Gildea glides into TBF Eastern Divisional lead
New York’s Lake Great Sacandaga yields tight leaderboard
JOHNSTOWN, N.Y. – To say competition was tight at today’s opening round of The Bass Federation Eastern Divisional championship on New York’s Lake Great Sacandaga would be putting it mildly. Of the six state competitions that make up the Eastern Divisional, the biggest lead is only 1 pound, 4 ounces, and on the overall weight list, only 1 pound, 7 ounces separates first place from 10th.
The playing field may have been evened out by lower water levels that affected the fish that many competitors found in pretournament practice. Other anglers, though, said their bass were unaffected by the shift. Among those who noticed a change is overall leader Jim Gildea of Weston, Mass., who caught a limit of bass today weighing 12 pounds, 10 ounces to lead the Massachusetts state team by 1 pound, 1 ounce and the overall leaderboard by 2 ounces.
Six states – Vermont, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine – each sent 12 competitors to this week’s TBF Eastern Divisional for a total playing field of 72 anglers. Half of each state’s representatives are entered as boaters, meaning they fish out of their own boats, and the other half are entered as nonboaters. Each state decides which competitors compete as boaters and nonboaters, and in Eastern Divisional competition, partners are randomly paired each day.
While the overall winner Friday will receive a $500 Wal-Mart gift card as the Castrol Maximum Performer, the real competition this week is among the 12 members of each state team. The No. 1 angler from each state team at the end of this week’s tournament will earn a Boater Division slot in the 2008 TBF National Championship, and each state’s runner-up will advance to the championship as a co-angler. Tournament cash awards are given to the states that caught the most weight over the tournament’s three days.
Gildea holds steady for tournament lead
Massachusetts’ Gildea leads his state and the overall weight list on day one thanks in large part to the fact that he caught the same kind of weight he was finding in practice when a lot of other people caught less.
“Basically, I had an area that was full of fish,” Gildea said. “I caught my fish by 11 o’clock on a Senko and a Gitzit, finesse fishing. I had about 11 pounds, and I turned to my nonboater and said, `What do you got?’ because I figure this kind of thing is a war of attrition.”
If that is the case, then Gildea did well by choosing to save his fish for the next two days.
“(Tomorrow) I’m going to go back to the same area and do the same thing – try to get (a weight in the) high 10s or 11 and then go to my other stuff and try not to beat these things up,” he said. “I think a lot of these guys burned these fish out in practice.”
According to Gildea, dock talk indicated a ferocious bite in practice, something Gildea said he never quite found. With his day-one weight of 12-10 on par with what he was catching in practice, he thinks the lower water had quite an impact on today’s competition.
“The fish definitely seemed spookier than in practice,” he said. “Everybody was talking about crushing them in practice. I only had a couple of days up here – it’s my first time on the lake – and I said, `I’m only catching 11 pounds, and these guys are crushing them, so I’ll get 11 and try to hang in there til Friday.'”
Bacon helped by lower water
Leading the Maine contingency is Victor Bacon of Sebago Lake, Maine, with a day-one catch of five bass weighing 12 pounds, 8 ounces. That weight has him 2 ounces behind Gildea on the overall weight list and afforded him a slim 10-ounce lead on his state team.
Bacon, a boater, reported catching his bass today on a crankbait and a grub and says he probably caught 15 keepers over the course of the day.
“The lower water helped the fishing,” he said. “The smallmouths were up in the shallow water.”
Bacon said he targeted stumps, rocks and points in the shallow water and benefited not only from his own spots but his day-one partner’s as well.
“(Tomorrow) I should do about as well as I did today,” he said. “I’ve got another hole. One I had dried up; I got two fish off it. We went to my nonboater’s hole then and ran the trolling motor all day. He fished what he wanted to fish, and I just fished secondary waters. I just happened to produce better fish. He’d get a pound and a half, and I’d get a 2-pound fish.”
Bender holds skinny Connecticut lead
In the No. 1 spot on the Connecticut state team after day one is Steve Bender of Meriden, Conn., with a day-one limit of bass that weighed 11 pounds, 14 ounces. Those five bass put him in fourth place on the overall weight list and gave him a scant 4-ounce lead on his state team.
