By Fred Matos

             The 2008 Mr. Bass tournament was a joyful experience for some anglers, and sad to say, it was heartbreaking for some others. There were also some unique experiences, and even an unusual surprise catch.

             The annual MFBN Mr. Bass tournament pits the best against the best in a tough competition, much like the NCAA basketball tournament. The 2008 tourney saw 39 enthusiastic Mr. Bass anglers competing for two days on the Potomac River during the May 3-4  weekend for the honor to be crowned as Maryland ’s Mr. Bass and to captain the Maryland-State team in the regional and national competitions. The Mr. Bass tourney runner-up joins the Maryland-State team as a non-boater.

             The event ran very smoothly thanks to Tournament Director Kelly Comer’s excellent management and all of the hard work contributed by the volunteers from the Southern Region, the tournament host. It took place on the Potomac with launching at Smallwood State Park . The area provides many excellent fishing locations, including the main river and various creeks and coves, giving anglers many options and possible strategies. Overall, it’s a great location for a major tournament, and major national tournaments have been held there.

             There are 61 clubs in the MFBN, but for various reasons, the Mr. Bass tournament entries rarely reach the 75 % participation level. The local clubs select their own Mr. Bass, and there is no standard selection procedure, permitting the clubs to use their own metrics. In many cases, it’s the angler who has caught the most poundage in their club tournaments during the previous year. Mr. Bass can also be a non-boater which could present some additional challenges because the Mr. Bass tournament is a boater-only competition. The local clubs are also free to select an alternate Mr. Bass to enter the tournament in case their first Mr. Bass has conflicts and can’t participate. Over the years, the filtering from the overall selection process at the local club level has resulted in a diverse group of anglers competing in the annual Mr. Bass tourney. For example, in three-year period 2006-8, six different anglers finished first and second. In fact, only three anglers finished in the top 10 more than once in the three years, and they only did it twice.

           There were some severe storm warnings issued for the Potomac area on Thursday and Friday, but thankfully the storms didn’t materialize and the weather turned out great on Saturday with a beautiful sunny day with air temps in the 70’s. However, a cold front moved in overnight, bringing in some strong winds on Sunday. Sunday saw stiff 20+ mph breezes, choppy waters that got as high as 3-5 feet in many locations, and dropping temperatures that presented additional angling challenges. The water temps were 65-69 degrees, with many bass having already spawned and others staging and very close to spawning. Hydrilla and milfoil grasses have grown, and many anglers based their strategy on the old adage “where there’s grass, there’s bass!” Grass beds were a favorite target.

 Tournament veteran Rich Welden captured the 2008 MFBN Mr. Bass crown succeeding Wayne Laubach, last year’s winner. He did it by finishing in first place on both Saturday and Sunday. Rich is a retired Navy man who landed in Maryland in 2000 in one of his many Navy postings. He liked Maryland , and he settled down here and joined the civilian work force with the Department of Defense. He’s originally from Ft. Lauderdale , FL where he said that he began catching bass at age 5, and that he cut his teeth catching lunker Florida bass in Lake Okeechobee . He now hales from Sykesville, and belongs to the Big Dawgs BassMasters club out of Gaithersburg . Rich has been in a number of tournaments in recent years, and this is his second Mr. Bass tourney. He frequently finishes in the top 10 in most tournaments, but this is his first major victory in a qualifying event to make the Maryland-State team. 

             Rich’s Saturday strategy had a Plan A that consisted of fishing three key areas along the Maryland side of the main river just south of Mattawoman Creek and north of Wade’s Bay; and if necessary, Plan B meant moving to Quantico Creek. But the first location at Plan A worked out great, and he had his five fish limit by 8:00 AM. He shifted to Plan B, but Quantico wasn’t productive so he quickly improvised a Plan C and moved into Mattawoman Creek. He was very successful throwing a copper-green medium-running crankbait of an undisclosed brand on baitcasting gear. Rich said that he caught both pre-spawn and post-spawn bass with the water temp at 68.5 degrees on Saturday. Rich caught ten bass on the first day, culling three small ones to reach a 5-bass total weight of 17 lb-1 oz.

