ABA 2 Day Regional Recap

Posted by admin on August 18, 2017

To say this year has been a success is an understatement. This was the first year I was back legitimately tournament fishing in almost 2 years. I have already explained that story countless times so I won’t go into it again. I came into my first event of the year just hoping to catch some fish and see what happens. I ended up placing 2nd and that momentum kept rolling all the way through until now. I still have a couple more events to go so I still need to hold my breath for a little while longer but the ABA season is a wrap after this past weekend and boy was it a good one. I think one word to describe this weekend would be: Blessed.

Day 1 - Candlewood Lake, CT

The past two weeks have been really good to me on Candlewood. Although I am still not as confident as I should be fishing deep water, I will get there in time. I found some really big fish the weekend before deep cranking on offshore underwater points and also deep foundations/rock walls. I did also find some nice sized Largemouth shallower in specific weed beds where I can normally catch them pretty good. Friday (day before day 1) I decided I wanted to expand on my weekend before and see what I could put together. I mostly fished new areas, catch a fish, leave, rinse and repeat. The ones I were catching were all 3+ including a few bigger ones which you can see my post about that big Largemouth I caught on friday. My confidence was through the roof and with everything on the line, I was laser focused.

Even though this was a two day event, it would essentially be won on Candlewood. What I mean by that is that Candlewood is of course the dominant fishery compared to Lake Lillinonah and the fishing is always better. Even though the winner would be determined day 2, if you didn’t come out of the gate strong day 1, it was going to be REALLY hard to follow up day 2 where right now it’s tough to get a solid limit on Lilly. Considering I was averaging 17-18lbs during practice, I knew this was my tournament to lose.

Fast forward to late Friday night into early morning Saturday...I woke up to a downpour and a huge temperature drop which I was not expecting. Immediately I got concerned but I tried to not let it affect me. I am not a religious man by any means. My beautiful girlfriend Friday night told me her and her family were praying for me to do well and told me I should say a prayer each morning. I have never said a prayer in my life and didn’t know exactly where to start. As I got about 5 minutes out from Candlewood’s launch I turned the radio off and said “Hey God, not sure how to do this whole thing so bare with me. I understand I have never really reached out before but here I am, about to start Day 1 of my regional event. I worked so hard this year for this moment and if you can give me the opportunity to catch 5 fish, that would mean the world to me”. Not bad for a rookie right?

I run to my first deep cranking area first thing in the morning. Within the first 10 mins, I catch a 1 1/2lb Smallie and I thought to myself “it’s on”. Well, unfortunately after trying for the first couple of hours in a few areas not far from each other, I came to realize the front which moved in really affected this bite; mine at least. I went to plan B which was to go do what always brings me to the dance - flipping grass. Hit a few spots on my way to my main areas and just wasn’t feeling it. Got to one of my main areas, got 2 bites, and they just didn’t have the bait all the way. I started thinking to myself, “did I jinx myself saying this prayer this morning??”

It was around 9:00-9:30 at this point and I have one fish in the well. The wheels are starting to spin. I hit a main lake point which I have caught fish on before. I stuck in that 7-9ft range when flipping as that is where my success has been the past few weeks. I started on the main lake side of the point which I have never really fished. I was moreso keying on isolated grass beds within a grass line or sometimes just a completely isolated grass bed. So in other words, if i’m going down a stretch that has a hard grass line, I would look for the turns, points, or cuts within this edge that would separate patches of grass and almost make it it’s own isolated section. Then of course you have actual isolated grass beds which are just beds of grass, maybe no bigger than a car, with no other grass in site. Now I never actually saw the fish, only the flash, but I had a BIG largemouth hooked in this spot and for w.e odd reason, it came off and it took my B-Bug with him.

It’s finally 10am or so, still one fish and I said “screw it, i’m fishing Squantz”. Now Squantz cove is the most popular boat ramp on the lake. A lot of people over look these types of areas but think about it, the thousands of fish released during tournaments are released at the boat ramp and go somewhere in this cove. The cove itself is pretty large, i would say more like a creek arm for size comparison and a ton of stuff to fish in there. There are a few specific grass beds in here where I have done well in the past. I start making my way down and hook into a solid 3lb Largemouth. Get it to the boat, go to swing it in, the fish comes off mid air, hits the side of my boat, and falls back into the water. What an idiot I am! I then proceeded to miss yet another fish, and another after that. Here is something interesting I came to discover - First, these fish were SUPER aggressive and when they hit, they took off. Secondly, as the sun came up I actually started seeing the Largemouth about halfway down the stalks of these weeds hiding inside of them waiting for something to swim by. I would pitch my 3/4oz B-Bug to them and it was amazing how fast they ate it! A 3/4oz weight falls super fast. It was astonishing that quicker then you can snap your finger, these fish sucked the bait in and take off. Problem was is that I was getting too excited and setting too quickly when really they just had a piece of the bait in their mouth. But that’s what I get for being able to see them.

To summarize the rest of this day, I ended up catching my limit and culling once or twice in the Squantz area. One fish ended up being my kicker hitting the scales at just over 4lbs. I didn’t get my 5th fish until maybe 2pm and luckily was able to cull out that Smallie from the morning who was starting to get on his last leg. Luckily when released, he swam off just fine but didn’t want to take the risk of him dying. I was shocked when I came into the scales that I was leading day 1 considering how many fish I lost and I also figured most guys were catching them. But only myself and one other competitor had a limit. It seems like my prayers were answered.

