Tag: Tournament Results

Tough Conditions and Stingy Bites

April 18, 2021 0 Comment

The guarantee of cold, wind, rain, and a tough bite didn’t stop twenty-five of MAKB’s most dedicated anglers from hitting A-1 yesterday morning for the Eastern Division opener.

Before launch, the wind was relatively light, and it seemed like maybe the day wouldn’t be as bad as expected. The moment we launched, however, Mother Nature said, “Psyche!” The wind kicked up, the cold cut through, and not long after the rain rolled in. The sun broke through briefly, but for much of the day it was pretty miserable.

From what I saw, it seemed that most anglers started out shallow, including me. Ari Stonehill started near me, so I stuck to the shoreline, while he fished some wood a bit offshore. I quickly moved away from that area, tossing a green pumpkin Project Z chatterbait through the sparse pads. I was still on the inside, close to shore, but then moved to the outside of the pads, a little deeper, and got a good whack that came off. Whatever it was felt like it shook its head a bit, a good sign it was a bass.

In the meantime, Nate Chagnon had already put a 17.75 on the board just after the 7 AM start.

In the morning, Nate told me he had that gut feeling, like he had down in Alabama for the KBF Trail Event, where he placed third. I told him it was probably diarrhea, but before I knew it, he had three over 17 inches on the board.

Mike Morcone, Gerard Elias, and Sean Dwyer all put up 18-inchers in about the first hour. Bruce Levy put up a solid 19.25 shortly after, but that early flurry of activity died not long after that.

For my day, after that first whack on the green pumpkin chatterbait, I caught a 17, and decided to stick to the chatterbait for the rest of the day. I alternated to a white chatterbait, then moved farther offshore, and ran into four good ones in quick succession—7:57, 8:15, 8:21, and 8:37. Then, besides on 13-incher, my bite died until 1:36 PM, when I caught a two-inch upgrade.

At the end of the day, only two anglers out of twenty-five caught a limit, and only seventeen caught a fish. A brutally tough day for all involved.

We ran a lunker pickerel pool, as always, and Ari Stonehill took it with a 21.50. Knowing the giants in there, I’m still surprised that one held up. I guess even the pickerel were tight-lipped due to the snow and near-freezing temps the night before.

My 20-incher took overall event lunker, which was a legit shock to me because I entered the length incorrectly, thought I had a 19, so when Donald Davis, who judged the event, corrected it to 20 inches, I was genuinely confused. Haha. A pleasant surprise, though.

Taking fifth place, with just three fish and 52 inches, was Gerard Elias. To tell you how tough the bite was, Gerard didn’t catch a keeper after 8:53 AM.

John Ferreira nabbed fourth place with 66.75, catching most of his four bass offshore; which is exactly where Mike Morcone spent his day, netting 72 inches of bass and third place.

Nate Chagnon’s gut feeling proved true (much better than the alternative), and he worked one spot and one bait all day, hauling in 86.75 inches worth of A-1 greens. That was one of only two limits caught all day, good enough for second place. Nate is on fire this year!

I have fished A-1 a half dozen or so times in the past, only doing well once. Despite it having everything I love to fish—shallow water, weeds, wood, etc.—I have struggled there. So going in my expectations were low. And despite that productive early-morning hour, I struggled as usual.

Thankfully for me, that one lucky hour was enough for the win. The late-afternoon upgrade was just icing on the cake. My best five went 94.25, a record I will likely never top at A-1.

I gotta say one thing about the Jackson Kayak Flex Drive. I never once had to concern myself with all that submerged wood as long as I was moving forward. I hit so many stumps at full speed, and that drive kicked up and never slowed me down. Pretty killer design.

Anyway, congrats to all who caught fish on a very tough day, and thanks to everyone for braving those conditions.

You can check the full results here.

Our next Eastern Division event goes down on May 15 at South Watuppa Pond in Fall River.

