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TBF District 6 Pymatuning and Conneaut Lake
Posted by Bass Hounds in Fishing Blogs, The Bass Hounds Blog on September 1, 2011
June 11th
PA TBF District 6 held their second tournament of the year at Pymatuning Lake. Team members Brad Bressler, Derek Severns and Robert Severns, fished this event. The guys were welcomed with a perfect morning, but the promise of a windy afternoon was in store. Brad started out the morning fishing the Ohio side of the lake a area called Bay 41, this was across for the launch at Snodgrass. He started off with two small keepers; his rider caught 4 keepers right away. They caught their keepers on jigs, spinner baits and senkos. Brad then decided to head north to the Linesville area of the lake. He pulled up on a area that he thought would hold some fish and has held them in the past, and he was correct, he boated 14 keepers off of this bank, 2 of them over 3 pounds. His rider did not have then luck that Brad did. Brad rounded out his limit and ended the day with one dead fish for ½ pound penalty and a total weight of 11.81, this would put Brad in 4th place for the day.
Derek started his day in the back of Wade Adams boat, the first spot they stopped on was just north of the launch. Wade quickly caught a limit on a white fluke and a shallow diving crank bait, while Derek couldn’t hook up. Derek did catch his first fish off of that spot. The two then made their way over to the Ohio side of the lake, and begun to flip trees and bushes in the shallow water. Both guys caught fish, Derek caught one over 3 pds. They left that area Derek had 4 fish and Wade still had his 5 and was calling. With a few hours to go, the guys decided to stick it out in a large weed patch on the PA side, just below the causeway. This proved to be a good call for both anglers, Derek ended his day calling out 3 of his 5 fish and adding one over 4 pounds. They were catching their fish on senkos, tubes and jigs. Derek ended his day with 13.09, this was enough to win the co-anglers side. Bob did not have the luck that Brad and Derek had he and his boater fished hard all day, his boater had a small limit and Bob had only had 4. This left Bob in 13th place on the co-anglers side.
August 7th
Was the final TBF District 6 tournament of the year. Conneaut Lake was host to this event. Brad and Derek made the trip to Conneaut, the day was forecasted to be 80 and sunny, which sounds good, but not at Conneaut, this would mean water skiers and boaters everywhere! The morning bite is very important on a day like this. Brad started out with a limit in the first half hour, small, but never the less a limit. The day turned into a grind for him, he caught more fish but they were all small, he just could not upgrade. The fish came on flukes, baby one crankbaits, senkos, and pop-r’s in the morning. Brad ended his day with a limit, but only 5.13 this was enough for 12th on the anglers side. Derek had much the same luck but in different areas with different baits, the big bites just were not there for the guys today. Derek fished a drop shot with a variety of baits, worms, senkos, gulp minnows. He had a small limit for 5.70 good enough also for 12th on the co-angler side. This was not what the guys had planned, but on a sunny day at Conneaut you never know what might happen.
As the 2011 District 6 season comes to an end, the ultimate goal is to qualify for the state championship. Brad finished 10 in the angler of the year points and qualified to the state championship as a boater. Brian Spencer qualified from the Eastern Regional event as a boater. On the co-anglers side, Derek finished 6th and qualified as a rider to the championship. Bob finished the year in 13th and cannot fish the championship event. The state championship will be held October 7th and 8th at Onieda Lake in New York. The team will be represented there by Brad Bressler and Derek Severns. Let cross our fingers the guys can find the right fish to make the 12 man PA team. At this event there will be around 150 anglers hoping to make the coveted 12 man team that will represent PA in an upcoming national level event. As always the team would like to take a minute to thank all the people that make this all possible, the sponsors….Valvoline Oil, Nervous Waters, Metal Menders Paintless Dent Removal, Strauss Auto Recycling, Bowser Collision Center, Poor Boys Baits and www.fishpittsburgh.com . Please support these companies because they support our sport.
