The New Hampshire Bass Federation held it's annual Summer Open on Sunday, July 13, 2008 out of Norm's Marina in Hinsdale New Hampshire. The NHBF was back on this section of the Connecticut River following a two-year hiatus. This year's event drew 32 boats and contestants were greeted with abnormally cool conditions in the morning as a front approached from the west. Clouds and gusty winds dominated the day's weather, as occasional peaks of sun and even a rain shower kept anglers guessing all day. Daytime highs climbed into the mid eighties and river temperatures ranged from 75 degrees in the cool northern section to 85 degrees in the backwater setbacks of the southern part of the river.
Pre-tournament reports had the northern smallmouth bite being way off, so most of the field focused on largemouth bass in the wide, slow-moving southern section of the river. As the weigh-in unfolded, it became clear that those anglers that plied the weedy backwaters sloughs would dominate this event. In fact, teams cashing checks on this day would weigh in not a single smallmouth bass. Local sticks Jim Sweeney and Brian Reynolds checked in early with an impressive bag of eight largemouth bass that weighed 21.44 lbs. They would nervously watch as several teams made a run at them, but none could best their total. First place was worth $1140 to Sweeney and Reynolds and they also added $500 for being the highest finisher in the Ranger Cup. Jim reported catching his winning largemouth out on the main river on grass-lines; key spots had a mix of grass and wood. The winning pattern including flippin' worms and jigs along the outside edge of the grass.
Taking second place with an impressive bag of river largemouth was the team of Dave Apannel and Chad Jackson. Dave and Chad boated over 20 keepers on the day and culled to a best eight that dropped the needle to 20.13 lbs. They too worked main river grass and wood and mostly utilized black/blue Yamamoto Senkos. Their runner-up effort netted them $840.
Third place went to State Team Captain John Diaco and his partner Dave Tsao. John and Dave spent the day in one of the many setbacks and utilized black frogs and spinnerbaits to capture their 19.05 lb. creel. Included in their catch was the lunker largie for the event, a beautiful 5.79 lb. specimen that grabbed a frog fished through the pads. Their third place finish was worth $570.
Fourth place went to Jason Vanhillo and Ron Spraske who bested 8 largemouth that totaled 18.98 lbs. With only one fish in the livewell at 1:00 pm, this team switched gears and targeted main river wood and quickly put together a nice limit that saved their day and earned them $300. They pitched black jig/craws to logjams to catch their afternoon fish.
Grabbing the fifth place payout with another eight fish limit of largemouth bass was the team of Rob Morin and Bryan Dexter. Rob and Bryan reported boating 12 keepers on the day by mostly pitching black jig/craw combinations to main river grass and wood. Their bite was slow and spread out, but eventually their best eight fish weighed a very respectable 18.72 lbs.
Lunkers for the day went to the team of Diaco/Tsao who bested a 5.79 largemouth bass and Dave Roberts/Gary Penza who checked in a gorgeous 4.28 lb. river smallie that grabbed a topwater on Dave's first cast of the day. Each lunker paid $160 in bonus money. Incidentally, Twenty-three of thirty-two trolling motors in this event were Minn Kota brand.
Overall, 122 largemouth bass hit the scales and only 37 smallmouth were weighed in. The hard fighting bass of the Connecticut River were treated well by the anglers and the tournament staff, in fact, 157 of 159 fish caught were released alive.
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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