Event #11 - Mohawk River

Schoharie Smallmouth

Mohawk River

October 7, 2018

by Gary Menchen

On a beautiful fall day in October Watershed B/M visited The Schoharie Pool on the Mohawk River.  Fishing was tough for some and good for others (isn't it always that way).

 Bryan Gudd bested the field with a solid 14.18 limit of smallmouth bass. Gudd caught most of his fish using the A-Rig in the current and the Ned Rig back in the slower shallows. Bryan also had the lunker, a fine 3.46 lb smallie.  He culled several times in route to his win.

David Hadley placed second with 12.10 lbs. Locking several pools away to where he was comfortable, he caught most of his fish ripping jerk-baits. An additional fish or two was caught dragging a craw type bait.

Third place was had by Rob Lopez fishing jigs & jerk baits. His limit weighed in at 10.38 lbs.

Joe Raguzin was top non boater again with 7.79 lbs. followed by Tony Fortugno.

Our next club derby is on Candlewood Lake on Sunday Oct 2.  See you there.

Event #10 - Lake Oscawana

Rags Dropping Bombs on ’em

Rags Dropping Bombs on ’em

Lake Oscawana

September 15, 2018

By Gary Menchen

On Sat Sept 15th “Big Joe” Raguzin won the WBM tournament on Lake Oscawana. It was Joe's first win in several years and he did it in convincing fashion culling 3 times and weighing in his limit of 12.10 lbs. After catching his first 4 bass, Rags had a long dry spell trying different baits at different locations but late in the day found a school of bass in weed-bed and not only filled out his limit but culled up 3 times. Joe also had the day’s lunker, a 2.92 lb largemouth. Fishing out of the back of Gary's boat, Joe fished soft plastics saying the key was a very light slip sinker rigged Texas style.

Joe is on hot streak and after a 4th place finish in the last NY Federation tournament on Cayuga Lake currently sits in 2nd place on the non-boater side of the standings. Good luck to Joey in the Fed's final points tournament on Oneida Lake this weekend.

 Second place went to steady Bryan Gudd with his 5 fish limit weighing in at 8.18 lbs. Bryan utilized a drop-shot presentation to catch his largemouth bass.

 Finishing in 3rd place was Gary Menchen using plastic worms & jigs and rounding out the top 5 were Rick “Cowboy” Faubert & Jordon Doucette.

 With three more club tournaments remaining in the 2018 season Doucette still holds a substantial lead. over Rick Faubert in the WBM AOY race.  See you all Oct 7th on the Mohawk River.

Event #9 - Twin Lakes

Greg Goes for the Green

Twin Lakes

August 11, 2018

by Gary Menchen

On Saturday Aug 11th, The Watershed Bassmasters held its 9th tournament of the 2018 season on East Twin Lake in NW Connecticut. For most of the day the weather cooperated and the predicted rain did not begin until later in the afternoon (like when we weighed in). Twin can be very tough to pattern but some good fish were caught today as the lake did show some of its potential. 

 In winning his 2nd tournament of the year, Greg Menchen brought a fine limit of largemouth bass which weighed in at 14.57 lbs. Greg's sack included the days lunker, a 4.53LB LMB which he duped into eating his crank bait. He caught fish early & often starting shallow with a frog and crankbait and then turning deeper with a Carolina Rigged plastic when the action slowed. Menchen fished clean and culled quite a few times.

 The hottest angler in the club Jordon Doucette, placed 2nd right behind Greg with 14.18 lbs. His biggest bass hit the scales at 4.18 lbs. This was JD's first ever visit to East Twin and he started the day doing what he likes to do, finding deep fish. Searching the depth's he located bait balls with arches under them but could not get those fish to bite. With nothing in his live-well after a couple hours Jordon went into his search mode of covering shallower water with a swim jig and immediately started connecting with quality bass and culling a few times as well. Doucette is well on his way to this year’s WBM AOY award as his hot streak continues.

 Third place went to steady Bryan Gudd with 10.59 lbs. Bryan reported catching his early fish on top-water and when the action slowed he went to his bread & butter, the drop-shot rig.