Dogfight at Quaboag Pond

April 11, 2021 0 Comment

Before I get going on how the first MAKB Western Division tourney played out, I’d just like to thank Ken Wood for letting Nelson da Costa and myself roll out a division on this side of the state. I’ve said it before, but if we manage to run things even half as smoothly as he does, then I’ll consider it a success. Also a huge thanks to Nelson for stepping up to help me out. Much appreciated!

We had nearly a full house at the launch Saturday at Quaboag Pond. Twenty-four of the 25 slots were filled! With 24 anglers, we paid out five spots, plus lunker bass and lunker pickerel.

I’ve fished the pond less than a handful of times over the past 10 years, and know that it can be a “feast or famine” type of water body. I even predicted to Nate Chagnon at some point in the previous week that I believed there would be one or two anglers with big bags, and the rest of the standings would be a dogfight.

When Saturday launch rolled around, my initial plan of heading into the incoming Brookfield River was shot in the foot, as no less than seven kayaks took off in that direction. I opted instead to fish into the outgoing Quaboag River.

I pedaled up alongside Ken, who had the same idea, but then watched him pull a U-turn and return to the launch for his Ketch Board.

The water was glass for the first couple hours, and my first two keepers were promptly thrown back without pictures—because I had forgotten about the eight-inch minimum, naturally. Luckily I rebounded and filled out a limit using topwater in the shallows for smaller bass.

A couple hours in, Ken moved into first on the backs of a couple 16-inch fish. The standings were filled with fish under 15 inches. I had moved downriver to a section I fished last year, and hooked two of my three biggest fish on a jig, which brought me to second place, a few inches behind Ken.

Right as the standings went offline at 1 PM, I downsized to a Ned-rigged creature bait and continued working the areas that earlier produced the 17-incher and an 18.75, and dug up a 15.5 and 19.5, which sealed the deal.

I placed first with 84 inches even, while Ken held second with 77.25. Charging into 3rd was Nick Rinngard with a solid 71.25. Nelson also made a late run behind a 19.25-inch pig, to end at 68.25. Sean Dwyer rounded out the paying slots with 65.75.

The largemouth lunker pool went to me, and Ray Figueroa for nabbed the pickerel pool with a 23.25!

Great job to everyone for grinding it out in the wind! What an awesome way to start this division, and I sincerely thank all who attended.

Finally, thanks to Joe Brown and his wife Meg for hosting the after-event food and drinks at Old Glory Outdoors!

For the full standings, click here.

Our next event is taking place WAY out west in the mountain town of Becket on May 8th. Buckley-Dunton Reservoir and nearby Yokum Pond will host the tourney, and there will be limited to the first 20 anglers to register! Registration goes live at 7 PM on May 2nd through Fishing Chaos.

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.

One Big Fish, One Big Win

September 21, 2019 0 Comment

Well, that’s all she wrote! The 2019 regular season is in the books.

Twenty-six of MAKB’s finest fished Long Pond and Little Long Pond in Plymouth today for our season closer. Many who pre-fished reported less than stellar results, lots of small fish, and…that’s pretty much how it played out today.

As always, we also ran some optional lunker pools. This time smallmouth and pickerel.

Valber Santos walked away with the pickerel cash. He thanks Mike Elrick—who caught a giant—for not opting into the pickerel pool.

Both smallie and largemouth lunker went to Gabe Portes, who had a 12.50 and 20.50, respectively. He thanks Kevin Amaral, Jr.—who caught a 14.75-inch smallie—for not opting into the smallie pool, and also Doug Savage for allowing his 15-inch smallmouth to flop off his board and back into the lake. Haha.

Most of us launched into Long Pond to start, while five or six, myself included, dropped into Little Long Pond. I had my first fish on the board at 7:03 AM, an 8-incher. Little did I know that I’d be intentionally hunting those a few hours later…

And I wasn’t the only one.

At some point Angelo David jumped over to Little Long Pond and quickly dropped five on the board, four of them dinks—and small dinks at that. But that was the name of the game today. Anchored by a 15-incher, his 50.50 pushed him up into fifth place for the day. Congrats!

