Monthly archives: July, 2018

Oldham All-Nighter

July 28, 2018 0 Comment

This past Friday night was my first time running an MAKB tournament, and I feel like it went fairly smooth!

We fished Oldham Pond in Pembroke, and had 14 anglers fish this impromptu night event. We paid out three spots and offered an optional lunker pool in three categories: largemouth, smallmouth, and crappie. Unfortunately, not one of us was able to pluck from the lake any of the rare but present smallies or the monster crappie.


Anglers…or coal miners?

This is how the rest played out: John Ferreira took home lunker largemouth with a 19.25, while Matt Morais narrowly edged out Donald Davis for third place with 77.25! Second also went to John with a solid 79.50, but the biggest bag of the evening—and continuing an epic month—went to Mr. July himself, Ken Wood, with an impressive 87.25.

Thanks to everyone who came out and fished this impromptu event!

—Steve Scott

Last-Minute Surge to the Top

July 22, 2018 0 Comment

Eight down, five to go. Depressing, huh?

Twenty-four of us hit the Charles River in Waltham this morning. The day started a bit chilly, but quickly heated up with the sun glaring down on us and not even a whisper of wind to be found until later in the day. And of course it was too windy at that point.

The first bass hit the scoreboard at 6:06 AM today. Two of them, in fact. They kept coming after that. Unfortunately, with the exception of a few fish, most were small.

The biggest of the day went 20 inches, which I caught just after 8 AM on a Rocky Ledge Tackle Spin Shad with a Dakota blade. Second cast after tying it on. My chatterbait was getting hung up in the weeds, but the Spin Shad slipped through and over it all with ease.

When I turned the standings off at noon, John Ferreira was in the lead, Edmar Junior was second, I was third or fourth, and…I can’t remember who rounded out the top five. By the end of the day, however, four of those five were booted from the top of the leader board.

Two late-afternoon upgrades bumped Valber Santos into the fifth spot with 73.75 inches, while Jesse Phipps put up 74.25 and got his first taste of MAKB cash and a fourth-place finish.

Donald Davis stayed upriver all day and it paid off in the amount of 75.75 inches and third place.

Sean McDonagh had a rough start to the day (car trouble) and got on the water late. But that didn’t stop him from wacky-rigging his way into second place with 78.50 inches. I believe this is also his first time ever in the money.

I caught my first fish at 6:03 AM, on a chatterbait slow-rolled over a small laydown. The fish went 14.75, and I thought it was a great start. Never got another bite on the chatterbait, but I did manage to catch an 8.25, then a 10.00, followed by an 11.00 shortly after. Not, in fact, a great start, but the 20-incher to come later boosted my morale. Sadly, I didn’t catch another fish for FIVE hours!

At noon I was about five inches out of first. With three small fish on the board, I had Gerard help me remove my Power Pole (after he landed a nice 17-incher) so I could paddle under the road and into Purgatory Cove. I fished there once before and caught some dinks, so I was hoping I could catch a few more and cull up. With an 8.25, I thought, a 16 would give me the lead (if nothing else changed, which of course it did).

I managed to catch two 14’s and an 11.25 in there. On the way back to the ramp, I stopped by the tree Gerard caught that 17 off of (and also an 18.75 right after I went into Purgatory Cove). Earlier in the day a nice bass rolled on my chatterbait but missed it, so I tossed a little finesse bait right into that spot next to a laydown…and out came an 18.25. This was 1:55 PM. That bass bumped me up to the top of the leaderboard with 81 inches. Without it, I don’t think I’d have even been in the top five! Pure luck, but I can’t complain.

Congrats to everyone in the top five, and also to those who managed to catch fish on a tough day.

Check out the full results here

Special shoutout to Mike Furness, who drove all the way down from NH to fish with us. Great seeing you again, sir!

Our next tournament is on August 4 at A-1 in Westboro. The event page is already up on TourneyX, with 19 registered so far.

The Taunton River Experminent

July 8, 2018 0 Comment

The Taunton River experiment is in the books!

