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!