Yesterday, the Eastern Division hit Mashpee-Wakeby for its third event of the season! Thirty anglers were met with pretty good conditions, even after the wind kicked up.
The bass in Mashpee-Wakeby see a lot of pressure from tournament anglers, so early on it was shaping up to be a grind, which is common there. Around midday, though, the fish became more active and anglers started making moves up (and down for some) the leaderboard.
It wasn’t an epic day of fishing that sometimes happens there, but it was a good day.
We paid out five spots, three lunker side-pots, and the Double Down…
Pickerel lunker came from the aptly-named Pickerel Cove, a 24.50-incher caught by Chip Dufault; while John Ferreira’s 19.75-inch smallmouth nabbed the smallmouth lunker prize.
There was a tie between Valber Santos and Mike Morcone for overall lunker, with each catching a mondo 20.25 largemouth. Mike’s bass was physically longer on the board, though, so he won the tie-breaker.
Chip got off to a fast start, holding down the lead for a good part of the day. But while the bite picked up for others, Chip struggled to find upgrades. He finished in fifth with 79.50, which was enough to take home the Double Down prize as well.
Mike Morcone’s late-day surge—which included that 20.25 and a smallmouth upgrade caught with about three and a half minutes to go—earned him a fourth-place finish to go along with lunker.
Between 11:24 and 11:58 AM, Neal Rapoza upgraded five times, culling out four of his five bass. Then he topped it off with another upgrade with less than twenty minutes to go. What would have been a seventeenth-place finish with 68.50 turned into 81.75 and third place!
Matthew Conant is always a threat. Like Neal, Matt had a small limit of 61.25, then upgraded twice in six minutes. An hour later, he upgraded two more times in thirteen minutes, moving him up from not even the top ten to second place. But when Neal caught his final bass at 1:40:51, this bumped him up into second place.
For less than two minutes!
Because Matt caught his final upgrade at 1:42.29, which pushed him back up into second place with 82.50. Crazy!
Todd Brothers came all the way from western Massachusetts, and it paid off! Fishing the same general area as Matt, Todd hauled in a mixed bag for 84.75, landing him in first place!
Great job out there, fellas! Congrats!
A big shout-out to our sponsors, as always. Especially Reacton Tackle, Yakrods, Nocqua, and YakAttack for the giveaways!
Thanks to everyone who came out! Our next event is on the mighty Charles River, Sunday, June 14. It’s a weekend of river events, with the Central Division hosting their next event on the Sudbury River the day before.
See you then!