Massachusetts B.A.S.S. Nation

Concord River = Power Fishing

The Concord River is stained and lined with milfoil. You could not fish all of the laydowns if you gave yourself a week. Overhanging live trees gather all of the spring debris and they demand “punching” with 50 lb braid. Add to this formula the water moving at 6 mph and is home to trophy Northern Pike, you know that everyone is using braid – or at least 20 lb copolymer. Several weeks ago I said to my partner, Eli Delaney, that these light line guys will not stand a chance in this ‘power fishing” mecca……… I am getting tired of being wrong. 

This river, that connects with the Sudbury and Assabet Rivers, is the largest fishery in Massachusetts and the fishing is absolutely topnotch. From Billerica to Framingham, there isn’t a bad spot on it. Once again Jim Gildea and his partner Warren Burrell, throwing line that should be outlawed, won again. Throwing 5 lb test line they brought 14.7 pounds to the scale and put $650 in their pockets. In second place, winning $330, probably also throwing line that should be used for catching trout, was the team of Chip Servant and Josh Cotier.

Going into the final tournament before the TOC on the Agawam River is Lake Lashaway on July 20^th. The teams of Gildea/Burrell and Servant/Cotier are tied at 598 points each. It is still a tight race for places 3^rdthrough 5^th. (Top 5 go to the TOC. (TOC Champs go to Harris Chain of Lakes in Florida for the Classic Team Championship.) Szczoczarz/Wunschel 590 points, Moorey/Moorey 588 and Lentine/Delaney 584.

If you want to fish this fine underfished Lake Lashaway, just e-mail me: raylentine@charter.net

Great Herring: “Cream Rising”

I have always defined a sport as an event where they keep score, but where luck has almost no bearing on winning.

Bass fishing is such a sport. On Friday May 18^th at Great Herring Pond in Plymouth, “Cream rose to the top.” Jim Gildea and his partner Warren Burrell won catching post spawn largemouth. ($1000) The Wequaket winners, Josh Cotier and Chip Servant, could also make a topping for strawberry shortcake the way they fished at this second event – again catching LM and Lunker: 6:58 lbs. and coming in second. ($540)

The wind howled all day. White caps were the norm. Water temp: 61 degrees. The mistake most of us made was looking for spawning bass. There were a few on beds, but most were small and most were male SM. The weighin showed the mistakes of the many who weighed in 5 fish for 7 pounds (+/-) : skinny small bass. I was told by friends that I should concentrate on largemouth and that smallies usually don’t win here. My partner, Eli Delaney and I, both bull heads, caught plenty of fish under 2 pounds. Why is it that when something isn’t working – we still keep on doing it? (Weights/standings below)

Next Classic Team event is Friday June 8^th on the Concord River. 15 boat max. YOU MUST contact me if you plan on fishing it. If any of the teams that fished Great Herring are NOT going to fish the Concord River, please let me know. Otherwise, I will Ass U Me that you are fishing it. This will leave four openings at first to notify me – first to fish. raylentine@charter.net 

TEAM # /Wgt Place Points Wequaket Ttl Points Standings

Gildea/Burrell 5/14.20 1^st 200 198 398 2^nd

Servant/Cotier 5/13.80 2^nd 199 200 399 1^st

Donovan/St Louis 5/12.48 3^rd 198 199 397 3^rd

Szczoczarz/Wunschel 5/11.05 4^th 197 197 394 4^th

Barnes/McGee 5/8.12 5^th 196 193 389 6^th

Moorey/Moorey 5/7.99 6^th 195 196 391 5^th

Delaney/Lentine* 5/7.36 7^th 194 192 386 8^th

Nealley/Woodward 5/7.35 8^th 193 195 388 7^th

Seally/Fortin 5/6.98 9^th 192 -- 192 11^th

Klinker/Chaulk 3/4.14 10^th 191 194 385 9^th

Roback/Taverelli 3/3.84 11^th 190 100 290 10^th

* Eli caught all the keepers

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