A Busy Couple Weeks for the team
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on June 14, 2011
March 26th was the Mariners Buddy Tournament held at Cross Creek Lake in Avella PA. Team members Brad Bressler and Derek Severns teamed up to fish this event. 40 degree water temps greeted the guys in the morning with the air temperature only being 28 degrees. Slow, slow fishing was the name of the game. Around 1 pm Brad got the team’s only bite and only fish a 3.40 largemouth came off a deep lake point. This fish gave the guys a 4th place finish, the tournament was won, with one fish that weighed in just over 7 pounds…a true Cross Creek trophy.
April 10th was the first of three TBF District six events that the team would fish. This event was held at Lake Erie, but this was a bay only tournament, held inside of Presque Isle Bay. Team members Rich Wolota, Brad Bressler and Derek Severns, fished this event. Again, cold water temps greeted the anglers and the fishing was slow. Only a few boats caught fish. The boys only caught a few fish, none of them made the 15” minimum. The short fish that they caught came off of jerk baits and spinner baits. Throughout the day the anglers tried many different techniques, none of which would produce any keepers. The next two events will be held at Pymatuning Lake in June and then Conneaut Lake in August, the boys will be looking for a little redemption.
As soon as the event at Erie ended, the team packed up and headed to Washington DC for the week. The TBF Mr. Bass East event was being held on the Potomac River April 15th and 16th. The team would pre-fish for four days prior to the tournament in hopes of locating some big fish. The 4 practice days prior to the event did not help the team too much, as the fish were pre-spawn and still hadn’t moved up onto the spawning flats. Most fish were still out in the main river and this made them hard to find and catch. The further north that you went from the launch, the water seemed to clear up and the fishing was better, so both days, Rich and Brad went north in hopes of finding some better fish. The tide is very important at the Potomac River; you have to fish the falling and rising tides and know where that puts the fish, and at what times of the day this all happens. It adds a new element to fishing that we don’t have at home; the guys that master the tides and the river always seem to come out on top. Rattle traps, senkos, chatter baits, spinner baits and jigs seemed to be the weapons of choice for the week. At the end of the week the guys didn’t get the results that they had hoped for Brad finished 35th and Rich was 37th on the boater side, while Derek was 37th and Bob was 44th. Though the results were not what they had hoped, each trip to Washington DC and the Potomac River is a learning experience and teaches you a lot of new things. The Bass Hounds would like to thank all of their 2011 Sponsors, Valvoline Oil, Nervous Waters, Metal Menders, Strauss Automotive, Poor Boy Baits and FishPittsburgh.com, Bowser Collision Center, without the help of these companies this would not be possible.
Washington County Bassmasters Cabin Fever Tournament
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on March 23, 2011
Cross Creek Lake in Avella was host to the 2011 Cabin Fever Tournament, this marked the first tournament that The Bass Hounds will fish this year. Team member Derek Severns partnered up with Jim Lambert to fish this early season buddy tournament. With air and water temperatures still cold you know the fishing will be slow, the question with this tournament each year, is how slow? There were 28 boats signed up for this tournament.
The anglers were greeted with a beautiful morning and a promise of temperatures to be warming up in the afternoon. The water temps started off around 45 degrees but warmed to 50 by the afternoon. The fishing was slow, the guys started off flipping jigs and throwing lipless crank baits. Between 8am and noon, the guys only had one bite which was a swing and a miss, but they kept a mental note of where the bite was. Around 12:30 they made a sort run to a point that has always given up one fish or two during these early tournaments. The point did not disappoint this year either. Derek hooked up with what ended up being the tournament lunker, a 5.3 pound largemouth. That fish really got the blood pumping on this slow day. Both guys knew with just one more fish they would really have a shot of doing well. After an hour or
so of no bites, the team decided to move back up the lake to where they had missed the fish earlier in the day. Jim flipped in the bush and bang, the fish was on, it was the team’s second keeper! This really gave the guys a chance now, but they continued to think, if we could get one more good fish, it could be game over. But that bite never came, they fished hard all the way to the end.
At the weigh in it seemed that not too many boats were bringing in fish. There was rumor of a 6 plus pound fish, which never surfaced, Derek’s 5.3 ended up being the tournament lunker and with Jims fish, the team ended up with 8.05. This was enough for second place, the first place team of Bill and Rob Tarr had two bass for 8.16, so it was close. Only 6 teams weighed fish. Washington County Bassmasters does an excellent job with this tournament and hats off to all of the people that help make this event possible.
