Alan and Betty Denise still Kings of the Sweethearts.

[Results] [Photos] [Sweetheart Trail Standings]

Bubba Bassin had their second of three tournaments held for the 2008 Bubba Bassin Sweetheart Trail on Saturday, July 12th. Twenty-one Sweetheart teams made the field on Lake Massabessic bordering Auburn and Manchester, NH. The day was a perfect pick by the tournament directors. The weather forecast was right on the money with mostly sunny day, temps around 85 degrees, and the occasional cooling breeze that ranged from 0 to 10 mph.

Registration went well as expected with the added bonus of long-stem carnations being handed out to all the sweethearts. What a perfect touch for such a fun event. The Tournament Directors, Greg and Elizabeth hosted the pre-tournament meeting on the water before send-off to go over some ground rules for all the teams to abide by. The send-off started about 8:10 AM with much expectations to start on the teams' 6 bag limits before the 3:15 return time.

Can you believe it? Currently, all of the Sweetheart tournaments held by Bubba Bassin has been won by the same team! We may have to change the name over to, "The Alan and Betty Denise Sweetheart Tournament Trail". That's right sports fans, they did it again, with 19.78 lbs. They take demand and hold onto their winning crown. Alan and Betty brought in 6 nice largemouth including the tournament largemouth lunker that tipped the scales at 4.36 lbs. The lunker largemouth was caught late in the day and close to return time at 2:55. This big fish and all of the fish that Alan and Betty caught were lured in with spider grubs. Their lunker was caught in 18 feet on the Auburn side of the lake but they started in the Manchester side. Their first fish was caught within a couple of minutes from the start and they had their limit before 9:30 AM. They had a tremondous bite catching over 30 keepers including losing 3 while fishing off short structure. Alan even mentioned a funny moment when he had just caught good sized keeper and was going to use it to cull out a smaller fish. While he was holding them both up for a visual comparison, the bigger one that he just caught wiggled out of his hand, onto the deck, and then back into the water. Guess they didn't need it any way. Congrats again to Alan and Betty.

Alan and Betty did have a run for their money with the second place team. Bringing in another big fish and a big sack was father/daughter team of Mark and Merridith Peabody. They also had a 4 lb largemouth and big bag weighing in the "nineteens". They were only about 1/4 lb away with 19.57 lbs for their 6 largemouth creel. They had a really good morning bite including a keeper on their first cast and catching a limit before 10 AM. Mark flung the jig/pig and Merridith tossed the senkos. They landed 15 keepers and lost none following weedlines in 5 to 8 feet deep. Their two biggest fish came in 12 to 15 feet. They spent the whole day on the Auburn side of the lake.

In third place was the team of Rob Frye and his lovely wife Susan. Rob and Sue also had an unbelievable day catching over 30+ keepers. Sue had a great time catching almost 2 full limits on her own using a 1/4 ounce black and blue jig with a blk/blue spidergrub trailer. Their first 3 fish were all caught within 30 minutes of arrival to their second spot. One of the fish was the tournament's lunker smallmouth that weighed in at 3.19 lbs. They stayed in the area fishing mostly off-shore structures and catching their limit by 10:15 AM. 5 largemouth and the lunker smallmouth was brought to the scales weighing in at 16.33 lbs. Most of the 30+ keepers caught were on the jig/spidergrub combination and about 8 caught on a light line dropshot using a black/red robo worm. All of their fish came on the Manchester side of the lake. Only 1 fish was lost while working a beaver hut but was soon forgot about after only a few minutes later landing one of their tournament keepers out of the same beaver hut.

Coming in fourth place was Husband and Wife team of Bob and Susan Hurst. They caught 9 keepers for the whole day catching their first fish at 8:15 AM and nabbing their limit at 12:30. All of their keepers were caught the junebug senko. Their last fish was caught around 2 PM making it a long day but fortunately for them, a productive one landing in 4th place. Bob said he searched both sides of the lake looking for their 15.07 lb largemouth creel. Bob mentioned losing a possible tournament lunker while fishing their shallow water pattern.

First Losers Pool was fifth place which was earned by Gary Croteau and Denise Allain. They had their limit by 9:30. They caught about 25 keepers on Blk/Blue jigs and Senkos fishing only the Auburn side. Their first fish was around 8:15 and they only lost 1 fish through-out the day while working in 5 to 8 feet of water.

Also given away was a Free Entry for 1 paid entry for the 2009 Sweetheart trail which was won by the team of Father/Daughter team of Dave Tsao and his daughter Madison. Be sure to visit the Sweetheart Standings because the top 3 is still anybody's game.

Next up is Lake Winnipesaukee for the 2008 Sweetheart Trail on August 23rd. We look forward to that event and we look forward to seeing you there.

Quit wishin, Go Fishing!!