Big draw at the 2008 Northern Bass Supply customer appreciation Tournament!

 Many long time tournament anglers will tell you:  “If you’re only going to fish one event in the fall, make sure it is the Northern Bass Supply “Customer Appreciation” tournament on Winnipesaukee!   And with good reason:  Northern Bass Supply is the premier Bass Fishing tackle supplier and tournament trail in New England. 

As per usual, everything was first class.  The pre-tournament meeting included giveaways from vendors such as Lucky Craft, Diawa, Berkeley, Gamakatsu, Gamma, and Stren among others.  In addition NBS provided hot Hors De’ovres for everyone.  (Kurt Damery destroyed the meatballs, and Ricky Horne was seen leaving with a weigh-in bag full of wings, but that is another story.)

Seventy Two teams came out to play from as far away as New York, filling up Silver Sands resort, the host hotel for the event.  Oftentimes we have to deal with thick fog this time of year, but the warmer than average temps and RAIN kept that to a minimum and we were good to go for a 7 AM take-off from Ellacoya State Beach. This day would prove to be a test of the competitor’s raingear for sure!

Luckily, the rain stopped in time for our 3 pm weigh in and once again, the NBS crew did a phenomenal job of weighing and returning fish safely back to the lake. 

Besting the field by over a pound winning $4000 was the team of Bob Gariepy and Dan Greenwood with 21.96 lbs of smallmouth bass.  Bob is something of a legend in New England Bass fishing.  He has been fishing tournaments since their inception in New England and was a pioneer in some of the smallmouth tactics we all use today.  Bob told me they boated 12 keepers on the day and used a run and gun pattern with spinnerbaits and tubes in as little as 4 to as much as 30 feet.  Great Job gentlemen!

In second place also winning ANOTHER $1000 Ranger Cup bonus(I think this is #5) with 20.70lbs. was Reynolds Marine / Yamamoto pro Jim Gildea and Warren Burrell.  Jim just wrote an article for Yamamoto bait’s “Inside Line” magazine on deep dead sticking.  I think maybe we all need to read it after the year Jim has had!

Rounding out the top three was the father-son smallmouth duo of Chad and Alan Barcomb.  Chad had a specially challenging day as his propeller threw a blade!  It was certainly difficult getting that big Ranger boat back across the broads with only two propeller blades!  Chad told me he and Dad caught 20 fish in 25-30 feet on tubes and topwaters.

Finishing in 4^th was the versatile team of John Rafuse and Tom Lyons with a mixed bag weighing 20.24 lbs.  John said they targeted shallow fish and caught 11during the day in five feet of water on spinnerbaits, topwaters, and a senko, including a key 3+ pound largemouth.

Finally in fifth place was the team of Mark Riccardi and Rich Bersani with 20.18 lbs. of smallmouths.  Mark said they stayed in one area all day in 25 feet of water and fooled 16 fish with dropshots.

The Toyota Lunker Smallmouth award went to Steve “Pizzaman” Graham and Matt Dupree with a 4.24 lb beauty that fell for a hula grub in 30 feet.  Al Cappy and Brian Carmichael won the Toyota Lunker Largemouth award with a 5.07lb beast tricked by a drop shot in four feet.

Northern Bass would like to thank Ranger Boats,Evinrude,Minn Kota, Humminbird, Toyota, Silver Sands, and all of their sponsors for their continued support of this event. 

See you all in May 2009 for the Smallmouth open!