New York State has some of the finest bass fishing waters in the country.  Any avid bass fisherman can tick off their names off the top of their head, Lake Champlain, St. Lawrence River, Cayuga Lake, Oneida Lake, and so many others.  But an overlooked gem is Saratoga Lake.  While generally lacking the overall size of fish as several of those other more famous lakes, there are not many lakes where up to 100 fish days can happen, but at Saratoga, it could be a daily occurrence.

With that in mind, the second NJBF event of the year, a two-day extravaganza took place on Saratoga Lake on June 23 and 24.  And the lake did not disappoint.

Boater Division

The winner in the Boater Division basically lapped the field, winning by almost three pounds on a lake that bunches up every angler.  That angler, Dave Williams of the Big D Valley Bassmasters, had an impressive two-day weight of 28.18 pounds which included the Boater Division 4.46 pound big fish.

The rest of the Boater Division field was separated by less than five pounds, making the race for second and third highly competitive.  Taking second was Craig Townsend with a two-day total of 25.31 pounds.  Just behind in third place was Brain Wisniewski with 24.67 pounds.

Co-Angler Division

The three fish daily limit in the Co-Angler Division put a premium on catching at least one big fish.  And that is what the top two anglers in that division did.

The winner, Mike Lee of the Essex County Bassmasters had a two-day total of 17.87 pound, anchored by his 4.54 pound Co-Angler Division lunker winning fish.  Not far behind was Dan Heiss with 16.36 pounds.  Heiss also posted a fish nearing 4.50 pounds.  Third place with 15.77 pounds was Joe Venuto.

Full results are posted on the results page.

NORTHERN CHESAPEAKE BAY POINT EVENT – RESULTS

Longtime Federation member and Secretary, Nick Angiulo, has had quite a career, including being a member of 6 New Jersey State Teams; qualifying for 4 TBF National Championships and 1 BFL All-American; and winning one 1 Bassmasters Northern Open.  However, he had never won a NJBF points events as a Boater, until the June 4, 2023 event held on the Northern Chesapeake.

In the Boater Division, Angiulo posted a solid weight of 15.05 pounds, good enough to edge out the second-place finisher.  Angiulo had no “kicker” fish, but instead culled up to a solid bag of 5, 2.75 to 3.25 pound fish.

Taking a close second, with only 4 fish, was Russ Awad.  Awad’s bag was anchored by a 5.48 pound tank of a largemouth.  Equally close behind in third place was Pete Longo with 5 fish weighing 14.34 pounds.

The Boater Division lunker, a 5.55 pound beast, was caught by Dave Williams.

Making it a Big D Valley Bassmasters sweep, Casey Noble took the Co-Angler Division with a 3 fish limit weighing 8.39 pounds, almost three pounds over his nearest rival.

Second place Co-Angler was Kevin Collins with 2 fish weighing 5.63 pounds.  Less than a pound behind in third place was Mike Wotanowski with 4.89 pounds.

The Co-Angler Lunker, a 3.33 pound largemouth was caught by Mike Lee.

2023 TEAM TOURNAMENT RESULTS

The 2023 Team Tournament was held on May 11 and 12, 2023, on Connecticut’s Candlewood Lake.  A total of 10 teams and 54 anglers took to the lake and found fishing     to be generally exceptional.

Taking a very close event was the six-man team from the North Jersey Bass Anglers.  That team, consisting of Boaters Kevin Albright, E.J. Cusano, and Greg Beattie, as     well as Co-Anglers Jason Casbarro, Bill Garcia and Joe Pulice took the Team portion of the event by just over five pounds over the second place team.  Their two-day     total weight was 136.82 pounds.  This is this club’s second consecutive Team Tournament win.

Taking second place by one pound was the six-man team from the Warren County Bassmasters.  That team consisted of Boaters Scott Kirkpatrick, John McAloney and     Mike McMahon, and Co-Anglers Frank McMahon, Patrick Staszewski and Kenny Whitehead.  That team had 131.77 pounds.  Finishing exactly one-pound behind was     the six-man team from the Big D Valley Bassmasters (BDVB).

The top three individuals were Boaters E.J. Cusano with 31.18 pounds; Mike McMahon with 33.80 pounds; and Bob Stock of the Essex County Bassmasters with 33.67     pounds.  The top three Co-Anglers were:  Ed Tomosi of the BDVB with 27.15 pounds; Anthony Simone of the East Coast Bass Anglers with 25.99 pounds; and Joe Pulice     with 23.63 pounds.

For complete individual and team results check out the results page HERE