 Rounding out the top-five were Rob Lopez at 9.75 lbs. catching his fish on plastic worms and Andy Krayewsky with 8.67 lbs. caught on a variety of baits. All anglers caught fish and I heard a few stories of some big fish that got away. And as usual the pickerel came to play causing disarray with lost time due to landing them and also the bite-offs that occurred. On angler told of a Northern Pike sized pickerel as big as a baseball bat. At first thinking the fish could be a huge bass he played it carefully on a 6 lb test drop-shot set up but was disappointed when the fish showed itself in the clear water.

 Our next tournament will be on Lake Oscawana on Sat Sept 15. This promises to be another good tournament with some good limits waiting in the wings. See you all there.

WBM Event #8 - Lake Mahopac Night

Gudd Gets Going

Lake Mahopac Night

July 28, 2018

by Gary Menchen

On Saturday night July 28 Watershed Bassmasters visited Lake Mahopac for their second and final all-nighter of the season after fishing Candlewood several weeks earlier. A late afternoon shower cleared out before we launched and a clear, star filled night followed. Soon after sunset, the commotion of boat traffic ceased but the fireworks and music from the shore lined houses continued. And so a very good night of fishing ensued. Although lacking the size of some of the Candlewood giants, Maho more than made up for it quantity as the bite was on from start to finish and the entire field caught limits with a large variety of baits.

 Bryan Gudd, a former WBM “Angler of the Year” won his first tournament of the year bringing 13.52 lbs. of largemouth bass to the scales including the night’s lunker, a 3.69 largemouth. When pressed for “how he did it” Gudd said he started deep the first thing but when it wasn't happening he moved much shallower. Throwing top-water baits and ripping black spinnerbaits thru the weeds he culled up to his winning weight. And as always, Bryan said he lost a very big fish at the boat.

 The runner-up was Jordon Doucette with 12.57 lbs., all of which were smallmouth bass. After starting shallow and moving deeper (much deeper) Doucette utilized “day-time” tactics throwing swimbaits in 20-30 feet of water. Explaining that his smaller largemouth bass in the well would not cash a check, he did what he does best in utilizing his electronics to find schools of bait and fish in those areas.

 Placing third just .06 lbs. behind Jordon was Greg Menchen with his limit of largemouth bass weighing 12.51 lbs. When his top-water bite produced only small keepers he went to moving baits to catch what he would bring to the scales.

 The top non-boater was Chris “The Kid” Caine. Fishing with Doucette he had to adjust to the deep-water bite Jordon had found so out came his drop-shot rig for some smallie action. Chris' fish weighed in at 10.74 lbs.

 Mahopac now joins Lakeville & Saratoga as the most popular venues for numbers of fish caught while Candlewood & Ballston Lakes have been producing the bigger fish.

 Jordon Doucette maintains his huge lead in the 2018 “Angler of the Year” race with the rest of the top-six for next year’s club team very close together in the standings. Our next derby will be held on East Twin Lake in N/W Connecticut. This deep and clear trout lake will be a test for all with a deep water bite expected. See you all there.

WBM Event #7 - Candlewood Lake Night

Bruce Almighty

Bruce Almighty

Candlewood Lake Night

July 7, 2018

by Gary Menchen

A recent heat wave brought the surface temperature up to the mid 80's and a beautiful star filled sky enhanced by many fireworks which were on display Sat night July 7. But the “night bite” at the Watershed Bassmasters tournament was way off according to most of the anglers participating in this derby.

Bruce Nethercott & his rider did find the right spot and bait to take the top two places in the event. Bruce stuck with his old reliable spinner bait to win with 14.53 lbs, but did have to make a slight adjustment when not getting enough bites to feel comfortable. He upgraded to a larger “thumper” blade and sometime after 1:00 AM he caught the majority of his bass. Nethercott also won last year’s night event on Candlewood and fishes this venue with extreme confidence any time he is on it.

Fishing with Bruce, Joe Raguzin caught his limit on spinner baits and chatter baits. His bag weighed in at 12.69 lbs. Joey Rags is having a good year placing & getting a check in a recent NY Federation tourney fishing as a rider and will also be fishing for “Team Watershed”  this weekend at the Federations Club Team Championship. 

