The BASSMASTER Eastern Federation Divisional was held September 22-24, 2004 on Lake Winnipesaukee out of Gilford NH. The Massachusetts BASS Federation hosted the event, which drew 167 anglers from 14 states to compete in this Championship. The New Hampshire team set out to avenge a close defeat at the hands of the Massachusetts team during the 1998 Divisional held on Lake Winnipesaukee. The talented New Hampshire team was well prepared and very deep throughout the roster. The weather for the week featured an incredible run of classic Indian summer conditions. Bluebird skies dominated, with mild nights and warm sunny days featuring light winds. Daytime temperatures soared into the eighties and lake temps rose into the upper 60's. While our Southern competitors got spared the typical long cold morning runs, the warm-up caused the usually tough fall fishing to get even tougher.
Following a misinterpretation of the New Hampshire culling law by the fill-in Tournament Director, the first day of the tournament was a battle to stay focused on the fishing for the NH Team. The rules for the first day including culling from 4 fish instead of 5, so when the fifth fish was put in the livewell, that angler could no longer fish and improve his weight. New Hampshire overcame this situation and found itself on top after Day 1, with 124-10, with Massachusetts right behind at 106-7. Dave Swett, who got on the largemouth bass big time and boated 15-4 for only 4 fish, anchored the NH Team. Swett also scored the lunker for the entire tournament at 6 lb. 6 oz. All told, there were 4 NH Team anglers in the top 10 this first day.
Day two saw a return to normalcy with regard to the culling rules and New Hampshire responded with another solid performance. This time, Joe Lucarelli led the charge and found himself atop the leader board with 26-1 for the two days. Tim Carignan had another consistent day and finished day two in third place overall with a total of 24-8. Steve Lucarelli held onto seventh place while Swett dropped back to ninth overall. The team standings showed little movement as well; as NH held it's lead and went into the final day with a 13-pound lead over Massachusetts. The team met that night and swapped ideas and patterns in order to ensure a strong finish and a Championship Title.
Day three dawned clear and calm and would remain that way until the afternoon check-in. Tough fishing was again the word of the day with most fish being taken in deep water on finesse techniques. When all was said and done, New Hampshire would crank up and run away with it's first ever Championship. The final margin of victory over Massachusetts would be nearly 35 pounds! Finishing off an impressive tournament, Winni'g angler Joe Luccarelli would follow his instincts to a new spot and boat 3 key fish late in the day to bring in a 12-9 catch and a three-day total of 38-10 to win the overall Championship.
Massachusetts's angler Jamie Worth placed second with 36-3 and Sail-em angler Tim Carignan would finish off an outstanding tournament in third place with 36-2. The proud NH team took home $7500 for the victory and now has three top 3 finishes in Divisional events over the last three years. The difference for New Hampshire in this event broke down to the depth of the team. Each and every NH angler caught solid bags each day of the tournament. Each team-members experience showed as they caught fish each day under the toughest of conditions. When it counted, the team worked well together, with Mark Miner being especially generous in dispensing his knowledge of fishing deep. The predominant pattern for this event featured slow, finesse fishing in deep (25-40 foot) depths for smallmouth bass. Key baits were Yamamoto Hula-grubs, Carolina rigged lizards and small finesse worms fished on a drop-shot rig. It should also be pointed out that the host Massachusetts Federation members were readily available to help out and did an outstanding job staffing the event. The fish were also very well taken care of and mortality numbers were very low overall.
The following anglers made up the 2004 New Hampshire State Team:
Joe Lucarelli | 38-10 |
Tim Carignan | 36-2 |
Steve Lucarelli | 35-11 |
Dave Swett | 32-3 |
Fred Anderson | 31-5 |
Ron Plante | 29-13 |
Mark Miner | 29-7 |
Mark Anthony | 28-2 |
Dave Andrews | 27-10 |
Alan Denise | 27-5 |
Bruce Acox | 27-2 |
Bill Vierzen | 19-11 |
The Team Standings:
NEW HAMPSHIRE | 363-01 |
MASSACHUSETTS | 328-04 |
NEW YORK | 285-15 |
VIRGINIA | 280-10 |
VERMONT | 255-11 |
CONNECTICUT | 253-15 |
PENNSYLVANIA | 253-11 |
RHODE ISLAND | 244-00 |
MAINE | 240-05 |
NEW JERSEY | 220-15 |
MARYLAND | 219-12 |
DELAWARE | 208-10 |
WEST VIRGINIA | 204-11 |
District of Columbia | 196-07 |
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