Day 2 - Lake Lillinonah, CT

This whole two day at two different lakes deal is new to me and I sort of like it but dislike it at the same time. Obviously if we would have stayed at Candlewood, this event would have turned out to be a lot different and the opportunity to catching more fish would have been present. But I also understand the flip side where it brings a new body of water with new tactics into play. Before I got to the ramp, I decided to give this prayer thing another shot. So I shut off the radio, and said “God, still new at this whole thing. Just want to say thank you for giving me the bites I needed yesterday. I’m not asking for 5 today as I know it will be tough but if it happens, great! But I do ask you give me the opportunity to catch the weight I need to pull off this victory”.

I started this event like I do most at lilly; running up to the spillway. If you remember my tournament here in the spring, this is where I won the event. Summertime, this area is much more hit or miss but there are thousands of fish in that current up there, not many places for them to go. So I got up there, gave the first hour of the event to this area and wasn’t catching anything. While I was there, I saw one competitor put two into the boat and another competitor put one into the boat. So this was also frustrating to deal with. I decided to leave and not let it get to me.

The past few weeks at Lilly, I have really been able to catch quality fish out of one area with very heavy grass mats throughout the cove. Even though the mats were slimy and disgusting, the fish were relating to them and being right inside the thick of it. My tournament the week before, I caught a solid 3 1/2lb fish which had a 4-5” bluegill in it’s mouth which was pretty cool to see. So I knew big fish were in there. There were 3-4 specific grass mats that I was punching which held most of the fish it seemed the past few weeks so I decided to start at the opposite end I have been and work my way around to my normal starting point. I have had a frog tied on since a couple weeks ago at the CT River and figured why not give it a try here. It’s early morning still and it’s the perfect scenario to throw a frog. Two casts in with the frog, I get a blow up but the fish totally missed the frog, shoot! I throw back over there a couple times with the frog; nothing. Flip a B-Bug in there, nothing. I’m about to give up but I said, let me make one more cast over here...BAM! This fish explodes on the frog and it was the best hookset i’ve ever pulled off fishing a frog. I knew it was a toad when it started pulling drag. Got her to the boat and I was amazed at what I saw. The video above says it all. I apologize about the cursing but if you were in that situation, caught the biggest bass you’ve ever caught in the state your fishing, AND you knew this fish could win you the tournament, I think you would do the same; don’t deny it.

This frog fish was a few things - 1. Only the second fish i’ve caught on one all year. 2. The ONLY blowup/fish i’ve ever had at Lake Lillinonah on it. 3. The largest bass i’ve ever caught in CT. 4. The best hookset i’ve ever had on a frog. 5. Oddly enough, the ONLY bite I had all day! Yes you heard that correct. Now, i’ve fished here for a few weeks straight. It’s a grind but you end up catching a few fish or a limit out of this area. I caught this fish at 8:00am and didn’t have a single bite the rest of the day. What are the odds of that happening? This fish ended up being just enough for me to win the event by 2lbs. What the heck is the odds of that?! I was and still am completely blown away by what happened this past weekend. Were my prayers truly answered? Was this really fate? I don’t think I have the answer to those questions. All I know is I reached out to a greater power and someone heard them somewhere. I’m not a religious man but this has surely made me stop turning a blind eye to what may be greater than we as human beings can comprehend, that’s for sure. Below is the equipment & lures I used to secure my ABA regional win and Angler Of The Year:

 Fishing Bait Club (FBC) Deep Diving Crankbait:

• Color - Sexy

• Equipment - 7’6” MH Micro Guide Big Bear Rod, Lew’s BB1 Speed Spool (5.1:1 ratio), 10lb Hi-Seas Fluorocarbon

• This BB1 reel is an amazing cranking reel. Tuned right which is very easy to do, you can cast a deep diving crankbait a country mile. I recommend this setup for anyone who likes deep cranking

NetBait B-Bug:

• Color - Sprayed Grass

• This color by far is the best color to imitate any type of bluegill and/or sunfish species. I don’t know what it is about this color but I have caught fish all over the country on this color/bait and it’s won me A LOT of money

• Equipment - 7’6” 3/4H Micro Guide Big Bear Rod, Lew’s Tournament Pro G Speed Spool (7.1:1 Ratio), 3/0 Trapper Tackle Offset Wide Gap Hook, 3/4oz Wicked Weights Flipping Weight, 20lb Hi-Seas Fluorocarbon

• This setup is my overall go-to flipping/punching set up almost anywhere in the country. The weight will sometimes vary but you can’t go wrong here with this complete rig

Spro Bronzeye Frog:

• Color - Bluegill

• Equipment - 7’3” 3/4H Micro Guide Big Bear Rod, Lew’s Tournament Pro G Speed Spool (7.1:1), 50lb Hi-Sea’s Braid

What a wild and amazing season it has been. Official article on American Bass Anglers website here. I will write a full recap of my 2017 season once it officially ends but one word to describe it so far: Blessed. My first year back in almost two years and it feels so damn good to be back doing what I love and proving to myself I can still do this at a high level. Essentially my season is coming to a close but not before the ABA Nationals at the Ouachita River October 15-20th and the TBF State Team Regional in mid September! Since I won Angler Of The Year for the ABA I am now being put into a specialty bracket at the national event. I have a chance to now win $300,000! I will essentially be going down there cold but this is an opportunity I cannot pass up and is a once in a lifetime experience. I will be making sure to have some awesome content for you guys while i’m down there. The type of fishing there is right up my ally and i’m looking forward to it. Until next time everyone, tight lines!!