This is the first of many events The Bass Hounds team will be fishing this year…this weekend, March 26th, team members Brad Bressler and Derek Severns will be teaming up to fish the Mariners Buddy event back at Cross Creek, and then it is off to Erie for the opening district tournament for the TBF D-6, and then to Washington DC for the TBF Mr. Bass East Event. The Bass Hounds would like to thank all of their 2011 Sponsors, Valvoline Oil, Nervous Waters, Metal Menders, Strauss Automotive, Poor Boy Baits and FishPittsburgh.com without the help of these companies this would not be possible.
2010 TBF State Championship Lake Chautauqua NY Oct. 8th and 9th
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on November 26, 2010
Lake Chautauqua was host to the 2010 PA State Championship. Five of the six Bass Hounds team members qualified for the classic. Brad Bressler, Brian Spencer and Rich Wolota all qualified as boaters and Derek Severns and Jeff Spencer made it as riders. Fishing conditions this time of year can be very challenging to say the least. A week of pre fishing was showing the guys that the patterns of the summer time were long gone. The weather that week went from bad to worse, a few days, the highs were in the low 40’s with lows in the 30’s and the rain would not stop. During that week Brad got on a few points that held fish, when the fish were there and they ate, they were big. Brad caught 4 fish in practice over 5 pounds, he was hoping they would hang out till the end of the week. Rich could only find a few keepers here and there, Brian would say the same come tournament time. In a normal summer tournament at Chautauqua, you will need around 20 pounds a day to win. The guys knew it would take a lot less this week, but you never know.
There were 68 boaters and 48 riders signed up, this meant that all of the boater’s names would be put in a hat and drawn. Some of the boaters would have to go as riders for half of the day and then switch, and they would be in control of the boat the second half of the day. At the end of day one, the fishing was what everyone thought…HARD. 69 of the 117 entries did not bring a fish to the scales and many of the guys only had one. Brad was able to find a few small fish, his big fish just weren’t home with a few small fish Brad weighed 4.95 lbs, good enough to leave him in 5th place. Brian, Rich, Jeff and Derek all zeroed that first day. Even after such a tough first day, everyone still knew that they had a chance to be in it the next day.
Day two started out with a bang for Brad, his first stop produced the tournament lunker, a 5.97 lb smallmouth bass. The only problem was, that was Brad’s only bite of the day. That left Brad in 11th place, just a little under 2.50 lbs off of making the PA team. Brian was able to find a few fish this day as well, he had 7.39 lbs, but that was only good enough for 24th on the boater side. Rich fished hard both days but could not find a keeper; the fish he did catch were short. Derek worked that second day but could only come up with two keepers for around 3 pounds, knowing that he needed 8 pounds or better to make the team, he didn’t weigh his fish. Jeff also struggled to find those keeper fish and zeroed both days. After two days, the lake brought a lot of the state’s best anglers to their knees. It was a very humbling experience for most.
The Bass Hounds would like to take a moment to congratulate the 2011 Divisional Team on a job well done. Best wishes at Kerr Lake at the 2011 Mid-Atlantic Tournament.
2011 Divisional Team:
Anglers:
1st Brent McNeal (2010 Champ and Team Captain)
2nd Bob Gilpin
3rd Ron Wolf
4 th Aaron Kassab
5th Jesse Salmon
6th Steve Hughes
ALT-Travis Spittler
Co-Anglers:
1st Jeff Miller
2nd Dave Ciarletta
3rd Dave Ciraulo
4th Brett Dalrymple
5th Rich Rushing
6th Ed Guidon
The Bass Hounds would like to take a moment to thank everyone that helped support them this year. Valvoline Oil, Strauss Automotive, Nervous Waters, Metal Menders, Nowak Commercial Refinishes, Poor Boy Baits, Ardent Reels, and www.fishpittsburgh.com, without these companies, this year would not have been possible. These companies supported the team in 2010 and we hope to continue with them in 2011. Valvoline Oil has already returned as a team sponsor for 2011. We will keep you posted this winter as to who will be supporting the team in the upcoming season. Remember if at all possible, if you have the opportunity or need the services of any of these companies, tell them The Bass Hounds sent you, support the companies that support our sport.
