Eastern Shore Bassmasters: Club Tournaments

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters concluded their 2nd tournament of the Fall season or otherwise known... "Die Hard" season, named for good reason. The club launched at around 6:45 AM and weighed in at 1PM. The weather was mostly cooperative with air temps hitting near 60 degrees and a light wind on the lake later in the day. The water temps were chilled from last nights low of 39, but maintained a solid 52-53 degrees.

The bite was off for the most part but a few anglers with the patience, were able to coax a fish into biting. The patterns leading up to the day of the tournament held true with fish hanging on the deeper structure during the frontal conditions, and just days prior, fish were located with spinnerbaits in shallow water in wood cover.

Bob Moody, formerly a guest and now the one of the club's newest members, held true to fashion by catching one fish, a very large fish. Bob enticed this lunker with a really slow presentation working soft plastics around the submerged stumps. Bob's fish placed well enough for a 1st place finish with 4.38 pounds.  Welcome to the club Bob!

In 2nd place and making his early bid for the 2010 AOY lead was Josh Wich. Josh put together a solid plan during practice, but with the conditions getting tougher...only managed the one fish, a 2.88 largemouth bass found eating a crankbait on deeper structure.

Rounding out 3rd was a hopeful Bob Wallace. When Bob heard guys were only bringing in one fish he was liking his chances. Unfortunately, the scales had him postpone the celebration as he only managed a keeper fish weighing in at 1.75 pounds, but it was good enough for a 3rd place finish, plus the points on a pretty tough afternoon. Good job Bob!

The club's next Die-Hard series tourney will be on the Nanticoke River on December 13th. Bundle up!

Bob Moody had the lunker with a 4.38 largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters opened their 2010 season this past weekend on the Sassafras River, launching out of Turner's Creek near Betterton, MD. The weather was less than cooperative as we saw scattered showers and light rain, mild to heavy winds, and unseasonably warm air temps in the upper 60s to low 70's. The water temperature hovered in the very high 50's during an outgoing tide for most of the tournament, which never really dropped much at all thanks to the south winds blowing all day.

Capturing enough weight with only two fish, Goin Fishin Adventures fishing guide Don Murray took the lead on the day with two fish weighing 6.62 pounds, including a beauty of a largemouth that weighed very nearly 4 1/2 pounds.

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride. True. True. Well if you ask pro bass angler Josh Wich anyway. "Mr. 2nd place"  was unable to capitalize a tough bite day and again finds himself trailing the club points leader to start yet a new season. Josh did manage to find his two fish working crankbaits in the slack water out of the current.

Rounding out 3rd place was Explosive Tackle Company owner Ryan Abey. Ryan was able to pull off this feat with a single fish weighing 3.60 pounds. A good fish to propel him in the early standings and secure a 3rd place finish going into our tougher November/December schedule...aka the Die Hard Series!

Don Murray had the lunker with a nice 4.43 pound largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters wrapped up their 2009 season on Lums Pond in Bear, Delaware on Saturday September 19th. Along with that, we watched a little drama unfold as the tight 2009 Angler of the Year points race finally came to end. The tournament kicked off around 6:30AM saturday morning and as we arrived to the ramp, were surprised to find another club on site holding their club tournament with about as many boats. The air temps were in the low 60's and the water temps were mid to high 60's peaking around 70 by the end of the day.

Josh Wich, sponsored by Airways Freight and Link's Marine, led the charge for the day with a decent bag of fish on a tough day. Josh's four fish, including a very long, but not so heavy 3.75 pound lunker, opened the door for him to take lead in the points race with a 4 fish sack bringing him 7.75 pounds and securing him the tournament win, as well as lunker for the day. Josh found some good fish mostly by finessing shakyheads to laydowns and docks, while filling the rest of his day throwing shallow running crankbaits to the stumps and laydowns.

In 2nd place was up and coming newbie, Bob Wallace with 2 fish weighing in at 4.34 pounds. Bob has managed to work his way from the depths of the Angler of the Year race to secure a spot at 4th overall for the year. Congratulations Bob!