Few of us had ever fished the Taunton River before, so we didn’t know what to expect. I think that’s why we had a lower-than-normal turnout. But fourteen anglers gave this one a go, with many miles of river available to fish between Taunton and Bridgewater. Finding a launch location proved to be an obstacle for many, even as late as this morning. In the end, everyone got on the water and most caught fish.

It wasn’t the best day of fishing, but it was, thankfully, a much better tournament than I anticipated.

Lots of small fish, though. Only one truly big fish was caught, and that was a 20-inch stud hauled in by Bruce Levy. Tournament lunker!

We ran a separate lunker pool for bowfin, but they proved too elusive for the eleven of us who opted in. Everyone got their money back.

We paid out just three spots today. Bruce Levy was holding in that third paying spot until around 11 AM, when John Ferreira edged him out and down into fourth. But a short while later Bruce put a small upgrade on the board, which ultimately put him a half inch over John’s 69.50 and back into third place for good.

I launched a short ways up the Nemasket River and worked my way down toward the Taunton River. It took me a few hours to make it there, and I spent at least half that time paddling through grass, weeds, an obscene amount of spider webs, and under far too many fallen trees, but I managed to pick up 71.25 inches of bass along the way, good enough for second place.

I was in the lead for a good portion of the day, and I watched the standings as Gerard Elias slowly crept up behind me (he may have been in first for a time early on as well). Gerard hasn’t been tournament fishing for long, so it was an odd feeling to be rooting for him while also hoping he catches nothing but pickerel for the rest of the day. Haha.

Unfortunately for me, when I turned the standings off at noon, he had jumped ahead of me by about three inches. When all was said and done, Gerard added another three inches for an overall total of 76 inches. He had a spot all to himself and it paid off with his first tournament victory! Congrats, sir! Well earned.

I appreciate everyone coming out. I know this wasn’t the best location and the “roadrunner” style wasn’t the most convenient, but I think it turned out well enough.

Full standings can be found here.

And remember, if you’ve fished with us, you get a nice discount when buying from our sponsors, Go Bananas Outdoors, Radfish Lures, and Rocky Ledge Tackle. Check out the Members Only section here on the website (message me for the password). Also be sure to check out MGC Fishing Equipment and Supplies for your local tackle needs.

Our next event is on the Charles River in Waltham on July 21. Sign up page will go up tonight…

19 Epic Minutes!

July 2, 2018 0 Comment

We fished Snipatuit Pond today, and…man, it was HOT! What little wind there was…was also HOT! Haha. Brutal.

Twenty-four of us toughed it out, though. You guys are awesome.

It was tough fishing for a lot of people. I don’t know what everyone was throwing, but awesome job if you caught them. Especially on the main lake. That one can be stingy.

We paid out five spots and lunker, plus pickerel lunker. John Ferreira didn’t catch any bass, but he did catch a 23-inch pickerel worth $140. Congrats, man!

I spent most of the day throwing the Sprinker frog, which pretty much sucks in any weed situation. Lame. So a little after 1 PM I finally smartened up and put on the trusty old Booyah Pad Crasher and immediately hooked up. I caught three upgrades in 19 minutes in one set of pads, one of them being a 20.75-inch, 6.17-pound tank. That was lunker largemouth for the day.

But we also had three 20.25-inchers caught, one of them being Gerard Elias’s new PB! Congrats, sir!

Fifth place went to Mike Elrick, with 64.75.

Bruce Levy and Domenic Eno tied with 75.25 apiece, but Dom had the next biggest fish, so Bruce took home fourth and Dom third.

Lee Kennon had the lead for most of the day, but he ended up in second with 85 even.

And that was because I lucked out and managed to find one of those magical spots that produced three bass in quick succession—at 1:10, 1:22, and 1:29—which bumped me up nearly 10 inches to 91.50.

If I hadn’t made the choice to tie on a different frog, Lee would have won. Crazy.

So…congrats everyone! Thanks for sticking it out and fishing in that awful heat. Next Saturday, at the moment, is looking better.

Check out the full results here.

See you at the next one!