WBM Event #5 - Twin Lakes

Ogolik Oggles Opprotunity

Twin Lakes

May 21, 2017

by Gary Menchen

With opening day of bass season in NY State still a month away, the Watershed bass club has really taken advantage of CT's year round open season completing the 5th tournament of the year. Fishing our events on Sunday's, we are used to “sloppy seconds” as the venue we visit normally has had another tournament the day before. Well this time dealt with “terrible thirds” because other clubs had fished tournaments on Friday & Saturday as well. The “beat up” fish on beds became very difficult to catch but some of our members took to saying, “there are no problems, only solutions” and brought some good fish to the weigh in.

Winning his first tournament of the 2017 season, defending three time WBM AOY John Ogolik claimed 1st place with a fine limit which included 3 smallmouth & 2 largies weighing 12.63 lbs. John caught fish bedding as well as cruisers primarily on jigs and added that the bite was the best in the final hour after the wind picked up.

Second place belonged to Rob Lopez with 11.32 lbs. that included the day’s lunker, a 4.17 lb largemouth. Bites were not a problem for Rob as he culled during the day but did break off a couple of big fish which certainly would have helped his weight. Lopez utilized old school Mann's Jelly Worms, even on his sight fish.

Finishing third was WBM rookie Tommy Rosato with an 8.90 limit of largemouth. Rosato reported catching his fish on a cheap curly tail grub with a ¼ oz ballhead jig purchased in Walmart, believe it or not. With his latest effort Tom has surged to lead among the rider's.

The back lake (West Twin) did not prove to be a factor as the three boats fishing there did not place in the money.  A different member has won every tournament this year so far. We'll see if that continues as we visit big Lake Champlain next. 

Another note: Scott Decker made his 2017 debut showing off his new ride, a 21' Bass Cat with a 250 HP Merc & twin Power Poles. Got to be the “baddest boat” in the club. He showed me pictures of a bass over 6 and another over 7 lbs. caught the week before at Twin, fish he surely wished he caught today.

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12.63

 

Winning his first tournament of the 2017 season, defending three time WBM AOY John Ogolik claimed 1st place with a fine limit which included 3 smallmouth & 2 largies. John caught fish bedding as well as cruisers primarily on jigs and added that the bite was the best in the final hour after the wind picked up

11.32

Second place belonged to Rob Lopez and included the day’s lunker, a 4.17 lb largemouth. Bites were not a problem for Rob as he culled during the day but did break off a couple of big fish which certainly would have helped his weight. Lopez utilized old school Mann's Jelly Worms, even on his sight fish.

8.90

inishing third was WBM rookie Tommy Rosato with an 8.90 limit of largemouth. Rosato reported catching his fish on a cheap curly tail grub with a ¼ oz ballhead jig purchased in Walmart, believe it or not. With his latest effort Tom has surged to lead among the rider's.

 

 

 

 

Winners Circle

Rosato, Lopez, Ogolik

WBM Event #4 - Congamond Lakes

Thompson Snatches Congamond Win

Congamond Lakes

May 7, 2017

by Gary Menchen

With the 4th of 12 points tournaments now complete, we are officially 1/3 through the 2017 WBM Tournament Trail. It is depressing to realize that Spring has yet to fully arrive. And in less than 6 short weeks, the days will again start to get shorter. This weekend we started in the rain and finished in the rain but in between it was not a bad day at all. Mostly overcast conditions prevailed but with some breaks of bright sunshine the good bed fisherman seized the opportunity and brought some good fish to the scales.

Winning his first event of the year is a former “WBM - AOY” Timmy Thompson with a fine bag of largemouth bass weighing 13.80 pounds. Besides targeting nesting bass, Tim heaved the “A Rig” in clear water as shallow as 2-3 feet (or so he said), searching for active cruisers. The “Hammer” worked through two limits of bass of near identical size.

 A close second was Bryan Gudd who used a lipless crankbait and a drop-shot to bring in 13.53 pounds.  Seldom does Bryan ever have a bad day and today was no exception as he competed on a lake he had never seen before.

