Alan Denise and Scott Canelas fish with patience to overcome a Win on Ossipee.

Story by Rob Frye
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On August 12th the Team Bubba Open trail brought us back to Ossipee Lake for our final Bubba Bassin event on this great body of water. The two previous tournaments from the Bubba Draw trail and the Bubba Midweek trail brought in some impressive weights with the winners averaging around a 4 pound average. Once again this Ossipee tournament was sponsored by Quinn's Trading Post from Union, NH. Special thanks to Bill and Chrissy Quinn for all their support.

The day's weather pattern called for mostly sunny skies with the temps averaging in the mid 80's by noon. The water temps were bath water temps in the low 80's though out most of the lake with warmer surface temps in the back waters. The bite would be slow to moderate for most of the day from the dock talk heard at the weigh-in as well as from bumping into a few boaters on the water. Never the less, someone always finds fish.

Coming in first place was the team of Alan Denise and Scott Canelas with 8 largemouth which included a 4.40 lb kicker. Yes, you have heard these names before and this made another Skeeter Real Money with for Alan Denise in a matter of a few days. Alan purchased a brand new 2008 Skeeter ZX225 with a Yamaha 225 HPDI. Alan will now receive $3000 bonus money for each event that he has won from Skeeter Real Money. Way to go Alan and a great way to help pay off that new beautiful boat of yours. Be sure to read Alan's comments from the Midweek story.

Alan and Scott chose a different pattern to pursue for this tournament compared to the top water pattern Alan utilized during the Midweek win 4 days prior. They opted to commit their time in and around Pine River looking for big largies. Pine river is a very long stretch that feeds from the main lake and requires a big commitment to do well.  They fished Senkos and spider grubs in thick shady cover. They found fish in very skinny water where most would not believe fish to hold. They caught 12 keeper fish with most of their catch in the morning hours and having their limit by 10 AM. They also reported that they did not catch any more fish after 12 PM. Their pattern required for them to fish patiently and slowly. They knew that if they were not getting bit that they were fishing too fast and had to force themselves numerously to slow down. At the weigh-in their 8 fish limit tipped the scales at 25.39 lbs.

Coming in second place was the team of John Diaco (also a Skeeter owner and previous Skeeter Real Money winner) and David Tsao. They shared with us that they caught 18 keeper fish with their limit being bagged before 10 AM. Their pattern also consisted of them fishing tight to cover hitting a lot of docks, wood and shoreline. They caught most of their fish on Senkos in light spinning tackle. John and Dave brought in 8 largemouth that tipped the scales at 20.11 lbs just bumping the 3rd place team by 6/100th of a pound. Nice job to John and Dave.

With 20.05 lbs was the team that got bumped by the sand-bagging team of Diaco/Tsao was the Team of Rob Frye (also a Skeeter owner and previous Skeeter Real Money winner) and Bruce Acox. Team Frye/Acox also fished Ossipee tight to cover as well as targeting open water patches of weeds. They had 8 largemouth with a 4.06 lb kicker that they had seen earlier in the day by accidentally spooking it out of a patch of weeds. At the end of the day they decided to return to the spot and was very fortunate for Rob to flip a grass jig into the patch of weeds and catch that same fish. Bruce mentions that this fish was the fish that put us in the money. We had culled about 8 times during the day but it was ounces for ounces but this fish was the kicker fish that we needed to hopefully cash a check.

Last year's Team Bubba Winner on Ossipee were the team of locals, Scott Leavitt and Don Mayer. They were still able to be productive this year by bringing in 7 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. Their 8 fish limit that they brought to the weigh-in tipped the scales at 18.24 lbs. They caught 14 keepers and but did not have their limit till noon. They mentioned they used Senkos and Jigs to catch the largemouth and topwater to catch the smallmouth. They fished mostly in the main lake and in & around Pine River. They lost nice fish that they wished they could have added to their limit guessing it was over 5 lbs. Their limit was sufficient to take 4th place.

Taking 5th place with was the team of Jim Peake and Brian LeFrancois bringing in 7 largemouth and 1 smallmouth. They only boated 8 fish for the day but those 8 fish weighed in at 17.40 lbs that also included a 3.59 kicker. They had one dead fish which penalized their weight by half a pound which finalized their weight at 16.90 lbs. Fortunately for them this did not hurt them in cashing in on the 5th place check. But what did hurt them was losing a 5 plus lb fish that Jim had hooked into under a pontoon boat. Jim mentioned he was beside himself after being completely excited at making a perfect cast under a pontoon boat and hooking up but only to lose it during the retrieve. Brian even mentioned that the fish teased them by swimming back in forth under the same pontoon boat after it was lost. That fish was just letting them know that it was still there but not willing to bite anything else they had to offer. Tough break guys but congrats on still cashing a check. This will help pay for the extra gas that was needed for bringing an extra bass boat. It was humorous to hear that they each had brought their own boats to Ossipee not realizing who's boat they were going to use.

Coming in 6th place was the Team of Dave Swett and Mike Plouffe. They brought in 8 largemouth that weighed in at 14.92 lbs. Mike shared with us that they caught 14 keepers on jigs and Senkos in a foot or less of water. They didn't have a limit till 1:30 but Mike did mention sarcastically that their limit should have come sooner but they had to return to the ramp to use the rest room facilities to complete ones digestive system. After that was done, which consumed some time, they were able to return to their job of catching fish. Must have been the beans from the night before Mike said while laughing.

Coming in 7th place and the last pay-out spot was the team of Steve Hoskens and Paul King. They brought in 8 largemouth out of the Pine River area that tipped the scales at 14.59 lbs. They had caught 9 keepers though out the day but did not catch their limit till 2 PM. They targeted wood, weeds and shrubs using Senkos and even tried a frog that had a nice blow-up on it. Steve mentioned hitting a favorite log in Pine River that always had a 4 lb'r on it but had to settle with one around 3 lbs. It was a long way to get to that log but at least it produced. Great seeing Steve again after he mentioned he has just been too busy this year with work to join us. Steve said this was only his 6th time out fishing this year.

Taking the First Loser's Pool was the team of Ryan Richardson and Justin Brigham. At the time of writing this story these two did not know they took the FLP spot. During the pay-outs it was mentioned that the team of Rick Lavoie and Fred Mills had taken 8th place but after the final weights were tallied via the computer a dead fish penalty hurt them and brought their 12.40 lbs down to 11.90 lbs. So that bumped Ryan and Justin's 12.35 lbs into the 8th place spot which was the first spot out of the money pay-outs, hence they are the First Losers. Ryan and Justin were witnessed catching their final culling fish around 2:35 targeting largemouth tight to cover in a cove near the S-turns heading out to the main lake. They brought in only 5 largemouth that still tipped the scales with 12.35 lbs and sufficient weight to take the First Loser's Pool. Congrats to Ryan (also a new Skeeter owner) and Justin on their long day and hard work.

The Lunker Largemouth award went to the Team of Dave Curtis and Doug Wyckoff who brought in a 4.75 lb largemouth that they caught with only 20 minutes left of the tournament on a green lizard. The Lunker Smallmouth went to the Father/Son Team of Dan Look and Martin Look, respectively. They caught a 4.06 smallie on a Carolina-rigged lizard at 8:30 out in the main lake in about 20 feet of water.

It was another great day at Ossipee and again we want to thank Quinn's Trading Post for sponsoring this event and giving out certificates to the top 3 teams. Be sure to visit them and their website at www.QuinnsTradingPost.com.

Our next Team Bubba Open brings us to Lake Winnipesaukee out of Ames Farm on September 2nd.

Quit Wishin, Go Fishing!!!