There are many words which club members would use to affectionately describe Terry.  Any way you sliced it he was a beloved member of the Albany Area Bassmasters and a fierce competitor.  

In my first year in the club (2012) I was paired with him officially 2 times.  It would have been 4 times if the rules didn’t limit us to those two times.  I remember fishing with him and watching him attack those bass with a passion which was hard to describe.  He gave me advice that day which stuck with me over the last 3 years.  He said you just need to keep throwing it in and it will eventually come to you.  That was his philosophy in a nutshell.  Keep a line in the water and you will eventually figure things out.  In hindsight I am sure that all the “tinkering” I was doing in the back of his boat that day drove him absolutely nuts.  I could only imagine what he was thinking about this knucklehead who thinks he is going to catch fish by constantly changing lures and presentations so damn much.

Fast forward to last year at Ticonderoga.  One year more mature and with a bit more understanding his advice led to one of my best days on the water.  With my Mojo rig I caught plenty of fish that day and kept up with Terry.  One moment which we laughed about on the water was when he helped me land a 3 lber and he yells over to Paul Pflieger who was nearby that I was “Kicking his ass with some Mojo shit …”.  Now that was not true but our chuckle over it was definitely a testament to his advice.  I kept throwing that thing until we had to go and ended up with my best 2 day limit to date.

As fate would have it our last two day at Ti I was paired with Terry once again.  After getting lost in the fog not once, but twice we finally made it to the spot where he had been catching them in practice.  His day started strong catching fish on one lure.  In Terry fashion I watched him catch a 15 lb. limit working that one lure all day.  I ended up with my limit being just as persistent with my lure but it was nowhere near the size bag he carried to the scales.  We had an absolutely great time together that day.

When I found out Terry had passed away my heart just sunk!  He was good for at least one good “one-liner” every time you were around him.  Aside from all the other angling advice he has given me this is something that I will miss tremendously.  His advice will certainly live on with me and all others who were fortunate enough to share a boat with him.  

Rest in Peace buddy!

- Felix

Congratulations to Jim and Ted Underhill who won this years partners tournament on Lake Champlain - Ticonderoga.  They blew away the competition with a weight of 25.20 lbs.  Nearly 5 lbs separating them from the 2nd place pairing of George Locke and Al Dickinson (19.67 lbs).  Rounding out the bunch was Charlie and Joe Curcurito (17.90 lbs).

Final Results

The 2013 season wrapped up with our annual awards ceremony.  We capped the night off by celebrating our accomplishments for 2013 and handing out a ton of awards and some moolah to go along with it.

Check out the pictures from the award ceremony on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/AlbanyBassmasters