The New Hampshire Bass Federation held its annual Fall Open on Squam Lake in Holderness NH on Saturday, October 4, 2008. This was the final stop for the year and "Golden Pond" provided the perfect venue to finish up another year of successful tournament fishing for NHBF. Twenty-eight teams made up the field for this event. The weather featured a cold morning with steadily increasing wind from the west. The skies were mostly cloudy with occasional peaks of sun. Air temperatures ranged from a chilly 40 degrees in the morning to a high of about 56 degrees in the afternoon. Lake temperatures ranged from 62 to 65 degrees. The wind topped out at 15 to 20 MPH with some higher gusts. It was not a particularly "fishy" weather pattern. The teams would be gunning for an eight fish limit on the day.
When the 3:00 p.m. weigh-in commenced it was clear that fishing was slow for most of the teams. Many teams chose not to weigh their catch and there were only 6 or 7 limits checked in. Smallmouth bass dominated the event, but some nice largies were brought to the scales.
Coming in first place with a total weight of 21.00 lbs. was the team of Scott Smith and Sandy Oja. Scott and Sandy targeted smallmouth bass exclusively and utilized a drop-shot rig to catch 16 keepers throughout the day. Sandy claimed that they had their limit by 9:30 a.m. and most of their fish were caught on a Yamamoto Senko in watermelon color. Most of their bites came from 40 to 45 feet of water. It was quite a haul for Smith/Oja who won $1050 for first place and also $750 for Ranger Cup/Yamaha for their impressive victory. If that wasn't enough, Sandy won the raffle following the weigh-in to boot! Sandy wanted to note that all equipment used by the winning team is readily available at Northern Bass Supply.
Taking second place and $780 was the team of Tom Sinclair and Corey Roux. This longtime Federation duo utilized a drop-shot and a Yamamoto Hula Grub to box their 8 fish limit. They weighed 7 smallmouth and also had a 4 lb. kicker largemouth. Most of their catch came from 17 to 35 feet of water during an all day bite.
Third place with a total weight of 18.70 lbs. went to the team of Chris Bolduc and Jim Wolford. Chris and Jim fished drop-shot rigs exclusively and boated 10 keepers on the day. They keyed in on bait pods in roughly 40 feet of water and relied mostly on Roboworms to get their bites. Their solid finish was worth $590.
The fourth and final check went to the team of Rob Katsel and Mike Lavelle who brought in a limit of 8 smallmouth for a total of 18.68 lbs. The duo earned $270 and caught upwards of 30 keepers on the day. They too relied heavily on the drop-shot rig and targeted bass holding around bait in deep water.
The lunkers for the event netted their "owners" $140 each. Lunker smallmouth went to John Diaco and Dave Tsao who checked in with a 3.44 lb. fish that grabbed a Yamamoto Ika in 3 feet of water under a dock. The lunker largemouth went to John Woodman and Gary Clawson who bested a 5.03 lb. beauty first thing in the morning by tossing a Yamamoto junebug Senko to wood.
One hundred and ten fish were weighed in during the event and ALL of those bass were released alive and well back into Squam Lake. Fantastic job by the anglers and the tournament staff in handling the bass!
The NHBF wishes to also thank it's National and Local sponsors: Ranger Boats, Profile Stateline Superstore, Kittery Trading Post, Steele Hill Resorts, Chevy, Yamaha, Evinrude, Walmart, Solar Bat, Lowrance, Berkley, Castrol, National Guard, Minn Kota, Granite State Glass, Keepsake Quilting and Lil' Hustler Tackle.
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