Tag: Stump Pond

Boobs on Top!

Unless we get a day of unseasonably warm weather, yesterday will likely have been the last MAKB event of the season.

Each year, after the regular season is over, we run at least one fun event, try a different format and such. Yesterday, we went with two: a mystery lake, randomly chosen Friday evening, and a team format.

We chose the lake from a list of fifteen, with some smaller locations being combined for a split lake event. Two of the smaller lakes on the list were A-1 and Chauncy Lake, which were chosen. We’ve fished with a full field at A-1 before, but once the weeds come up, the fishable portion of the lake shrinks quite a bit, so we paired it with Chauncy for this event.

Seven anglers fished at each location, one from each team, and with the temperature being about 28 degrees at the start of the tournament, fishing was tough for most. Thankfully, the “light and variable” wind forecasted was accurate for a change, so after the first hour or two, it wasn’t so bad. Overall, a really nice day out there.

We introduced the Double Down option for this one, which is a winner-takes-all side pot. We’ll be doing that at each live event next season.

We also had our standard optional pickerel lunker pool, which was won by Valber Santos, with a 21.75.

Gerard Elias took down the lunker bass prize, with a healthy 18.75.

As mentioned, this was a team event. Instead of the normal five-fish limit, we went with eight for this one, making it a bit more challenging, which it was. Only two teams filled a limit, but if we’d had the traditional five-fish limit, only three teams would have achieved that.

Second and third place would have swapped, though.

This time, however, third went to team Shake and Bake, consisting of John Ferreira and Nate Chagnon, who put up six bass for 95 inches.

The second-place team, The Green Machine, comprised Shawn Dominik and Scott Rhodes. They had a full limit that went for 111.50.

Promising your kids that they could name your team probably isn’t wise, as Ray Figueroa and I ended up on team Banana Boobs, courtesy of my goofball kids. I feel like they’re telling me I need to hit the gym. But a promise is a promise, and we took that name to the top with 123.75!

I was also fortunate enough to put up the biggest five-fish limit and take home the Double Down prize with 84.75.

Great job, everyone! Had a great time out there.

Check out the full results and the rest of the “very professional” team names here.

If this is our final event of 2021, it’s been a great season. Looking forward to next year, and hopefully we can finally pull off some ice-fishing events before the start of the 2022 season.


Throwin’ Down

Today, thirty anglers threw down at the Three Lake Throwdown!


Honey, I shrunk the photographer.

The Three Lake Throwdown was an idea Donald Davis suggested while we were all up in Maine fishing the KBF Trail event on Lake Messalonskee. We needed to change locations for one of our dates, so he suggested we fish three lakes—Oldham Pond, Robbins/Stump Pond, and West/East Monponsett—on the same day. What lake you fish would be a random draw the morning of the event. We thought it was a great, unique idea.

So yesterday we all met at a central location—the Walmart parking lot in Halifax—paid our entry fee and then picked our location from a hat.

The day almost got off to a very bad start with me sleeping through my alarm clock. Luckily my wife’s alarm went off at 3:15 AM and I was out the door about 5 minutes later. Can’t say I smelled too good, but I got there on time.

For those of us who drew Stump Pond, the day started slightly foggy and chilly…and then the fog grew thicker, the wind kicked up, and it got cooooooooooold! The forecast certainly did not mention 20 mph winds. Luckily it died down around 8 AM or so.

The bite was very tough at Stump and Monponsett today. Those who drew Oldham were the lucky ones, I think.

I hear Jay Sebastian caught a smallie at Oldham, but he didn’t take a photo. (What the heck, Jay?) So everyone in the smallie lunker pool got their money back.

Jay made up for that, though, by hauling in the day’s biggest largemouth—a 21-inch tank! Congrats!

Bob Pierce also had a 21, but Jay had the next biggest for the tiebreaker.

We paid out five spots today, and fifth place went to John Ferreira, who sore-lipped 77.50 inches of largemouth.

Fourth place and the Best Dressed Angler award went to newcomer Gabriel Portes, who coaxed into his canoe 82.50 inches of stubborn Stump Pond bass.

The day started slow for me, but I was able to work a spinnerbait pattern for a short period of time when it was windy, then work a similar pattern with a chatterbait at the end of the day when the wind picked up again. I ended up with 83.25, good enough for third place.

Coming in just a quarter inch a head of me was Jay Sebastian, adding a nice chunk of change to his already big lunker winnings.

First place went to MAKB first-timer and Knockout Series runner-up Nick Booth, who flipped jigs to Oldham docks all day and pulled in a hefty 88 inches, adding a bold 4.50-inch exclamation point to his victory. Great job, man!

And congrats to everyone else. We’ll do this again next year!

Click here for the full results.

Our next tournament is just a week away, Oct 6, at Neponset Reservoir, 7 AM to 3 PM. It’s already full, but I will create an alternates list in case anyone backs out.

Thanks for coming out, guys!


Beast Mode

Another tournament down!

Crazy day, weather-wise. The morning was windy and cloudy with a bit of sun. After a few hours the rain came barreling in and poured on us for another three hours or so, and then the wind calmed down and the sun came out and cooked us for the last two hours.

We had 14 anglers today and paid out three spots.

Despite the weather, a lot of fish were caught. Some big girls, too, and one absolute BEAST! That would be Bruce Levy’s 23-inch slooooooob!

