Slaughter at Oldham

November 15, 2020 0 Comment

We all know what can happen when fishing in late fall: feast or famine, either a whiz-bang-pow lights-out kind of day or it’s a struggle.

For most of us at yesterday’s mystery event on Oldham, it was more of the latter.

It was for me, at least. Knowing that a 54-degree water temp was still relatively warm and that some fish would still be active shallow, I focused on a deeper bite, spending most of my truncated day bouncing around to the myriad humps and flats that litter the lake. I did briefly try the weeds out back, but without any sign of life, I moved back to deeper water and focused on spots that have produced well for me in the past.

The fish just weren’t there like I’d expected. I did catch three, though, and I lost a few others, which unfortunately is what kept me out there.

Around 1 PM, shivering from the cold (I under-dressed because it was supposed to be sunny all day, which was another lie in a long stream of lies from those losers we call weathermen), I looked at first place and determined that the payout for second or third wasn’t worth the misery…so I quit. And I don’t regret it one bit. Haha.

For this event we also ran optional smallie and pickerel lunker pools. The smallmouth population there is small, and in my experience nonexistent until recently. As such, no one caught a smallmouth, so all those who opted in will be refunded.

But some big pickerel were caught, including two giants by Joseph Daddeo, who seems to always catch giant pickerel and whose 25.25-incher at this event bested the field. Eight pickerel were submitted, four of which were Joe’s…

He is Joe Exotic, the Pickerel King!

We’re only paying out three spots for this one, and third goes to Joe as well, with 77.50 inches.

As I mentioned above, fall fishing can be feast or famine. For two anglers, outlaws from Rhode Island, it was all feast!

Sometimes having no experience on a body of water is an advantage, and I think that played a role here. While a lot of us used our experience and focused on specific spots, they covered water, and it paid off BIG time.

Throwing a ned rig and slinging a jig, Greg Krasnowiecki hauled in five bass that maxed out at 89.50, while Chris Catucci made even that beefy limit look slim by putting up a new club record of 96.50! Chris caught his fish on a chatterbait and jig. Bass fishing 101, and we got schooled by both of them!

Chris also had the biggest of the event at 21 inches, with Greg having a 20.75 that was just a hair’s width away from 21 inches.

Great job, guys! Very very impressive.

Final results can be found here.

That was likely the last tournament of the year for us, unless we have a seriously warm day in the near future. And if it is the end, no worries, we had a great year and next year is going to be insane!

Those of you who live in western MA will be happy.

And the 2020 Knockout Series Champion Is…

November 8, 2020 1 Comment

The 2020 Knockout Series kind of flew under the radar this year, for whatever reason. Some of you reading this may not even know what it is.

The Knockout Series is a bracketed series we started back in 2016 and have run every year since. Turnout this season was lower than last year, but still thirty-two anglers signed up and battled it out in head-to-head matches over the course of the season. Four rounds leading to the championship round which took place yesterday between Bruce Levy and Kevin Amaral Jr.

To get to this point, Kevin had to best Dave Bibo, Paulo DeMorais, Patrick Brown, and reigning Angler of the Year Joe D’Addeo, while Bruce had to get past Chris Catucci, Gabe Portes, Peter Arruda, and Dennis Kiroff. No easy paths to victory by any means.

Bruce and Kevin fished Norton Reservoir for the championship match, which may seem like an odd choice given how tough it fishes more often than not. But luckily for them, the fish were hungry yesterday.

Kevin started by fishing the islands and points, which are always good for some fish, and they were yesterday. When the bite died, he moved shallow without any luck for a time. Toward the end of the day, Kevin made his way to a shallow cove that still had some grass, and big bass were in there crushing bait fish!

The spinnerbait bite was on, and while he caught some fish, he lost some others, including one close to five pounds.

While Kevin found that shallow, grassy cove late, Bruce found it early and had his three-fish limit and was culling almost immediately. He caught all his fish burning a white Jackhammer and spent the day culling 17-inchers!

When all was said and done, Kevin’s best three went 46.25, while Bruce hauled in a hefty 53.50, claiming the 2020 Knockout Series Championship crown by more than seven inches!

Awesome job, buddy!

You, too, Kevin. Great job out there.

And the 2020 Angler of the Year Title Goes To…

November 5, 2020 0 Comment

Some say winning the Angler of the Year title is the most prestigious title one can win in a tournament organization. That’s debatable, of course. Some will agree, some won’t, and that’s fine.

