2008 MBFN Tournament Trail

       >President's Message

June 21 2008

Fazenbaker and Waid Top Deep Creek Lake Trail Tourney
RESULTS>>>

By Fredrick Matos
Photos by Brent Nelson

Jake Fazenbaker, Brett Quader, and Brett Winegardner used their great bassing skills to take the top three prizes in the Deep Creek Lake Tournament Trail boater category; and Jason Waid, Joe Delauney, and Bill Sanders finished 1-2-3 in the rider division. It was the second event in the 2008 MFBN Tournament Trail series, kicking off at Deep Creek Lake on Saturday, June 21, with 36 boats and 72 enthusiastic anglers in the water in the dawn-breaking early morning.  

Deep Creek Lake (DCL) is located in the Allegheny Mountains of Garrett County in Western Maryland . At 3,900 acres with 65 miles of shoreline, Deep Creek is Maryland ’s largest man-made lake, but it’s actually a reservoir that was built in the 1920’s to provide hydroelectric power to the area. DCL was privately owned until the State of Maryland purchased it and some adjoining lands in 2000. The State established Deep Creek Lake State Park , with approximately one mile of shoreline and a public boat launch facility. About 97 % of the shoreline is privately owned, with many beautiful homes and cottages, most with their own docks. That makes for a large number of docks and very attractive bass hangouts that many anglers targeted. Unfortunately, the large number of docks also means a great deal of boating. The challenge to the anglers was locating the docks holding the bass, because not all of the docks yielded bass, as many anglers discovered. A second challenge was to avoid being impacted by the jet skis, pleasure boats and water skiers.

A cold front hit the area three days before, but it was warming up on Friday and Saturday. Locals said that the temps were in the 40’s in the early morning, but that was a few days before the tourney, and thankfully there were no major aftermaths from the cold front that impacted the bite. Water temp was 64 on Thursday and 68 on Friday, but it warmed up nicely, and it was in the low 70’s during the tourney. It was mostly sunny, with an occasional cloud obscuring the sun. Air temp was in the 50’s in the early morning, rising to the 80’s in the afternoon.  The beautiful weather was enough to bring out some bikini-clad young women, catching some rays on the boats at the docks, distracting more than a few angler’s eyes, especially if the bite was slow.  The water conditions ranged from very clear to stained to even muddy in some areas, with the various conditions resulting from the many different activities on the lake.

The large number of homes and cottages result in DCL being a very busy lake.  Anglers saw water skiers at 7:30 in the morning, and countless jet ski boats were everywhere, going nowhere in particular. Anglers also had to contend with the pleasure boat traffic and its wave production. If that wasn’t enough, there was even a regatta of small sailboats, with about 30 boats participating. All of these activities made DCL very busy, with stirred up waters here and there resulting in edgy bass and providing even greater challenges to the tourney anglers.

MBFN member, Brent Nelson guides on DCL, and he also fished in the tourney. Brent observed that the DCL bass were in a transition phase with some outside the spawning area, while others are still spawning. He saw several bass still in their spawning beds. 

(L-R) Bill Sanders, third place co-angler; Joe Delauney, second place co-angler; Jason Waid, first place co-angler; Herb Fazenbaker, first place boater; Brett Quader, second place boater and Brett Winegardner, third place boater.

Jake Fazenbaker had a great day despite all of the activities, capturing both the top boater plaque and the lunker prize. Jake’s a DCL local, living 10 minutes away from the lake, and fishing it frequently over the past 12 years. Deep Creek is Jake’s home waters, so it’s not a surprise that he did very well. It would have been even more surprising if he had gotten skunked. Jake’s a member of the Garrett Bassers, a Garrett County/Western Region MBFN club.

Jake weighed in five bass at 13 lb-8 oz, including the overall tourney lunker at  4 lb-14 oz. His strategy was to fish the docks, and he obviously fished the “right” docks using the right lures and techniques because he had his limit by 9:00 and culled 5 fish. All 10 were largemouths, with the lunker coming in the afternoon, just 10 minutes before 2:00. He used his reliable Gator spinning rod, and 10-14 lb test mono.