             Rich boated the overall tournament lunker early Saturday afternoon when a nice 5 lb-5 oz bass grabbed his Nichol’s Pulsator spinner bait that was white-chartreuse with gold-flaked double-willow blades, and without a trailer hook. He caught the lunker in the back of Mattawoman Creek in lightly stained water.

             Rich had the same 3-plan strategy on Sunday, but the weather intervened when a cold front moved in with a brisk northwest wind starting at 8:00 AM that muddied up the water near the shore on the Maryland side. The water also cooled by several degrees, down to 65. Nevertheless, his Plan A location yielded three bass. He then moved to Plan B in Quantico where he caught a total of eight fish, the first two capping off his five fish limit. Rich caught six more keeper-size bass in Quantico , but they were all smaller than those in his livewell. He fished on grass pads for 1 ½ hours, using two different types of jigs. The first jig was purple with a rattle, and the second was green and orange without a rattle. “I want to balance things with one rattling and the other without a rattle,” he said. “If they don’t like the rattle, then they may like the plain jig.” Both jigs had crawfish trailers and were liked equally well by the bass at Quantico . Rich’s five Sunday bass totaled to 14 lb-7 oz. 

             Rich said that he had other tournament boats near him on both days, but they weren’t catching anything. He saw that his neighbors were using rattle-traps, but the lures just weren’t working whereas his crankbait was working great. Rattle-traps have long been the most popular “go-to” baits on the Potomac in many tournaments, but they weren’t working very well during the Mr. Bass tourney.  

             Rich’s 2-day grand total winning weight was 31 lb-8 oz, almost three pounds more than last year’s total of 28 lb-9 oz. caught in the Upper Bay , and about three pounds less than the 2006 total of 36 lb-3 oz caught in the same area on the Potomac .

 Dave Hankins had an excellent two days that propelled him into second place overall. Dave is from Pasadena and a member of the Executive Bass Anglers Club from Towson . He’s a Mr. Bass veteran, having fished in two previous Mr. Bass tourneys with 7^th place in 2006 as his best finish.

             Dave weighed in at 14 lb-9 oz on Saturday, finishing third for the first day behind Rich Welden and W.T. Van Metre, Jr. But his 13 lb-11 oz weight on Sunday was second best for the day, good enough to overtake W.T. and stay ahead of the always hard charging Brett Quader and the very highly competitive Wayne Pupa, Jr. and Brian Davis who came in 4^th and 5^th respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Nelson Mejia, Richard Allen, John Jeddry, Ricky Cox and W.T. Van Metre, Jr. in 6^th through 10^th place respectively.

             Dave’s first-day strategy was to fish Piscataway Creek, and it worked out great as he quickly boated four keepers using a 4-inch green-pumpkin Zoom Finesse Worm, rigged Texas style with a loose 1/8 oz bullet weight. He used light spinning tackle with 8-lb mono, casting the worm into the milfoil grasses in the lightly stained water. “The clumpy milfoil grass was higher than normal for this time of year,” Dave observed.

Most of Dave’s fish were bucks, and he noted that the other fish were still in pre-spawn in Piscataway despite the 68 and 69-degree temps, but they were beginning to spawn. He said that the fish stopped biting after low tide, so he moved to Mattawoman Creek where he caught his fifth bass on a spinner bait. Dave caught 15 fish on Saturday, but only five were keepers, so culling wasn’t necessary.

             Dave avoided running the river on Sunday because the winds were so strong, so he fished in Mattawoman Creek where he quickly boated four bass by 8:00 AM. He caught them and the Sunday lunker weighing 4 lb-14 oz on a 3/8 oz white-chartreuse double-silver-willow-leaf spinner bait with a trailer hook. “I caught the other bass by hooking them on the spinner’s main hook, but the lunker was caught on the trailer hook,” Dave revealed.

