Candlewood Night; July 9th 2016

The Watershed Bassmasters held our annual Candlewood Lake Night Tournament on Saturday July 9 from 8PM to 4AM. This season’s pattern of inclement weather for our events continued. The evening’s conditions started as a cloudy mist which later grew to a soaking downpour which made the fishing conditions difficult. 6 zeroes and 3 “one fish bags” was plenty of evidence to confirm the stingy bite. 

Only one limit was brought to the scales on this night and it just so happens to be the eventual winner, Watershed’s very own “Elite Series Marshall” Bruce Nethercott. Thanks to his modest demeanor, Bruce repeated to the group at least on three different occasions that he actually culled several times during the night. It was then that a motion to administer a polygraph test was presented to the Tournament Director. Upon conferring with the Advisory Board, it was determined that we do not actually own a polygraph machine nor did anyone have an app for that on their phone. When approached, Bruce insisted that he actually caught those fish and ended his plea with “Scout’s Honor”. That’s good enough for me. Bruce weighed in a modest 13.36lbs for the victory which also included the event lunker. A 4.84lb largemouth. Bruce noted that he made the adjustment of downsizing his spinner bait to a 1/4oz model with a black skirt and black blade when the fish refused to eat his larger model. He also enticed a couple of bites on a jig.

Johnny Ogolik's four fish were caught on spinner baits and weighed 12.05lbs. Good enough for second place.

Timmy Thompson's four fish, caught on jitterbugs, went 10.13lbs got him third place. After losing his first three fish of the event during the dusk period, including a tank of a smallmouth that he feels would have been enough for the win, Tim changed his top water set-up to a softer tipped rod which helped keep the fish buttoned-up the rest of the night.

A special “Iron Man's award” goes to Jordon Doucette for his decision to stay on the lake to fish a CT Nation tournament after taking a shellacking during the night. That boy is a glutton for punishment, eh?

Mahopac Night; July 30th 2016

It's been quite a while since Watershed has held an all-nighter tournament on Lake Mahopac and by all accounts it certainly was worth having. A steady rain fell and lasted for about an hour as the club headed out onto the lake for the night. Loud music from a beach party rocked on for the first half of the tournament then suddenly stopped as the clock hit midnight. The entertainment was unexpected yet appreciated. The night bite was above average as 11 of the 13 contestants brought limits to the scales and the remaining two anglers had four fish a piece.

Winning his second tournament of the year, Gary Menchen had a stellar night. Gary had his limit in the boat by 9 PM by throwing a Zara Spook thru the dusk period.  Two of these fish were kept while the others were later culled. The bite slowed to a crawl for Gary until about 1 AM when he caught what would be the lunker for the tournament. A 4 ¼ pound largemouth. The big fish was quickly followed by a flurry of topwater smallmouth that pushed his total weight for the night to 16.41 lbs. More than enough for the win.

Second place belonged to steady-hand Bryan Gudd. Bryan is known for throwing a dropshot rig the majority of the time and tonight was no exception. If it ain’t broke…Bryan culled his way to 12.71 lbs and secured the runner up position.

John Ogolik prowled the shallows with a spinnerbait catching a total of 11.85 lbs. and narrowly edging out Jordan Catala for third place.

Top non boater went to Mike Lennon with 8.69 lb and was guided by Andy Krayewsky who had a fine limit himself.

With his 11.85 pound bag John Ogolik has now moved into 1st place in the AOY race as he tries to secure his 3rd straight title.

Four tournaments remain in “Trail 2016” with the next contest on Copake Lake Aug 14 and the final three on Oscawana, Mahopac, & Bantam.