Just wanted to give you all a quick run down of what happened this week at the TBF Eastern divisionals. For those of you who dont know how it works. The 12 state team members from last year fished in a week long event up on lake champlain. What happens is 7 states (OT Canada, NH, ME, RI, MA, NY, VT) all compete against each other, from that, the top 2 anglers from each states goes to the nationals. So even though we compete against each other we also want our team to do well overall. First place paid $3200 for the winning team. There is more to it but thats just a quick overview. Im tired and will probably screw this up so here it goes.
First off I dont have a cell phone because I speared a 6ft wave on day 2. Somehow it got wet in my "dry storage" compartment where my cell phone was stupidly sitting. So I may not get my contacts back (always back up your phone up) If I don't, it may take me some time to track down everyones phone numbers. Everyday during the official tournament the wind blew 10-20 mph with gusts to 25, all out of the South. Anyone that has ever fish Champlain knows what the type of waves that creates. There were 4-6 foot waves as far as the eye could see from 6:30 a.m and beyond. Champlain is 116 miles long and 5 times as big a Winnipesaukee just to give you a visual. I wasn't supposed to be a boater but Wednesday night around 10 P.M I got a call that I had to take my boat. If I didn't, our state team member, Shane Hutchings, would be unable to fish due to unbalanced pairings. So reluctantly, I took my boat for day 2 and 3 but the bright side was that I got to fish where I wanted rather than being stuck out in the VERY middle of the lake in an 18 foot boat taking 6 footers like I had to on day 1. Lots happened that I will share with all of you but for now, as James Bond once said, "let's get down to business"
A big congratulations goes out to Ryan Richardson, he qualified for the TBF Nationals in April on Grand Lake in Oklahoma. He had a HUGE bag on day three (close to 20lbs!!!) Great Job Ryan!!! Ryan didnt make it up until LATE Monday night and said to me, "Lake Champlain has never been good to me and I have no spots" and my response to him was "well thats ok, you can get paired with people who do and you can catch fish as good as anyone out here". "You'll probably win and represent NH" So it goes to show you that you CAN make the big stage even though you might not have all the confidence in where you're fishing. Awesome job again Ryan!!
Also another big congrats goes out to Jim Hanatow for making Nationals as the Non-Boater. Jim was the day 1 and day 2 leader but came up just a bit short on day 3. He also deserves a lot of credit for being such a team player. He was kind enough to share where he was fishing and what he was doing. He was a big anchor for the NH Team this year. I got the change to practice this week with Jim and he couldn't be a nicer guy. I learned a lot from him and it was a pleasure fishing with him for 2 days.
Mark Minor also had a great run and came up just 8oz shy of 2nd place. Mark was in second place and was consistent all week. He also had helpful advise for the team which Im sure had an effect on the teams overall standings.
A Big thanks to Mike Mac and Dick Smith!! They were both instrumental in helping me out as this was my first Divisional as President. There was a TON of small things to do on top of focusing on trying to fish. I really learned a lot and couldn't have done it without them.
Unfortunately for our team we fished 5th overall, we either had a lot of mechanical failure or just Lake Champlain being so rough on the boats. I believe there were 4 trolling motor repairs needed. We overnighted a trolling motor from Minn Kota. We even drove 45 minutes north to a Skeeter dealership and bought a new trolling motor off of a boat that was on the showroom floor!! Bruce Acox even called an arch welder to weld his trolling motor bracket because it snapped off on a wave. Bruce had other boat problems throughout the week that caused him to only weigh in 1 fish on day 2. Once he got that problem fixed, his motor transom came loose and he was forced to come in at 7:30 a.m. on day 3. So he basically only got 1 day of fishing in. The first day he had over 15lbs, so he was very unlucky. I know he would have been right in contention if his boat cooperated.
See you all at the STQT