TBF District 6 – Brady’s Bend, PA
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on November 17, 2010
Brady’s Bend, PA was the host of the third and final event for TBF District 6. It was held August 22nd on the Allegheny River. The Brady’s Bend pool of the Allegheny River is a very unique pool, if you were to leave the boat launch and head north, you would only be able to navigate about a mile or so in a normal boat. You need to have a jet boat to go any further north. South of the boat launch is about 8 miles of river that can be fished with a normal outboard motor. Around 60 percent of the field had jet boats that morning.
Prior to this event, Rich, Brian and Brad had spent time pre-fishing this pool, with mixed results. None of the guys had jet boats, so they we stuck fishing in the lower end of the pool. Rumors have it that the best fishing is to be had the further north you can go. Rich had a pattern going with a buzz bait, followed up with a senko if the fish missed it. Brad was working his areas with a fluke and a shallow running crank bait, while Brian spent his time working a Pop-R and a Poor Boys Jig.
The morning of the tournament the anglers were greeted with overcast skies, just what you think the anglers may need to catch them. But in practice the guys were fishing very bright sunny skies. So as normal Mother Nature put her twist on things.
At the end of the day Brad finished 9th on the angler side with 4 fish, he broke one of with about 5 minutes left to fish that would have bumped him up to around third or so, do the weights all being so close. Brian finished 11th with 2 fish. Rich also had two fish, but one fish did not make it to the scales alive so he was docked at ½ pound as per the rules, that put Rich in 13th for the day.
On the co-angler side Bob finished 7th, Derek finished 8th with a ½ pound dead fish penalty and Jeff finished 12th. The dead fish for Derek really ended up costing him big, without the dead fish penalty Derek would have finished 5th in the tournament and ultimately winning the angler of the year points race. Due to the 8th place finish, Derek ended up 2nd in the co-angler of the year points, by a ½ of point.
As 2010 TBF district 6 came to a close the Bass Hounds ended up pretty good, but are looking to improve for next year. On the angler side Rich Wolota finished 2nd, Brad Bressler finished 8th, Brian Spencer finished 13th. On the co-angler side Derek Severns finished 2nd, Jeff Spencer finished 9th and Bob Severns finished 16th. Five of the six team members qualified for the state classic to be held October 8th and 9th at Chautauqua Lake in NY. Catch you after that!
TBF District 6 Tournament – Lake Erie
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on August 12, 2010
August 8th marked the second of three TBF district 6 tournaments. This tournament was held on Lake Erie. The tournament launched from Marina Bay and was open to all waters, bay and main lake. The Bass Hounds were there with 3 boaters and two riders. The limit at the tournament was 4 fish, due to issues with keeping fish alive, due to very hot water temperatures; at the pre-tourney meeting the limit was changed to three fish to try to help this situation.
Most if not all boats headed out of the bay and towards the main lake to fish for the giant smallmouth bass that the lake has to offer. Heading west was almost impossible as the wind was from the west and the waves were growing bigger and bigger, hour by hour. At 6am when the tournament took off the waves were around 3 to 6 foot. This made the fishing almost impossible. The guys that headed east were able to fish for a little longer until the wind and waves caught up to them. By 1pm there was a small craft advisory on the lake with waves in the 4 to 8 foot range. Most boats had headed near or into the bay by 12 noon. Largemouth bass can be caught near and in the bay area at Erie.
The choice baits at Erie are tubes, drop shot, blade baits, and even top water lures. It seems you need some wind at Erie to make the fishing good, but you know what they say about too much of a good thing. The wind was so bad that guys we were using 1 oz plus weights to try to get our baits to stay on the bottom. It was just plain hard to get a bite when the conditions are like that.
