Tag: Norton Reservoir

All About the Weed

April 18, 2018 0 Comment

The first tournament of the year is in the books! We had 26 anglers—our biggest turnout yet!—and paid out five spots and lunker.

We were supposed to fish Santuit Pond but were forced to relocate at the last minute, so we fished Norton Reservoir instead. I think most of us would have preferred to fish Santuit, but at least we didn’t have to cancel the event entirely.

The day was windy, but not too cold, with water temps in the upper 40s to start. This made for a tough bite (last year’s weed kill no doubt played a role as well).

A handful of fish were caught early, but the bite died down after that. One of those early bites was a fat 19.50-incher, caught by Lee Kennon. That would remain the big fish of the day! Congrats, sir!

Lee was fishing a thick bed of weeds in about six feet of water when he caught that lunker. After last year’s weed kill, weed was sparse, but it was the key to victory on this day. Four of the top five anglers happened upon a small area at the back of the pond that had an abundant amount of weed near relatively deep water.

Ken Wood had 68.25, which had him bringing up the rear of the winner’s circle and taking fifth place. Valber Santos took fourth with 69.25, and Craig Page landed in third with 70.25. All separated by a single inch. It was tight at the top.

(The margin between fifth and sixth place was over 42 inches!)

Chris Diranian found his own pattern—throwing a white spinnerbait shallow—catching four fish in the last few hours to launch himself up into second place with 73.75.

And for the second year in a row, the season opener victory went to last year’s Angler of the Year champion, Bruce Levy, who found the weed first and hauled in 79 inches of bass! Thus he once again takes a seat upon the Angler of the Year throne…

For now.

Congrats, man! And everyone else who brought home some loot and caught fish. It was tough out there!

Thanks to everyone for coming out and sticking with us after the childish drama that ensued yesterday. Our fishing community is plagued by too much negativity, and it’s heartening to see that our group can rise above such petty nonsense. We appreciate it very much!

As always, it was great seeing everyone, especially the new guys—Bob, John, Nate, Matt, and Zachary! Hope we see you at some more this year.

Speaking of more, our next event is on April 28 at Dark Brook Reservoir in Auburn. See you there!

A Foggy Start to a Fantastic End

October 8, 2016 0 Comment

Well, that does it. Our first ever tournament series is done!

Ten of us fished Norton Reservoir today. Great turnout! The weather was nice (for October). The day started calm and extremely foggy…and stayed that way for about three hours. When the fog cleared, I think all of us were surprised to find out where we actually were compared to where we thought we were! Ken Wood said he was about a half-mile off course. Haha.

The bite was tough if you were looking for bass. Only two limits were caught. Some of us found plenty of pickerel, though. Valber caught 14!

We paid out three spots, but Donald Davis was kind enough to donate a $25 Bass Pro Shops gift card, so that went to the 4th place angler, which was Chris Diranian. He had three fish for 43.75 inches.

Third place went to Michael Andreasen, who hauled in four bass that went 57.5 inches.

If we had an Angler of the Year category this year, Donald Davis would certainly take the crown. He’s won three regular tournaments, plus our night tournament. He placed second once, as well as third, and he took lunker four times!

Well, add another second place finish to that list! Don not only caught a limit, but he culled a few times. His five went 75.5 inches.

Hell of year, bud!

Ken Wood caught his fifth fish with about two hours left in the tournament—and then his phone died. He had about 67 inches at the time, which he thought might be good for second place. He contemplated heading back to the launch to charge the phone for a bit, but decided to keep fishing and see what happens. That was a good call, because shortly after he hooked up with a 20.75-inch swamp donkey that went 4.11lb.

Luckily Don was nearby and he was kind enough to let Ken borrow his phone to take a photo.  (Deep down he probably kind of hates himself for it. Haha.) That fish bumped Ken up to 77.5 inches, good enough for 1st place and lunker!

And there you have it.

This was a great first year! A huge THANK YOU to everyone who came out to one of our events! No drama, no fights, no egos. You’re all awesome!

As mentioned before, we still have more tournaments planned. If the weather cooperates, the next one will be on October 22. It’ll be a “zone” tournament, meaning that we’ll quarter the lake, and each angler will be restricted to one zone every two hours. It’ll be a random draw. If you start in section A, you’ll move to B after two hours. If you start in C, you’ll move to D, then A, then B, etc.

Major League Fishing does something similar. Should be a good time! We’ll probably run it mid-morning till late afternoon, like 10 AM till 6 PM. Something like that. We’ll nail down the details soon.

Anyway, thanks again, fellas! It’s been a great year!