2005 was an incredible year for Pete and I. During these winter months, I sit back and remember those tournaments. Allow me to share with you some of our thoughts and decisions we had to make during those tournaments. The first tournament was held at Long Pond in Freetown. Our first thoughts were May= spawn, shallow, beds etc. Well the weather in April and May was horrible and the fish responded accordingly. They weren't aggressive or on beds. During practice the week before, we found 3 beds in the canal area, but we knew this wasn't going to win the tournament for us. We formulated 2 distinct habitats; rock and grass. We found some grass areas that had fish, but not a lot of fish. The rocks were holding a few fish, but they weren't aggressive. During the tournament, the"rock" fish seemed to bite the best. We fished the first 4 hours trying the different areas and habitat, and decided to fish the last 4 hours only on rock. Then the last hour and a half in just one area. We caught the 2 biggest fish in the last hour and the 8th fish in the last 1/2 hour all within 25 yards of each other. The weight was good for 7th place. Tubes were the baits of choice on this day.
The second tournament was in June at South Watuppa. The water as finally warm and the fish were aggressive. Given a small body of water and then sunny bright skies, the fish finallly became wary and stopped biting. Our fish during practice were still in the area. Our first spot, gave up 4 fish in the first hour, but it was only a point and we figured it was time to move. We were in the southern area, and most of the boats fishing there were close to the bank, as close as the rocks would let them. The water was high and this gave them more area to fish. Pete and I decided to stay away from the banks and fish the deeper rocks. We caught 3 fish but it was slow. Every so often we would see other anglers catch a fish around us, we knew they were in the area and just had to keep casting. Pete hooked a big fish in 4 feet of water. I lunged with the net and came up empty, the fish turned and was gone. Looking back it was the only fish that we hooked and lost during the season. It cost us in the tournament, but just about everyone hs one of those tales to tell. We kept on fishing hard, changing baits and presentations, and finally caught our 8th fish. We would catch one more and be able to cull. This would be enough for 5th place, but also tied us in the AOY standings with Roger Bogosh and Mark Donovan. Small worms and tubes were the baits that caught our fish.
The third tournament held on the Conn. river in Hinesdale, NH, was one of the most memorable tournaments in my career. We prefished the week before both South and North. There should have been fish on every tree or bush in that southern end, but we couldn't get a bite. We went North and fished for small mouth. Pete could only keep explaining to me, what the bite was like, as he pulled in small mouth after small mouth. I did not have a lot of experience on rivers, and I was getting frustrated. The real trick is to make the bait go in the same direction as the current, not pull it away from the fish and feel the bite. That's an over simplification of the whole process, but it took me all day to catch my first fish. I learned a lot about reading the current and finding and fishing grass and logs along the banks. The current was very strong during practice, my trolling motor batteries were dead at noon time. I built another battery holder in the back of the Ranger and Pete and I each brought an anchor. The day of the tournament, the current was slow, but enough so the fish were biting all day. I managed to catch my share, but Pete caught back to back over 4 lb small mouths. I have a Cul-m-rite scale and it only weighs up to 7 fish. The largest fish by site doesn't get weighed. There had to be 15 boats around the area we were fishing but none of them would stay very long. The fish seemed to bit in spurts, 2 fish or 3 fish at a time and then we wouldn't get another bite for maybe 1/2 hour. The boats around us would leave and others would take their place. We caught the heaviest stringer of the 4 tournaments that day. We fished tubes around trees, rocks, grass, and pools. I believe our patience and confidence in our area allowed us to win that tournament. That win put us on top of the AOY standings.
The last tournament of the trail took us to Winnepausaukee. We first went to the Kaprelian Open and hoped to find some areas that would hold fish for the tournament 2 weeks away. Bob Iodice and Mike Tamburello blew every one away with a massive stringer of fish. It was disheartening, because our areas were not holding the bigger small mouth. Although we were respectable and fishing a lot of areas, only catching 2 fish per area, we weren't confident. Peter did the bulk of the prefishing, and was gaining confidence each outing. On the tournament day, the weather was great in the morning. Cloudy with little wind. We were able to get to our area and fish without getting thrown out of the boat. Like most areas, sand grass, rock and depth changes are what we were fishing. We managed 5 fish in 2 hours and had to make a decision. We had another area but there were other boats fishing it, we decided to try anyway. We managed only 2 fish and again had to decide whether to stay or leave. We went back to our original area and caught our 8th fish. We had about 17 lbs. Now we were on edge(scared). We didn't know if we had enough weight to stay on top of the AOY standings. As it turned out, we finished in 14th place and it was enough to keep us as winners in the AOY standings.