(Adding insult to everyone else’s injury, he also had a 20.25.)

Bruce thought he didn’t have a scale, but it was in his yak all along. Bummer. The fish was over 7 pounds all day, though. No doubt.

And of course it was tournament lunker. Hard to beat a fish that big. Congrats, man!

Taking third place for the third time in a row (and fourth time this year): Donald Davis. He had a respectable 70.50 inches (as did Domenic Eno, in fact; but Don had the bigger fish for the tie-breaker). He pulled this off even after taking an old-man nap during the rainstorm.

The bite was tough for Ken Wood today. He had one 11.25-inch dink until about 9 AM, then added a 15.50. He hopped over to Robbins Pond around 10 AM and was able to cobble together a limit of small fish. His last—and biggest—entered his net at 1:56 PM, four minutes before the tournament’s end. Though he struggles, he hauled in a decent limit of 75 inches, good enough for second place.

And for the third time this year, Bruce Levy came out on top, taking home the trophy and the money! Anchored by two big fish, Bruce laid 84.75 inches down on the board today. Dude is on FIYA! Congrats, man!

As always, we appreciate everyone coming out.

Our next tournament is an evening/night tournament at the Nip on July 22. We will be fishing from 4 PM till midnight. If you plan on fishing with us, make sure you have the appropriate lights on your person or kayak.

Before that, though, we will be hosting the KBF Trail Event on Lake Winnipesaukee. This one goes down on July 8 (click here for details).


Sloppy Firsts

Great turnout today! We had 17 anglers, paid out four spots and lunker.

Tough bite for some of us, but as always, some people found fish.

In his first MAKB tournament, Steve Scott took fourth place, with a solid 73.25 inches. Good meeting you, man!

Third place went to Donald “Dropshot” Davis. He caught seven of his nine fish on the dropshot, for 74 inches even.

Shawn Renes doesn’t get to fish with us often, but when he does he usually does pretty damn good. Today was no exception. Shawn hauled in a second-place-worthy 78.50 inches of bass, with a 17.75-inch kicker that took the lunker prize as well.

For the second time this year, first place went to Bruce Levy. Bruce fished the thick slop, way back in the stuff most fishermen overlook, and as often is the case, it paid off. He sealed the deal with 81.50 inches courtesy of his trusty “black and blue.”

You can see the full results here.

This was our biggest turnout yet! Thanks to everyone coming out. We appreciate it. It was a good time, as always.

Congrats, fellas. Great job out there!


Battle of the 6-Pounders

Hell of a day today.

Eleven of us braved the potentially bad weather and fished Stump Pond and its neighbor, Robbins Pond, for the sixth MAKB tournament of the year.

The day started with some mist and a bit of a spring chill in the air. Luckily it never really rained on us. Always a good thing. And no lightning! Even better.

Some people caught fish early, but the rest of the day was a grind. Despite this, a lot of quality fish were caught. It was a quality over quantity kind of day.

How about two 6-pounders? Paul Reed caught a 6.4-pound slob on a white spinnerbait. Not to be outdone, Craig Page landed a beastly 6.2-pounder, also on a spinnerbait.

Though Paul technically caught the bigger bass, as happens in by-length tournaments, his 21.25-incher lost out to Craig’s 21.50. Lunker by a quarter of an inch—and the big bass of the year so far!

Congrats, Craig and Paul!

Ken Wood caught one bass on a spinnerbait, also white, but the rest came on frogs—one on the Damiki Air Frog, one on a Yamafrog, and the rest on a Culprit Marsh Frog. His five went 82.5 inches, good enough for third place.

Though he lost lunker, Paul slung his trusty spinnerbait out over deeper weeds and hauled in a hefty five that went 85.75 inches. A little second-place redemption.

First place went to newcomer Evan McCarthy. This was his first kayak tournament! If I remember correctly, most if not all of his fish came on a chatterbait. His biggest five went 88.75 inches, the second biggest limit of the year.

Congrats, Evan!

Collectively, we caught a ridiculous 700.25 inches of bass! Outstanding job, fellas!

As always, thanks for coming out. It is very much appreciated!

The next tournament is in two weeks, July 23, at Neponset Reservoir. Hope to see you there!


Brutal Conditions Challenged All But One

And that’s a wrap! The first tournament is in the books, and it was brutal.

The wind blew so hard, there was a point where Ken—in his brand new Jackson Big Rig—couldn’t get ahead of it and thought he was going to be stranded on the other side of the lake. We all got our butts kicked by mother nature today.

And Don.

Don made the decision to break from the group and hop over to Robbins Pond first thing in the morning and it paid off big-time. He caught four over there early, and then caught a last-minute 13.5-incher in Stump Pond to fill out his limit for a total of 64.5 inches!

That was more than enough to take first place, $350, and a sweet trophy.

Second place went to Chris Diranian, with two fish for 29.25 inches. That netted him $100, and he also got $50 for lunker (15.75 inches).

Ken Wood managed to catch a 12.75-inch bass at the end of the day, which was good enough for third place, $50, and his dignity. He would like to personally thank Tom Padovano for leaving early, because his 14-inch dink would have beaten Ken’s dink.

(We’re talking about fish here, by the way.)

Anyway, we had 11 anglers total. Not a bad turnout at all. Good seeing some new faces and meeting new people. We hope you all join us again. The next tournament is May 7 at Billington Sea.

Congrats again, boys!