Rounding out 3rd place was Club President and Powell rods pro staffer Dave Perrego. Dave has managed to stay consistent all year, catching fish when he needed to, but fell short today with just one fish for 2.89 pounds. Dave found his only keeper in the first ten minutes of the tourney fan casting a point with tree stumps with lipless crankbaits. Dave's 1 fish for 2.89 pounds was good enough to maintain a tight race in the Angler of the Year race as he holds on to win his 3rd consecutive club title!

Congratulations to all for a fun-filled year. In 2009, we saw more guys come to the scales with bigger and better bags of fish than last year. You can only attribute that to the camraderie shared by the members in our club, as well as our competitive drive, pushing to learn more and do better.

Our 2010 season kicks off in October with our first stop on the Sassafras river, should be a good one!

Josh had the lunker with a 3.75 largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held their 9th tournament of the year on the Nanticoke River on Sunday August 16th. The club launched from the Seaford ramp at 5:45AM, where air temps were already in the high 70's forecast to hit low 90's for the day, and the water temps were anywhere between 81 and 84 degress on the main river.

Club President and Powell rods pro staffer Dave Perrego, found a solid pattern after a tough morning bite. Sticking to his usual pattern of cranking pad lines at low tide for a keeper bite. He developed and refined a more specific technique pitching worms to the fish staging at the mouths of feeder creeks and padfield drains. Dave managed a pretty succesful day hoisting a decent sack with 5  bass weighing 10.22 pounds.

Finishing 2nd for the day, the club's Vice President and Going Fishin Adventures guide Don Murray, also developed a solid pattern on the river pitching and swimming a 5/16 oz. finesse jig to laydowns and grass beds. Don's key to catching his fish was pitching the jig softly to laydown cover, then slowly swimming out from the cover over the grassy areas. Don's techniques boated his 5 best fish weighing 7.95 pounds, a good day indeed!

Rounding out 3rd place was Power Pole rep Ron Horton, with 4 fish for 4.77 pounds. Ron found himself in a tight field with a number of other boats in the upper stretches of the nanticoke all day.

The Angler of the Year points race has opened up a bit between 1st and 2nd place with Dave Perrego leading at the conclusion of this tournament by just over 8 pounds. Josh Wich who slipped a little is now defending his 2nd place position by up and coming Ron Horton who made a strong move to pull within 7 pounds of second place, all with just one tournament left to go for the 2009 season. The field also saw Explosive Tackle owner Ryan Abey hold his 4th position and Don Murray catapult up two places to 5th overall.  

The next and final tournament on the 2009 season will be held at Lum's Pond on September 19th with a picnic following the weigh-in for members and their friends and families.

Dave had the lunker with a 3.69 largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held their 8th tournament of the year on the Sassafras River launching out of  Turner's Creek on Saturday July 11th. The field took off at 5:30AM and weighed in at 2:00PM. Water temps were in the high 70's and the air temps druing the day hit the low 80's with a stiff Upper Bay Northwest wind at 10-15 mph.

Leading the field and securing his 1st club tournament win was Explosive Tackle owner, Ryan Abey.  Ryan found his fish by slow rolling an Explosive Tackle buzzbait in chartreuse over shallow grass and pitching to dock pilings with soft plastics. Ryan's effort grabbed him 1st place with 4 fish for 10.88 pounds.

In 2nd place was the consistent effort on the Sassafras River by Robert Broomall. Robert managed 3 keepers on crankbaits and jiogs on shallow wooded areas in the river's mid section. Robert's 3 fish placed him in 2nd place for the day with 7.95 pounds.

Rounding out 3rd place was Link's Marine's Josh Wich with 3 fish for 4.84 pounds. Josh gambled and took the trip north to the Upper Bay fishing for bass in shallow grassbeds with a shakyhead worm. Josh's efforts fell him just short of taking the points lead for the year with just two tournaments left.

