On October 4, the club traveled to Lake Bomoseen in Vermont for our final points tournament of the year. Unfortunately, our dreams of big fish were not realized and fishing was very difficult. A clear sunny 75 degree day with 68 degree water in October was not what we were expecting when this event was planned. Brady Moy brought the heaviest bag to the scale with three fish weighing a total of 7 lbs. 6 oz. Second place was Al Maher with 2 fish weighing 7 lbs. 1 oz with the tournament lunker of 4 lbs. 6 oz. Third place was Rick Putnam with the day's only 5 fish limit of 5lbs. 13oz. Al Maher's catch was enough to keep him first place in the standings to earn him the 2025 Angler of The Year title. Joe Curcurito finished 2nd in the yearly standings while Paul Pflieger finished third.
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On September 13, The Club fished the Eastern end of the Mohawk River out of the Flightlock Road Launch. Fishing conditions were very tough and the launch site was overcrowded due to another tournament organization being there, even though they did not hold a permit for the site. Of our eleven anglers that did fish, only 6 were able to bring fish to the scale. What was very astounding was that George Locke was able to bring in a 17lb 2oz bag, while second place was a tie between Joe Curcurito and Al Maher with 6 lb 12oz bags. George caught the only limit! Lunker was a 4lb 9oz Largemouth weighed by Al Maher. As far as club yearly standings there is a tie for first place between Joe Curcurito, and Al Maher
The club traveled to Northern Champlain for a 2-day tournament out of Rouses Point for a 2-day tournament on August 23-24. The water level of the lake was historically low and that made safe navigation a concern. On day 1 we were greeted by windy, but manageable lake conditions and although fishing was somewhat disappointing, Eric Madden weighed a 14lb 5 oz limit to take his first club win. (In his third club tournament). Paul Pflieger finished second with 12lbs 3oz and Joe Cucurito finished 3rd with 11lbs 11oz. Tournament lunker was a 3lb 10oz smallmouth caught by Paul Pflieger. The tournament was shortened by one day as there was a wind advisory with predicted winds of 15-25 knots for Sunday. The wind was already very strong at the launch when the decision was made on Sunday morning to cancel the second day due to safety concerns.
Day 1 of our Ticonderoga tournament showed that the fishing was not up to our usual expectations, but Al Maher led us with 14 lbs 4 oz, followed by Paul Pflieger with 13 lbs 2 oz. Of the ten anglers, only half caught 5 fish limits, not typical for this lake. The lunker on day 1 was a 3lb 9 oz largemouth caught by Joe Curcurito. Day 2 was a day with solid rain most of the day, but fishing was much improved over day 1. Once again, Maher excelled again with 18lbs 4 ounces, with Nick Sarchioto catching 17lbs 7 oz. Al won the tournament with a total weight of 32lbs 8oz, Paul Pflieger 2nd with 26lbs 3oz, and Robert Deyoe 3rd with 23lbs 9 oz. Lunker of the tournament was Joe Curcurito with a 5-2 largemouth. Second lunker was a tie between Al Maher and Eric Madden with 4-7.
On July 12 the club held their 2nd points tournament of 2025 on Saratoga Lake. At launch the skies were threatening and right after launch a fierce storm pelted us with rain until almost 10 AM. While everyone caught many fish that day and everyone weighed in a limit, the very small bag weights show that this fishery continues to decline to a shadow of its former self. There are numerous theories on the cause of this, but the predominant is the continuing application of herbicides to the lake. When the weigh-in was over, it was no surprise that the winner was Al Maher who has been a very consistent angler on this lake and an angler that succeeds when the fishing requires a very slow and determined approach. Al's limit of 12lbs 6oz with a 3lb 9 oz lunker secured his win over George Locke who finished second with 11lbs 3 ounces. Bill Piggott finished 3rd with 11lbs even.
Dave Black surprised everyone with a tournament lunker of 5lbs 2 oz which is leading for lunker of the year. Al's win leaves him in first place in club standings after 2 tournaments. On June 15 we opened our points season on Lake George, using the State Ramp out of Mossy Point. Fishing was excellent and even the weather cooperated. Joey Curcurito led the field with 13 lbs 5 ounces and his boat partner Brian Gregory repeated his past performance with a 4 lb 8 ounce largemouth tournament lunker. Finishing second with 13 lbs was Paul Pflieger and Jim Underhill took 3rd place with 12 lbs 6 ounces. Everyone caught fish and there were 10 limits caught.
Congratulations to the winner, Joe Curcurito who secured his win with a 4 fish bag of 9.62 lbs. Second place went to Al Maher with 7.83 lbs. The lunker of the day was a 3.75 lb smallmouth caught by Tony Curcurito, and Mike Leskowski weighed in second lunker at 3.09lbs..
Fishing conditions were very tough with no five fish limits caught and 3 of 14 anglers weighed no fish, including some old salts who have been fishing the river for over 20 Years. . With 14 anglers, only 25 fish were weighed in! The club did a great job of getting boats in and out, especially at the end of the day when the ramp was very busy with other users. Let's hope that your 2025 Tournament Committee remembers this when they plan a 2025 schedule! The race for angler of the year has tightened up with Briar Murtlow leading Rick Putnam by only 6 points! The showdown on Lake Bomoseen on October 19 should be very interesting. On August 3, 2024 the club held a points tournament on Cossayuna Lake (Although its size is more like a pond), and under oppressive heat, the club was able catch quite a few limits of fish. Unfortunately there were not a lot of large fish caught and there were many that were put on measuring boards before they went into the livewell. At least the morning rain kept the boat traffic down until late morning, but after that the small lake was very busy with recreational boat traffic. Al Maher won the tournament with 14.13lbs and a 4.70lb lunker, George Locke was 2nd with 12.90 lbs and Paul Pflieger 3rd with 12.66 lbs and a 4.22lb second lunker. These results tightened up the race for angler of the year with Briar leading with 380 points and Rick Putnam second with 368 points with two more tournaments to go.
With a practice day on July 12, and a tournament on July 13 the club experienced 2 great days of fishing on Lake Champlain at Ticonderoga! Once again the members adapted to the changing conditions of the lake and in spite of a definite lack of substantial weed growth. It took a 5-fish limit of 18.40 lbs for Jim Underhill to win, with a second place of 17.48 by Briar Murtlow and a third place of 17.25 by Al Maher. Many of the members reported catching multiple limits of fish and almost everyone was able to weigh in a 5 -fish limit. The lunker fish of the tournament was a 5.13lb Largemouth bass caught by Mike Leskowsky. All fish caught were released live into the lake after weigh-in.
While the members present endured lots of rain and changing conditions throughout the day, fishing was very good overall. Every one of the 15 anglers weighed in a 5 -fish limit. Rick Putnam secured his first club win with a weight of 13.43 lbs, followed by Anthony Curcurito second with 12.36 lbs and Briar Murtlow third with 11.87 lbs. Lunker fish was a 4.52 lb largemouth caught by Mike Leskowsky and second lunker was a 4.37 Largemouth caught by Rick Putnam. It is not a surprise to see that one big fish is what is needed to win a tournament on this lake.
Welcome to Thatcher and Robrt Deyoe who did well in their first club tournament. I hope that they both had an enjoyable day despite the bad weather, and we look forward to seeing them at our next tournament at Ticonderoga. |
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