A couple of new members, the Gottschalk brothers served notice that they are playing for keeps as both of them brought limits to the scales. Sean placed third with 12.19 pounds getting his first WBM check and Erik, had 7.15 pounds. Both caught most of their fish on small swim baits.

Fishing in the back of Timmy's boat was Kevin Bradley who did just a super job weighing 4 fish for 11.13 pounds including the days lunker, a 4.17 lb. fatty caught early in the AM on a spinnerbait. And a second a short time later on a plastic creature bait. That was it until the last hour of the tournament when he nailed two more fish including a 3 pounder, never give up. Fishing behind a vacuum cleaner like Thompson is no easy feat. Congrats to Bradley as he easily claimed the top non boater check in addition to the lunker award.

Three time WBM - AOY Johnny Ogolik was just out of the money in 4th place with 11.57 pounds.  Rick, Greg, Andy, & Tommy also had a good tournament.

Next on the slate is East Twin Lake in N/W CT on Sunday May 21. This should be another good tournament with plenty of fish still on beds. Starting time for this tournament is 6:00 AM with the pairings draw at 5:15 AM.  Rumor has it that a couple of lost members (boaters who have been MIA since 2016) just might make an appearance this time. See you all there.

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13.80

Winning his first event of the year is a former AOY Timmy Thompson with a fine bag of largemouth bass weighing 13.80 pounds. Besides targeting nesting bass, Tim heaved the “A Rig” in clear water as shallow as 2-3 feet (or so he said), searching for active cruisers. The “Hammer” worked through two limits of bass of near identical size.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

13.53

 

A close second was Bryan Gudd who used a lipless crankbait and a drop-shot to round out his limit. Seldom does Bryan ever have a bad day and today was no exception as he competed on a lake he had never seen before

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12.19

A couple of new members, the Gottschalk brothers served notice that they are playing for keeps as both of them brought limits to the scales. Sean placed third with 12.19 pounds getting his first WBM check. Both caught most of their fish on small swim baits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

11.13

Fishing in the back of Timmy's boat was Kevin Bradley who did just a super job weighing 4 fish for 11.13 pounds including the days lunker, a 4.17 lb. fatty caught early in the AM on a spinnerbait. And a second a short time later on a plastic creature bait. That was it until the last hour of the tournament when he nailed two more fish including a 3 pounder. Never give up!

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Winners Circle

Thompson, Gudd, Gottschalk, Bradley

WBM Event #3 - Lake Lillinonah

Kapfer's Kicker Captures Crown

Lake Lillinonah

April 23, 2017

By Gary Menchen

On Sunday, April 23 the Watershed Bassmasters fished tournament #3 of the 2017 season on Lake Lillinonah. After two tournaments with inclement weather, this day was absolutely gorgeous as the strong April sun brought the temperature to near 70 by mid-afternoon. The layers of clothing came of off one by one as the day progressed with short sleeves worn by weigh in time.

Winning his first ever club event was Kool Kenny Kapfer. Ken was guided by Greg Menchen who said he “knew a spot”. And what a spot it was as Kenny reeled in a 6.10lb donkey and another good largemouth at 3.85lb. Both of Ken's fish were caught using jigs and his 9.95lb total was enough to cash the 6lb pool, lunker for the tournament and First Place overall.

Gary Menchen's five fish limit which hit the scales at 9.46lb and fell just short of first place. Gary bag was anchored by a solid 4.10lb smallmouth.

Third place was claimed by WBM veteran Wayne Mahood as he fished his first tournament of the season. Wayne brought a five fish limit weighing in at 9.09lbs to the scales.

The top non boater was Watershed rookie Jim Faulkner with a 7.62 limit of smallmouth bass. Jim fished with Gary Menchen and his suggested area produced limits for the both of them. All of the fish that made their way onto the boat were duped by jerkbaits.

Next on the trail Watershed will travel to the CT/MA border as they visit the Congamond Lakes. A full spawn is expected to underway when they arrive on Sunday May 7th. The tournament hours are 7AM - 3PM with the partner draw taking place at 6:15AM.

See you there!

