2008 MBFN Tournament Trail

       >President's Message

July 26, 2008

May and Lutz prevail on Windy Upper Bay Trail Event
RESULTS>>>

By Brent Nelson
Photos by Kelly Comer

 
(l-r) Rich Welden, 3rd place boater; Darin Hoover, 2nd place boater; Ric May, 1st place boater; Mike Lutz, 1st place rider; Neil Keilen, 2nd place rider; and Bill Sanders, 3rd place rider. 

Luck plus intuition plus experience equals success.  This could be a winning bass angler’s formula on the “black board” of Maryland ’s bass waters. Fifty eight members of the Maryland BASS Federation Nation blasted off and out into the windy waters of the Upper Bay on July 26, 2007 to apply components of this formula to substantiate their bass catching theories.

Boater Ric May considers luck to be his key in finding fish, on that day.  Add to this, the fact that his years of experience, along with his uncanny intuitive sixth sense, lead him to an area that held the winning bag of fish.  “I put my boat on plain and headed east, across the bay,” May stated.  “About halfway across, I lost my GPS signal so I piloted my boat into an unfamiliar main bay cove just to see if it might hold a fish or two.  I didn’t even know where I was.”  

What Ric found was five docks that screamed “bass live here”. Intuition and experience took over now as May flipped and pitched a black and blue Stanley jig to the pilings supporting the docks. Within minutes he had his first fish in the well.  Picking up a second rod with a white Terminator spinnerbait, May added to his take and by 10AM, five fish, that weighed 13 pounds and thirteen ounces, crowded his livewell, including a 5.1 kicker.  He and his partner, Matt Vanleen ventured back across the bay before noon to finish out the day near the ramp.

I still couldn’t tell you where we fished,” May said, “but if I was to guess, I’d say I was somewhere around Fairlee Creek.  Those docks had all the ingredients that told me they’d hold fish and I was pleasantly surprised.  Ric wanted to thank both Guy Brothers Marine and Mare Marine for keeping his Ranger boat and Evinrude motor in top shape.

Darin Hoover placed second in the boaters division with five fish weighing 9.12 pounds.  Hoover played in the Gunpowder River all day because he had confidence in a few areas where he pre-fished two weeks earlier.  Experience played big dividends in his second place finish.  “I threw a buzzbait all day, throwing to clumps of grass, Hoover stated.  “I went to a three bladed buzzbait and cupped the blades so the bait would ride high and move at the slowest speed possible to encourage strikes from aggressive fish.  My biggest bass of the day hit my buzzbait three times earlier, before I managed to hook him.”  Darin had his limit by 7AM and culled 4 times before weigh-in.  Darin wanted to thank his rider, Charles Russler for sharing with him a great day on the water.  Russler finished in 4^th place in the non-boater competition.

2008 MBFN’s Mister Bass, Rich Welden, used intuition to its highest degree in deciding where his day would be spent.  My boat was up on plane and heading for the windy main Bay when I decided to change course.  Good sense told him that Galloway Creek in the Middle River , would be just fine and held enough bass to make a decent showing.  “I targeted docks with grass adjacent to them most of the day,” Weldon said. “ All of my fish were caught on spinnerbaits and rootbeer/orange Senkos rigged Texas style.”  Rich hooked his first fish at 6:30, his 3.6 pound lunker at 12:30 and his third fish at 12:40.  His three largemouths tipped the scales at 8.14 pounds for a third place finish in the boaters division.

Non-boater Mike Lutz couldn’t believe his luck when the partner drawings were announced on the MBFN’s website’s message board.  One of his best friends and fishing partners, Tim Jones from Bent Rod Bassmasters was picked to be his boater.  “I knew it was going to be a great day of fishing for me,” stated Mike, “Tim does his homework and by tournament day, you can almost be guaranteed that Jones will be on fish.”  Mike and Tim plied the Gunpowder waters, from morning until afternoon.  “The fish were real scattered and we were persistent,” said Lutz.  Mike threw a buzzbait and a pumpkin/red trick worm most of the day.  His lunker fish which weighed 4 pounds, 11 ounces nailed the buzzbait about mid morning.  “We had wind most of the day but it wasn’t too bad,” stated Mike.  “We’d pick up a fish about every hour and found the best grass with the most fish, was in clearer water.  Lutz weighed in 4 fish for a total weight of 11 pounds, 4 ounces.

When the luck of the draw puts a non-boater with a seasoned pro together, odds are by the end of the day, you’ll hear a bunch of bumping heads and plenty of splashing inside your assigned livewell.  Such was almost the case for non-boater Neil Keilen.  He drew Ed Riley and was tickled with the selection.  “Ed told me he had some good fish located in a small bay near some thick vegetation.  It was about a twenty minute boat ride on the western side of the Bay. We’d need a good outgoing tide to pull those fish out of the vegetation and into a deeper weedline where they’ll stage at lower tide,” Keilen acknowledged.  That tide change never came for the two anglers due to the east wind.  Neil toughed it out, though, and pitched Texas rigged lizards and power worms to a 30 foot section of submerged grass.  He etched out 3 bass that weighed 7 pounds and 3 ounces and really wanted to thank Ed for putting him on those fish.  “It was a tough deal,” said Neil.  “Those fish never really moved out where we could reach them.  Ed had two and I had three but it was good enough for me to place second in the non-boaters division and I’m proud of that.”

Ole “Mr Steady” nailed down the third place non-boaters honors with three fish weighing 6 pounds, 8 ounces.  Bill Sanders is a seasoned veteran on the Upper Bay and it showed on this tough windy day.  Sanders was paired with West Mar Bassmasters angler, Dave Barker, another talented MBFN member. Ironically, both had found a good concentration of fish in the Seneca Creek section of the bay. Bill threw a Scum Frog Bigfoot and a white Exciter chartreuse double willowleaf spinnerbait most of the day.  The trick to the Scum Frog is to bend the hooks up slightly, stated Sanders. “It improves your hookup ratio.  I also like to add some glue to the rubber legs where they meet the frog’s body.  This makes the frog durable, keeping the fragile legs from falling off.” 

Boater Brett Quader weighed in 8 pounds and 7 ounces to garner the 4^th place spot while Milton Goff took 5^th with 8.6.  Riders Charles Russler and Dwayne Smith filled the 4^th and 5^th place positions in their division, with 6.1 and 4.1, respectively.

Randy Elliott always said that having Joe Fleischman as his rider was like having a golden horseshoe tucked into your posterior for the day.  You’ll recall that last year, in the September Potomac Trail Event, Elliott landed the biggest bass ever recorded in MBFN Tournament Trail history.  Randy’s partner, Joe Fleischman netted the 8 pound, 13 ounce behemoth.

As “luck” would have it, Randy drew Joe again for the Upper Bay Tournament.  Clutching the steering wheel at blast-off, Elliott looked like a opossum munching on bumblebees.  His grin could be seen all the way across Dundee Creek.  Elliott decreed, “Hotdog, I feel lucky today!”

Joe and Randy made the short run to Middle River where Elliott began pitching a double willowleaf spinnerbait.  You guessed it, about 11:30 AM, the water boiled near a dock when a monster largemouth engulfed Randy’s blade.  The fish tipped the scales at 5 pounds, 13 ounces and was the biggest fish landed in the tournament and took big fish honors.

Luck has nothing to do with an efficient and expedient weigh-in.  Experience and attention to detail does.  The “Comer Crew” worked hard behind the scenes to make sure all tournament participants weights were recorded accurately and fish survival was paramount.  Thank you, Kelly Comer for your expertise and perseverance.  The MBFN membership appreciates your dedication.