Canelas/Denise Win Snowy NHBF Spring Open

Story:  Dave Andrews
April 23, 2011

One of the harshest winters in recent memory finally gave up its hold on the Lakes Region of New Hampshire, just in time for the New Hampshire Bass Federation Annual Spring Open.  As has been the case in the past several years, Centre Harbor played host to this Classic kick-off event.  Official Ice Out on Lake Winnipesaukee had been declared exactly five days prior to this rare Saturday event, yet ice flows were still visible floating around on the big lake.  Water temperatures ranged from a chilly 36 degrees on the main lake to a high of 43 in some of the backwaters.  The weather forecast was for a cold, all day rain and this, coupled with Easter weekend, conspired for a meager turnout of 19 very hardcore teams.

What started as rain soon turned to heavy wet snow, which continued throughout the entire event.  The Lake Winnipesaukee region saw accumulation of up to 3 inches by weigh-in time.  The bite was predictably slow, yet, as always some teams find the fish.  Finding exactly four fish, but including the day’s big bass was the grizzled Skeeter team of Alan Denise and Scott Canelas.  They reported fishing for largemouth bass early in the morning and boating two nice fish on jigs.  They dropped back to deep water later in the day to fill their limit with two smallmouth bass.  Their four fish limit weighed 11.08 lbs. and featured a 4.81 lb. lunker.  First place was worth 800 hard-earned dollars.

Coming in Second was another veteran team and past Spring Open winner.  Kurt Damery and John Rogers were the only team to bring a limit of largemouth bass to the scales.  They targeted largemouth all day long and found one concentration of fish that were active.  They caught them on a variety of baits and culled up to a total weight of 10.92 lbs. Their second place finish was worth $630.

Third place went to the team of Ryan Richardson and Josh Ledoux who brought a 4 fish limit of smallmouth bass to the scales that weighed 10.04 lbs.  Richardson and Ledoux reported catching 15 keepers on the day, by targeting break lines in 20-24 feet of water with silver buddies.  They cashed a nice $475 check for third place.

Lunker Largemouth went to Canelas/Denise at 4.81 lbs.  Lunker Smallmouth went to Morin/Dexter at 3.80 lbs.  Each lunker paid $95.

There were 33 smallmouth and just 6 largemouth bass weighed in. All bass caught were released alive and well into the icy water outside the beach at Center Harbor.  Great job, as usual, to all the anglers for taking such good care of the fish.

There were 19 boats that participated in the event, and 15 of the boats had Minn Kota trolling motors!

The NHBF wishes to also thank its National and Local sponsors: Ranger Boats, Chevy, Yamaha, Evinrude, Solar Bat, Lowrance, Berkley, ABU Garcia, Stren, Spiderwire, Pro Tournament Scales, Castrol, National Guard, Minn Kota, Northern Bass Supply, and Cabelas. Very special thanks to Center Harbor Inn and the town of Center Harbor.

Next up is the Summer Open on The Connecticut River which is set for July 31, 2011.

FULL RESULTS