Farrell On Top at Winnipesaukee

Tim Farrell, of Hanson, MA, caught a limit of fish on all three days and won the Eastern Divisional Championship at Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. With weights of 12-15, 14-09 and 11-08, Farrell finished with an even 39-00 pounds. Farrell was doing the same thing just about everybody was doing, which was fishing a drop shot rig in fairly deep water each and every day.

Matthew Allen, from Hanover, MA finishes second just 15 ounces behind the leader with 38-01 pounds. Allen was the day 1 leader with the biggest limit of the tournament which was 16-11 pounds. Matthew also had the largest fish of the tournament with a 5-02 lunker. Matthew reportedly caught his fish out deep on a drop shot and a jig.

Davis Tsao, of Newburyport, MA was representing the home state of New Hampshire finishes third with 36-03 pounds for the three days. On day 1 Tsao had the second largest stringer of the tournament with a nice limit weighing 14-11 pounds.

Rounding out the top five was Mike Czaplinski of Hopatcong, NJ, representing New York with 34-14 pounds. Jim Gildea of Weston, MA takes fifth with 34-11

The Massachusetts team simply showed out, at this event, landing six of their twelve man team in the top 12 finishing spots. They accumulated a total 363.01 pounds. The next closest team to them was the home state team of New Hampshire with a total weight of 292-01. Connecticut finishes third with 267-12 pounds.

With 96 anglers participating, there were over 50 limits on two of the three competition days. Day two was shortened with nearly a two hour morning fog delay on Thursday, yet still over thirty limits were caught. All in all, a pretty good catch by these Eastern anglers.

As is the prize in each of the Divisional Championships, the top two anglers from each of the eight states are advanced to the Federation National Championship.

As always numerous pictures are taken each day from the take off and weigh in each day. To view these pictures and photos CLICK HERE.

View the final Results  Click Here

Anglers set anxiously waiting for the fog to lift here on day 1.  After approximately 1.5 hours delay the fog suddenly lifted and Tournament Director Sullivan began releasing the 48 boat field.

Day 2 of the Eastern Divisional Championship saw 43 five fish limits cross the stage.

Day 1 Leader Matthew Allen/Massachusetts weighed in 5 fish for 11-07 lbs to maintain the overall tournament lead with 28-02.  Tim Farrell / Massachusetts moved to 2nd Pl with 27-08 and 3rd Pl is tied with 25-14 held by David Tsao/ New Hampshire & Steve Santa / Massachusetts.

With the Top 15 places having 20 plus lbs. Day 3 is set for a spectacular finish.  Additional story being worked on now and will be posted later this evening.

View todays Results  Click Here

Day 2 pictures            Click Here

Limits Abound at the Day 1 Eastern Divisonal

With 96 anglers competing, a total of 54 of them brought in a five bass limit on Day 1 at the Eastern Divisional Championship at Winnipesaukee, in New Hampshire. Matthew Allen, of Hanover, MA is the overall leader with 16.11pounds. He separated himself from the rest of the field, with a nice 5.02 lunker, that was the biggest bass brought in on Wednesday.

Right behind Matthew, in second place was local New Hampshire angler David Tsao, from Newburyport, with his limit that weighed 14.11 pounds. David said he had a pretty solid day and thinks his fish are stable enough that he could catch that much again in the coming two days.

Third place is Mike Czaplinski of New York Team with 14.03 pounds. Rounding out the top five were Daniel Murphy of New York Team with 13.11 and Steve Santa from Io, Ma with 13.02 pounds.

Massachusetts leads the state team event with 130.01 pounds. Three other states also accumulated a 100+ pound team weight for Day 1. The total catch for the field on Day 1 was 788.02 pounds. Most anglers reported catching several short fish and most caught more than the allowed five keepers for the first day.

Weigh in will continue to be at the Paugus Bay Marina each of the next two days at 3:00 pm. The High School Conference Finals will also be on Saturday at 2:30 pm.

View Day 1 results CLICK HERE

View Day 1 Photos  CLICK HERE

Justin Parrott of Maroa, Il came out on top of the 84 angler field at the Northern Divisional with a final weight of 16-14 pounds. Justin had seven fish over three days that secured the win for him. Justin qualifies for the 2016 TBF Federation National Championship next spring. Justin was also fishing out of a qualified Ranger boat and took home $550 in Ranger Cup monies. Congratulations Justin!

The runner up position went to Ron Fravel of Laconia, IN with four fish that weighed 14.05 pounds.

Third place belonged to Rod Russell of Blacklick, Ohio with four fish weighing 12.10 pounds.

Fourth place was taken by Matt McCoy of Indianapolis, IN with five fish weighing 10.12 pounds. The fifth spot went to Timothy Rivest of Mahomet, IL with five fish weighing 10.09 pounds.

The bite was really tough this week, with most anglers only getting a few bites each day. The water levels were falling and multiple storms rolled through the area during the tournament, causing different conditions each and every day. Most of the successful anglers reported catching their fish on small crankbaits, spinnerbaits, square bill crankbaits or Senkos, all fished around some tyope of rip rap rock in less than two feet of water. Craig Saylor took the final day big fish honors with a big largemouth that weighed in at 4.15 pounds.

Indiana won the state team competition with a final twelve man team weight of 62.00 pounds and took home a check for $6000 to split among the twelve members. Illinois finished second with a weight of 56.09 pouns and earned $3000. Rounding out the top three was the tram from Ohio with 38.07 taking home $1500.

At the conclusion of the day, each of the seven states participating, qualified their top two highest finishing anglers to go to the Federation National Championship next spring. You can view all of the qualifiers at Bass Federation’s website.    Click Here

For pictures from the day 3 even:t CLICK HERE