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters will hold their next tournament on the Nanticoke River on August 16th.

Ryan had the lunker with a 3.68 Largemouth Bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters wrapped up their 7th tournament of the year on the Wicomico River in Salisbury, MD. The club launched out of the Salisbury Public Ramp at 5:30AM anf weighed-in at 1:30PM. The field was split with the top half of finishers sticking to the upper stretches of the river well above the restricted speed zone.

Link's Marine Pro Staffer Josh Wich got on a good pattern early and stuck to his game plan fishing the channel ledges and drops on the river's upper arms. Josh wrangled most of his fish with a Robo Worm Shakey Head and a Senko. His weight for the day, a 5-fish limit weighing 11.36 pounds was good enough for the win, besting 2nd place by just over 2 pounds.

In 2nd place was another good showing by 1st year member Ron Horton. Ron also spent time in the mid to upper section of the river casting soft plastics to submerged cover. Ron's 4 fish  for 9.25 pounds helped propel him in the standings and a push for 2nd place overall.

Rounding out the top 3 was Phil Burkhardt, with 3 fish for 7.69 pounds. Phil was fishing his 1st club event as he is seeking membership with the club. Phil rode with Josh and had him early with his 2 fish to none. Phil was drifting Senkos in the current and managing a pretty decent bite, all the while fishing behind the winner of the event. No doubt the pair was on them Saturday.

The club's next event will be on the Sassafras River out of Turner's Creek in July.

 Ryan had the day's lunker with a 3.65 largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters concluded their 2nd annual trip on the Potomac River this past weekend at Smallwood State Park in Marbury, MD. The club tournament was held on Friday May 15th of which only 6 members showed to fish.

The weather forecast for most of the weekend included brief periods of showers and rain, but for the most part, weather was not a factor, as we had some pretty decent fishing weather. Coming off of a recent full moon, the water temps were found between the high 60's and low 70's and the fish have already left most of the beds, and others were gearing up for the next phase of the coming spawn. Numbers of fish were caught by all, but the 15-inch minimum restriction kept total fish count pretty low for this one.

Taking 1st place on a tough day was Dave Perrego with a 2-fish weighing 4.34 pounds. Dave found a simple pattern casting spinnerbaits with the 7'0" MH Powell Max 703CEF casting rod to rocky points at well known spawning creeks on both sides of the low water tidal phase.

Finishing in 2nd place was Links Marine and Airways Freight pro staffer Josh Wich, weighing just one keeper sized fish, and albeit the day's lunker at 2.86 pounds. Josh made the run to Aquia only to show up a week or so late after the bedding fish had vacated the area or moved off the shallows.

Rounding out 3rd place was Power Pole rep, Ron Horton in his 1st full year with the club. Ron claimed to have caught over 30 fish working the weed edges with soft plastics, and managed just one 15" keeper for 2.77 pounds.

Members of the club did enjoy a better day's "fun-fishing" on Saturday with a better quality fish bite throughout the day on a number of different techniques, ranging from fast moving baits, slow presentations with jigs and soft plastics, and even a pretty good topwater bite as well.

The club will hold its next tournament on the Wicomico River in Salisbury, MD on June 6th.

Josh had the lunker with a 2.86 largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters kicked off their 2009 Spring season on Garrisons Lake in Smyrna, Saturday March 28^th. The day was filled with variable weather including a steady rain for most of the day, light to moderate winds, air temps were low 40's overnight to upper 50's with water temps in the 53-54 degree range, for an early pre-spawn event.

The club’s first trip to Garrisons proved a successful one despite the conditions as most anglers brought fish to the scales. The shallow contours throughout the pond and lack of visible cover made patterning these fish a bit difficult, but the left over vegetation that never really died off from the winter, came through for a few bites.

Leading the charge on the 1^st event of the Spring was Link’s Marine Pro Staffer Josh Wich, who found his fish casting the Explosive Tackle Spinnerbait in Perch to what isolated cover he could find. His efforts sealed the deal with 4 fish weighing 9.35 lbs, including the day’s lunker with a 3.98 largemouth bass.