Out of 46 entries only 9 limits were weighed, also fish were weighed by only 25 contestants. One of the limits weighed was by Bass Hounds boater Rich Wolota, a limit of three largemouths’s weighing in at 5.72 as all he could do. Rich said that his spots on the main lake were unfishable when he arrived there. This limit landed Rich in 8th place for the tournament. Co anglers Derek Severns and Jeff Spencer both had one fish each. This left Derek in 6th place and Jeff in 12th. These were finishes that helped out all three anglers in the Angler and Co-Angler of the year races. After Erie, Rich Wolota is in second place in the Angler of the year standings. In the Co-Angler of the year standings after 2 of 3 events, Derek Severns is in first place and Jeff Spencer is in fifth place. Anglers Brad Bressler and Brian Spencer are sitting in 10th and 18th respectively.
August 22 marks the last of the three District 6 events on the Allegheny River. The Bass Hounds are looking for a strong finish to the year and possibly two Angler of the Year titles. Again, The Bass Hounds would like to thank all of their sponsors. A special thanks goes out for this update to Valvoline Oil for their sponsorship throughout the year…Thanks again guys, catch you after the Allegheny River.
TBF Erie Regional, TBF Mr. Bass West and TBF District 6 Event #1
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on July 15, 2010
The weekend of June 26th and 27th was the West Regional 6 man team event at Lake Erie. This tournament was held in the Bay. The fishing was extremely tough and the guys fished hard but finished 7th. Not quite the results they were looking for, but never the less it was a great time and they all learned a lot about the bay.
July 9th and 10th marked the Mr. Bass West tournament, held at Chautauqua Lake in Jamestown NY. This is an excellent bass fishery located about 40 east of Lake Erie. Three of the 5 team members arrived at the lake Tuesday morning to pre fish for 3 days prior to the tournament. The fish were biting well, on crank baits, senkos, and jigs. Deep weed edges, points and docks seemed to be the best spots to locate these fish. Friday morning was the first morning of the tournament, and a front was on its way in, by noon it was raining so hard you couldn’t see 10 feet in front of the boat. Saturday was much better weather, although fishing after a front is tough as we all know. At the end of the two day tournament, anglers Brian Spencer finished 6th with a weight of 19.72, Brad Bressler finished 7th with a weight of 18.34 and Rich Wolota finished 11th with a final weight of 12.63. On the co-angler side of the team Derek Severns finished 7th with a weight of 10.59 and Jeff Spencer finished up 10th with 10.47. Both Brian and Brad were able to qualify for the PA State Championship from this tournament. The PA State Championship will be held in October, back at Chautauqua Lake.
July 11th was the first of three District 6 events that the Bass Hounds will be fishing. This event was held at Chautauqua Lake after the 2 prior days of the Mr. Bass tournament. Finding and having fish for three days is tough. This tournament would be a true test of how the week of pre fishing worked out. Following some of the same patterns but changing up some locations and trying a few new spots lead the team to some good finishes. Brad Bressler, angler for the Bass Hounds, finished 2nd with 13.25 pounds. Angler Rich Wolota had 11.38 pounds to finish 3rd. Angler Brian Spencer had 7.30 pounds to finish 9th. Co angler Derek Severns finished 2nd on the co anglers side with 9.07 pounds and the lunker of the tournament, a 5.25 smallmouth caught on a Poor Boys ¾ ounce green pumpkin jig. Jeff Spencer finished 10th on the co angler side with 2.79 pounds. So the first of three events was a great showing for the Bass Hounds with 2 seconds and a 3rd. The next District 6 tournament will be on Lake Erie August 8th followed by the Allegheny River tournament at Brady’s Bend August 22nd.
The Bass Hounds would like to take a moment to thank all of their 2010 sponsors because without them none of this would be possible. A special thanks goes out to Valvoline Oil, Strauss Automotive, Nervous Waters, Metal Menders, Nowak Commercial Refinishes, Poor Boys Baits, Ardent Reels, and Fish Pittsburgh.com. Please feel free to check out any and all of these companies, mention the Bass Hounds team sent you and they will take care of you. Support the people and companies that support our sport. Catch you on the water.
Mr. Bass East TBF Potomac River
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on May 11, 2010
April 23rd and 24th mark the dates for the Mr. Bass East TBF tournament. Four members of The Bass Hounds team headed down for a few days of pre-fishing and then the two day tournament. Boaters Rich Wolota and Brad Bressler left on Monday night and arrived at Smallwood state park Tuesday morning to start fishing. Co-anglers Jeff Spencer and Derek Severns left Wednesday night and arrived Thursday in the am to fish a little and prepare for Fridays first day.