What isn’t debatable, in my opinion, is how difficult it is to win Angler of the Year. Anyone can win a tournament, but to win the Angler of the Year title, you have to be consistent all season long, and be better than all the other anglers who do well time and time again, and that is not easy by any means.

Our Angler of the Year format is a bit of a hybrid. It is based on an angler’s best twenty-five fish throughout the year, but we also award bonus points to the top five anglers at each event—five points for first place, four for second, etc. To become the MAKB Angler of the Year you not only have to fish a lot of our events, you have to catch quality fish and also consistently finish at the top.

Otherwise, you have no shot.

In his first year fishing with us, Joseph Daddeo made it known right out the gate—with a dominating win in our first tournament of the year on the Charles River—that he was coming for that title.

Joe went on to win two more events and place in the top five multiple times, amassing 19 bonus points to go along with his season total of 414 points. And when he didn’t finish in the top, he upgraded fish in his biggest twenty-five of the season.

The only time Joe wasn’t in the lead for Angler of the Year was the two weeks following our second Charles River tournament of the year, which he was not able to fish. He came back and won the next event, firmly securing his spot at the top where he remained for the rest of the season.

So without further ado, the Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ Angler of the Year for 2020…

Congratulations, buddy! A well-deserved win. Hell of year!

The Lunker King Wins Big!

October 26, 2020 0 Comment

We had twenty-five anglers battle it out on Snipatuit Pond yesterday, putting an exclamation point on our fourth season.

It was a different kind of year, but given all the restrictions and hurdles associated with it, I think it turned out pretty good.

As for yesterday, the lake produced fairly well, but the bite seemed a bit off to me. Anticipating that possibility, with it being fall and all, I went for a quick limit. Good idea in theory. I had four on the board by 7:30, with another 9-incher rocketing off the board, and then shore-fishermen showed up, so I switched areas.

I caught three more upgrades after that, but none were that big. I think the water level messed me up a bit. I went looking for deeper water all day, but from what I was hearing at the ramp, a lot of good fish were caught in very shallow water. I’ve never seen the water so low there.

Live and learn, right?

No smallies at this place, so we ran just an optional pickerel lunker pool. This one was close, with Joseph Daddeo and Chris Titi (not pronounced “titty,” FYI) both entering 23.75s, with Joe’s being so close that I had to have all of the MAKB staff involved in making the call. Ultimately it was determined that we could not definitively say it did not touch the line (and then Joe provided a better, clearer photo), so it came down to a tie—which may come as a surprise to Chris since he entered his as a 23.50.

Since we do not have the option of going to the next biggest pickerel, tie-breakers go to the angler who caught the fish first, which was Joe, who caught his at 7:46 AM.

I’m not a fan of that time-submitted rule, so next year optional lunker pools will be split evenly when there’s a tie. For now, though, congrats, Joe!

Tournament lunker went to Gerard Elias, who hauled in a 21-inch tank minutes after lines in. Good stuff, sir.

With just three fish on the board when the standings went offline, two late-day 17s bumped Sean Dwyer up into the winner’s circle, taking fifth place with 74.50.

This is Sean’s first year fishing with us and his first time in the money! Great job, man.

Despite placing second when we last fished Snipatuit, Lee Kennon didn’t even remember. When I told him that Bruce backed out, and he was in, Lee replied, “Cool. Never been. Hope we have a plentiful day.” Well, I’m sure it all came back to him once he got on the water, and though it wasn’t as plentiful as last time, his 74.75 was plenty good for fourth place.

Kickers often equate to money, and the 20.25 that Paulo DeMorais landed just before 10 AM did just that, landing him in third place with 81 inches. Nice!

John Ferreira has been on a tear lately, and yesterday marked his fourth money event in a row, his sixth this season. John tossed a ned rig around rocks all day and put up a solid 82.75 for second place.

Kickers are key, as I mentioned, and Gerard Elias, who is consistently improving as an angler, keeps figuring out a way to catch them. Yesterday’s 21-incher gave him his fourth lunker win of the season, and his 21.75 from earlier in the year is the season lunker!

But lunkers don’t win events by themselves. Gerard also put up four more solid bass for a total of 85.25, more than enough for the win and a very fine stamp on a great season. Awesome job!

Check out the final standings here.

And there you have it. Season #4 is done! I’ll do a longer post about that and next season at some point soon, but I do want to thank everyone for coming out this year. It’s been a weird one, but successful nonetheless.

While this is the last regular-season event, we often do at least one more for fun, weather-permitting. And maybe we’ll finally get around to doing some ice-fishing events. We’ll see!