In second place was a familiar non-member face, Bill Miller, a club guest for today’s event. Bill was able to find a few fish as a rider, throwing a black/blue fleck Alluring Baits 5” Trick Stick to fish in the larger pad field on the lake. In a flurry of fish catching trick stickin’, Bill managed 3 bass, within a span of 15 minutes in the pads, for a total of 6.36 lbs…good enough for 2^nd place!

Rounding out 3^rd place was Powell Rods Pro Staffer Dave Perrego. Dave finished with 3 fish for 5.60 lbs by fan casting the “NEW” Explosive Tackle Sexy Shad spinnerbait to open water coves and grassy points.

The club’s next tournament will be on the Potomac River in May for their 2^nd annual club trip and multi-event tournaments.

 *guest of the club

Josh had the lunker with a 3.98 Largemouth Bass

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters wrapped up their Fall tournament season on the Sassafras River on Sunday December 7th. The club dealt with extreme weather conditions, mainly chilly temps in the low 30's, winds gusting upwards of 30 mph, and main river swells of 3 feet or more, making navigation and fishing really tough. The rockfish and perch bite was on uptown, out of the wind. The water temps were a frigid 39 degrees at the surface, and the only bites came on vertical jigging Silver Buddy blade baits in 25 feet of water at the draw bridge, and one report of a largemouth shaking off in Turner's Creek.

This trip is a good argument for ending the season a bit earlier, but the diehards showed up nonetheless. The club wishes everyone a very merry holiday season! We look to resume fishing and reporting sometime in late March, hopefully!

 a four-way tie for 1st place, or last place????

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters conducted their 3rd tournament of the year on the Broadkill River in Milton, Delaware. The extreme weather was a bit tough and made conditions almost impossible to launch the boats with the "super low" tide that was still running out at 6:30AM. This delayed the "boat" launch until about 8:30 AM, but the guys found a way to occupy their time by improvising and held a bank fishing version of the tournament to start the day.

The park in Milton has plenty of good access for bank fishermen including the heavily wooded boat basin just east of the boat launch, and the riprap banks along the main stretch of the river. Early on, most were able to find a bite on plenty of short fish and some keepers along the banks by throwing rattle traps, spinnerbaits, and senkos.  When the tide change and provided enough depth at the ramp to launch the boats, the 2nd flight of the tourney was off.

The Broadkill, through town, is a narrow and winding tributary that appeared to be better suited for fishing in the upper stretches of the river with the tidal change and the heavy winds that dirtied the water down river. Clusters of boats were working the points and deeper ledges with rattle traps. By about 11:00AM the winds picked up and were blowing a sustained 20-30 mph. By the end of the day, Goin Fishin Adventures Guide Don Murray was able to bag enough keeper fish to take the win with 4 fish for 3.34 pounds. Rounding out the top three were Ron Horton with 2 fish for 2.54 pounds and Tony Asti in 3rd with 1 fish for 1.57 pounds.

Ron Horton had the "lunker" with a 1.60 lb largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held their second club tournament of the year on the Sassafras River launching out of Turner's Creek in Betterton, MD. The club invited a number of guests to attend the tournament to share a bit of tournament experience with the club to those who are not members.

The tournament felt the effects of a post-frontal weather system pushing through the area, which in turn, pushed the fish off and made fishing a bit more tough. Bob Moody joined us today to fish with friend and club member Josh Wich. Bob is the Youth Director for the Delaware B.A.S.S. Federation Nation and Executive Director for the Reel Expectations organization. Bob managed one nice fish on a tough day, to haul in the day's lunker and heavy bag, with one fish weighing in at 4-7.

Following up with the other few catches were Don Murray, with a bag of 3 fish weighing 3-7, good enough for 2nd place, and his partner for the day, Tony Asti, with a 2 fish bag weighing in at 2-13 for 3rd place.

