We had twenty-five anglers battle it out on Snipatuit Pond yesterday, putting an exclamation point on our fourth season.

It was a different kind of year, but given all the restrictions and hurdles associated with it, I think it turned out pretty good.

As for yesterday, the lake produced fairly well, but the bite seemed a bit off to me. Anticipating that possibility, with it being fall and all, I went for a quick limit. Good idea in theory. I had four on the board by 7:30, with another 9-incher rocketing off the board, and then shore-fishermen showed up, so I switched areas.

I caught three more upgrades after that, but none were that big. I think the water level messed me up a bit. I went looking for deeper water all day, but from what I was hearing at the ramp, a lot of good fish were caught in very shallow water. I’ve never seen the water so low there.

Live and learn, right?

No smallies at this place, so we ran just an optional pickerel lunker pool. This one was close, with Joseph Daddeo and Chris Titi (not pronounced “titty,” FYI) both entering 23.75s, with Joe’s being so close that I had to have all of the MAKB staff involved in making the call. Ultimately it was determined that we could not definitively say it did not touch the line (and then Joe provided a better, clearer photo), so it came down to a tie—which may come as a surprise to Chris since he entered his as a 23.50.

Since we do not have the option of going to the next biggest pickerel, tie-breakers go to the angler who caught the fish first, which was Joe, who caught his at 7:46 AM.

I’m not a fan of that time-submitted rule, so next year optional lunker pools will be split evenly when there’s a tie. For now, though, congrats, Joe!

Tournament lunker went to Gerard Elias, who hauled in a 21-inch tank minutes after lines in. Good stuff, sir.

With just three fish on the board when the standings went offline, two late-day 17s bumped Sean Dwyer up into the winner’s circle, taking fifth place with 74.50.

This is Sean’s first year fishing with us and his first time in the money! Great job, man.

Despite placing second when we last fished Snipatuit, Lee Kennon didn’t even remember. When I told him that Bruce backed out, and he was in, Lee replied, “Cool. Never been. Hope we have a plentiful day.” Well, I’m sure it all came back to him once he got on the water, and though it wasn’t as plentiful as last time, his 74.75 was plenty good for fourth place.

Kickers often equate to money, and the 20.25 that Paulo DeMorais landed just before 10 AM did just that, landing him in third place with 81 inches. Nice!

John Ferreira has been on a tear lately, and yesterday marked his fourth money event in a row, his sixth this season. John tossed a ned rig around rocks all day and put up a solid 82.75 for second place.

Kickers are key, as I mentioned, and Gerard Elias, who is consistently improving as an angler, keeps figuring out a way to catch them. Yesterday’s 21-incher gave him his fourth lunker win of the season, and his 21.75 from earlier in the year is the season lunker!

But lunkers don’t win events by themselves. Gerard also put up four more solid bass for a total of 85.25, more than enough for the win and a very fine stamp on a great season. Awesome job!

Check out the final standings here.

And there you have it. Season #4 is done! I’ll do a longer post about that and next season at some point soon, but I do want to thank everyone for coming out this year. It’s been a weird one, but successful nonetheless.

While this is the last regular-season event, we often do at least one more for fun, weather-permitting. And maybe we’ll finally get around to doing some ice-fishing events. We’ll see!

Thanks again, everyone!