johnnywad

Well after a 4 week delay of cancelling due to ice conditions, I finally felt that we could safely hold the Dioxin Derby event on Lake Winthrop. !5 people entered this our 38th annual event, a low number of particpants due to iffy ice and the ongoing postponment. Lots of action all around the lake with a incoming front and storm. I went through 2 dz shiners myself and caught 9 bass and 7 pics. Size for me was not a factor as big bass went 2.56 lbs and the pic were less then keeper size except one 17 incher. Newbie to the event Dan, brought a 5.24 lb Lm to the scale early, which held up as lunker for the event, and his pal Chris ended up with big pic of 2.6 lbs. Veteran Dioxin fisher Pete v. had an interesting experience hooking a 2 1/2 lb Lm on 2 of his tills. The bass grabbed and ran with one bait, over to his next tilt where he sucked that bait down as well and took off with both!
Great time getting out on the ice with all my buds and congrats to Dan and Chris with big fish!

Am outing before the Superbowl. Fished 7 to noon. 3 small bass 1 pic for my efforts. Lots of flags due to the small bait size, I figure some trips from perch as bait was ok and only inches of line was taken.

This the original Dioxin Derby date, was postponed till 2/2. I felt obligated to be there to inform anyone attending of the new date. Had a dozen shiners with me , sooo...

Ice had just froze over Thurs. morn, and thickness ranged from a solid 6-7, out to 2 where it had recently been open.

From 7-12 noon I caught 4 bass and three pics. Bass lunker went 3 1/4 lbs, with the others in the 13-14 inch range. Pics went 10-15 inches

Cold weather should seal up lake by next weekend, and hopefully the short warm spell predicted this week will not effect ice conditions too much.

End of season tourny for BVBA was open to a few potential new members and we were able to use a local connection and use a private ramp to fish Ft Meadow. Everyone caught fish and all had limits to weigh in.All bags of 5 bass weighed in between 12 and 10.5 lbs. The exception was Greggs bag that included lunker at 5.35lbs, and topped the scales at 16.55. Brandens bag of 12 lbs took 2nd, and he did not let the fact that his big motor would not start stop him from fishing! These 2 kicked bass and I would love to see them come on board to fish with us next year. Good job guys!

Deb and I spent the afternoon on Wallum. Had the lake to ourselves with a few other fishermen arriving late in the afternoon. Sunny calm conditions allowed for a beautiful late summer outing. 4 bass caught from different spots on the lake with each taking a different bait. 4 inch wacky senko took a bass shallow in rocks, a watermelon lizard c-rigged enticed a smallie out in 12 ft of water, a 5 inch cut tail worm took a lm in 8 ft off beach, and a drop shot minnow bait lured a sm lm in 10 ft. All fish 12 -14 inches. Nice un broke off on slamming a rigged lizard, shoulda checked the leader.

BVBA last official tourny. The Murky waters called us and we arrived. Cloudy damp day, with the showers stopping on our arrival. Water still dark,with 8 inches visability. I fished for 8 hrs without boating a keeper! Goose egg. 2 others shared the goose egg blues, and all others had something to weigh in. Pete, the onlyone to fit through the bridge, to the east side, managed to have the only limit. His last keeper coming at exactly 2:59 pm as we all were pulling into the launch. Good show Pete! Matt who had never ventured to prefish won with 3. His big fish was a 3.29lber making a bag of 7.43.
Eddie came in 2nd with 2 fish, and a 4.61 lunker. Pete took 3rd with his 5 going 6.83 lbs. Everyone reported tough fishing, Bobby proposed that we not return here too soon, if ever. Bob did land a 1 1/4 pd rock, caught on a dropshot? Did the rock come up for it Bob?
Ed's 2nd place finish won the Mr Bass title for himself, with his consistent efforts this season, giving him a 5 pt spread over 2nd place Bob, and 3rd place Pete.good job Guys!
As always great fishing with you all this year, and looking forward to our Ft Meadow event and next year!

