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.
