Thirty-three anglers fished Lake Cochituate today, our second biggest turnout ever, and our biggest turnout for a single-lake event (we had 37 fish our Lake Rico/Neponset Reservoir season opener).

It was a great day to fish, with a little wind that only really kicked up at the end of the day, as we all sat there and watched those renting kayaks struggle against the gusts and waves. Pretty irresponsible of that company to continue renting to people in that kind of wind.

Anyway, the wind didn’t really affect us much, and it was to some of our backs on the way in, so that was nice for a change.

We paid out five spots and also had optional buy-ins for pickerel and trout lunker. Most only opted in for the pickerel pool, which was smart because no trout were caught and the six of us who tried got our money back.

Pickerel lunker went to Jake Schur, who had a 21.75.

Domenicio Enos took an early lead and it seemed like he was going to pull off his third win of the year, but as the day progressed other anglers started putting fish on the board and things changed.

Coming in fifth place and, I believe, placing in the money for the first time ever—Bruno Casagrande! He had 71.25. Great job, man!

Just ahead of him with an even 72 inches, Paulo DeMorais took fourth place, finishing in the money for the second tournament in a row. Awesome.

At noon, when I turned off the standings, Shawn Renes, always a contender, was leading and seemed poised to win it all. Two other anglers had different plans, though, and Shawn finished in third place with a respectable 73.50.

John Ferreira has been making waves in MAKB and KBF this year, currently sitting in third place for KBF’s Regional Angler of the Year title. It shouldn’t be surprising, then, that he finished second today (unless you’re John, who was surprised). He had 76.75, less than an inch away from the win.

And taking the win for the first time ever—Steve Scott! Growing up fishing the lake paid off big time today. Not only did Steve win with a solid 77.25 inches, that total was anchored by a hefty 19-incher, which was also lunker for the day! Congrats on your first win, bro!

Full results can be found here.

Thanks for coming out, everyone, especially Steve Napolitano and George Valentine, who were fishing with us for the first time. Hope you both make it out to another one soon.

Once again, thanks to Sarah for judging, and thanks to Donald Davis, Bruce Levy, and Mike Elrick for all the help in the morning.

Our next event will be at Long Pond in Lakeville on June 29. We will be implementing a new early launch format at this one, so be on the lookout for those details soon.