Slow and Steady Does it for Gorrell
Tracy takes co-angler title on Champlain
Dale Gorrell of Hatfield, Pennsylvania, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 4 ounces, Saturday to win the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division tournament on Lake Champlain. Gorrell pocketed $6,852 for his catch.
Gorrell says he spent his day fishing a region of Lake Champlain known as The Narrows.
“I ran some patterns early in the day that I had found in practice, but couldn’t really get anything going,” says Gorrell, who earned his second-career victory in BFL competition. “I switched to a smaller lure in black and blue and really started catching them. The water was a bit muddier than it was in practice, so I think that was the key adjustment.”
Gorrell caught everything he brought to the weigh-in scale using a Black and Blue Flake-colored Z-Man Finesse T.R.D. on a Ned rig.
“I worked through a 200-yard stretch of backwater that had a cliff and a 10 to 12 foot hole,” says Gorrell. “There was also a grass flat between where I was fishing and the main-river channel. The bigger fish related to a couple trees that had fallen from the cliff into the water, while the smaller fish were up next to the cliff in chunk rock.”
Around 11 a.m., Gorrell says he caught the largest bass of the event – a 6-pound, 10-ouncer – as well as two 5-pounders on a single pass through the stretch.
“When the water is changing color, it was best to hit the brakes and slow down,” said Gorrell. “It’s hard to do sometimes, but it paid off for me.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Dale Gorrell, Hatfield, Pa., five bass, 21-4, $4,852 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: John Paul Pelletier, Nassau, N.Y., five bass, 19-8, $1,921
3rd: Michael Grabo, Burnt Hills, N.Y., five bass, 19-2, $1,282
4th: Bryan Labelle, Hinesburg, Vt., five bass, 18-13, $896
5th: Michael Marini, Slingerlands, N.Y., five bass, 17-13, $736
5th: Joe Labarbera, Montrose, Pa., five bass, 17-13, $736
7th: Tom Callahan, Moriah Center, N.Y., five bass, 17-9, $640
8th: Shaun Kucharski, Pittston, Pa., five bass, 17-7, $676
9th: Andrew Kartesz, Ludlow, Pa., five bass, 17-5, $480
9th: Anthony Lorefice, Johnson City, N.Y., five bass, 17-5, $480
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Gorrell’s 6-pound, 10-ounce bass also earned him the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $510.
Tracy wins co-angler title
Ronald Tracy of Marlton, New Jersey, caught a five-bass limit weighing 17 pounds, 4 ounces, to win the Co-angler Division and $2,083.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Ronald Tracy, Marlton, N.J., five bass, 17-4, $2,083
2nd: Nelson Hares, Millville, N.J., five bass, 16-13, $942
3rd: David Sokolowski, Brewerton, N.Y., five bass, 15-14, $627
4th: Sal Messina, Wolcott, Conn., five bass, 15-8, $439
5th: Steve Cram, Williamstown, N.J., five bass, 15-3, $377
6th: Travis Gilberti, La Grange, N.Y., five bass, 15-0, $345
7th: Mark Gebbia, Fair Lawn, N.J., five bass, 14-15, $314
8th: Jason Pierson, Gaithersburg, Md., five bass, 14-14, $282
9th: Neil Thomas, Scarborough, Maine, five bass, 14-8, $251
10th: Kenneth Martin Dixon, Newcastle, Del., five bass, 13-13, $459
10th: William Allie, Wynantskill, N.Y., five bass, 13-13, $209
Dixon caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division – a fish weighing 5 pounds, 1 ounce – and earned the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $250.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 12-14 BFL Regional Championship on the James River in Williamsburg, Virginia. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.