Lake St Catherine Vt.
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By Jim Marino Photos by Bob Campbell |
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NEPVA Bass Trail Wells Vt. state ramp |
August 20, |
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With the addition of this tournament in Vermont the Bass Trail completed its goal of having one tournament in each state of New England. A world of thanks goes out to Bill Wright for taking on the job of getting the Federation Nation and TBF of Vt. on board for this tournament, also Mike McLaughlin manager of the Red Roof Inn in Rutland for his help with lodging for the fishermen. After a complimentary breakfast at the Red Roof Inn the participants formed a convoy for the 17 mile drive to the ramp where the Vermont Federation boaters were waiting, during the pairing up of partners and loading of the boats, all were treated to coffee and donuts. Before take off the official time was given out along with any special rules for this tournament then the boats were allowed to ease off as the area of the launch was a no-wake area. The day started out partly cloudy and turned into a blue bird sky with lots of sun and a nice pleasant 75 degree day. At 2 pm the boats arrived back at the weigh-in area and the boats were loaded back onto their trailers. During the weigh-in everyone was given drinks, chips, and special grinders made by the Cones Point Country Store, NEPVA Hats, commemorative tee shirts and towels. Results of the weigh-in are as follows Taking 3rd place was Boat Captain Carl Alexander and nepva angler Frank Vogeli with 3 fish for a total weight of 5.63 lbs Finishing in 2nd place was Boat Captain Chris Adams and nepva angler D Loyde Jones with 3 fish for a total weight of 7.78 lbs The winning team was Boat Captain Scott McKay and nepva angler Tom Blanchard with the only limit of 5 fish for a total weight of 10.26 lbs Winning the Big Fish of the day, a nice 2.99 smallmouth, was Boat Captain Mike Whittager and nepva angler Jim Wallack Mike caught the smallie and Jim did the netting. The following is Scott McKay and Tom Blanchards day on Lake St. Catherine by Scott: “We started off having to make a choice to go down to the lily pond to go froging or fish some scattered weed beds in the upper end of St Catherine. We made the choice to go to the weed beds to try and get a limit then maybe go after a big fish with the frogs later in the day. I picked up two fish on the drop shot and Tom picked up two on a senco. The fishing was tough and the bites were few and far between which gave us plenty of time to chat. We worked our way around the north end trying to get Tom his third fish. I offered him one of my sandwiches but he said he didn’t want one until he had his third fish. I fished the outside edge of the weed bed with the drop shot while Tom used a Carolina rig and finally hooked up his third fish. With the pressure off we went to another area I thought we might be able to cull our catch. After setting down we both had a bite to eat and finished the end of the day on that area. I was able to upgrade one of my fish with one just shy of 3.0 lb and went in to see how we stood. Our limit of five was enough to get us to take first place as it was a tough day for everyone on the lake. All in all it was a great time even though the fishing was tough. Scott McKay” Chris Adams discusses his and D Loyde Jones day on Lake St. Catherine : “I was paired up with nepva angler Lloyd Jones and had a great time. The fishing was very tough, but the weather was phenomenal and we enjoyed the day. Lloyd wasn’t able to connect with any fish, although we tried like heck to make it happen. I only ended up catching 5 fish the whole day. Typically, St. Catherine puts out both numbers and size for local tournaments, but it also can be very inconsistent. Some weeks 18 – 19 lbs. for five fish wins the local events, while other weeks it can be as low as 11 or 12. Lloyd and I fished for largemouths around isolated main lake grass beds with hard bottoms. To my surprise, grass beds in several of the better areas had been cut / vacuumed up recently so that really limited the amount of productive water we could fish. I flipped ½ and ¾ oz. V&M grass jigs in green pumpkin and watermelon colors. I tipped the jigs with matching craw trailers. We caught three largemouth’s on the jig, one of which we weighed in. Lloyd was throwing senco’s and also jigs. We also fished some offshore smallmouth areas and boated two nice smallmouths. We caught the smallies in 17-20 ft. of water on a drop-shot senco in green pumpkin color. The smallies were relating to breaklines and bait. Lloyd helped me out big time with the net on the first smallmouth – this fish only weighed about 2.5 lbs., but it acted like 4 or 5. After plenty of digging and a few flashy jumps, Lloyd got the smallie in the net for me. I think our total was 7.5 lbs. or so for the three fish. Certainly a challenging day on Lake St. Catherine, but between several local tournaments in the past few weeks and the weed cutting, the lake wasn’t at its best.” “All in all it was a fun day and I’m excited for NEPVA’s return to Vermont in 2012. They put on a first-class event and provide amazing opportunities to the anglers. Thanks for letting me help out. It was a great experience.” Chris Adams The NEPVA and its Directors would like to thank the Vermont State Federation boaters that participated in this event, the CONES POINT COUNTRY STORE Paul and Cheryl Woodruff, The Red Roof Inn, TARGET of Meriden Ct., Tournament Force Tackle, Northern Bass Supply, Gary Yamamoto Baits (www.baits.com), Skeeter Boats, Milton CAT, Ride Away, Larry’s Woodcraft, a very special thanks to Billy Wright who made this event possible. Plans were made after the tournament to return to Vermont and this time try Lake Champlain out of the Fort Ticonderoga ramp in July of 2012.
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