It was a wild ride for the competitors in District 15 Rhode island this season. We had a great SQT in the spring even with the challenges that presented due to Covid-19 restrictions. The teams that were supposed to be going up to the Hudson River were very much excited to go. Sadly Rhode island was added to the New York quarantine list just weeks before the event, forcing Rhode Island to hold its own NSF at the last minute. We were not thrilled but we managed to pull it off last minute and get two days at Webster Lake in Massachusetts. Webster setup in a challenging way for the anglers. Day 1 had high winds and tough fishing conditions, But most of the field had small limits. Day 2 was beautiful with light winds and chilly air but also post front fishing conditions.

Most of the field struggled but of course someone had to catch them and did! Overall it was a good experience considering the circumstances. Our top boater was Jeremy Sadowski. Top Co-angler was Guiseppe Andreoli.

We would like to wish them good luck at the 2021 TBF Federation National Championship. Onto next year!

To say that 2020 has been a unique year would be an understatement.  With the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing has been what could be considered “normal.”  This reality has affected nearly all aspects of our lives.  This included the District 15 TBF National Semi-Final held on October 10 and 11, 2020 on the Hudson River out of Catskill, New York hosted by the New Jersey Bass Federation.  The event was originally scheduled to involve anglers from New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island.  However, given current restrictions, Rhode Island anglers were not at the event.

Nevertheless, 24 anglers (12 Boaters and 12 Co-anglers) from New Jersey and 16 anglers (8 Boaters and 8 Co-anglers) from Connecticut participated in a challenging event.

Day 1 welcomed the anglers with multiple challenges.  Initially, the 15 to 25 mph south winds made navigating and fishing much of the river incredibly difficult.  Additionally, with the fish not quite yet on their fall feed, 15-inch keeper-sized largemouth and smallmouth were difficult to locate and catch.  Regardless, some anglers caught excellent Day 1 weights.

In the Boater Division, Day 1 was led by Connecticut’s Keith Cleary with a 5-fish limit weighing 13.71 pounds.  He was followed closely behind by Dexter Marshall of New Jersey with 4 fish weighing 13.49 pounds, including the Day 1 Boater lunker 5.56 pound largemouth.  Third place was held by Mike Czaplinski with a 5-fish limit weighing 12.10 pounds.

In the Co-angler Division, New Jersey’s Joe Casale posted an amazing 16.54 pound limit, anchored by the Co-angler Division Day 1 lunker 5.59 pound largemouth.  Behind Casale in second was Jon Cohl from New Jersey with 3 fish weighing 9.45 pounds.  Cohl was followed by Pete Longo of New Jersey who had 4 fish totaling 9.21 pounds.

As is often the case in upstate New York, Day 2 presented the anglers with 180-degree different conditions from Day 1 with 10 to 20 mph north winds.  These conditions did not deter many anglers from having a successful fishing day.

In the Boater Division, New Jersey’s Mike Czaplinski smashed them on Day 2 with a 17.63 pound 5-fish limit, including the Boater Division lunker 6.08 pound behemoth largemouth.  He was just ahead of Connecticut’s Jordon Doucette on the day who posted 17.22 pounds.  The third largest weight of the day was posted by Derick Olson from New Jersey with 15.89 pounds.

In the Co-angler Division, Day 2 was led by Joe Venuto from New Jersey whose 5-fish limit weighed 11.36 pounds.  He was followed by Joe Casale of New Jersey with 8.05 pounds and Terry Stevens of New Jersey with 6.68 pounds.  The big fish of the day, a beautiful 4.49 pound smallmouth, was caught by Chris Miller of New Jersey.

When all the dust cleared and all the numbers were crunched, the winners of the event were, in the Boater Division, Mike Czaplinski from New Jersey with 29.73 pounds and in the Co-angler Division, Joe Casale from New Jersey with 24.59 pounds.  These finishes also make them the New Jersey qualifiers for the 2021 TBF National Championship event.  The Connecticut qualifiers for that event were Keith Clearly in the Boater Division with 24.23 pounds and Josh Escobar in the Co-angler Division with 11.29 pounds.

