The water body has 3 main sections, The North end, South end and the back ponds. The North end has a town beach, deepest part of the lake with lots of vegetation and of course some stumps. The South end is the section that you can view from the road when you drive over the bridge. Both sections are connected by a river that widens out to the stumps. There are a couple of road beds and the south section has the most stumps and at least one feeder creeks. I would suggest NOT to go on plane in the south section or in the connecting river. LOTS OF underwater stumps. IF you do trek down to the south end, bring a good paddle or push pole because you probably will at some point get hung up and may need it. The last section is the back ponds. There are two ponds (that used to be one) that are accessible via a canal off the connecting river. This pond area is LOADED with lilly pads. Every section of this lake holds fish, the North End, the South End, the back ponds, the canal to the ponds, and the connecting river. This lake also holds BIG fish and like any other lake, can be difficult.

Coming in first place with an impressive weight of 23.11 lbs for an 8 fish limit is the team of Bob Goss and Frank Campisi. Bob had pre fished the week prior and found some good fish in the weeds in the main lake. Bob could only get bit on a jig and pig and nothing else, but he did get some decent fish. The fish where located away from the weed edges in about 5-8 feet of water in the weeds. It worked last week? So Frank and Bob started doing that on Sun. By 10:30 they had one small keeper in the boat. So much for pre fishing? They changed tactics and fished the channel from the ramp to the corner heading towards the stumps. They picked up two fish. They found the 5.60 lb tournament lunker and a two pounder. Both fish where on wood. They figured wood must be the ticket so they headed out to the stump field. They did not count on the wind but persevered and managed to pick up three more fish in the southern end in the stumps. They found it best to fish the downwind side of standing timber to get bites out there. One of the three was a nice fish just under five pounds. Not bad but still only their sixth fish. They decided to fish some of the weed edges working their way back towards the weigh-in spot but never got a single bite. Frank suggested going back to the channel and giving " the tree" a shot. Bob was hesitant figuring that at least 35 boats would have fished that by now, but what the heck nothing else was working. They got to fish the tree for 15 minutes. And with a crowd and a cheering section watching ( right across from the weigh-in area ) they caught two more fish to fill their limit. One was just under five and the other a small but legal keeper. All of their fish came on 5" and 6" Texas rigged watermelon or green pumpkin Senkos. Bob knew they were very fortunate and quoted, "Moral of this story is I would rather be lucky than good any day."

Taking second place was the team of Sid Harris and Nick Harris who had a full limit of 19.39 lbs with a 5.19 lb kicker to fill their sack. They too only caught 8 fish all in the boat by 2 PM. Seven of their fish came of a chartreuse/green spinnerbait on 20 pound test mono. One of their fish was caught on a black/blue Senkos on a baitcasting rig. They too fished primarily in the south end with the stumps. They took advantage of the wind making multiple drifts across the stumps.

Taking third place was the team of Joel Latorre and Bill Vining coming in with their only 8 fish of 18.83 lbs. Unfortunately, they had two fish die on them and lost half a pound per fish of their total weight and their total weight landed at 17.83 lbs. Fortunately, for them the dead fish penalty did not compromise their third place position. They caught their 8 fish on a black creature bait using 12 pound test mono on spinning tackle. They had their limit with only 30 minutes to spare on the South end down in the stumps as well. Their two biggest fish weighed in at 4.75 lbs and 3.72 lbs which was helpful in building up their bag. The top 3 teams of any Team Bubba Open automatically qualify for the end of the year Team Bubba Tournament of Champions.

The team of Bill Lentine and Ed Rivera moved up to the third place Team Standings with their taking of fourth place at this event. They've been coming in the money as of late so watch out for this team. They had a great day hooking into 18 fish through-out the day but only getting 12 into the boat. Ed pre-fished early in the week and found that he was only getting bit in two separate areas in the South end around the stumps. Their weapons of choice was the mighty Senko, flipping a lizard on braid and a spinnerbait on 12 lb test spinning gear. They had their limit before noon but found the bite was consistent after that right up till the weigh-in. They too had nice kicker fish that weighed in at 5.12 lbs.

Taking 5th place was the team of Richard Thorn and Barry Weinhold with an 8 fish limit of 17.75 lbs. Unfortunately, I was not able to interview them to add any of their days event for this story but I know they were happy to cash a check.

Taking sixth place, the last pay-out spot, was the team of Don Doughty and James Doughty with 17.14 lbs. They caught 14 fish through-out the day and had their limit around noon. They caught most of their fish on a 5 inch creature bait in green pumpkin with red flake. They caught their fish using 10 pound diameter braid on spinning tackle that lost only 1 fish. They too played in the south end and fished around the stumps fighting the wind and playing bumper boat in the stumps.

Waiting in suspense as the weights were being called off to find themselves taking the First Loser's Pool was the team of John Huntley and Jeremy Dunlap. They too had an 8 fish limit brought into the scales that settled in at 17.11 lbs. They claim they had a great day as well catching between 15 and 20 fish and having their limit well before noon. They chose to throw frogs in the morning and then switched over to a 3/8th Sweet Beaver Yum Bait on 30 pound braid and 17 pound mono. They chose to fish in the North end section of the lake where it was less windy. Congrats to Huntley and Dunlap for taking the FLP award of $330.

Because their was no smallmouth to be weighed in at this lake we awarded the second half of the split lunker to the event's second biggest lunker largemouth. The team of David Tsao and Bob Hurst took the 2nd lunker with a 5.50 lb largemouth. They just barely beat the 4.49 lb largie caught by the husband and wife team of Bill and Mary Cole. Bob and Dave only caught 5 fish but managed to catch the 2nd lunker ona black/blue Bamboo stick around 9:00 AM on 10 pound test spinning tackle. Congrats to Dave and Bob and thanks again for volunteering to be the send-off boat.

Our next Team Bubba event brings us to our fun-filled NIGHT Tournament. This year we go to Pawtuckaway Lake in Nottingham, NH on July 21st, Saturday night. The adventure of a night tournament is we fish from 7pm till 7am. You get the best of THREE bites; the evening bite, the nighttime bite, and the early morning sunrise bite!!! Yeah baby, count me in!! Stay tuned on our website's bulletin board, we'll make sure we have the members throw up some advise about what to bring to a night tournament. It's a different experience, so expect the Best and the "Funnest"!!

Quit Wishin, Go Fishing!!!