Went to Monponsett to see if conditions improved, to see if I could get through bridge, and to hopefully come up with a game plan for our tourny on Sunday. Water color improved, to the point where you can see a white spinnerbait to 8 inches instead of the previosly reported 6. I bent back hook barbs knowing I did not want to sting any of the interested bass. I did not bend a hook on a bk/bl jig, and had a 1 1/2lber pick it up off the bottom. Found only serious bites came out away from cover in deeper water 8-9 ft, and on or off humps 3-5 ftdeep. Results 1 bass (oops), I would not risk any boat damage in tunnel, and a half assed game plan for Sunday, that I hope can put 5 in the boat. We shall see.

Bro Joe and I went to check out BVBAs next tourney site. No one in the club has been here as yet. We found the lake in full algae bloom and with its dank water a white spinnerbaits disappears in 6 inches of water. All day, with full sun we never saw the bottom. Total bass for the day was 8, with the 5 I caught going 9 1/2 lbs, and Joe had 2 2 lbers.joe missed a monster that we never saw, but he played it well for a couple minutes, when with his drag screaming his line broke back on the spool. Shoulda changed that line. My bites came on a spinnerbaits, drop shot 4 in senko, sidewinder worm, and a creature bait. we shall see.

Stayed over an extra day in Vt and spent my b-day checking out St Catherine with Club Buddy Larry.Spent 4 hrs on the water exploring and did some fishing though again with few fish caught. We each landed 2 keepers in the 2-3 lb range with all others shorts. Lots of good looking water here though they seem to have a anti weed campaign ongoing with harvesting and treatments. This will be another good lake to return to.

Weekend BVBA club outing took us to Central Vt where we fished Lake Bomoseen for 3 days. I was surprised at how slow the action was here having fished it 16 years earlier, and expecting alot more bigger bass. Prefishing on Friday I spent the day alone exploring and looking over water and different areas. Fished with a variety of baits and decided to go into the tourny using dropshot and c-rigs, as the only bites and fish came on these 2 methods.
Saturday along w/ weekend partner JohnK started out good and I picked up 5 keepers early, but alas all Saulen sized in the 12 inch range. Stuck to dropshot on drops and the thick weed edges and culled throughout the day for ounces more. Day 1 resulted in a weight of 5.71. John K held off converting to dropshot and rigging and weighed in 1 small LM.
Sunday started off with a bang with solid fish on my first cast picking up a good un that I was sure would be lunker! It grabbed my dropshotted swimbait rigged on 6lb test and buried itself into the thick 8ft weed edge, where I hovered over it and finally coax it out, a f...ing Pike! Pissa, here we go. Johnny picked up a sm pike minutes later and a few short sm + lms were caught before all action died on our first choice spot. The rest of the day we fought 25-30 mph wind and flash thunder storms, had a very tough time with any bites and arrived to weigh in soaking wet. Picked up bass #5 for the day at 2:45, luckily, and Johnny felt fortunate enough to have a single fish to weigh in for day 2.
Few others did well, but Brian who stuck to his pattern in the north end way up beyond Floating Bridge, (no longer floating), came in both days with the biggest bags of Lms, 13.63 + 15.09 . He stuck to the thick pad and weed cover of the northern shallows dunking and frogging for the better quality bites which paid off. Eddie came in second, staying out on the main lake fishing 15-25 ft drops and edges with a c-rig, resulting in bags of 12.5 + 6.52. My 2 bags of mediocre bass at 5.71 +5.68 lbs tied me for 3rd place with Bob who had caught the big bass of the weekend, a 4.06 lber. 3rd place went to me as I had 10 bass to Bobs 8, sorry Bob!
Thanks to our host Todd at the Hampton Motel, and to Joe at the Bomoseen country store, fortifying us each morning with Vts. Best Breakfast sandwiches!
Good Times had with my club buddies, fishing, eating and drinking! Love these weekend getaways.