jigs.

My biggest came on a frog, teabagging it over a branch above a small patch of grass and duckweed. Damn thing had a mouse sticking out of it’s gullet, too, but he was still hungry, I guess.

The chatterbait bite turned on at the end of the day. Unfortunately I ran out of water (laydowns in the way) and time. But I did catch a 16.75 on the way back to my launch spot, at 2:15 (also the winning fish).

With 24 guys registered, we’re paying out five spots and lunker…

Lunker: Valber Santos (18.50)

5th Place: Chris Nardi (74.25)
4th Place: Angelo David (74.50)
3rd Place: Ken Wood (75.00)
2nd Place: Valber Santos (76.50)
1st Place: Joseph Daddeo (77.25)

Joe does it again! The ultimate grinder, this guy. A Hail Mary cast up a small creek at the end of the day landed him an 18.25, culling a 9.50, and propelling him to the top!

One big fish for basically the top eleven anglers would have resulted in a win. Kickers make a difference!

Congrats, fellas! Great job.

Full results here.

Thanks to everyone for coming out, especially under potentially poor conditions. But the meaty urologists got it wrong again! Waaaaaay wrong. Holy crap!

Our next event on the Nashua River is coming up next Saturday, July 18. This is a make-up event for one of our canceled tournaments. A bit farther away than our normal events, but we’re still practicing social-distancing and this will yet again allow us to fish while not putting anyone at an unnecessary risk.

So, far away but supposedly a fantastic fishery. You can register now on TourneyX.