TEAM TOURNAMENT RESULTS

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.