WBM Event #2 Results - Bantam Lake

Gudd Enough for Bantam

Bantam Lake SnoozeFest

April 9, 2017

by Gary Menchen

                                             

On Sunday April 9, the Watershed Bassmasters fished its 2nd tournament of the year on Bantam Lake in sleepy hamlet of Morris, CT. To say the results were less than stellar would be stretching it as no limits were brought to the scales. And for the second event in a row, only four of the anglers weighed fish.

Following the quick weigh-in, the winner was Bryan Gudd with a 3 fish bag of smallmouth weighing 8.88 lbs. Bryan also had the lunker for the event, a smallie going 4+ lbs. Bryan caught his first fish right away on mid-depth boulders using a swimbait. He went the rest of the day without another bite until late in the day when he picked two more fish in deeper water with a blade bait.

Second place went to WBM rookie Tommy Rosato who never gave up and popped a nice 2 lb smallie on a swimbait with only ½ hour left. Third place was claimed by Timmy Thompson who weighed in the first largemouth of the season, edging out Jordon Doucette who had the only other fish of the day.

With 2 difficult tournaments now behind us we turn our attention to Lake Lillinonah on Sunday April 23 and visions fat prespawn bass. Who will emerge on top in event #3 joining the two previous champs Andy Krayewsky & Bryan Gudd in the winner’s circle? See you all there!

Remember that the boaters draw start numbers and the riders draw their boaters at 7:15 AM.  

RESULTS - WBM 2017 Poppa J Memorial Opener

One Dollar!

One Dollar!

Krayewsky's Keitechs Krush'em on Kandlewood!

Candlewood Lake

March 26, 2017         

by Gary Menchen

On Sunday March 26, the Watershed Bassmasters kicked-off our 2017 tournament season with the 4th Annual Pop Ziolkowski Opener held on Candlewood Lake. Trying to fit 12 AOY qualifying events plus an additional 2 Day Classic into a single season, we started this year season earlier than ever and will finish a little later towards the end of October. This may have caught some members off guard as several boats were still snowed in and a couple more members calling in sick as we opened with only half of the clubs members fishing.

The day started dry but cold and it did not take long for some rain to fall. It was not a great day weather wise. So, depending on who you asked, the fishing was good or terrible. Six of us skunked blaming the 37 degree water temperature but the other four dialed into the conditions and pattern and caught some awesome bass.

Nothing but smallmouth were weighed in with Andy Krayewsky's 17.58 lb. limit, anchored by a 4.49 brown fish, running away with 1st place. This was Andy's first ever club victory and proved that nice guys CAN finish first. After a slow morning, the afternoon really picked-up for Andy. All of his fish were caught crawling a swimbait in 25-30 feet of water. Congratulation's and here's wishing many more wins to come his way.

With 4 bass weighing 13.11 lb., Timmy “The Hammer” Thompson claimed the 2nd place money using swimbaits and vertically jigging. That being said, the real story here is that Tim guided Watershed rookie Tommy Rosato to an unforgettable day. Tommy finished 3rd with 3 fish for 11.88 lb. but it was his 5.12 lb. smallmouth that was the talk of the weigh-in. Not only did Tommy’s impressive fish win Lunker for the day, but it also netted him the 6lb Award. This monetary award is given to those that weigh-in either a 6lb+ Largemouth or a 5lb+ Smallmouth. It is an accumulative pool with $2 from each entry fee at each AOY event added to the pot until a qualifying fish is brought to the scales. Previously only largemouth captured this award with Greg Menchen being the last one to win it with a 6-1/2lb LMB at East Twin in Sept 2013. Tommy's smallmouth is the first brown fish to win this award and was worth over $700. As most fish today, Tommy's lunker was duped by a swim bait in 25-30 feet of water.

Three guys jumped out to an early lead this weekend. Will they hold or improve their positions after the next event? We'll find out on Sunday April 9th as we visit Lake Lillinonah. The tournament hours are 8AM-4PM but all are reminded that we have implemented a new “just show up and fish” policy. We will draw partners at the ramp 45 minutes before the start of each tournament. PLEASE be punctual, but if you are on the way and running a little late a call or text needs to be received before the draw begins or you will be SOL. Contact information is available on each pre-tournament itinerary.

