Crown City Bassmasters win 2011 Club Team Chamionship on the Hudson River

[Burnie Haney]

CROWN CITY BASSMASTERS WIN
2011 CLUB TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP ON THE HUDSON RIVER

23 August 2011… Calcium NY. August 20 & 21st the NY BASS Chapter Federation held the 2011 Six-Man Club Team Championship (CTC) on the Hudson River with operations based out of Catskill NY at the Dutchman's Landing. A total of 114 anglers representing 19 different clubs signed up for this year's event. Official practice days were Aug 18 & 19 and when re-registration was held on the afternoon of the 19th, every prediction was for a low weight tournament with limits few and far between. As with any tournament there are always a few anglers that assemble the pieces of the puzzle faster than others and while there were only three limits weighed in over the course of two days the tournament was up for grabs by any team until the last fish was weighed.

What’s unique about this tournament is it’s a shared weight event so every fish caught matters and the number one angler on the winning team earns a boater slot on the 2012 NYBCF 12-Man B.A.S.S. Eastern Divisional Team and the number one angler from the second place team earns a non-boater slot. The rest of the NYBCF 12-Man B.A.S.S. Eastern Divisional team will be decided based on the 2011 Angler of the Year standings, qualifying another seven anglers from the boater division and two from the non-boater division.

Results
First Place honors with a weight of 42.18 lbs. went to the Crown City Bassmasters, Syracuse NY, members Joe Matt, Christopher Killoren, Chuck Matt, Todd Covert, Andy Warholic and John Badman.

Team Captain and Bass Pro Shops Pro Staffer Joe Matt attributes their victory to complete team work. During practice the club established the fish were relating to the outside edges of eel grass adjacent to the main river channel. The team identified several areas along the river and simply rotated their boaters in and out sharing these locations over the two day event. At high tide they fished along the outside grass line in 7-10 ft with medium diving crank baits, at low tide they fished the same general areas but switched up to spinnerbaits. Matt earned his 14th trip to the B.A.S.S. Eastern Divisional Championship on the strength of a two day catch weighing 13.68 lbs that also took top individual honors. Right behind Matt winning second place individual honors for the tournament was teammate Chris Killeron with a weight of 13.22 lbs. just missing out the 2012 B.A.S.S. Eastern Divisional invitation by a mere .44 ounces

The team of Port City Bassmasters, Fulton NY, members Ken Bracy, Ron Bracy, Steve Pickard, Gary Day, Steve Hillestad and Chuck Rowlee captured second place with a weight of 30.31 lbs.

Team Captain Ken Bracy reports their team worked very well together sharing information as they targeted culverts and sand flats using dropshot Senko, jigs and spinnerbaits, with their best bites coming during the rising or falling tides. Bracy took top individual honors on the team and earned a non-boater slot on the NYBCF 2012 12-Man B.A.S.S. Eastern Divisional Team


Third place with a weight of 28.38 lbs. went to Westchester Rod & Reel, Blanvelt NY, members Bob Jorgenson, Rich Russell, Charlie Coliskey, Matthew Horvitz, Jim Johnson and George Paskar.

Team Captain Bob Jorgenson brought in an individual weight of 12.46 lbs winning the Senior Pool (over 50) honors and that catch also included the day one US Reel Lunker winner a 4.43 lb. LMB.


Fourth Place went to the Northern NY Bassmasters, Gouverneur NY, members,Burnie Haney, Chris Flint, John Narrow, Jim Moore, John Flint and Guy Durant with a weight of 26.81 lbs.

Haney reports the team shared information on locations and baits to catch what they did. The team located their best bite on the falling tide along the outside edges of eel grass. The day two heroics go to Fat Cat lures Pro Staffer Chris Flint. Flint fished a Fat Cat prototype crank bait and a Poor Boy baits darter to locate fish in practice. At the end of day one, Flint reports losing a couple of key fish on a rattle bait and that evening he replaced the standard hooks with Spintech treble hooks and switched to a softer action rod. This adjustment enabled Flint to land every fish that bit on day two resulting in the heaviest five fish limit of the tournament, 11.65 lbs. and catapulted his team from 16th up to a fourth place finish.


Rounding out the top six were Statewide Bassmasters with a weight of 26.05 lbs and Hudson Valley Bassmasters with a weight of 23.57 lbs.

The day two US Reel Lunker winner a 4.08 lb. LMB was brought in by Black Rock Bassmaster member Don Brosnan


2012 BASS Eastern Divisional Qualifiers Joe Matt & Ken Bracy


Sponsors
Minnkota, Triton Boats, Humminbird, Mercury Motors, Rapsody Rods, Ticonderoga Chamber of Commerce, Greater Massena Chamber of Commerce, Greentourisum.com, Bass Pro Shops, Team E Outdoors, North Jersey Marine, Mad-Ty Custom Baits, BMB Custom Baits, Adirondack Reel Service, Aztec Lakes BASS Fishing, SFTtackle.com, InvisaSwivel, Tungstenwts.com and US Reel

For additional information about the NYBCF tournament trail contact Tournament Director Jeff Edgarton at (315) 391-9992.
##

Morning launch on Day 2


My Z8 leading the second flight out


Super tough fishery no doubt about it and apparently there was no home field advantage for this one.

Special thanks to the tournamewnt crew and staff for another fun event

Thanks for reading

[U.S. eh Champ!]

Very tough conditions. Tidal rivers ad a whole new twist on figuring out the fish. I was overwhelmed after my two practice days. I only shook off two fish before the tournament. I didn't have a lot of confidence going in to Saturday. It showed. I didn't weigh in a fish, but after seeing I was only 10 lbs out of first, I had a renewed sense of vigor! I figured out how to catch them with about 2 hours left on the second day. After giving up the front of the boat to my non-boater for most of that time, I boated only 3 keepers. I was happy to have contributed to my club, but, was disappointed I couldn't find more fish. I actually had one that "measured" just 15 inches ( the minimum) but it was so close, I decided to throw it back to make sure I didn't incur a penalty. Hopefully next year we can find a fishery that is a little more forgiving. Owasco last year and now the Hudson this year.... it's disheartening to see half of the field zero both days. When you are traveling for a tournament and taking days off of work, it's a lot easier to swallow the cost and the defeat if everyone is at least catching fish. Congrat's to the winners. You out-fished us all.