Thanks again, everyone!

With Three Minutes to Spare…

October 17, 2020 0 Comment

Nine down, one to go!

This morning, twenty-four brave souls launched into the cold, wind, and rain on Billington Sea. It wasn’t pleasant out there today, especially those first few hours before the rain let up and the clouds broke, but we powered through it.

I started my day in the back “pond,” looking for rock piles and a big rocky flat. It’s been a few years since I fished Billington, so they weren’t quite where I remembered them being. I managed to catch two as I puttered around looking for them. Finally, I saw a swan stand up and flap its wings, which pointed out the flat. I caught my third and fourth fish there, then my fifth came close by on a point.

At this point I had 60 inches and was sitting in third place, with John Ferreira in first, and Mike Morcone in second. At 1 PM, when I turned off the standings, we were still the top three, in that order.

But as usual, by the end of the tournament, things changed…

Mike Morcone couldn’t find any upgrades, so his limit of 13-inchers wasn’t enough to keep him in second place, but it was enough for fifth place and a little scratch.

Making a late-day run, Bruno Casagrande twitched his crankbait (seriously, I thought he was throwing a jerkbait or a blade bait) and enticed a few bass to hoist him up into fourth place! Whatever works, right?

Spending most of the day drop-shotting in what we call “Don’s Spot,” John Ferreira looked poised to win his second event of the year, as his 71.50 was well ahead of the rest of us for a good part of the day…

But I crushed those dreams when I caught two upgrades by trolling a white chatterbait, bumping me up to 72.25 and first place! Hell yeah! Wait…what?

Just as I was quasi-celebrating my victory (“quasi” because I suck at math), I bumped into Ryan Pierce, who had just caught his fifth bass, a 15.75. That fish, caught at 2:57 PM, with three minutes to spare, launched Ryan from seventh place right into the winner’s circle with a resounding 76.50!

Congrats to everyone, but especially Ryan, who notched his first MAKB win! And he did it from an old sit-in! Great job, buddy. Very happy for you!

The lunkers for this event went to Gerard Elias, who nabbed a 19.75 largie fairly early. Honorable mention goes to Sean Dwyer, who had a 19.50 that was just a sliver away from 19.75.

Joseph Daddeo landed the day’s pickerel lunker, with a state-pin-size beast that took up the entire 26-inches on the Ketch board, and then some.

Good stuff, fellas!

No one caught a smallmouth, so I will refund everyone.

Take a gander at the final results over on TourneyX.

I appreciate everyone coming out, especially in that kind of weather. Full field! Awesome.

And a shout out to those who joined us for the first time—Steve Hedges, Mike Morcone, Doug Wiebers, Josh Carvalho, and Blake Navarrette. Sorry for not properly introducing myself; it’s a bit hectic in the morning and we haven’t done any post-event results or anything like that in person this year, so the end of the day isn’t like it usually is, with everyone hanging out, talking smack and whatnot.

Hopefully we can get back to that next season. I definitely miss it.

Anyway, our final event of the regular season is next Saturday at Snipatuit Pond in Rochester. Registration for it will go live tomorrow night at 7 PM on TourneyX. Set your alarms!

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!

Three Times a King

August 15, 2020 0 Comment

Our annual Three Lake Throwdown is in the books!

Thirty-one of us split the three lakes, ten each at Snipatuit and Agawam Mill, and eleven at Glen Charlie. Mother Nature walloped us pretty good with strong winds all day and intermittent light rain, which made it relatively chilly for those of us who stupidly believed the forecast and wore shorts and a T-shirt.

Overall, it seemed to be a tough bite for most of us. I know it was for me. Lots of fish, but all small. Even the lone pickerel I caught was tiny.

Finding those bigger bites made all the difference today, and many anglers found it late in the day. Lots of movement on the leaderboard after the standings went off at noon.

In years past, typically one lake outperformed the others in this event. Today, they all produced equally. Out of the top ten, three fished Snipatuit, three fished Agawam Mill, and the remaining four fished Glen Charlie. And the top three each fished a different lake.

As such, the bonus winnings from the increased entry fee will go to top three anglers.

Here’s how it all played out…

Pickerel Lunker: Kelvin Nova (aka Medicen Rexx) (23.00)
Lunker: Kelvin Nova (21.00)

5th Place: Bruce Levy (79.75)
4th Place: Chris Catucci (80.00)
3rd Place: Wally Ultsch (81.00)
2nd Place: Valber Santos (82.00)
1st Place: Joseph Daddeo (89.00)

D’Addeo crushes it yet again! This is his third win with us this season and, according to TourneyX, his eighth overall. Beast mode! Valber is crushing it this year as well, placing in the money at all but one event (New Bedford Reservoir).

