Monthly archives: May, 2019

Post-Spawn Funk

May 25, 2019 0 Comment

Cook Pond is in the books and…well, it was a close one. And when I say close, I mean one big upgrade or two decent upgrades could have bumped someone up to the top from nearly 20 places down. That close.

But those bigger fish were hard to come by.

We had 22 anglers show up for this one. The weather was great (and the water was pretty clear, believe it or not), but the fish were in a bit of a post-spawn funk (though there were still some bass on beds). There was no shortage of 12- to 15-inch bass today, but separating yourself from the pack was difficult.

We paid out five spots, plus smallmouth and largemouth lunker. We also held a 50/50 raffle, which was won by Gerard “Gerald” Elias. Congrats!

The smallmouth were a bit more tight-lipped than the buck largies today, but Peter Arruda threw a solid 16.50 on the board, the biggest of the day, thus good enough for lunker.

Troy Brown plucked from the lake the day’s biggest largemouth, an 18.75 on a Tokyo rig. Well done, bud!

The top half of leaderboard changed all day, with anglers jumping several spots with every small upgrade. John Ferreira hauled out a quintet of 15-inchers and 77 inches—a quarter inch over Donald Davis—taking fifth place.

Troy Brown added to his lunker winnings by nabbing a fourth place finish with 78 inches.

When I turned the standings off at noontime, Valber Santos had jumped up into first place. Two other anglers scored some late-game upgrades, though, knocking Valber down to third. A great finish either way.

It is sometimes difficult judging fish on a phone—small screen, glare, etc—and anglers have the same problem when submitting fish. One of Peter Arruda’s bass was entered as a 17.50, but to me it looked like a 17.75, which would have tied him with the leader (though it wouldn’t have changed the outcome, so I didn’t worry about it there at the ramp).

After I got home, though, I verified the fish on my computer, and it is indeed a 17.75, giving Peter a second place total of 80.25. His knowledge of the lake paid off today!

But Peter wasn’t the only angler fishing today who knew the lake well. Kevin Amaral Jr. is very familiar with this body of water as well, and, like Peter, he put 80.25 inches of bass on the board—but with an 18.25 kicker caught in the last two hours, giving him the tie-breaking victory!

(EDIT: Scratch that. I made a mistake on another one of Peter’s fish. He’s back down to 80 inches. Haha.)

And there you have it! Congrats, everyone. Great job out there today.

Check out the full results here.

The top five also received a pair of sunglasses, a hat, and a bag of soft plastics courtesy of Michael Sales and MGC Fishing Equipment and Supplies. Mike has always been good to us, so please return the favor when you’re in the need for new gear or tackle—especially swimbaits. Thanks again, Mike!

Thanks to Sarah for helping out with the judging today, even though she was out with the kids and family and certainly didn’t have to.

And thanks to Donald and Bruce and Mike and everyone else who helps out before and after the tournaments. It is greatly appreciated.

Anyway, it was good seeing everyone again. Always is. Great to finally meet you, Paulo!

Our next event is this coming Saturday (not sure how I managed to schedule two in a row) at Wequaquet Lake in Barnstable. A bit of a haul, but an excellent lake! HUGE pike in there as well. Please read the tournament description as we cannot park at the ramp.

We will have a back-up location in mind, though, because Wequaquet can get nasty if it’s windy. Either way, registration will go live tomorrow night at 7 PM.

Thanks again, fellas!

Etiquette on the Water

May 23, 2019 0 Comment

As we grow as a community and tournament organization, I think it’s time we discuss something that’s come up many times over the years.

But first, I want to make it clear that although there have been some minor complaints and I have spoken to some individuals about this in the past, this post is NOT about any one person, or even a few people. This is a general discussion intended for any and all kayak anglers.

This is about etiquette on the water.

We have maxed out every tournament thus far this year. I don’t know if that will continue throughout the season, but it’s very possible. Since we fish such small bodies of water, it’s only inevitable that anglers are going to come into close proximity with each other during tournaments. Though we can’t restrict anglers from fishing where they want to fish (as long as it’s in bounds), there are some unwritten rules when it comes to fishing near other anglers…

The most important “rule” is a simple one: give people space, respect their area.

No, an angler cannot reasonably expect have an entire cove or shoreline to himself. In most instances, anyway. If you’re fishing a tiny cove, like the one by the ramp at Lake Maspenock, to the left of the beach, you shouldn’t have to worry about an angler rolling up beside you and casting.

But again, it’s not something we can enforce, so that’s where common sense and respect come into play.

