Saturday, the Western Division held it’s fourth event of the year, on the stretch of the Chicopee River in Chicopee that I grew up fishing. Access is extremely limited nowadays, but we were able to secure safe parking (thanks, Paul Bunyan’s Tree Farm) to risk our gear and health getting the boats down the banks of Cooley Brook to access the river.

The first three hours of the day were a complete drenching. The rain stopped between 9 and 10 AM and some clouds lingered, which kept the bite going.
Fortunately, everyone caught fish. Unfortunately, size was at a premium.

At the end of the day, Jeremey Andrews had secured third place by making a couple late culls to total 62.50 and get by Michael Williams.

Ronel Mullen caught 66.75 inches worth of bass to claim second place. He and I went back and forth for most of the morning until…I hit the lunker, a meager 18.25, and followed with a 16-incher to snag the W with 74.25!

There was only one pickerel caught, which I thought was out of character for the Chicopee, by Russ Hatch. A 14-inch fish, but more than enough to give him that lunker pool.

We all know there’s going to be some days when smaller fish matter a lot more than they should, and it keeps the competition exciting, which Saturday was. Thanks to everyone that made it out, helped each other in and out of the brook, and to grab a bite afterward!

Head over to Fishing Chaos for the official results.

Our next event is slated for late July at the Connecticut River. Hope to see everyone there!