During the couple days of pre fishing, Rich had his spots and fish dialed in, a limit both days should have not been a problem. Rich was having excellent luck with a Poor Boys darter jig, with a Poor Boys KISS Craw trailer, both in green pumpkin. On the other hand Brad found fish, but not as many keepers as he had hoped for. The size limit at the Potomac is 15” and most of the fish Brad was on were 14 ¾ inches. Brad was catching a lot fish on Poor Boys Dixie Darter in black and also using green pumpkin. Even though the fishing was slow as far as keepers went, the fishing overall was very, very good, each angler reported catching anywhere from 30 to 50 fish a day.
On day one of the tournament Rich went straight to the spot that he had found this week and was very happy to find that he had this area all to himself. He was able to boat about 25 fish that first day but only two kept. Rich said, “I broke off two fish early in the day, both were really good fish, I also missed a couple bites, I am pretty disappointed, but we will see what tomorrow brings.” Brad started the day off with a keeper on his first cast, a largemouth weighing in at 3.81 lbs. A great start he thought, then he caught 3 short fish in his next 5 casts. Believe it or not Brad caught around 35 fish on day one but that first fish on his first cast was his only keeper. Co-anglers Jeff and Derek did well, Jeff finished the first day off with 2 keepers for 5.41 lbs and Derek had 4 keepers for 10.23 lbs. Both Jeff and Derek reported catching a lot of short fish, which seemed to be the way it was for most anglers.
Day two brought new hope of better results than the day before. Brad started his day off by running to a new area in hopes of some bigger bites. He did find them; Brad used his Poor Boys 4” tube in watermelon color to find these fish. He ended the day with 3 keepers for 11.89 lbs. Rich on the other hand went back to the spot that he fished the day before and today he did not lose or miss any fish. Rich did indeed catch his limit and his five fish weighed in at 13.57. Rich threw the same Poor Boys jig and trailer that he used the day before. The co-anglers on the team did not fair as well, Jeff had two more keepers on day two for 6.11 lbs. and Derek had only one fish for 2.22 lbs. Derek mentioned that he caught around 30 fish on day two, but only the one kept.
All said and done the trip did not produce the results the team had hoped for but everyone had a great time…Rich Wolota finished 15th and Brad Bressler finished 22nd in the anglers division…while Derek Severns finished 17th and Jeff Spencer finished 21st on the co-anglers side. The team looks to improve on these finishes next month at the Western 6 Man Team event on Lake Erie June 26th and 27th. The team would like to thank all of there sponsors, Valvoline Oil, Strauss Automotive, Nervous Waters, Ardent Reels, Poor Boys Baits, Metal Menders, Fish Pittsburgh.com and Nowak Commercial Refinishes.
2010 “The Bass Hounds” Fishing Team
Posted by Bass Hounds in The Bass Hounds Blog on April 13, 2010
There is a new fishing team that has come together for the 2010 TBF season here in PA. The name is The Bass Hounds; they are based out of Carnegie PA. They will be fishing the PA TBF events in PA’s district 5 and 6. The team is composed of 6 seasoned anglers with years of experience. The members of the team are Rich Wolota, Brad Bressler, Brian Spencer, Derek Severns, Jeff Spencer and Bob Severns.
The Bass Hounds would like to take a moment to thank all of their sponsors, because with out them, this season would not be possible. The team’s title sponsor is Valvoline Oil Co. The other companies supporting the team are Nervous Waters, Strauss Automotive, Metal Menders, Fish Pittsburgh.com, Poor Boys Baits, Ardent Reels, and Nowak Commercial Refinishing.
We will have write ups on all of these companies in upcoming blogs. Please feel free to contact any of these companies and let them know that The Bass Hounds sent you to them and they will be happy help you out. Our sponsors will provide specials that we will list on this site. When you see them, feel free to call them with the promotional code and you will receive a discount.
The team starts off the 2010 season at the Potomac River April 23rd and 24th for the TBF MR. Bass East event. We will let you know how the team fairs. Also, remember to check back at www.fishpittsburgh.com for updates on the team and sponsors.
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