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters will be winding down their fall schedule with their 2nd to last tournament on the Broadkill River in November.

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters kicked off their 2009 fishing season with their 1st Club tournament of the year at Lums Pond in Bear, Delaware. Lums has typically been a good fishery with sufficient access, but with the water down it made launching and loading up the boats even more difficult. The state is going to have to provide a better means of launching and loading than the shallow ramp currently in place. 

As for the fishing, plenty of good fish were brought to the weigh-in. The fishing wasn't exactly on fire, but many managed good catches. Dave Perrego, the club's 2008 Angler of the Year, picked up where he left off with a nice bag of fish coming off a solid performance on the pond, with 4 fish weighing 10-15. Dave patterned his fish in the first half of the day with help from the local Opsreys slamming the Alewife in the open sections of the pond. Casting rattletraps to the creek mouth near the boat rental he managed three hookups with good fish but only managed to boat one. As the sun began to peak, he found fish seeking shade under docks and in brush piles in the shady shallows by flipping and pitching the Explosive Tackle football jig in purple/chartreuse.

Rounding out the top three were new members Ron Horton, 2nd place with 2 fish for 5-9 including the day's lunker with a 4-10 largemouth bass, and 3rd place Bob Wallace with 2 fish for 5-3. The senko provided plenty of action for a number of anglers in both black/blue and green pumpkin, pitched to laydowns, tree stumps, and docks, as did small swimbaits, spinnerbaits, and crankbaits.

The club's next tournament will take place on the Sassafras River in Betterton on Sunday October 26th.

Ron had the lunker with a 4-10 Largemouth Bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters of Delaware wrapped up their 2008 fishing season on the Nanticoke River this past weekend. The results weren't great but a few managed to find some fish. Member Robert Broomall of Newark caught one hell of a beauty, weighing in at 6 pounds 3 ounces officially although the club uses the goleden rule concept, in which case she measured 5-8. Nonetheless, a great catch that propelled him into first place. Second place finish by Josh Wich who brought 2 fish in including a 3-2 lunker, and Chris McPhail rounded out the catches with 2 fish for 2-6. The region saw a sunstantial dip in the overnight temps all week long and we think its got the bigger fish moving. Should make for an interesting SQT Coming up in October.

*short fish penalty - 1 lb.

Robert had the lunker with a 5-8 largemouth bass...

note: The 5-8 measured on Golden Rule, the official weight was 6-3...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held their 7th tournament of the year on the Nanticoke River launching from the Seaford public ramp on Saturday August 9th. The area witnessed a small front passing through friday night which dropped the night time and early morning air temps down to 60 degrees. Bluebird skies saturday morning sent the fish to cover on the main river throughout the day.

 Club President Dave Perrego found a mid-morning bite on the channel ledges by hopping a texas rigged worm off the spatterdock at the end of the outgoing tide and the initial stages of the incoming tide. Once the worm bite fizzled, he went to flipping and pitching jigs at main river wood to cull his smaller fish and finish with a 5 fish sack weighing 9-8, a decent limit for the Nanticoke.  

Rookie Chris McPhail put out yet another fine performance finishing second overall with 3 fish for 5-7, and lunker for the day weighing 3-8. Kevin McCoy rounded out the top three places with a consistent catch of 4 bass weighing 4-4.

 The Eastern Shore Bassmasters will conclude their 2008 tournament season with their 8th and final club tournament, again on the Nanticoke in September.

Chris McPhail had the lunker, a 3-8 largemouth bass

Hot, Hot, Hot! The heat has set in for sure and the fishing is getting tougher. Jon White managed to find a couple of fish to seal the deal off submerged wood and laydowns with the plastic worm. The AOY points race is winding down with two tournaments to go.

