Mandes the Man on Oneida
Behnweg wins co-angler title
Jeff Mandes of Smyrna, Delaware, won the T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division tournament on Oneida Lake Saturday with five bass weighing 19 pounds, 2 ounces. Mandes pocketed $6,996 for his win.
Mandes caught his fish from a large section of grass in Maple Bay, a location he ended up committing to due to motor trim issues.
“I couldn’t trim my motor up when I got to the ramp. I’m not sure how it happened, but it started working by the time we launched and I made it through boat check,” says Mandes, who notched his first win in FLW competition. “Normally I’d move around more, but I was afraid the trim would quit working."
Mandes made the most of his predicament, figuring out that the fish were in a certain, smaller area about half the size of the general location he fished. He says he kept going around and through it to pick them off.
“When I went beyond it, I couldn’t get a bite. It all looked the same, but they were in a certain section,” says Mandes.
Mandes started out with a topwater bait, but didn’t have any luck. After 20 minutes or so, he picked up a green-pumpkin-colored Big Mouth Lures swim jig with a custom-colored skirt and an Okeechobee Craw-colored Netbait Paca Craw trailer and went to work.
“I caught a good one on my third cast with the swim jig, so that’s what I stuck with. I also caught some on a black Texas-rigged (Yamamoto) Senko with a belly-weighted hook,” says Mandes. “When the wind died down and it got slick-calm, the Senko worked well, but when there was a ripple in the water, the swim jig did better.”
By noon, Mandes says he had approximately 18 pounds of bass.
“I culled one more time and around 12:30 (p.m.) I ran closer to the ramp to fish and finish out my day,” says Mandes. “Overall, I caught between 15 and 18 keepers throughout the day.”
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Jeff Mandes, Smyrna, Del., five bass, 19-2, $4,996 + $2,000 Ranger Cup Bonus
2nd: Mike Shumanis, Bethlehem, Pa., five bass, 18-0, $3,113
3rd: Grae Buck, Harleysville, Pa., five bass, 17-7, $1,695
4th: Joe Wolter, Rochester, N.Y., five bass, 16-15, $1,119
5th: Shawn Flynn, Dexter, N.Y., five bass, 16-7, $959
6th: Chris Caravan, Pottsville, Pa., five bass, 16-5, $879
7th: Ed Casey, Whiteford, Md., five bass, 16-0, $799
8th: Robert Polishan, Wilkes Barre, Pa., five bass, 15-14, $719
9th: Cody Cutter, Harveys Lake, Pa., five bass, 15-11, $639
10th: Rick Anderson, Dover, Pa., five bass, 15-10, $560
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Shumanis brought a 5-pound, 8-ounce, bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $715.
Bahnweg wins co-angler title
Michael Bahnweg of Union Dale, Pennsylvania, won the Co-angler Division and $2,398 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 13 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Pa., five bass, 15-13, $2,398
2nd: Christian Snyder, Oswego, N.Y., five bass, 15-5, $1,199
3rd: Thomas Bartholomew, Palmerton, Pa., five bass, 14-12, $995
4th: Jonathan Ruch, Jersey City, N.J., five bass, 14-10, $560
5th: Steve Houseknecht, Freeville, N.Y., five bass, 14-8, $480
6th: Terry Beck, Lock Haven, Pa., five bass, 14-6, $440
7th: Brian Wisniewski, Sayerville, N.J., five bass, 14-1, $400
8th: David Compton Jr., Mount Bethel, Pa., four bass, 13-12, $360
9th: Mike Stahl, Mifflinburg, Pa., five bass, 13-11, $300
9th: Ron Dopko, Plymouth, Pa., five bass, 13-11, $300
Michael Saganich Sr. of Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 4 pounds, 9 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $357.
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. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. 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.