Jake caught his bass on an undisclosed plastic bait. He didn’t pre-fish because he knows the lake very well. Based on his many years fishing the lake, Jake observed that “the bass just weren’t biting like they should be.” Regarding pre-fishing, Jake revealed “it’s not a very good idea to pre-fish Deep Creek after Tuesday for a Saturday tournament. The bass don’t replenish themselves very quickly, and they won’t bite for three to four days after you hook ’em. The Deep Creek bass aren’t like the Potomac bass.”

Veteran tourney angler Brett Quader from Pasadena and the Mudbug Bass club in Bowie-Crofton edged Brett Winegardner for second place. Both Brett’s five bass weighed the same amount at 11 lb-7 oz, but Brett Q had the tie-breaker with a larger lunker at 3 lb-8 oz to Brett W’s 3 lb-1 oz. Brent Nelson was a distant fourth place at 9 lb-7 oz, two pounds behind the two Bretts.

“I pre-fished on Friday, and I could see the fish swimming in the water. The fishing conditions were tough on Saturday, and I only had five bites, but I caught all of them,” Brett Q said. “I got my last bite 10 minutes before weigh-in. I caught one off grass in shallow water; two off the docks; and the last one off the edge of a dock. I caught three on a Zoom green-pumpkin worm that I Texas rigged; another on a small crawfish jig; and one on a top-water lure,” he added. Brett Q’s bass were all largemouths.

Brett Winegardner is from Swanton, a small town near Deep Creek Lake , and he’s a member of the Deep Creek Bass Anglers club. He also guides on the lake, part time. Brett lives three miles away from the lake, and he’s fished it many times over the past 11 years. Brett weighed-in one smallmouth and four largemouths that he caught on a Case Magic Stick, a 4 ½-inch Senko-type of bait; a Big Mouth jig; and a spinnerbait. “I caught them in different places such as shallow water, skipping the docks, and over cover and grass. I moved from one shallow spot to another shallow spot. I pre-fished the lake in three evenings to check the water levels and conditions. On Saturday, my two preferred spots both had a great deal of muddy water caused by spawning carp at the shoreline, so they were unusable and I had to go to my “Plan B.” My Plan B was to cover a lot of different areas,” he revealed.

Brent Nelson finished fourth with five bass tipping the scales at 9 lb-7 oz, edging W.T. Van Metre by a mere five ounces. Brent caught his limit by 10:00, successfully throwing a Money Minnow swim bait, in a natural color with an orange chest to imitate a bluegill, Brent says. He also had good luck throwing a green-pumpkin Case Magic Stik, rigged either Texas or wacky style. “I targeted the shore edges of the docks with the stick bait, and I caught a number of bass,” he said. “But at some docks there was frequently a stabilizing rope or metal bar that connected the dock to the shoreline. I had to cast over it, and when I hooked a fish, I then had to lift it up and over the rope or bar to land it,” he added.

“I fished around a fallen tree log later in the afternoon, and a big largemouth hit my stickbait,” Brent revealed. “The fish wrapped itself around a limb and I could see it just laying there, in two feet of water, with my hook firmly lodged in its mouth.  I was ready to go in after it, but it surged and snapped my ten pound test mono.  That one would have really helped me. ” he added.

It’s not at all surprising that Jake, Brett W and Brent all finished so highly in the tourney. Out of the four top finishers in the boater category, the three of them all have close and long connections to Deep Creek Lake that go back 10-20 years, and they know the waters extremely well. Jake and Brett W live in the area and Brett W guides for Ken Penrod's Life Outdoors Unlimited. Brent has a weekend cottage not far from DCL and is also a LOU guide on the lake. The lone exception in the top four is runner-up Brett Quader from Pasadena .

Brett Quader’s second place finish at Deep Creek, coupled with his winning the Potomac TT, propelled him to 404 points and the top overall no. 1 standing in the boater category in the Tournament Trail series. John Burdette finished seventh at Deep Creek, and coupled with a solid eighth place in the Potomac tourney, is currently ranked second overall with 387 points, followed closely by Bob Sweeney with 381 and W.T. Van Metre with 380. Jamie Coyle and Dick Brown are tied for fifth place with 378 points.

