Avid held its first ever two-day tournament during the 2013-2014 seasons at Lake Champlain (St. Albans). And there was a lot on the line because each day counted as a separate tournament worth points toward either 2013 or 2014. Plus, the 2013 Angler of the Year would be determined, as well as the inaugural 2013 big fish award. That's not to mention the various cash payouts for high finishes, lunkers and side pool for the highest combined 2-day weight.
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Saturday was beautifully calm on the big lake and no one had difficulty getting to or from their spots. It started cool but warmed up to the low 80s by weigh-in time, with a slight breeze from the south. Conditions on Friday saw the wind out of the north so it was anybody's guess how the change would affect the fishng.
As it turned out, the fishing was pretty good for most (5 bags over 13 pounds were weighed) and smallmouth ruled the day -- although Paul Carvalho, who finished fourth, weighed a pair of nice largemouth. Dean Martin was Saturday's champ, weighing in a 14.51 pound bag of smallies, anchored by a 4.01 pounder that captured lunker honors. (Unfortunately Dean had to leave early and wasnt able to fish Sunday.) The second paid place was claimed by Dave Waugh with a limit of smallmouth weighing 14.37 pounds. Nick Mulcahy rounded out the top three with a nice 13.70 bag.
With his 4th place finish on Saturday Paul cemented his first Angler of the Year award, narrowly edging out Fred. Paul also captured the 2013 big fish award with his 4.93 lunker from Harwich back in April.
For our Sunday event Mother Nature decided to put the whammy on: winds howled out of the south and east, making both running and fishing significantly more difficult than on Saturday. Anglers had to get to key spots early while it was relatively calm but the ride to secondary spots and to weigh-in was no picnic once the wind picked up at midday. There were 2 limits on Sunday compared to 6 on Saturday, and a total of 25 fish compared to 39 Saturday, illustrating the effect the wind had on many anglers.
As if his Angler of the Year and Big Fish awards weren't already good enough, Paul ended up taking home the bacon on Sunday, starting off 2014 with a bang. His winning bag was the largest of the weekend at 15.43 and he was one of only 3 anglers to weigh more on Sunday than on Saturday. Fred Naymie took second place with 5 smallies that weighed 12.38 pounds. John Boudreau sacked the day's lunker with a 4.01 smallmouth.
Below is a breakdown of how the combined weights played out when all was said and done:
2 DAY TOTALS
Place | | # Fish | Weight |
1. | Paul | 10 | 29.06 |
2. | Fred | 10 | 25.63 |
3. | Nick | 7 | 20.17 |
4. | Dave | 6 | 15.29 |
5. | Mike | 8 | 14.92 |
6. | Dean | 5 | 14.51 |
7. | John | 6 | 13.22 |
8. | Al Sr. | 4 | 8.78 |
9. | Al Jr. | 4 | 8.41 |
10. | Ed | 2 | 4.64 |
11. | Bob | 2 | 3.55 |
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