WSBM 2-Day Classic - Lake Champlain

Dave's Day #2 limit locks-in the win!

The Watershed B/M held its 2016 Classic Tournament on Lake Champlain June 25th and 26th. A change from tradition where one must qualify to fish the end-of-year Tournament of Champions to a mid-season no entry fee event open to the entire membership. Change is good.

Great weather was in place for the weekend and the fishing was improving. Blessed with the absence of any other tournaments out of Ticonderoga, the lake was extremely uncrowded. Even the pleasure boaters were far and few between.

WBM rookie Dave Hadley (a seasoned veteran of other clubs & tx trails), won his first club tournament and made it a big one. The Classic. His 2 day, 10 fish total of 24.76 was enough for the win. Dave’s day one weight of 9.68lb gave him just over a pound lead heading into day two. On Sunday he put the hammer down and brought in the largest bag of the weekend. A 15.08lb limit of largemouth bass to pull away and secure the victory.  Most of Dave's fish were caught fishing shallow running crank baits and culled his limit from 10 or 11 keepers.

Gary Menchen landed second with a two day total of 20.81. Gary reported catching his mixed bags each day on both jigs & soft plastics and also included a few bedding fish.

Scott Decker finished third with 14.59 followed by Mike Iannucci (13.75) fishing worms and Tommy Zumpano (11.66) cranking. 

All members in attendance had a great time and the consensus was to do it again next year. 

Our next event will be the first of two consecutive all-nighters. Candlewood Lake will be the venue launching out of the Squantz ramp. 

WSBM Reunion Tournament & Dinner

Burlage, Menchen, Maffei, D'Addio, Thompson, D'Addio, Ross, Shredders, Augusewicz

On Tuesday June 21, a group of former and current WBM clubs members met on Lake Mahopac for our first ever Reunion Tournament. A good time was had by everyone and to be honest, we could have just as easily left the boats on the trailers as we all enjoyed catching up with each other in the morning.

The list of participants included: two of Watershed’s charter members of 1974, Charlie Blasi & Gary Menchen. Fellow old timers Andy Maffei and George Burlage. Recent members Rich Tomasini, Tommy Ross, Dave Shredders, Skip Augusewicz along with father and son team Bill and Matt D’Addio all came to fish. Current and longtime member Timmy Thompson was also present. Beautiful weather, great company and a resurgence in milfoil made for an all-around awesome day.

The format for the day was a 1 fish limit that included two, four hour sessions where we weighed-in and changed partners at the half. With a small front pushing through at take-off, WSBM original Charlie Blasi showing no signs of slowing down by winning the first half with a nice smallmouth. The winds picked-up for the second session and so did the bites. Skip Augusewicz won the nite cap bringing a 3-1/2 pound largemouth bass to the scales. The fishing was steady through-out the day with quality and quantity picking up in the afternoon.

The highlight of the day was the pizza & beers at Four Brothers across from the launch ramp. Old stories, especially the ones told by Andy & George had the rest of us in stitches. The reunion was a success and without question has the potential to become an annual must-do event.

See ya next year! 

WSBM Event #2 - Twin Lakes

Scott Decker_Twin Lakes

On Sunday May 1st, the Watershed Bassmasters found themselves in the far reaches of Northwestern CT to compete in Event #2 of the 2016 season. Twin Lakes was the location and unlike the beautiful weather they had two weeks earlier on Candlewood, the weather this day was down-right miserable. A consistent rainfall mixed with wind, temperatures in the low 40's, a short spell of sleet and falling water temps throughout the day made for some very tough conditions. Both physically and mentally. As is the case for weekend warriors, you’ve got to take what you’re given.

Enter sophomore Scott Decker. A hungry and talented young stick with a smile as big as Texas, Scott persevered during this demanding grinder of a day. A three fish bag of largemouth that weighed 8.98lbs was enough for the win. His total weight was anchored by a 5.30lb fence panda that also proved to be the lunker of the day. When asked about his big fish, Decker smiled and said I threw a jig to a spot where the light bottom met a darker weed patch. Then the line just started moving.

This is Scott's first win as a WSBM member and most certainly will not be his last.  After the weigh-in, he shared how he fished a Columbia County Pondhopper's tournament on Twin Lakes a couple of weeks earlier where several fish well over 6lbs were caught. Knowing the lakes potential, Scott understood that any cast could pay-off with a big one.

Taking the runner up position was Greg Menchen. Greg's 5 fish limit of largemouth weighed 8.36 lbs.  “Mench” had to adjust his fishing according to the conditions and tapped into a reaction bite by reeling a lipless crank bait over the tops of short weeds. Greg is off to a good start this season and finds himself leading the AOY standings after the first two tournaments.