In the State Pride category from this event, the designated 8-man team from New Jersey led the way with a total of 124.23 pounds.  The designated 8-man team from Connecticut posted a total of 76.52 pounds.

The New Jersey Bass Federation would like to sincerely thank the following individuals and organizations: Keitech USA – for providing tackle packages (@$50 value each) for all anglers as well as a $200 gift certificate as a raffle prize and additional cash prizes to the Boater ($200) and Co-Angler ($100) winners; Riot Baits – for providing two tackle packages (@100 value each) that were used as raffle prizes; Our intrepid trailer tower, Mike Aspinwall, Sr. for everything he does for us; Rebecca and Alexis Keller for their help during the event; Amy Perry of the Connecticut TBF for all her help during the event; All the other anglers and individuals who helped us make this event a successful one.

For all photos of this event CLICK HERE. For full results CLICK HERE

Franklin D. Roosevelt Lake (also called Lake Roosevelt) is the reservoir created in 1941 by the impoundment of the Columbia River by the Grand Coulee Dam in Washington state. It is named for Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was president during the construction of the dam. Covering 125 square miles (80,000 acres), it stretches about 150 miles (240 km) from the Canada–US border to Grand Coulee Dam, with over 600 miles (970 km) of shoreline; by surface area it is the largest lake and reservoir in Washington. It is the home of the Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area.

The October 03-04^th,2020 National Semi finals was held on Lake Roosevelt .This fishery is known statewide for its fantastic smallmouth fishing in which it contains a very healthy population of smallmouth bass mostly . This year we brought 39 Teams (Boaters) to the lake for our event.

The weather conditions were very comfortable both Saturday & Sunday with air temps getting up to 80 degrees and sunny both days with hardly any wind . Even though the conditions were nice for the anglers it definitely made the bite a little more difficult due to the lack of wind current for some .

After day 1 of fishing we had 7 boaters whom brought back bags of limits over 14lbs. The top bag on day 1 was from Dave Krom who weighed 18.47lbs, David Parnicky was the next closest boater in weight with his 5 fish limit that weighed 17.30, followed by John Branch with 16.25.

The Co-anglers also panned out nicely after day 1 of fishing with the top co-angler Glenn Hancuff bringing back 15.12lbs. Justin Blackmore weighed 14.45 and the next closest weight was 13.04lbs . The close results set the anglers up for a close shoot out for day 2 of competition.

Day 2 started again shortly after the national anthem echoed through the valley. All angler were updated prior to start of their day that the state pride results showed that the Boaters were separated by less than 9lbs with Washington in the lead and the Co-anglers were separated by less than 6lbs so EVERY KEEPER FISH COUNTS TODAY ANGLERS!

After the last fish touched the scales on Sunday and the final results were tallied up there was a lot of movement on the leader board. John Branch who was sitting in 3^rd place on day 1 managed to stick a bigger bag on day 2 that weighed 17.41lbs and therefore claimed the Top finishing boater from Washington State with his overall weight of 33.66lbs. On the Co-angler side Michel Free who stayed consistent both days with weights of 11.98 from Day1 matched with his Day2 weight of 12.33lbs for a total weight of 24.31lbs was good enough to secure his position of Top finishing Co-angler overall and advancement to Nationals. Congrats to the top fishing boater from Oregon Kory Ray who finished with a total weight of 28.02 and Glen Hancuff from Oregon who put 21.28lbs of lake Roosevelt smallmouth on the scales and also punched his ticket to Nationals .

Overall, we had a great event with lots of smiles on many anglers’ faces throughout both days. The Washington state bass federation was the “only” group who was approved for a permit in our state to use the park due to CDC Guidelines this year. At any point, we were not allowed to have more than 10 anglers in front of the scales weighing fish which made the process a tad longer than normal however this humbled and grateful group of anglers did a fantastic job in following the guidelines with the park ranger standing in plain  sight both days. The rangers were pleased with how we conducted ourselves and we did not receive a complaint .Great job angler with proving that our OPEN – AIR Sport of competitive bass fishing is still possible when we all do our part.

Dez Ruffin (washington state bass federation president )