The second point event on the 2025 season can be summed up in one word . . . WIND!  Yes, the June 1, 2025, event held on the Northern Chesapeake Bay was a windy one, with     non-stop 15-25 mph west winds.  This “blew-out” many teams spots and made navigating and fishing exceedingly difficult.  The cold weather did not make it any easier, as the temperatures only made it to 70 degrees, and that was at the end of the event.

 

No matter, as the 17 participating teams still found enough 15-inch and bigger-sized bass to make it a highly competitive event.

 

The winning team of Mike Aspinwall, Sr. and Joshua Jones stunningly took the win with one less than a five-fish limit.  Their creel of four fish weighed a healthy 16.85 pounds and was     anchored by the big fish of the event, a 5.95-pound monster.  For their victory, the team received $1,820 and an additional $340 for the lunker winner.

Just more than two ounces behind with a five-fish limit weighing 16.71 pounds was the team of Mike Keller and Derick Olson. That team received $1,020. The race for third place had four teams within one pound of another.  Coming out on top with 15.15 pounds was the team of Mike Wallace and Patrick Staszewsky.  That team was awarded the $530 third place check.  The next point event is June 28 (Saturday) on Greenwood Lake.

The annual NJBF six-man Team Tournament pits six members from each club against one another to see which club gets bragging rights for the year as the top club.  This year’s event was held on the Northern Chesapeake Bay on May 8 and 9.  

Even with the 15-inch minimum fish size, and some interesting weather conditions, the participating clubs found good fishing overall and posted some solid overall weights.

 

Taking the event for the second year in a row was the Big D Valley Bassmasters (BDVB).  This team showed impressive balance and overall, weighed in 55 fish totaling 163.86 pounds, winning by over 16 pounds over the second-place team.  Leading the team in weight was Donny Diggs, who finished second individually in the Boater Division with 35.69 pounds.  The other BDVB Boaters also finished in good stead, with Dave Williams in fourth place, Ian Martin in sixth place and Nick Angiulo in seventh place.  Even more impressive was BDVB’s Co-Anglers.  In that regard, Desmond Byfield won the Co-Angler Division with 20.52 pounds and Joe Venuto finished second with 19.09 pounds.

 

The second-place team, the Quickfire Bassmasters also brought impressive weight to the scales.  In all, that club weighed in 51 fish weighing 147.10 pounds.  Leading the team was the overall Boater winner, New Jersey Bass Federation President Mike Keller with 36.32 pounds.

 

Other individual accomplishments of note were the overall big fish for the event.  In the Boater Division Brian Wisniewski weighed in a 6.32 pound beast, and in the Co-Angler Division Chris Miller weighed in the 4.44 pound big fish.

 

Along with a team event, this event is used to qualify anglers for both the 2025 TBF District 15 National Semi-Final (NSF) and the 2026 TBF National Championship.  The NSF qualifiers are, in the Boater Division – Mike Keller, Donny Diggs, Brian Wisniewski: and in the Co-Angler Division – Desmond Byfield, Joe Venuto, Mike Lee.  By virtue of their first-place finishes, Mike Keller and Desmond Byfield also qualify for automatic entry into the 2026 TBF National Championship in the Boater Division and Co-Angler Division, respectively.

 

 

 

The first point event on the 2025 season presented the 28 participating teams a host of challenges.  The initial challenge was the weather.  With cold temperatures and strong gusty winds, fishing in certain areas of the lake was difficult.  However, the biggest challenge was figuring out how to coax bass to bite, given that in the two days prior to the event, the water temperature dropped up to 7 degrees.  The sudden drop in water temperatures, to the mid to upper-40s, put the bass in lockdown mode and many teams reported not getting a single bite.

 

While no team could manage a 5-fish limit, as always, some teams put enough of the puzzle pieces together to bring some solid weights to the scale.  

The winning son/father team of Ron and Ed Schneider weighed in 4 fish totaling a sold 12.84 pounds, enough to win the event by more than 1.75 pounds.  Their winning bag took the first prize of $2,600.

 

The defending 2024 team of the year, and another son/father combination, took second place.  That team. consisting of Ian and John Martin had 4 fish weighing 11.04 pounds.  Their second-place bag was worth $1,400.

 

Third place was the team of Greg DelRusso and Devon Norwood-Kitson, who just edged the fourth-place team by less than one ounce.  That team had 4 fish weighing 10.77 pounds and collected the $800 third place check.

 

The lunker for the event, a 5.69 pound brute, was caught by the team of Pete Longo and Rich Davisson, and took the $560 lunker prize. 

 

ALSO, We have a co-angler seeking a boater partner for the full season.  Contact Nick at the above email if interested.