             Dave used only two lures during the entire tourney: the Terminator spinner bait, and the Zoom Finesse Worm. They were working great for him, so he was reluctant to change.

 W.T. Van Metre, Jr., from Martinsburg , WV and the Bass Magic BassMasters club, finished Saturday with a strong grip on second place with the scales indicating 16 lbs. He was looking forward to another good day on Sunday to overtake Rich Welden and capture the Mr. Bass crown. His Saturday strategy was to fish the main river on the Maryland side, about six miles north of Mattawoman. The plan worked out great as he had his limit by 9:00 AM, using a black-blue jig with a chunk trailer that he fished slowly off the rocks in water that was 5-10 feet deep. All of his fish were pre-spawn types that were staging and waiting for the right time to spawn. He began Sunday in the same location, using the same lures. However, the major change in the weather upset his plans because the heavy winds produced very choppy waters. He also had two neighbors in boats from Pennsylvania in the same location. He then shifted to his second option, fishing the Marsh Island area near Mattawoman. But he found his friend Dave Hankins already fishing there, and he didn’t want to impact Dave’s fishing. He then fished in a number of locations without any luck. His zero day resulted in a drop from 2^nd place to 10^th. “I want to credit Bob Cherry, my observer, who netted my fish and provided advice and encouragement,” said W.T. “I’m pretty sure that I could have won it if I could have fished the same area under the same conditions as Saturday,” he concluded.

There were a number of anglers who had one good day but were unable to string two good days together to compete for first or second place. W.T Van Metre, Jr., Jim Goins and Gary Bailey are three who had excellent Saturdays, but were all zeroed-out of any weigh-in bass on Sunday. The first day saw W.T. in 2^nd place with 16 lb; Jim was 6^th with 13 lb-14 oz; and Gary was 9^th with 12 lb-1 oz.  A total of 11 anglers weighed-in fish on Saturday, only to get zeroed-out on Sunday, indicating that Sunday’s high winds and choppy waters were difficult to solve. And as happens in most tournaments, there are always a few anglers who didn’t weigh-in any tournament-size fish at all, and in this case, seven anglers had zero luck on both days. To give them credit, many of these anglers caught bass, in some cases even large numbers of them, but they were just a smidgen or two too short to qualify.

             On the other hand, Arthur “Skip” Poffenberger, Ray Stickel and Brent Nelson all had poor Saturdays, but they turned things around with excellent Sundays. Unfortunately, it was too little and too late for them to finish in the high ranks. Skip, from Boonesboro, near Hagerstown , was zeroed-out on Saturday but was a strong third on Sunday with a solid 13 lb-7 oz. Skip blames his poor Saturday showing on the fact that he didn’t get the opportunity to pre-fish the area, so he had to analyze the situation and develop a strategy during the actual tournament. He began Saturday by fishing on the grass without any luck, proving that there’s not always bass where there’s grass. He adjusted his strategy and fished Sunday at the rocks near the discharge plant in the main river. “I was the second boat out on Sunday, and I had four bass in 15 minutes, using crankbaits and jigs,” he related. Skip’s excellent Sunday enabled him to jump upwards by 12 slots from his poor Saturday standing to the final results.

             Ray Stickel also followed up a poor Saturday with an excellent Sunday. He weighed in only 2 lb- 4 oz on the first day, but he boated a good 12 lb- 10 oz on Sunday, placing him 4^th on the second day. Ray also has the pleasant distinction of having the greatest move in the standings from Saturday to the final rankings, moving from 29^th on Saturday to 12^th overall, an upwards jump of 17 places.