Third place went to Watershed rookie Tony Fortugno with a limit weighed 9.73 lbs. Throwing a chatter bait, Fortugno said he lost way too many fish as the night-time smallies went totally berserk every time he hooked up with one. Great job by Tony who is making some noise during his initial season in the club.

Rounding out the top-five were Rick Faubert who had the tournament lunker, a 4.31 lb. smallmouth and Jordon Doucette.

One more after dark tournament is on the docket as WBM pays a visit to Lake Mahopac on July 28.  This lake should produce some good limits, you don't want to miss this one.  See you all there.

WBM 2 Day Classic - Saratoga & Ballston

Menchen Wins!!!

Saratoga & Ballston Lakes

June 23 & 24, 2018

by Gary Menchen

On June 23 & 24 Watershed Bassmasters held their annual 2-day classic on Saratoga & Ballston Lakes in upstate NY. This is the most fun event of the season and the pre-tournament predictions of Saratoga being a numbers lake and Ballston producing better than average size fish certainly held true. Here is how it all went down.

On day #1 the rain held off for the first half of the day but then came down heavier as the day progressed. With the water temp around 73 degrees, most anglers found a good top-water bite early and really for all day long as spooks, frogs, and chuggers all produced. Gary Menchen culled up to 12.70 lbs to take a slim .15 lead over his son Greg as the first days fish were counted. Following very closely behind were Rick Faubert, Rob Lopez, Joe Raguzin, Chris Cain, Tony Fortugno and Andy Krayewsky who also had good limits and were all in contention. As the others did, Gary caught his top-water fish early (two good smallies) but then turned to worms & brush hogs to upgrade his livewell catching largemouth bass. Greg Menchen barely edged out Gary for the days lunker with a 3.30 lb largemouth. The others fished mostly jigs and chatterbaits as Saratoga Lake showed its full potential with average to good size bass in both green & brown colors. All anglers caught limits and culled.

Day #2 on Ballston Lake started cool as the front went thru but heated up and the layers came off quickly. Fish were caught early and often. The big bag of the day was brought in by Johnny “Bearpaw” Olsen and tipped the scales at 15.47 lbs. John said he was impressed with this lake and all of his fish were over 3 pounds. It was his first ever visit to Ballston. Watershed rookie Tony Fortugno brought in a very good sack weighing 14.37 lbs. He fished plastics most of the day.

Gary wound up bringing in 13.79 lbs. Realizing a top water bite like he had yesterday was not going to happen, he went to a jig & plastics but needed to make adjustments to lighter and smaller stuff and it paid off with four-fish-flurry about 10:AM including his biggest of the day, a 4.70 largemouth. Gary said he can't remember when he last won the WBM Classic. Actually he doesn't remember too much anymore but on this day showed the young guys that there is still some gas left in his tank.

For the second year in a row Rob Lopez placed second, last year he was runner-up to Greg Menchen.  Rob caught a 4.87 lb bass late in the day to anchor his limit but it was a little short of what he would need to overtake Gary. Third place went to Anthony Fortugno who was fishing as a rider, Tony also had the day’s lunker a beautiful 4.90 bass. Congratulations to Tony on his best showing so far and we're sure more good tournaments are in his future. Rounding out the top-five were Rick “Cowby” Faubert and Greg Menchen. 

I'd also like to point out that another club fishing the day before had some “sick” results with several team bags up to 22 lbs.  Even though Watershed had to deal again with “sloppy seconds” the next day, the boys did OK for sure.

Special thanks & recognition to Joe Raguzin who manned the grill for our Sat evening cook-out in the rear parking lot of the La Quinta Motel in Clifton Park. Also to Rick Faubert who brought the beef, Andy Krayewsky the beer and Rob Lopez who donated his half of the 50/50 he won at our awards banquet last March to help out with expenses.  Everyone enjoyed this annual event and can't wait till next year.

Our next club event will be our yearly all-night tournament on Candlewood Lake on Sat night July 7 and as always, should be a lunker fest with the big smallies and largemouth too.  See you all there.