One note, we have started an “optional” lunker pool for the largest largemouth bass and also the largest smallmouth bass of the year.  You can get in either or both for $10 each at any time during the year.  After the first event on Candlewood, we have no entries in the largemouth division and Greg's 2.35 lb smallmouth leads that division, as Tommy, Andy, and Timmy had not signed up for the pool. So, they still can get in as can all the rest of the members. See you at Lilly.

WSBM Event #10 - Bantam Lake

Thompson Tops Bantam

by Gary Menchen

The Watershed Bassmasters fished their 2016 Season Finale on Sunday October 23 at Bantam Lake in Connecticut. As they arrived at the ramp in the morning, the club soon realized that this would be their fourth consecutive event in extreme cold front conditions. A steady 20 mph wind with higher gusts made for tough conditions all day long.

In the winner’s circle for the first time this year was Timmy Thompson. On a day when there was not one 5 fish limit, the “Hammer” pounded the windy lake and bagged three bass for 9.18 lbs to secure the win. Using his Lowrance Unit’s S/I feature, Tim was able to locate two offshore rock piles which accounted for his two best fish. A slow retrieve with the A-Rig was enough to get those guys to react on a day when moving baits were useless. His third was caught in the pads on a frog.

Second place with two fish for 5.90 lbs was Gary Menchen. His 4.98 lb largemouth caught on a green pumpkin colored jig in the first 10 minutes proved to be the days lunker. Finding the fish in practice, he went straight to the spot and luckily the bass wanted to chew.

Right behind Gary in third was his son Greg who had three fish for 5.36 lbs. Joe Raguzin fished with Timmy and caught two bass on a drop shot rig which was good enough for the top non-boater position check. Bruce Nethercott & Scott Decker rounded out the top five.

Diversity was the rule this season as eight different people won club tournaments this year with only John Ogolik & Gary Menchen winning twice. Other tx winners were Greg Menchen, Scott Decker, Bruce Nethercott, Bryan Gudd, Rob Lopez and Timmy Thompson.

Thus ends a very exciting year for Watershed. AOY for the third consecutive year is John Ogolik who has only been the club for three years. Johnny “O” ties the club record of three titles in a row set by Hank Horowitz many years ago and will attempt to break it next year. Finishing second in the standings is Bryan “Too Dammed” Gudd and third place goes to “Old timer” Gary Menchen. Greg Menchen gets the number four spot and the “Hammer” Timmy Thompson secured the number five. AOY on the non-boaters side is also the “Rookie of the Year”. “Slick Rick” Faubert started and ended the seasons with a skunk but in between those two zero's he made some noise and brought enough weight to the scales to secure the title. Rick also was the top man at putting hooks in his fingers doing it twice. Our 2016 WBM Two-Day Classic on Lake Champlain was won by a Watersheds rookie (but a veteran angler) Dave Hadley. The “Lunker of the Year” was caught at East Twin Lake by Watershed's sophomore Scott Decker with a green fish well over five pounds.

The final club sponsored event is the 12th annual “Turkey Trot” Tournament at Lake Mahopac on Sunday Nov 13TH­. Our 2017 tournament trail will be announced shortly and it looks to be a very exciting schedule with a new classic location. In addition, we will be announcing the date & venue of our awards banquet (with a surprise guest speaker) and we are currently accepting new members for next year. Have a good winter, stay safe and see you all next spring!!!

WSBM Event #9 - Lake Mahopac

Lopez locks-down Mahopac

Lake Mahopac

October 9, 2016

by Gary Menchen

Another extreme autumn cold front greeted the Watershed Bassmaster's as we prepared to fish Lake Mahopac on the morning of Sunday October 9th. The tournament started in 20 MPH winds which were sustained for the duration of the day and a light rain adding to the discomfort. There was a decent bite for those who figured the fish out and a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth were caught from depths of 1 to 30 feet.   

At the end of the day, WSBM rookie Rob Lopez won his first club tournament claiming victory with a fine limit totaling 12.82 lbs. His ticket to 1st place came via his favorite technique, jigs.

