An eager field of 27 teams took to the water on Sunday, April 14, 2019 at Lake Hopatcong in the New Jersey Bass Federation’s season opening buddy event. Both the weather and the fish cooperated as the event was highly competitive with the top three finishing teams separated by a mere 6 ounces.
The winning team of Mike Rinaldi and Mike Kloss posted an impressive five fish mixed-bag limit weighing 16.93 pounds. Their kicker fish weighed in at 4.52 pounds. Just 4 ounces behind with five largemouth was the team of Mike Keller and Wally Peer with 16.70 pounds. That team’s biggest bass was 4.64 pounds. Third place was just 2 ounces further back at 16.49 pounds, which was posted by the team of Mike Czaplinski and Brendan Cucinello. That team also weighed the big fish of the event, a 5.50 pound brute!
In all, 17 of the 27 teams posted five-fish limits totaling 105 fish weighing 236.86 pounds. All fish were released alive. Yes, the spring fishing at Lake Hopatcong can be great!
The top four teams in the event were awarded cash prizes as well as the team catching the big fish. Thanks go out to all who participated (and helped out). We hope to see you for the NJBF’s point events which have guaranteed first prize payouts of $2,000 and $1,250 in the Boater and Co-Angler Divisions, respectively, for a one-day event; and $2,500 and $1,750 in those divisions, respectively, for a two-day event.