Day 1 - Saratoga Lake

Day 2 - Ballston Lake

WBM Event #6 - Lake Champlain

Hadley Handles Champlain

Lake Champlain

June 9, 2018

by Gary Menchen

The weatherman could not have been more kind on the opening weekend of bass fishing on this NY-VT super lake. “Champ”, the Lake Champlain sea monster failed to make an appearance but a different champ emerged victorious.

David Hadley brought 16.01 lbs to the scales to win the Watershed Bassmasters Lake Champlain club tournament on Sunday June 10. It was the first tournament Dave had the chance to fish this season and he made the most of it by fishing his soft plastics shallow and super slow.

Second place was claimed by Rob Lopez who found spawners while practicing the day before. He caught his limit fairly early and then spent most of the day “guarding” his spot by staying in the area while upgrading his weight. Lopez worked his way through about 14 fish during the day. Creature baits & worms were Rob's weapons of choice on the beds he was fishing. He also caught fish on chatterbaits and frogs.

Third place went to “Slick Rick” Faubert. Rick found a nice milfoil flat in practice on a point scattered rock. When he returned on tournament day he worked a Senko, shaking it as it fell through the weeds and got his bites on the fall. Faubert culled 3 times upgrading his catch during the day.

Lunker was caught by Watershed sophomore Tommy Rosato. His 5.01 lb largemouth came up to eat a Zara Spook barley sucking it in. This was TR's second lunker of the year.

Jordon Doucette finished in 4th place with a fine 12.53 lb limit. He maintains his commanding lead in the AOY race with 6 events completed and 7 remaining.

We now take our halftime break and the next derby just happens to be the 2018 Watershed Bassmaster Classic to be held on Saratoga and Balston lakes on June 23 and 24. This “entry free” tournament is always a fun event with a cook-out in back of the motel on Sat evening.  Beers, beans, burgers, & dogs. are on the menu as we hope for more good weather.  See you all there.

WBM Event #5 - Congamond Lakes

Doucette Continues at Congamond 

Congamond Lakes

May 20, 2018

by Gary Menchen

On Sunday May 20th the Watershed Bassmasters traveled to the CT-MA border to the three connected impoundments known as Congamond Lakes. Launching out of the Town of Southwick, we expected the spawn to be in full swing. The green fish were up sitting shallow, but proved to be darn near impossible to entice. Most of the spooky fish bolted from their beds when the anglers cast baits even when they did so with the utmost stealth. A couple guys choose not to play this cat and mouse game and they were the ones who were successful.


And the Congamond Lakes champion is none other than Jordon Doucette. JD showed up minus his "Paul Bunyan" beard but it didn't matter one bit as he culled his way up to the winning bag of 14.85lbs. Doucette also had the day’s lunker, a fat 4.66lb pre-spawn largemouth bass. Initially Jordon tried for spawners that he could see but that plan did not work out at all. Moving slightly deeper he picked up his 1/2oz chatterbait and covered water. With his T/M on 70 he fished non-stop and caught 9 or 10 fish from different areas around the lake. With his 4th win of the year Doucette has opened up a commanding lead in the 2018 race for the Watershed Bassmasters AOY.


Second place was garnered by "Slick Rick" Faubert who culled several fish and brought 10.02lbs to the scales. Rick spent the entire day in the North Pond and he too was frustrated at first with his inability to entice the bedding fish he could see. Backing off to deeper water Rick pulled out a Ned Rig which caught most of his fish for him. Keying on every tree he found, he sometimes had to cast multiple times but this payed off and Faubert was the day's runner-up. After fishing as a rider for his first couple of years in the club, Rick is finding out about the benefits of being a boater and calling his own shots.
"Big Joe" Raguzin claimed the 3rd place check with 4 fish weighing in at 7.62lbs. Fishing used water from the back off Doucette's boat, Joe resorted to finessing a Ned Rig. He fished clean and he never had his limit fish on but, four bass was good enough for 3rd place.
Rounding out the top 5 were Bryan Gudd with a 7.49lb limit and Gary Menchen who's 3 fish weighed in at 6.6llbs.


That concludes our 5 tournament CT start of the season (actually we do go back to Candlewood for an all-nighter in July). Our NY portion of the trail begins on Lake Champlain Sat June 9. There certainly should still be plenty of bed-fish to be caught and the top-water bite will be in full swing. The following day, Sunday June 10th the NYS BASS Chapter Federation opens on Lake Champlain. A good number of Watershed boys are staying over to fish that event. Good luck to all of them.