Jared Meegan had a nearly identical limit—a 15, two 9s, and two 8s, same as Angelo—just with a few that were slightly bigger. With 51.50, he took fourth place and a little scratch in just his second tournament with us (his first was last year). Great job, man!

As I mentioned, my first fish came three minutes in. A few hours after that, struggling to find a limit, I went shallow and deliberately targeted the schools of tiny bass roaming the shallows. I quickly filled out my limit and started to upgrade, one measly quarter inch at a time—all 8- and 9-inchers. At noon, I switched sides and managed one small upgrade—an 11.75 smallie—to give me 59.25 on the day. Not impressive, but good enough for third place.

Kevin Amaral, Jr. had, I thought, one 8-inch bass when he and his pops, Kevin Amaral, jumped over to the big lake. But no, Kevin’s a sandbagger. Evil, basically. No one likes a sandbagger, Kevin! So out of nowhere, he rudely knocked me down to third, taking the second-place spot and holding it to the finish line. He had 62.50.

He is also unofficially the 2019 Angler of the Year! He’s not on Facebook, but he’s a good kid and a great angler, so if you’re on Tinder, congratulate him!

I will get the AOY standings updated soon and make everything official.

Now, remember what I said about sandbaggers? Did you know that I was in first place for a split second? At 11:38 AM I uploaded a whopper of a 9.50-inch bass, which put me in first place. As I was break dancing on the front deck of my kayak and screaming a la Mike Iaconelli, Kevin Jr. pedaled by and said, “Did you see that Gabe put up a twenty?”

Indeed he did. A 20.50, which he’d caught in the morning and held onto for the right moment, that perfect time to crush my dreams! Haha.

(Not sure why this got so goofy. Sorry!)

Seriously, though, that big bass made all the difference today. Without it, Gabe would have had 58.75 and third place, instead of 69 inches, first place, and lunker.

Congrats, bro! Two wins in a row! Kick ass.

Check out the standings here.

Thanks to everyone for coming out, as always, and for supporting this trail and group all season. It’s been great fun.

Thanks to Donald Davis, Bruce Levy, Mike Elrick, and everyone else who has helped out at these events. Especially Sarah Wood, our judge. The value of that seemingly small contribution is immeasurable.

As always, we will try to run a few more events, as long as interest is there, until it gets too cold. We want to try a team event before then, but first…OKTOBERFISH!


Absurd graphic courtesy of John Ferreira. Haha.

In two weeks, October 5th and 6th, we will run an online no-limit event. You pick one day to fish, Saturday or Sunday, 6 AM to 6 PM, any public body (or bodies) of water in the state of Massachusetts, as many fish over 12 inches you can catch in those 12 hours!

I’ll get the event uploaded to TourneyX soon! Who’s in?

Brazil Takes the Win (and Thanks, Sarah)

August 24, 2019 0 Comment

Twenty-three of us hit Lake Massapoag early this morning for the second to last regular-season event of the year, and the lake was in a giving mood. Everyone caught at least one fish! Cool.

First, thanks for judging, Sarah.

We paid out five spots, the 50/50 raffle, plus lunker pools for largemouth, smallmouth, and pickerel.

Gerard won the 50/50 raffle. Second time this year!

Ari Stonehill smashed a massive 27-inch, 5-plus-pound pickerel, which was more than enough to win that lunker pool. What a fish!

The biggest smallmouth was put up by Mike Elrick, but he failed to get in on the optional lunker pool. I’m pretty sure I hooked one bigger, but failed to land it. Lame for us, but great for Lee Kennon who walked away with a cool $180 for his 15.50-inch smallie.

(I fished the hell out of this place as a kid and never once caught a smallie. I barely believed they were in there, but I caught about seven of them today. Crazy.)

Gabe Portes caught some big fish pre-fishing, and he followed that up with a giant 20.50 today, which nabbed him the largemouth lunker cash.

Great stuff, fellas!

Let’s take a moment to thank Sarah for judging. Thanks, Sarah! You’re the best.