“We started off in the morning fishing topwaters on rocky points,” said Bender, who is competing this week as a boater. “On those same points, we started throwing a crankbait and got a bunch of fish on that. When the wind kicked up, we went back to those points throwing tubes and spinnerbaits.”
With the success he had on that area with such a wide variety of baits, Bender said he plans to hit the same spot again tomorrow.
“It worked good today and hopefully it will work good tomorrow,” he said. “I feel pretty good. If the weather conditions stay the way they are, the fish should reload on those locations and should produce a nice bag, hopefully.”
Bender estimates that he and his day-one nonboater partner each caught 10 to 12 keepers today.
Derosher leads Rhode Island with one of three 11-8 catches
Of the three state leaders who caught 11 pounds, 8 ounces on day one, Tom Derosher of Bridgewater, Mass., holds the biggest lead with a 1-pound, 4-ounce margin – in fact, that is the strongest lead of any of today’s six state leaders. Derosher is no stranger to divisional competition – he advanced to the 2007 TBF National Championship via last year’s Eastern Divisional and hopes to repeat that success this week.
“I pretty much stuck with a spinnerbait most of the day until the wind died on me,” Derosher said. “Then I did some sight-fishing. Tomorrow may be a different story – the water’s dropping quite a bit.”
Count Derosher, a boater, among the competitors bemoaning the falling water levels. In fact, he said on the final day of practice, the lower water prevented him from reaching one of his areas.
“I was in a shallow area where I caught most of my fish this morning, so we’ll see what tomorrow brings,” he said. “I may have to run to some other stuff and hope for the best. Right now I’m positive. If I can get to my first spot in the morning, I should be able to put a few in the boat.”
Despite describing today as a tougher day than yesterday, Derosher is nonetheless on top in Rhode Island, and now that he has had a taste of national-championship competition, he’s anxious to repeat that performance.
“I can’t wait,” he said. “I’ll be sleeping light tonight and planning things for tomorrow.”
Austin takes Vermont lead with 11-8
Also catching 11 pounds, 8 ounces on day one is Vermont state leader Tim Austin of Williston, Vt. His day-one limit of bass gave him a 1-pound, 1-ounce lead on the Vermont state team, slim yet still one of the day’s largest leads.
“I was using a june-bug Senko, wacky-rigged, around the docks,” said Austin, who is competing this week as a nonboater. “Once the sun got good and bright, I switched over to a Zoom Speed Craw, fishing jigheads out on areas with boulders.”
Austin estimates he fished 16 docks today and says he caught most of his fish in less than 5 feet of water.
“They weren’t that deep,” he said. “We didn’t see another boat today at all. I think the guy I’m fishing with tomorrow is fishing for smallmouths, and I have lots of smallmouth areas that I haven’t even hit yet, so I’m feeling good about tomorrow.”
Massachusetts angler leads New Hampshire team
In the first position on the New Hampshire team is Alan Denise of Haverhill, Mass., with the third 11-8 limit among the six state leaders. Denise’s five gave him a super-slim 5-ounce lead on the New Hampshire team.
“I caught all my fish on topwaters this morning by 10 o’clock,” said Denise, a boater, adding that he caught about 12 keepers today. He said the lower water did not affect him because he is fishing shallow.
“I’m going to go back to the same area and hopefully they’ll bite,” Denise said of his day-two plans. “If not I’ll do something different.”
Though his state lead is small, Denise can claim one advantage: experience.
“I’ve made the nationals twice,” he said. “I feel good about it. I’ve been doing it for years and years, and the pressure doesn’t get to me anymore.”
Vermont leads race among the states
Taking an early lead in the state race is the Vermont team with a day-one haul of 122 pounds, 9 ounces. That sits just above No. 2 Massachusetts, whose team members weighed in 117 pounds, 7 ounces on day one. Maine trails in third with 112-14, followed by New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Competition continues tomorrow
Day two of Eastern Divisional competition commences Thursday morning with a 7 o’clock takeoff from Northville State Boat Launch in Northville. Thursday’s weigh-in will also be held there beginning at 3 p.m.