The quality fish were buried deep in the grass, and if you couldn't get through, you weren't cathing them. Some smaller fish were found on the outside edges of the more defined grass beds and were taken with senkos and jigs. Not a good showing to say the least...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held their 4th tournament of the year on Lums Pond saturday. The club launched on a beautiful late spring morning just as the sun was coming up in what looked to be a promising topwater bite. Early on, most of the members were throwing topwaters but to no avail the bite just wasn't on. By mid-morning though the club had figured the flippin and pitchin pattern to laydowns and submerged stumps along the ponds south shore. The boats were lining up easily no more than 50 to 75-yards apart for the decent bite that turned on fishing jigs, soft plastics, and a report of one having success with a swimbait.

Leading the way, Chris McPhail, one of the club's newest members and last year Junior member brought in a nice bag of four fish weighing 9-7. In 2nd place John Garthwaite found his groove fishing a weightless tube in submerged wood and tree stumps that put him in contention with the lunker of the day with a 3-9 largemouth bass. Following up in 3rd place, Jon White was able to find his fish working a Zoom Fish Doctor through the wood.

The air temps were hitting close to 80-degrees and the water temps stayed consistent in the 74-75 degree range. With a huge fronting pushing through the area and eventual downpour with lightning, the  club called it quits around 12:30.

It's good to see some new faces up front for a change. Congrats to Chris for the win and setting the new club highest weight at 9-7, but don't expect that to last long with the Potomac River tx coming in July!

 John Garthwaite had the lunker with a 3-9 Largemouth Bass...

Report: Stay home, spend time with the family, clean out that garage!

Dave had the lunker with a 2-5 Largemouth Bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held a tournament on the Nanticoke River on March 22nd from 6:45AM to 12:30PM. Only two anglers managed to boat "keeper fish" throughout the day. The bite was on for shorts on all parts of the river. The larger fish were definitely staging up preparing for their next move. As always on Broad Creek, fish were found on wood and tempted out with blades. The main river fish were setting up on the channel ledge and taking rattle traps and cranks. Water temps on the main river ranged from 51 - 54 degrees, consistent with last week's temps, regardless of the cold front in the past week. The tide was outgoing all day and lower than average.  Congrats to Josh for his first appearance and win.

Josh had the lunker with a 3-2 largemouth bass...

The Eastern Shore Bassmasters held their first club tournament of the 2008 season on Saturday. Don Murray caught 4 fish weighing 8 lbs. 7 oz. to seal the win on a tough day. Robert Broomall rode with Don and caught 1 fish weighing 4lbs 7 oz. The two set up shop in Turner's Creek all day, working the structure in deeper water and shallow cranking the hard cover along the shoreline. The air temps hovered in the mid to upper 30's at launch with the water temps in the 45-46 degree mark. The wind blew from the southwest between 5-10 mph and gusts were to 15 mph, on a rising barometer.

Robert caught the lunker, a 4-7 largemouth bass...

Dave had the lunker with a 2 lb 9 oz Largemouth Bass...

Blair's Pond is one of Delaware's very few ponds offering clear water and plenty of vegetation. The pond located in Milford is covered in hydrilla this time of year and offers the resident bass population plenty of shelter. Everyone was catching fish, although the size of the fish were relatively small.

The matted clumps of vegetation and algae scattered throughout the pond seemed to produce the only limit of the day. The morning started off early, and foggy,  throwing topwaters to the edges of weed/algae clumps stirring up strikes. Buzzbaits and poppers were getting consistent attention until mid morning. Later most guys were throwing soft plastics in the form of wacky rigged senkos, brush hogs, and flukes. The senkos appeared to be working on the edges of the mats during midmorning, while others were punching through the heavy vegetation with soft palstics rigged with 5/8 to 3/4 ounce weights, getting decent bites but not hooking up with the fish.

It should be known to the bank fishermen out there that Blair's pond has a number fish attractants in the form of bundled tires and even shopping carts, all within reach of the bank. The tire bundles can be found between the two spillways on the eastern side of the pond.

The water temperatures hovered somewhere in the low 80's and the day was partly sunny with periods of overcast and clouds.

Jon White had the lunker with a 1 lb 12 oz Largemouth Bass...