Joe Raguzin brought 11.51 lbs to the scales out of the back of Rob's boat, good for the runner up spot. In Joe's bag was the day’s lunker, a 4.63 lb largemouth, also caught on a jig.

Third place went to another rider and another WSBM rookie. “Slick” Rick Faubert. Rick endured the pain of a removing large treble hook from his finger. His boater Wayne Mahood winced watching Rick operate on himself.  Faubert went on to finish his day with 11.12 in his sack and narrowly missing lunker with a 4.13 bass.  Scott Decker was 4th with 10.66 lbs.

John Ogolik said getting bites was a real grind and had a less than stellar day. His closest competitors in the AOY race Bryan Gudd, Gary & Greg Menchen could not take advantage and close the gap. John is in the driver’s seat with one event remaining on the 2016 WSBM Tournament Trail. See you on Bantam Lake October 23rd. 

WSBM Event #8 - Lake Oscawana

Bryan done Gudd on Oscawana

LAKE OSCAWANA     

September 25, 2016

by Gary Menchen

A wicked cold front with the lowest temperatures of the fall season met Watershed Bassmasters at Lake Oscawana for event #8 in the 2016 Tournament Trail.  A brisk but beautiful fall day unfolded in beautiful Putnam Valley, NY and some mighty fine & fat bass were caught by our members.

In the winner’s circle for the first time this year was Bryan Gudd as he dropshotted his way to the win.  His 5 fish limit pushed the scales to 13.64 lbs.  Gudd started fishing right at the takeoff spot and the rumor is he never fired up his big motor all day relying only on his T/M.  Nice job Bryan and also by his rider Joe Raguzin who was the top non boater with a limit of his own. Joe brought a 7.44 lb bag to the scales.  Second place went to Watershed rookie Dave Hadley whose limit weighed 13.09 lbs. David scored early nabbing his big fish (4.33 lbs) on a buzz bait and then filled out his limit with other lures. Jordon Doucette nailed the day’s lunker pitching a creature bait to the base a large boulder.  His 4.77 largemouth helped him to a 3rd place finish.  Johnny Ogolik caught all his fish throwing a spinnerbait finishing 4th with 10.89 lbs.  And Gary Menchen's 3 fish weighed 9.76 lbs.

Oscawna is one of the few lakes left in our region with very good vegetation. It is ringed with lily pads and has a lot of both milfoil and native grasses.  Add many, many boulders, deep water and a good forage base and you have an excellent fishery producing some real fat largemouth bass.

WSBM Event #7 - Copake Lake

On August 14th the Watershed Bassmasters held their 7th event of the season on Copake Lake. After a violent overnight storm which knocked down trees and power lines ripped thru Columbia County, the morning began with a beautiful sunrise. And unlike the previous 4 or 5 tournaments, the only precipitation on this day was the perspiration from the anglers. Oppressive humidity with temps in the 90s challenged the focus and fortitude of all those on this day.

As they say, some things never change, and this trip to Copake was no different. When all was said and done, John Ogolik won his 3rd consecutive regular season tournament at the lake with a 14.62 lb bag of largemouth bass. John fished “junk” all day and reported that the bite was off. His bass were hitting short much of the time. Evident when he would bring his jig in with the trailers pulled off and watching fish swim away. But obviously he put enough green fish in the well to secure the win.  He could be on his way to his third consecutive AOY as he has now separated himself even further from the pack with three tournaments left.

About a pound behind the winner was Gary Menchen with 13.59 lbs. Early on when his jig was constantly bringing up muck on almost every cast, Gary changed from a 5/8 to a 1/2 ounce jig which worked much better. In making a strong bid for his 2nd straight victory and third of the year Gary could not cull out a squeaker largemouth as a heavy fish shook loose in the final hour. Gary did however catch the day’s lunker, a 3.65 largemouth.

Third place went to the home-lake favorite Kenny Kapfer who brought in a good limit weighing 10.68 lbs. Kenny also fished jigs all day long.

Rick Faubert secured the Top Non-Boater spot with a limit weighing 8.49 lbs. Slick Rick acknowledged Kenny K’s guide service as a key part of his success during the event.

WSBM Events #6 & #7 - Night Moves

The Freaks come out at Night

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.