Bill Wright Wins at Mashpee, Sets New Lunker Mark

What a difference a couple of weeks makes.

Two weeks ago there were remnants of snow on the ground, it was blowing 30 mph, rainy, and the air temperature hovered at 40 degrees. Fast forward to Saturday, April 18, at Mashpee and the trees were budding, the sky was blue and 70 degrees, and the air virtually motionless. Needless to say it was much nicer to be on the water for Avid's first club tournament of 2015 than at the Easter Bunny Open a couple weeks earlier. It's just too bad the fishing was terrible.

How terrible, you ask? Well, let's say it makes our Ashumet and Brimfield events look like Lake Champlain during the spawn.

Mashpee gave up a total of just 6 fish to 14 anglers. Even Ashumet, the former record holder for futility, allowed 9 fish to 8 anglers back in 2006. On the bright side, one of the Mashpee fish was the first place bag, lunker, and new club lunker record. Bill Wright caught the winning 5.92 lb. largemouth deep using cold water tactics. Even though some fish were spotted shallow, the shallow bite wasn't happening. The other fish came from mid-depth dropoffs and humps.

Rounding out the top 3 were newcomer Matt Lucas in second place with a 4.64 largemouth. That's a great showing for a first tournament, especially one as tough as this. Fred Naymie landed in third place with a single largemouth weighing 3.05 lbs.

A few more dubious notes: This is the second tournament in a row in which all the coanglers were shut out. Mike Caudle, who set a new lunker record last year at Ticonderoga after the original had held for 46 tournaments and more than 10 years, saw his record fall to Bill Wright after just 2 tournaments and 9 months. Two other tournaments were held locally on the same day, Captain Bub at Harwich (5 fish limit) and Bass Addicts (8 fish limit) at Watuppa. The winners of each had 16 lbs. and 23.35 lbs. respectively. Go figure.

Anyway, we're off to John's Pond for the first time as a club for our next event. By then the spawn may be in gear and maybe our results will be a bit more encouraging, If not, it's going to be a long sseason...