             If any angler knows the secret honey holes in the area, it’s Ray Stickel. He was born and raised in Nanjemoy in the local area, still lives there, and he has fished the area since he was a child. All told, he must have fished the area a jillion times. Ray began Saturday at his favorite honey hole in Piscataway Creek, but he was surprised when he quickly found out that many other anglers had the same idea because they also considered it a top honey hole. He said that the pressures of too many anglers fishing in the same area ruined his plans. He also began Sunday on the Piscataway , with far fewer boats this time, but it was a no-luck area so he shifted to the mouth of Occoquan where his sharp skills using a 4-inch Zoom Baby Brush Hog and a chartreuse spinner bait worked very well for him. Ray’s best lure was the Baby Brush Hog that he Texas-rigged with a free 3/16 oz bullet weight.

             Brent Nelson of Columbia followed his poor Saturday by boating 12 lb- 5 oz on the second day, good enough for 5^th place on Sunday. He reeled in 3 lb- 8 oz on Saturday, but like Skip and Ray, the two-day total just wasn’t enough. Brent’s excellent Sunday jumped him12 slots from his Saturday position to the final standings.

             The most unusual catch during the tourney was made by Mike Leatherman of Fairfield , PA and the Blue Ridge Bassers. He reeled in a large carp that must have weighed at least 25 lbs. The carp wasn’t hooked in the mouth, but snagged behind one of his fins. It took Mike 15-20 minutes to get the fish to the boat, and needless to say, he was very disappointed to discover that it wasn’t super-lunker bass, but instead it was a big carp.  

             The tournament was a great experience for Nelson Mejia of the Chesapeake Bass Anglers. Although Nelson came in 6^th, it was the very first time that he fished as a boater. He competed in 2006 in a unique way because another person drove the boat to an area, and then Nelson took over and drove the trolling motor. This year, Nelson borrowed a boat from fellow club member Rodney Bailey. Rodney was the teacher, and he and Nelson practiced the day before the tourney. Nelson was a quick learner, and he didn’t have any problems with the boat; and even caught enough fish to finish 6^th.

 The Mr. Bass tourney saw at least one rookie participant in that the tournament was the first Mr. Bass for Shawn Jones of the Annapolis-area Crabtowne BassMasters. “I was a little intimidated at first, but then I got out there and something clicked in my head – all these guys got there the same way I did, and they once fished their first Mr. Bass tourney just as I am,” Shawn revealed.  

             Shawn is a very experienced bass angler who honed his bassing skills on the lakes and rivers in Arkansas before moving to Maryland a few years ago and joining the Crabtowners. He achieved Mr. Bass as a non-boater, and fished the tourney in a borrowed boat. He shared  his interesting experiences with us: “it was tough with the 20+ mph winds, but I caught heavy fish all weekend, except that they were all just a little short, like a ¼ inch. It was heart breaking. My five biggest fish would have weighed at least 12 lbs, but I just couldn’t get any lengthy ones. On Sunday, I got into a good pattern, but it was a race with the tide when I figured it out. The new moon caused an abnormally high tide, and I was in the back of Mattawoman Creek trying to avoid the high winds. I found bass pushed up into the timber, and into the ground that is normally dry, even at high tide. I caught four in a row on four casts that would have gone over 2 lb-4 oz each, but they were all short; and then I lost a 4-pounder at the boat. I had my heart broken by losing a huge bass that must have weighed at least 8 lb. My observer saw it and was flippin’ out after I lost it. I was catching them on a ½ oz buzzbait, and even that broke.”

           “Overall, I learned a lot, I had a great time, and I met a lot of really great people,” Shawn concluded.

            Kelly Comer did another great job as the tournament director. “It was a great day largely because it was an uneventful tournament, and I’m thankful that there weren’t any breakdowns that required the rescue boat like last year,” he said. “I couldn’t have done it without the great assistance from the 11 volunteers from the Southern Region, and especially the help that my lovely bride, Karen, provided,” Kelly added.

            Kelly is always in need of volunteers to help him with the tournaments. Club presidents can help in the recruiting process by putting “Tournament Volunteering” on the meeting agendas. Kelly can be reached at 410-288-3533.