Thompson Tops Bantam
by Gary Menchen
The Watershed Bassmasters fished their 2016 Season Finale on Sunday October 23 at Bantam Lake in Connecticut. As they arrived at the ramp in the morning, the club soon realized that this would be their fourth consecutive event in extreme cold front conditions. A steady 20 mph wind with higher gusts made for tough conditions all day long.
In the winner’s circle for the first time this year was Timmy Thompson. On a day when there was not one 5 fish limit, the “Hammer” pounded the windy lake and bagged three bass for 9.18 lbs to secure the win. Using his Lowrance Unit’s S/I feature, Tim was able to locate two offshore rock piles which accounted for his two best fish. A slow retrieve with the A-Rig was enough to get those guys to react on a day when moving baits were useless. His third was caught in the pads on a frog.
Second place with two fish for 5.90 lbs was Gary Menchen. His 4.98 lb largemouth caught on a green pumpkin colored jig in the first 10 minutes proved to be the days lunker. Finding the fish in practice, he went straight to the spot and luckily the bass wanted to chew.
Right behind Gary in third was his son Greg who had three fish for 5.36 lbs. Joe Raguzin fished with Timmy and caught two bass on a drop shot rig which was good enough for the top non-boater position check. Bruce Nethercott & Scott Decker rounded out the top five.
Diversity was the rule this season as eight different people won club tournaments this year with only John Ogolik & Gary Menchen winning twice. Other tx winners were Greg Menchen, Scott Decker, Bruce Nethercott, Bryan Gudd, Rob Lopez and Timmy Thompson.
Thus ends a very exciting year for Watershed. AOY for the third consecutive year is John Ogolik who has only been the club for three years. Johnny “O” ties the club record of three titles in a row set by Hank Horowitz many years ago and will attempt to break it next year. Finishing second in the standings is Bryan “Too Dammed” Gudd and third place goes to “Old timer” Gary Menchen. Greg Menchen gets the number four spot and the “Hammer” Timmy Thompson secured the number five. AOY on the non-boaters side is also the “Rookie of the Year”. “Slick Rick” Faubert started and ended the seasons with a skunk but in between those two zero's he made some noise and brought enough weight to the scales to secure the title. Rick also was the top man at putting hooks in his fingers doing it twice. Our 2016 WBM Two-Day Classic on Lake Champlain was won by a Watersheds rookie (but a veteran angler) Dave Hadley. The “Lunker of the Year” was caught at East Twin Lake by Watershed's sophomore Scott Decker with a green fish well over five pounds.
The final club sponsored event is the 12th annual “Turkey Trot” Tournament at Lake Mahopac on Sunday Nov 13TH. Our 2017 tournament trail will be announced shortly and it looks to be a very exciting schedule with a new classic location. In addition, we will be announcing the date & venue of our awards banquet (with a surprise guest speaker) and we are currently accepting new members for next year. Have a good winter, stay safe and see you all next spring!!!