Here’s your top five…

In his little sit-in, Donald Davis braved the wind and waves, spending most of his day fishing offshore. When I passed him he was throwing a little crankbait, but that was probably a decoy. Haha. Whatever he was throwing, it netted him 81.50 inches of Massapoag bass and fifth place!

With two weddings to attend today, John Ferreira still managed to fish all eight hours, haul in a solid 85.25 inches, and rake in some fourth-place cash. Kick ass!

Before I forget. Thanks for judging, Sarah. You’re awesome!

I have lost fish in two recent events, all of which would have put me in the money. I lost two more today. Bruno Casagrande watched me lose a good-size smallie, and Gerard Elias witnessed my agony as a big largemouth spit the frog in the pads. Luckily I still pulled out a third-place finish with 86 inches. Phew!

Chris Catucci has been dropping the hammer at Ocean State Kayak Bassin’ and Rhode Island Kayak Bassin’ events this season, so it’s no surprise to see him at the top of our standings. Chris grabbed the second-place spot with 86.50!

Pre-fishing and a “magic” dock paid off for Gabe Portes, who killed it today, winning by five inches with 91.50 inches, tying our all-time second-best limit! Excellent job, bud. Brasil! Porra sim!

Or something like that. Haha.

Check out the full standings here.

And thank Sarah for judging.

Great job, everyone, especially those in the money. Always good seeing those who don’t often fish with us—Tyler, George, and Steve in particular.

I’m often distracted at the end of these things. Fairly common thing—SQUIRREL!—but I appreciate everyone coming out and all those who lend a hand to me or others. Thank you!

Speaking of thanking people… Sarah, thanks for doing all the judging. You rock!

With the KBF Regional Trail Championship coming up on Lake Erie, our last regular-season event of the year is nearly a month away. We’ll be fishing Long Pond in Plymouth on September 21. We have two permits for this one, as we’re including Little Long Pond, so let’s hit 30 anglers and make this one a National Championship qualifying event!

By the way, I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Sarah for judging the fish today. Thanks, Sarah!

Crushing the Competition

August 5, 2019 0 Comment

This past Saturday Massachusetts Kayak Bassin’ ventured north of Boston to Upper and Lower Mystic Lakes in Medford. Twenty-two anglers made the trip.

We made this one a roadrunner event, which allowed anglers to launch from any public launch area on either lake, but most dropped into Upper Mystic from the main ramp, while four of us gave Lower a go.

The baitfish were going crazy in the morning, right at the ramp and along the dam on both sides, so much so that it looked like it was raining. And the bigger fish were feasting. I expected everyone to start there, but from what I saw, only three—one on Upper and two on Lower—chose to fish those spots.

Like most tournaments, this one came down to making the right decisions, and while many of us did well, two absolutely CRUSHED it!

Smallies are present in Lower Mystic, so Troy and I opted into that lunker pool since we started on that side. We both got our money back. Had Donald Davis got in on that he’d have won himself a big fat $20.

We also had an optional pickerel lunker pool, as we often do, and out of 22 anglers only Gerard Elias caught a pickerel, right before the end of the tournament. Nice!

Lunker largemouth went to both Kevin Amaral Jr. and Bruno Casagrande, both of whom tied with a 20.25. Technically, per KBF rules, it should have all gone to Kevin (because he had the next biggest fish), but at a previous event I mistakenly announced that the tie-breaker goes to the fish uploaded first. That’s an old KBF rule, one I’ve always hated, but for some reason I had a brain fart at that event. The right angler got the lunker money then, but this time Bruno was expecting to win it based on what I’d previously said but Kevin had the next biggest fish. Thankfully they were both gracious enough to split the winnings. Thank you for that! And sorry once again for making that mistake.

And speaking of lunkers, Donald caught himself a giant carp and Paulo DeMorais landed a big ol’ striper! Not what they were looking for, but a fun ride I’m sure.

Mike Elrick stuck it out in the lower pond the entire day, the only one not to switch over to or from Upper Mystic. His 76.50 inches of Mystic bass scored him a fifth-place finish!

