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.