WBM Event #4 - Lakeville Lake

Menchen Whoops'em on Wonoscopomuc

Menchen Whoops'em on Wonoscopomuc

Lakeville Lake

May 6, 2018

by Gary Menchen

In a slug-fest at Lake Wononscopomuc in Lakeville, CT, Greg Menchen bested the field with 15.59 lbs of largemouth bass. After having the first three Watershed Bassmaster tournaments dominated by Jordon Doucette and small mouth bass, the green fish were the players and Greg got 'em good. Even though the fish were pre-spawn and the surface temp never got to 60 degrees, Menchen got on to a top water pattern followed up by some good jig bites. And with overcast conditions, the surface bite continued all day. Greg caught 9 or 10 keepers all in the 3+ pound class. This was Greg's first win of the 2018 season.

Second place was claimed by Andy Krayewsky who brought a 14.27 lbs bag to the scales. “Fender” caught his fish early and often throwing a black jig all day to visible cover.

Third place went to Rob Lopez with 12.52lbs throwing jerk baits.

Rounding out the top 5 were Gary Menchen with 12.46 lbs fishing jigs & worms and WBM rookie Kevin Rudolph with 11.22lbs. Kevin caught his fish on crankbaits.

Bryan Gudd brought in the day’s lunker, a 3.87 lb largemouth taken on a drop shot rig. A real variety of lures were used by the anglers as 9 limits were weighed in with no skunks at all.

Kevin Bradley's debut with his new Stratos bass boat was successful as he filled his live wells with a five bass limit. Limit catches were also weighed in by Bryan Gudd, Tony Fortugno and “Slick Rick” Faubert. All fish were released alive continuing our 100% live release rate for 2018.

Next stop of the season will be at Congamond Lakes on the CT/MA border. That will conclude the CT portion of the WBM trail with the NY season opening on Lake Champlain on June 9.

See you all there.

 

WBM Event #3 - Highland Lake

Trifecta Complete

Highland Lake

April 22, 2018

by Gary Menchen

Jordon Doucette had never won a Watershed Bassmaster's tournament before this year, but 2018 is a new year and a new Jordon Doucette has emerged. With his third win in three events, JD’s trifecta has opened up a commanding lead in the WBM-AOY standings. His latest accomplishment was laying a mixed bag weighing-in at 13.91lbs on the scales during a day so tough that more than half the field skunked. And he had the nerve to lament that he had one squeaker he could not cull out. Jordon caught his quality fish early, including his lunker 4 lb smallmouth while throwing his favorite swimbait. Later in the day with the sun high in the sky and the fish becoming more active, he filled out his limit and culled up by ripping jerk baits. His victory tied a club record of three wins in a row. Way to go Jordon, on this awesome run!

Second place went to Watershed veteran Wayne Mahood. His 5 fish limit weighed in at 8.40 lbs.  Wayne had most of his fish early and all were caught fishing black hair jigs (does he throw anything else in the spring)? This was Wayne's first club tournament of the season and he showed he is already in the groove and ready to make some noise every time he's in the lineup. 

Third place went to Watershed's senior member Gary Menchen. With one fish short of a limit, his bag came in at 5.20 lbs. Without a keeper for the first half of the day, Gary found a grass line at an entrance to a spawning cove and caught a couple shorts and then 3 keepers in short order. A very slow twitch & pause with jerk-baits was the ticket. Then as if someone flipped a switch, there were nothing but pickerel slamming the jerk-baits. Some as big as baseball bats. Changing up to jigs & worms didn't faze the pics and the bass suddenly went silent. One final bass was caught late in the day. Again on a Swithwick bait.

So with three tournaments over & done we are almost at the quarter turn in the 2018 WBM Trail. Our next derby coming up in two weeks will be held on May on Lake Wonoscoponac in Lakeville, CT.  This should shape up to be a late prespawn, near spawn event. Jigs & plastics should figure in the anglers’ plans and perhaps some top-water as well if the temps heat up enough. See you all there.