Coming in fourth place—and placing in the top five for his fourth time this year—was Lee Kennon with an even 77 inches.

After catching four fish in Lower Mystic, I jumped over to Upper just before noon. I’d planned to shoot up to the north end where it was shallow and weedy, but decided to try the dam first. I had a shaky head setup ready to go, something I haven’t fished since I flipped my yak in 2018 and lost all my shaky head hooks. It was the right decision.

At 11:49 AM I caught my fifth fish, then got a small upgrade at 11:53, and then another at 11:56, all just left of the spillway, all on the shaky head, on back to back to back casts. Those three fish bumped me up to third place with 78.75.

Had I started in Upper Mystic, I would have gone north, to the two small, shallow, weedy “ponds.” My kind of fishing. Part of me regrets not doing so because Bruce Levy did, and we both fish so similar and like the same kind of stuff that we often end up in the same areas. And Bruce killed it!

Just after 10 AM I got a text from Lee that said: “Wtf Bruce?!” I thought: “Huh? I’m not Bruce.” And then thought: “That bastard just caught a tank!” Haha. Nope. He caught three—a 20, an 18.75, and an 18.25—in roughly 30 minutes, and out of nowhere was in the lead with 89 inches.

By what everyone else was catching, it seemed like Bruce had it in the bag, but Kevin Amaral Jr. was fishing up north and slaying giants as well…

At the end of the day, Bruce was able to cull up a half inch to 89.50, but it wasn’t enough to best Kevin who dropped a hefty 90-inches on the board for his second win of the year!

Congrats to both of you! You beat the field by 10+ inches! Hell of a job.

The top five also received MAKB hats kindly donated by Bruno and Krazy Kats Embroidery, all featuring the MAKB logo on the front and their placing and lake name on the back. Very cool gesture, man. Much appreciated!

Great job to everyone else, and thanks for coming out, as always. Chris Kincade joined us for the first time as well. Great meeting you, man, and I hope everything goes smoothly wherever you’re deploying to. We’ll see you next year!

Full results can be found at this link.

Our next event is on August 24 at Lake Massapoag in Sharon. Hope to see you there!

A Sweet Victory Turned Sour

July 13, 2019 0 Comment

Thirty anglers fished our annual Three Lake Throwdown today, nine of which were at Lake Sabbatia, ten at Lake Nippenicket, and eleven at Neponset Reservoir.

The weather was hot, mostly sunny, but at least at Nippenicket it was pretty windy at times, which took the sting off the heat somewhat.

I don’t know all the details on how the other lakes fished, but it seemed like there was a decent bite going on at all three lakes until about 9:45 AM, when it just shut off. It was a struggle after that (and before it for some).

But for three lakes known to be tough, 125 bass were put on the board. And a few pickerel.

(For the love of God, stop submitting pics of pickerel! Sarah texts me every time to make sure it’s not a bass! Haha.)

Speaking of pickerel, Lee Kennon had to leave early due to a work emergency, but not before he landed a state-pin-length pickerel at 25 inches, which was more than big enough to take the pickerel lunker prize.

Big bass of the day went to John Ferreira and his 19.50! Good job, fellas!

Sitting on a weedbed for most of the day paid off for Donald Davis, who hauled up from the depths 73 inches of Sabbatia bass. In the money for the first time since his win at Neponset Reservoir last year. Congrats, bud!

And never placing in the money with MAKB before, Chris LaCourse worked the far back channel and river outlet at the Nip to the tune of 74.25 inches and a fourth place finish. Great job, man!

John Ferreira is having a great year in KBF events and he’s making a habit of finishing in the money at our events, either by landing in the top five, winning one of the lunker pools, or, like today, doing both. John frogged his way into third place with 74.75 inches. Awesome!

My kids like to use my soft plastic baits as toys. At first they were content with my ripped and torn baits discarded after tournaments, but eventually they wanted to “go shopping” in my tackle closet. Instead of continuously giving them baits I liked and used, I started letting them each pick out a cheap pack when at Walmart or Bass Pro. Whatever they wanted, usually the brightest, ugliest baits on the shelf.

