Fishing in New England there are lots of chances to fish tournaments – but not too many chances to win a fully rigged Ranger boat. In addition, there aren’t too many tournaments that pay out over $45,000 in cash and prizes to all the teams. The Northern Bass Supply Tournament of Champions has raised the bar for tournament fishing in the Northeast.

Sandy Oja and Northern Bass put together an event that provides a high payout for competitive local anglers, as well as a chance for parent/child and husband/wife teams to compete. Northern Bass also had prizes for the Paralyzed Veterans of America competitors as well. The PVA is a national organization that pairs up a PVA angler with a boater to fish a series of events. Northern Bass has been a big supporter of the PVA, and provides both financial assistance as well as logistics.

So what happened? Who won the boat? To start at the beginning, first you had to qualify. There were multiple routes you could take to get here. The top twenty teams from the Team Trail qualified, as did the top five from each of the three open tournaments and the top five teams from the Stateline Profile Sebago Open. The top three parent/child and husband/wife teams qualified through the opens (total weight). All in all, fifty teams qualified to fish for two days on Lake Winnipesaukee.

Day one was a great day. The weather cooperated, there was less boat traffic than usual since it was after Labor Day, and the fish cooperated. Usually, this late in the year, a 20 pound bag will put you right at the top. When the scales closed, eleven teams had broken the 20 pound barrier. One look at the fish could tell you why – they were feeding heavy for the fall, and packing on weight. “I have never seen such footballs” commented one angler.

When the weather is nice on Winni, you typically have all the options open to you. You can run all over the lake, fish deep or shallow, and generally catch fish a bunch of different ways. Dave Swett and Mike Plouffe led after day one with over 23 pounds. These guys are known for catching big largemouth – if the weather is nice, and you’re fishing for smallmouth against these two, you are fishing for second.

The deep smallmouth bit well day one as well. Steve and Joe Lucarelli, the smallmouth masters, were right near the top of the leaderboard with 22.14.

Day two was a different story as the weather was cooler and windier, and the largemouth bite seemed to tail off a bit. Overall, the weights were a lot lower on the second day, with the exception of the ultimate winners,

Dave Kelley and Mike Ledoux brought one of the biggest bags of smallies to the scales ever seen at Winni. Their catch of 25.68 for eight fish has not been equaled in years, if ever, and simply blew the field away. To give you an idea of how they dominated the field, they beat the second place team by 7.06 pounds – but only 1.52 pounds separated second from sixth!

They got their fish shallow, on typical reaction baits, such as spinnerbaits and jigs. These tactics used to dominate Winni twenty years ago, until the fishing pressure drove most everyone to throw Spider Jigs, drop shots, and tubes. As one team put “hey, the 80’s called and they want their gear back!”

Second place went to Jim Gildea and Dave “Rivernut” Roberts. They got their fish on top water and drop shot. Dave is used to fishing in inches for smallmouth on the rivers in his jet boat, so it’s a big adjustment for him to stare at a sonar screen all day.

Third was the noted father and son team of Steve and Joe Lucarelli, They credited their success to the new Berkeley Gulp Alive baits. “This stuff is awesome” enthused Joe, “although I probably shouldn’t tell you – you’ll put it in the article”. Too late. They also got some good fish drop shotting Senko’s. These guys have won a lot of money on this lake in the last few years, fishing for brown fish.

Finally, fourth was Mark Miner and Jean Coulombe, with 41 pounds even. Most of their fish was caught using drop shot and Jigs.

First place in the husband/wife category was Kevin and Penny Tenney. They were eight overall, so they won $500 for first couple, and another $500 for finishing eight.

The top parent/child team was Richard Wentworth and Patrick Wentworth. They had 28.74 pounds and won $500.

Overall this was a great event. In addition to the payout, there were rods, reels, tackle and raffles. Sandy did her usual stellar job as master of ceremonies and put on a show that kept everyone there until the last check was given and the last raffle prize awarded.

This event could not have happened without the support of Ranger Boats, Evinrude and Toyota. It goes without saying their support for this trail is great, and shows their commitment to Northern Bass Supply, New England bass fishing, and the community in general. This is the third year in a row Northern Bass has run this trail, and each year it has gotten bigger and better.

Note from Sandy

Please take time to thank our sponsors- Ranger Boats- Evinrude- Toyota – MinnKota – Humminbird – Lowrance and the many others that are listed on our banner. Thanks for a great year and we will see everyone next year.