On Sunday May 15th, The Watershed Bassmasters returned to the Northwest corner of CT to hold the 3rd tournament of the 2016 season on Wononskopomuc Lake. Also known as Lakeville Lake. The forecast of a cold & windy day held true. Temps in the 40s, a constant wind of 20 MPH including gusts over 30 MPH made for difficult boat control. The fish seemed unaffected as 8 limits of largemouth bass and well over a dozen 3.5 lb to 4.5 lb. fish were brought to the scales.

Finding his way to the winners circle for the first time this year, Gary Menchen's limit of bass weighed 14.11 lbs. All his fish were in the 3 pound range and reported catching them on 5/8 oz. jigs & Zoom Brush Hogs. He boated around 8 or 9 keepers. Most of his action came early and late with a 3 hour lull in the middle of the day. Gary spent most of his day in one area fishing into the teeth of the wind and credited his Talons for keeping him in position and his good physical condition (*insert eye-roll emoji) enabling him to stand for eight hours and fish hard.

Keeping it in the family, Greg Menchen finished a close 2nd with 13.71 lbs. Greg only had 5 bites all day but fished clean boating all of them. Baits of the day included Zoom plastics on Carolina & T rigs. Greg's good start this year (a win & two second's) puts him in first place in the overall standings after 3 tournaments.

The “Hammer”, Tim Thompson placed third with a solid bag of green fish weighing 12.93 lbs. Timmy was able to sight fish early and got four in the livewell before the clouds and wind rendered that plan futile. He spent the remainder of the day covering water with an umbrella rig and boated six additional keepers off the 5-wire.

Bruce Nethercott, John Ogolik, and Bryan Gudd all finished just out of the money, each with good limits.

Watershed rookie Rob Lopez caught the big fish of the day. A 4.89 lb. largemouth that fell victim to a jig.

Rick Faubert, another Watershed rookie, had a great day and brought in his first limit in club competition. His weight of 9.50 lbs.was enough to secure the Top Non-Boater award.

The club then welcomed Dave Hadley, an old time NY Federation angler who also weighed in a limit of fish having never seen the lake before. Nice job Dave!

So for the third tournament we have now released every bass alive, let's keep up the excellent fish care as the weather gets warmer.  And remember the new policy of “Clean & Drain” implemented by both NY & CT.  Live wells must be drained, bilge plugs opened and removal of all weed fragments from the boat & trailer before leaving the ramp/parking area.