Well, as many of you saw from my post yesterday, my daughter made me promise to use her “beautiful worms” (aka ugly, sparkly silver senkos) today. I pinky swore because she said they would “make me win.” Well, after an hour and a half with no bites, I grabbed that rod and tossed that beautiful worm to the edge of some weeds and—KAPOW!—I had 16.50 on the board.

I proceeded to catch at least a dozen more bass on those senkos before the last one broke in half (I only had two). I caught one other fish on a frog, and another on a chatterbait. The rest came on those two senkos—which I’ve since learned were Yum Dingers, “tinfoil” color. I know this because I now own three packs. Haha.

Anyway, I didn’t win it all, but I did win second place with 78.50, all thanks to my daughter. The most joy I’ve ever gotten from throwing a damn senko!

And it was all ruined by a cheater…

Originally this part detailed someone else’s win, but due to some questionable submissions and an extensive investigation later that day, it was determined that the angler in question willfully and shamefully cheated. Ultimately, when all was said and done, this gave me a rightfully earned victory, and a sweet one it should have been. Should have, but wasn’t…

Check out the full adjusted results here.

As always, thanks for coming out. Great to see some new anglers fishing with us—Liriano John, Medicen Rexx, Jim Silva, Derek Ramsey, and Angelo David. Hope you had a good time and come back and fish with us again!

Thanks to Sarah for judging once again! You rock!


Cheater removed courtesy of Photoshop.

We venture to the north shore (or as close as we’ve ever been to it) for our next event at Upper/Lower Mystic Ponds on August 3. Hope to see you there!

First MAKB Victory

June 29, 2019 0 Comment

I’m exhausted. And depressed. Who picked this damn lake?

Anyway, twenty-three of us fished Long Pond in Freetown/Lakeville today. Eleven anglers had limits. Bruce, who is laid up with a back injury, judged today, and said mid-lake seemed to be the most productive area.

Whatever the case, five anglers put enough fish on the board to walk away with some cash. =)

We ran an optional pickerel lunker pool today, and [a cheater] took home close to $200 for his 23-inch snot rocket.

There was a tie for overall lunker between Paulo DeMorais and Kevin Amaral Jr. Per KBF rules, ties are broken by upload time. Can’t say I’m a big fan of this rule (think we’ll change it next year), but this time it went to Paulo, who caught his fish early while Kevin caught his in the last hour.

But hey, Kevin’s 18.75 was a seven-inch upgrade, bumping him up six places to fifth with 73.75. Not bad!

Lee Kennon also surged up the leader board in the final hours, finding a sweet spot in a small cove and putting a number of upgrades on the board. His 75 inches of bass was good enough for fourth place.

Mike Elrick took a page out of John Ferreira’s playbook and pulled off a third-place finish by tossing a ned rig in weeds. I can’t figure out how to make this technique work, but it certainly does. Mike had 75.75 inches. Great job, man!

Also putting 75.75 inches on the board, with a bigger fish being the tie breaker—Bruno Casagrande! Good enough for second place.

Anyone who pays attention to the various local fishing groups knows that Paulo DeMorais is a hell of a fisherman. He’s been in the money twice already this year, and today makes three and his first MAKB victory! Paulo won by four inches, with 79.75. Congrats, sir. Well done!

Full results here.

As always, thanks for coming out. We had a new angler, Chris Nardi, join us today, along with Chris Catucci. Don’t think Nardi has a Facebook account, but if you see this, Chris, it was great meeting you (should have said this at the end, but I was distracted as always). Hope to see you at another one! You too, Catucci.

Thanks to Bruce for judging and giving Sarah a well-deserved break.

Our next event is the Three Lake Throwdown. Random draw “mystery” event, though you’ll get one of three lakes—Norton Reservoir, Lake Sabbatia, or Lake Nippenicket. With plenty of room for all, registration will open TOMORROW night.

Experience Pays Off

June 15, 2019 0 Comment

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.