 After a dismal opening tournament on Candlewood, Bryan Gudd drop-shotted his way to a third place finish with a limit weighing 8.28 lbs. Getting off the schneid, Bryan looks to carry-over another strong finish at our next stop in two weeks.

John Ogolik finished just out of the money with one of only three 5 fish limits weighing 7.90 lbs.  Kevin Bradley took the check for the top non boater

Fun Fact: Scott's rider was Tommy Zumpano, who just happened to be the rider for the winner at the last tournament. Tommy will be available to the highest bidder at the next event.

For the second consecutive tournament all fish were returned live back into the lake, great job guys and let's keep up the good fish care as the weather gets warmer.  Our next tournament is on Sunday May 15 on Lakeville Lake.  See you there.

RESULTS - WSBM 2016 Poppa J Memorial Opener

FIRE ONE UP!!!

On Sunday April 17, the Watershed Bassmasters held their 3rd Annual Poppa J Memorial opening tournament to kick off the 2016 season. Mother Nature was cooperative, giving us beautiful spring weather conditions. The fish appeared unimpressed though as the day proved to be very tough.

Out of 16 anglers participating, only 3 five fish limits were brought to the scales. Timmy Thompson's live wells accounted for 2 of the limits and were good enough to secure the 2nd & 3rd place positions. Tim had 7 keepers and culled-up to a weight of 9.28lbs. All fell victim to a Deep Shadow Rap jerkbait.

Following a one year sabbatical, Mike Iannucci kicked in the door to announce his return with a weight of 11.59 lbs. Good enough for 2nd place and less than 4oz. out of first, Mike’s mixed bag of 5 fish came from a combination of jerkbaits and hair jigs. He also accredited much of his success on Sunday to the fact that his guide had him around fish for the majority of the day. (Although it is not against the rules to hire a guide on tournament day, we might want to close that loop)

But in the end, the day belonged to Greg Menchen. His 11.79 lb. bag of smallmouth was enough for the victory. Greg reported only 5 bites all day with 2 of them coming in the last hour of the tournament.  At the weigh in he explained how he caught his fish despite the slow bite. Greg is very good at using his electronics (as obsolete as they are) and very early in the day determined the fish were not active. He had practiced for half a day on Saturday catching only one fish so he knew it was going to be a “slow go”. Jerkbaits and soft plastics were used to catch his fish but the real key was dealing with the slime coated weeds that seemed to be all over the lake. Greg said he had to make multiple casts in an area looking for a hard bottom and was constantly either getting hung up or cleaning gunk from his baits. Total concentration in dealing with the frustration helped to keep his head in the game.

Greg’s bag was anchored by a 4.01lb smallmouth that just edged out Jordan Catala's 3.97lb fish for the day's lunker.

We would also like to welcome aboard a couple of WBM “rookies” that made their club debut at Candlewood. Rick Faubert and Rob Lopez. Both accomplished anglers in their own right, they look forward to learn and share some fishing knowledge with the rest of the team. Next up is East Twin Lake on Sunday May 1st.

Watershed is on the Web!

For one of the oldest BASS affiliated clubs in the state of NY, putting our presence out on the web has been a long time coming. With that being said, we have a lot of catching-up to do. Our first order of business is to get the word out. Through the use of this website our aim is to promote, celebrate and re-connect with the most essential part of our organization...The Members! 

 

  • To our current members: We will transition to this site as our primary means of communication. This site will be used to register for our events, publish the results and as an archive for our accomplishments. I am uncertain if we will continue use of the message board moving forward. What we need from you is a commitment of content. Almost everyone has a phone with a camera these days, so there is no reason for not recording our catches at weigh-ins. We owe it to our friends and family that follow us here and on social media. It is important to celebrate our success with those that we care the most about. 

  • To our former members: Two things that became immediately clear while doing research on the club's history were the large numbers of anglers that have passed through our roster and the lack of historical content to share. So, as you look for your name on the Former Member list and it isn't there, let us know. If you notice someone else's name missing, let us know. If you have any scans of old photos, newsletters, weigh-in sheets, AOY standings etc., please attach them to an email and send it in. I am uncertain still if we will adopt the use of a blog, message area or news feed for text-based sharing. If you do have any memorable stories, (truthful or not) you would like to share, again just send them in and I will find a way to post it here. Don't forget, social media is an easy and familiar way to share what you have. Watershed's Twitter, Facebook and Instagram buttons are located on the bottom of the page. 

  • To our future members: Do you enjoy being outdoors, fishing for bass, competing for a little money and a whole lot of bragging rights? Are you looking for some mentorship or to gain some experience in a tournament setting? Would you like to take part in the next evolution of the Watershed Bassmasters? If so, then why haven't you contacted us yet?