Winnisquam Father's Day Win for Mike Spur and Deb Ash

Another "day after" tournament for the Bubba Bassin Team trail for the 4th trail event of the year. Our annual Father's Day event took us to Lake Winnisquam on June 17th launching out of Martel's Bait and Tackle. We had a great turn-out with 38 teams trying Winnisquam again the day after the Bubba Bassin draw trail just fished it with an impressive winning weight of 9.11 lbs by Greg Day for his 2 fish limit. The forecast again informed us of another repeat day of beautiful weather with the temps in the mid 80's and becoming partly cloudy to all clouds with a temptation of a Thunderstorm brewing in from the west.

Congrats to a Father of 3 boys, including twins, on this beautiful Father's Day event and his loving partner. Michael Spur and Deb Ash challenged themselves on this day to take the win with a 4 fish limit weighing in at 13.31 pounds including the lunker largemouth of the day that tipped the scales at 4.15 lbs. Mike and Deb earned themselves a total of $1795 for their hard days work which includes their share of $1000 from Skeeter Real Money program. Even though they knew there were good numbers of fish still on beds, Mike Spurr and Deb Ash started the day targeting post-spawn smallmouth in the channel south of the bridge thinking it might be possible to take advantage of sufficient numbers of hungry post spawn fish. They immediately found fish on the break line of an underwater point that goes from 10 feet to about 18 feet of water. They were using a combination of spider grubs and creatures on both football heads and Texas rigged to put 3 fish in the boat right away. After they wore that spot out, Deb and Mike moved through the narrow into the south end of the lake where they spotted some largemouth cruising shallow. A quick pitch of a jig put their limit fish in the boat around 9am with a 2.75 lb largie. They ran across the south end of the lake to a small cove and did a quick cruise through looking possibly for other largemouth and ended up catching a 3+ lb smallmouth off the front of the last dock closest to deeper water. That one upgraded their smallest fish, a 1.5 lb smallie. Nice trade! After some shallower shoreline stuff only producing smaller fish, they refocused on the post-spawn pattern, finding a large weedy flat in 12 to 15 feet of water next to a rocky point. They found this flat was holding a large school of yellow perch and actually saw a school of decent sized smallmouth chasing them around. Mike and Deb caught several smallmouths off that spot, one of them breaking 3 lbs. By around 11 am they knew they had a solid 3 lb average and figured the only way they would have a chance to take the win and collect some of that Skeeter money was to go lunker hunting. They moved into the area in the south end of the lake where all the boat moorings are and began pitching jigs to all the boats. Deb noted that several people on these party boats were preparing to untie and head out for some summer fun. She wondered what the fish would do that may have been holding underneath these boats when they drive off. She tossed her bait between where the boat was and the nearest other cover and ended up catching a 2+ lb largie. Of course Mike adopted her new technique for the next 2 boats to pull out and they caught a few more largemouth. None of them would cull what they had in the boat already. At this point the sun went away and the wind started to blow due to the incoming storm. They began to get concerned that if they did not switch to spinner baits, someone else would and slay the big ones. Out came the gold spinner baits, and after sticking in the wind with their Minn Kota trolling motor for about 100 casts and some doubt as to weather that was the right decision, a nice 3.3 lb smallmouth smashed it from a rocky flat in about 5- 6 feet of water. About 200 casts after the last fish with the spinner bait Mike stuck the 4.15 lb largie while ripping the bait through an isolated patch of cabbage in about 4 feet of water. It was about 2:15 pm. when they knew they had a chance to win…there was much rejoicing! Mike and Deb want all to remember…It’s not the size of the Skeeter in the fight that matters, it’s the size of the fight in the Skeeter J They have a 2002 Skeeter ST-15 with Yamaha motor and Minn Kota trolling motor that has pulled them through 4 tournament seasons with no problems and they would like to thank Skeeter, Minn Kota and all the other sponsors again for sponsoring the Bubba Bassin tournament trails.

Taking second place was Father and Son team of George and Danny Peckham, respectively. Their limit consisted of 4 smallmouth that weighed in 12.45 lbs. They caught their fish on a Chartreuse and White War Eagle spinnerbait, tube baits and Senkos. They had their limit by 8 AM but catching over 20 fish in 5 to 7 feet on rocky flats. They fished entirely on the north section of the lake. Congrats again to George and Danny Peckham.

Taking third place was another Father and Son team of Steve and Joe Lucarelli, respectively. Their limit consisted of another limit of smallmouth that tipped their weight at 12.20 lbs. They fished hard in their history spots and was hoping for first place but was not able to land their 4 biggest fish. Joe mentioned they should have had first but the big smallies they hooked into kept shaking off the hook which made things frustrating for them. They still had a fun time and brought in a productive weight to take 3rd place. They got their bites on spinnerbaits and top water baits but only managed to land 7 of their bites and didn't get their limit in the boat till 1 PM.

4th place weint to our Prop guy, Bill Lentine and his partner Ed Rivera. Bill Lentine owns Northeast Prop Repair and fishes the Team Bubba tournaments on a consistent basis. He has done a number of propellors from our Bubbas and is always willing to tune, repair and polish yours. He has done nothing but an exceptional job on the props that he has done and we appreciate his support for Bubba Bassin. Bill and Ed also had a great day catching 20 to 25 fish on silver buddies, Jigs ad Senkos. They fished drops near the 10 foot mark that consisted of grass and rocks. They had their limit by 9:00 am and fished both the north and south side of the lake. Congrats to Bill and Ed for taking 4th place with 12.13 lbs.

Taking 5th place on white spinner baits in the south section of the lake was the team of Mike Marcoux and Larry Lasalle. They too had a fun day catching over 15 fish and catching their limit within a hour of the start of the event. Their limit weighed in at 12.11 lbs.

Taking the last pay-out spot went to the team of Jason Faro and Dan Morin. They caught over 20 fish in 10 to 15 feet of water in the south end of the lake. They caught their limit using jigs and spinnerbaits that weighed in at 12.07 lbs. Congrats to Jason and Dan on their productive day.

With 35 teams opting for the optional First Losers Pool, as well as the Lunker pools, we were able to award the team of Scott Doughty and Al Deleo with $350 for taking the First Loser's spot (first team out of the money). They caught their fish on the north side using green pumpkin jigs in 6 to 8 feet of water and catching their limit by 11 PM. Our Lunker Smallmouth award went to the team of John Fortier and David Fontone who caught a sweet smallie that tipped the scales with a 3.65 lb smallie. Congrats to John and David for their efforts.

The next Team Bubba event brings us to the halfway point of that trail so off we go to Stumpfield in Hopkington, NH on July 1st. This is also the date that the NH rules allow us to bring our angler limits to 5 fish each. For the team tournaments the limits will change to 8 fish per team. Stumpfield is exclusively largemouth so bring your largemouth tackle and watch-out for those stumps. On some maps its known as Hopkington lake but its popular name is Stumpfield, and there is a reason for that. Its still a great fishery and always holds a lot of kickers. So we will see you then.

Quit Wishin, Go Fishing!!!