Great job, guys! Well deserved.

Check out the full results.

With the upcoming KBF Trail event on Lake George and the KBF SuperTrail event on China Lake/Messalonskee Lake, our next event isn’t until September 19, on Lake Maspenock. So hang tight.

Oops! Almost forgot (as usual): thanks for judging, Kevin!

A Gamble Pays Off

August 1, 2020 0 Comment

Well, if you’re sick of fishing rivers as much as I am, I have some good news: no more river tournaments this year!

I think. I hope. We do still need to make up one of our canceled dates. Taunton River again?

Anyway, today marked our fifth tournament of the season and second on the Charles River. During our last tournament on the river, only one angler broke 75 inches, and he did it in a big way, putting up 89.25 inches overall.

Eleven anglers crossed the 75-inch line today, with three going past 80 inches. Definitely a better day than last time, that’s for sure.

For this one, I wanted to get away from the crowds, so I scouted a few areas I’d never fished before. I put up 72 inches at one spot on Wednesday and 86 on Thursday at a different spot. I gambled on the latter, hoping that the handful of laydowns that produced on Thursday would do so again today.

Thankfully, most of them did.

Here are the official results pending any protests:

Pickerel Lunker: Ari Stonehill (17.25)
Lunker: Ken Wood (19.25)

Fifth Place: Lee Kennon (77.50)
Fourth Place: Valber Santos (79.00)
Third Place: Steve Scott (80.25)
Second Place: Domenic Eno (82.25)
First Place: Ken Wood (84.00)

Congrats, gentlemen. Great job out there!

(Now, if Lee hadn’t caught that 17.75 and 16.50 on back to back casts right next to me, I might have also won the KBF Trail event. Haha.)

Find the full results here.

Since I’m fishing again tomorrow, payments will likely go out on Monday. =)

Our next event will be our annual random-draw Three Lake Throwdown event on August 15. Good luck to everyone taking another swing at the Charles tomorrow for the second KBF Trail event.

Dominant Dominik

July 27, 2020 0 Comment

Yesterday, twenty-seven of MAKB’s finest hit the Nashua River for our fourth event of the season!

No one launched north of the covered bridge in Groton, so as suspected there doesn’t appear to be any easily found launches up that way, if any at all.

Also, no smallmouth was caught, so I don’t know if the information I received was incorrect or if they’re just not abundant south of Groton. Either way, everyone who got in on that lunker pool will be refunded tonight.

Going in, I had expectations of countless blow-ups as I chucked a frog all day long. At least for me, that didn’t happen. I brought two frog rods—one for a hollow body, and the other for a soft plastic frog—and I didn’t get a single damn blow-up all day. I’m still confused.

Even more confusing, Kevin Amaral Jr. said he got all his fish on the frog and, at least for a time, I was fishing in the same general area as he was. Go figure!

Most of my fish came on a chatterbait, while the others came on a soft-plastic “thingy.” And I didn’t catch many, which was also baffling. Not sure if the cooler temps the night before affected the bite, but it wasn’t there for me.

I kept grinding, though, running about three miles south looking for a bigger bite, and it came around 12:30 PM…and I lost it. A giant, but for some reason I thought it was smaller than it was, so I tried to muscle it into the net. It went on a run, pulling drag, jumped, and came unbuttoned (see the video below). Heartbreaking.

Anyway, that was my day, how was yours?

Here are the official results pending any protests…

Pickerel Lunker: Scott Weismann (19.00)
Lunker: Peter Arruda (20.25)

Fifth Place: John Ferreira (72.75)
Fourth Place: Valber Santos (72.75)
Third Place: Kevin Amaral Jr. (74.75)
Second Place: Donald Davis (79.50)
First Place: Shawn Dominik (80.00)

Like our last event, one good fish or two decent ones would have vaulted anyone in the top 16 into the top five.

So congrats to those who did find (and land) the right fish!

Standings can be found here on TourneyX.

Our next event is once again on the Charles River on August 1. Same deal as last time. This time, we are also hosting a KBF Trail Event, and another one the following day. Let’s have a huge turnout for this one, guys!

If you are not currently a KBF member and want to fish the Trail Event, head over to KBF and join. You may, however, just fish our event if you want to.