Monthly archives: September, 2020

Left Early, Still Won

September 26, 2020 0 Comment

Whoooo! That was a barn-burner. Giant smallies all day, baby!

Wait, that was the dream I had last night. Today was more of a nightmare.

We had twenty-seven anglers attempt to tackle Mashpee-Wakeby today, a lake that is too often a soul-crushing body of water. But when it’s on? Sweet Baby Jesus!

Early launch was at 6:30 AM today, and I’m sure most of us were shaking with anticipation as we watched our fishfinder screens light up. Twenty, thirty, forty, fifty feet, it didn’t matter, fish were stacked everywhere!

Massive bait balls were as well, and as we all quickly found out, the bass weren’t interested in our lures when they were surrounded by that kind of buffet.

But we tried…

I had my first bass at 9 AM, a massive 8.25-incher which I happily uploaded. I didn’t get my next bass until 1:25, and that was pure luck.

I had skipped up under a pontoon, only to have the wind push me into it. And of course that’s right when I hooked a nice smallie, which I proceeded to lose because my rod and yak were in a weird spot and I could barely reel. Annoyed, I shoved myself away from the pontoon and, for some odd reason, angrily skipped my bait back up underneath it. To my surprise, an 18.50-inch largemouth nailed it and I managed to land that one.

From there I went into Pickerel Cove, looking for a pickerel or a trout, shooting for those lunker pools instead. I tossed out the spinnerbait and hooked a small pickerel, but it got off when I opted not to use the net. It was small, so no big deal, right? Wrong.

At 1:42, I caught my third bass. At 1:48, I had my fourth, and my fifth came at 2:03, and then at 2:04, my next cast, I caught another that culled out my 8.25. All small, but at least I had a limit. Whoohooo and whatnot.

For a good part of the day, Chris LaCourse was in the lead, only to be overtaken by John Ferreira. When the standings went off at 1 PM, our resident sandbagger Kevin Amaral Jr. had taken the lead. Here’s how the everything played out in the end…

Lunker pickerel went to Nate Chagnon, who had a 15.50. Kicking myself for not netting the one I hooked. Breaks of the game. But Nate’s cashing a check yet again. Hell yeah, bro!

To my surprise, my 18.50 was good enough for lunker largemouth, while Donald Davis nabbed lunker smallmouth with a tank 19.50!

John Ferreira did not get into the trout pool despite catching one while pre-fishing. He was, as far as I’m aware, the only one who caught a trout today. No money for him, but he did get dinner.

Everyone who opted into the trout pool will be refunded.

Fifth place went to our most-improved angler this season: Nate Chagnon. Boom! Nate did the Chagnon Shuffle™ all the way to 51.25.

Unfortunately, Chris LaCourse couldn’t find a fifth fish today, which would have given him at least second place and possibly the win. Disappointing, no doubt, but his four fish totaling 54.50 were enough to secure fourth place.

Hot off of his Maspenock win, John Ferreira hauled in 58 inches to land in third place. A decent payday to cover the cost of replacing the rod he broke.

Amazingly, my late-day run skyrocketed me from 8.25 to 60 inches even, which was enough to take second place. Crazy.

And despite leaving early, Kevin Amaral Jr’s dinks were a bit less dinky than everyone else’s, which, anchored by a solid 18-incher, gave him 70.50 inches and the win! Has he reversed the AOY Curse?

Great job, everyone! Way to grind it out! There were just six limits caught today, and only 15 anglers caught fish. Brutal.

If you want to check out the full results, you can do so here.

Good to see some new faces out there, even if it was a pretty awful day of fishing.

Our next event is in three weeks, October 17, at Billington Sea. Registration will go live Sunday, October 11, at 7 PM.

A Commanding First Win!

September 19, 2020 0 Comment

Every time I’ve fished Lake Maspenock, I go in with high hopes. Then a few hours later I’m on the bottom of my kayak, curled up in the fetal position, crying and questioning my life choices…

Today was no different.

Twenty-three other anglers fished today’s event, and most probably understand what I’m talking about. With the drop in temperature, I’d hoped that it might trigger the fish into feeding instead of shutting them down. I think the latter happened, though.

I had my first fish quickly, at 7:10, a decent 15.75. Then I went exactly two hours without another bite, which resulted in a giant 10.75. At noon I had to go to my car and get a new battery for my fishfinder, and Troy was there packing up. It was an inspirational moment and I almost followed suit, but I decided to stick it out until at least 1 PM.

Just before 1 PM, I got my third bass on a spinnerbait. First cast up in the northern section, and I thought that was going to be the deal. Noooooope! Not another bite on the spinnerbait. But I did manage to yank a smallmouth out from under a dock, knocking it senseless as it smashed into the side of my kayak. I felt bad, but…8.50, baby!

Once again I contemplated leaving, but it was close to the end, so I made my way over to the beach, tossed out the ned, and caught my fifth keeper at 2:32. A limit! A rare feat for me at Maspenock.

Then at 2:48, I caught an upgrade, and another at 2:55! Never felt so good to do so bad. Haha.

As usual, though, anglers begin to buckle down and focus in the last few hours, and there were some surprises…

If you had taken bets on where pickerel lunker would come from, we’d all have bet on the northern, weedy section. Surprisingly, I caught a 21.25 down south, on a spinnerbait in ten feet of water, no weeds in sight. I caught no pickerel up north in the weeds. Makes sense.

John Ferreira caught the biggest smallie (15.25) today, but he didn’t opt in to the smallmouth lunker pool, so that rolls down to Gerard Elias, who had the next biggest at 13.50.

Luckily for John, lunker largemouth was included in the entry fee, so he nabbed that pot with his 18.25!

I passed Chris LaCourse around 11 AM, and he had one fish on the board. He caught five more after that for a total of 66.50 and fifth place. Great job, bud!

Amazingly, my two last-minute upgrades bumped me up into fourth place with 68.75 inches! Guess I’m glad I didn’t quit early.

Joe D’Addeo has been on fire this year, and that streak continues with a third-place finish today. He had 69.75.

Lee Kennon also turned it on in the last two hours, catching three of his five fish during that time, vaulting him up into second place with 71.50!

Today was John’s day, though. From the start, John had it figured out, fishing offshore in deeper water. I passed Bruce Levy at one point and we were both staring at the the sonar spaghetti on our fishfinder screens, scratching our heads, wondering why they wouldn’t bite. John had it dialed in from the jump, hauling in 80 inches and earning him his first regular-season MAKB win. Hell of a day, man!

Great job, gentlemen!

Click here for the full results.

And thanks to everyone for coming out. Our next event is this coming Saturday at Mashpee-Wakeby. They struggled there today (one fish took third place), so let’s cross our fingers and hope for light wind and feeding bass next weekend!