Another common sense “rule” is, don’t cast into a spot from which an angler just caught a fish. This has happened before, one time resulting in a catch by the other angler, a young kid, who had previously been spoken to about encroaching on this person’s spot. Some words were exchanged, and the kid never fished with us again.

That’s unfortunate, of course. We don’t want to see that happen. Ever. But sometimes it’s unavoidable. I think most of us would have reacted in the same manner given the circumstances.

In general, however, this sort of thing is entirely avoidable through mutual respect. Just give people space. If someone is fishing docks along a shoreline, go around them…and keep going, don’t start fishing the next dock. No one likes a leap-frogger. Again, anglers can’t have all the docks, but paddle-pedal-motor 50 or 75 yards down the shoreline before tossing a line.

If you’re unsure where an angler is fishing, ask them. An angler can’t reasonably expect to lay claim to the shore and offshore, you know. So if they’re fishing offshore, go on and fish the shoreline as you pass. Just don’t cast out where they’re fishing, unless of course you’ve gone 50 or 75 yards past them. It’s game on at that point.

I mentioned common sense above, which a lot of this stuff is, but even common sense requires some sort of knowledge or experience as a foundation, so if you’re unsure (especially those new to tournament fishing), just ask someone. “Which way should I go around you, left or right?” “Mind if I fish this shoreline as I pass?” Don’t worry about it. I have no doubt that those who fish our tournaments will respond kindly. If you don’t ask, however…no guarantees. Words may fly.

We don’t want that, of course, so just be mindful of each other on the water, give each other a respectful berth when passing or fishing the same general area.

This is our fourth year and we’ve had very few instances where these unwritten rules have been broken. We’d like to keep it that way.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

P.S.
Stay the hell out of my spots!

Thirty-Two Anglers, Two Lakes, and…Two Limits

May 4, 2019 0 Comment

The second MAKB tournament of the year is over, and speaking on behalf of nearly everyone who fished today—praaaaaaaaaise Jeebus! Holy crap, what an awful day. Haha. Rainy, windy, cold. It’s spring, right?

We did another split-location event today, to accommodate everyone who wanted to fish, with 10 anglers choosing to fish Ashumet Pond, while the remaining 22 chose Johns Pond.


Ramp etiquette? What’s that?

One could argue choosing Johns was a better choice, and that was probably true today, but only for a few. Just three fish were caught at Ashumet, compared to 33 at Johns. But with twelve more anglers there, and 19 of those 33 bass belonging to the top 5, it’s safe to say it was a pretty brutal day at Johns as well.

Thirteen anglers caught one or two fish, while 15 blanked. But with as much talent we have in this group, someone always puts it together.

With just two fish—one being a hefty 19.50 and his new PB smallie—Kevin Amaral found himself in the winner’s circle for the second tournament in a row, this time nabbing fifth place. Not bad for two fish!

Sticking it out in a small back pond with giant, tight-lipped bass swimming all around him, Gerard Elias racked up 42.75 with three fish, which was enough for a fourth-place finish.

Bruce Levy got on them early and plucked four solid smallies off of beds by 10 AM, taking a commanding lead, which he was still holding when we turned the standings off at 1 PM.

As is often the case, though, in those last two hours some anglers made big moves, and ultimately Bruce fell to third place with 62.50.

Though that fifth bass eluded Bruce, he would have needed a big one for it to make a difference, because Kevin Amaral Jr. came on strong at the end. By shifting out to deeper water, he was able to pull out three bass for a limit, including an absolute TANK of a smallie, which went 20.75 and scored him a nice chunk of change for smallie lunker. Not to mention second place by nearly 20 inches.

Speaking of lunker and a nice chunk of change, Michael Curreri’s lone 19-inch largemouth scored him a thick wad of cash.

Domenicio Enos got everyone’s attention around mid-morning, when he slapped two big smallies on the board—a 20.25 and a 19.25. He added another 19 a few hours later, then rounded out his limit with two smaller largemouth. His five went 85.75, good enough for the victory!

Great job, fellas! Congrats!

Check out the full standings here.

With 32 anglers, we were able to award three KBF National Championship slots. Kevin previously qualified at our last event, so Domenicio and Bruce qualified this time. Awesome!

(The NC is on Guntersville next year. FYI. =) )

Thanks to everyone who came out, especially the new guys, under such less-than-pleasurable conditions. And of course Mike Oharra and Bruno Casagrande, who fished our last tournament but I failed to mention. Glad to see you guys again!

Our next event is on Cook Pond in Fall River on May 25. I am going to try to get a small increase to the number of anglers we can have at this one, but as of right now it’s capped at 24. Registration will go live on May 19 at 7 PM.