Jason Waid, age 29, was the top rider in the tourney. He recently moved to Bowie from Baltimore , and is a member of the Mudbug club. His four bass tipped the scales at 8 lb-8 oz, more than one pound heavier than second place finisher, Joe Delauney. Three of Waid’s fish were largemouths, and one was a smallie. He pre-fished the lake on Thursday and Friday with his friend, Brett Quader, both Mudbug club members. He concluded from his practice that the fishing was going to be slow and tough. He took six rods on the boat, but only used three. He was most successful using a 4-inch Ozark/Smoke-colored Senko that he rigged wacky style. He fished it slowly on the docks and grass, letting it sink slowly to the bottom. He let it sit for a 5-count, and then twitched his rod tip that resulted in the hits. He said that he had a rod rigged with 8-lb mono, but he used 10-lb mono because it was working so well. Jason also caught one bass on a spinnerbait.

Jason’s boater was Rich Weldon. “Rich was a good guy and we had great conversations,” Jason said. “My technique required me to be very patient when my Senko was sinking to the bottom, and then sitting on the bottom for the count and rod twitch. Rich was slowly moving the boat, so I could be patient with my technique. Rich was also throwing a Senko, but he was apparently working it faster,” he added.  

Joe Delauney of Sharpsburg and the Big Pool Bass Masters club placed a solid second with five bass weighing in at 7 lb-7 oz. He didn’t pre-fish, but he fishes DCL four or five times per year, so he’s familiar with the waters and locations. Joe rode with boater Ed Riley, and he credits Ed for selecting the great locations. “He’s a great guy to fish with,” said Joe.

Joe and Ed fished the docks but didn’t have much success, boating only a few small fish without any keepers. They moved to other locations, next moving to a stretch of water past Turkey Neck and near the yacht club. Joe caught his first two bass early in the morning, a couple of smallmouths that he caught on a Bass Pro Shops Slim Dog, a Sammy-type of surface lure, and the second on a Senko. He found that McHenry Cove was the only place yielding largemouths. Joe caught two largemouths off the shore on a junebug-colored tube bait, and a third on a 3-inch green-pumpkin colored Mizmo tube that he Texas rigged.

Bill Sanders of Baltimore and the Upper Bay Bass Masters No. 2 club weighed-in five bass at 6 lb-13 oz, with a 3 lb-1 oz lunker, good enough to finish a solid third in the rider category. Bill edged Mike Lutz by a mere four ounces.

Bill has been fishing Deep Creek for 25 years, so he has extensive experience on the waters and knows the best locations. He pre-fished on Thursday and Friday with his boater, Randy Elliott, and they developed a strategy to fish the docks and dock areas for spawning smallmouths. Bill has caught smallies on Lake Erie and other locations, observing “smallmouths are more active in cold temperatures than largemouths, and I have even caught them in Lake Erie when it was snowing.”

Bill and Randy must have caught 25 keepers between the two of them, and if they recorded the total number of keepers caught per boat, they would probably rank at the top. Most of their bass were smallies, caught at 6-12 foot depths. Bill had great success throwing a Cabin Creek 4-inch tube in a smoke and purple color, somewhat similar to a  bluegill color, he said. He rigged the tube in several ways. He first used a 1/8 oz jig head, similar to a Slider head, without rattles. He also rigged it Texas-style weedless with a 1/8 oz weight inside the tube. “I had great luck targeting pontoon boats, skipping my tube under and around the floats,” he revealed. “Many guys overlook the pontoons because they are concerned about getting hung up in the ropes and other parts of the boats, but I find them excellent targets,” he added.

In the rider category, the top riders all did very well. In fact, the top five riders each boated four or five bass. Furthermore, four out of the top five riders out-fished their boater partners, in some cases by considerable poundage. The lone exception to this is Bill Sanders riding with boater Randy Elliott where Randy out-fished Bill by a pound or so. In many cases, these skilled riders follow the boater and fish the “used” waters. Fishing “used” water presents more challenges to the riders, so their techniques and lure selections must be extraordinary to get the bass to hit because the bass have already rejected whatever the boater threw at them.

Jason Waid finished eighth in the Potomac TT, and his victory at Deep Creek shoots him to the top of the overall Tournament Trail series, rider category, with 398 points. Joe Fleishman is second with 395 points, resulting from a second place in the Potomac tourney, and a fifth at Deep Creek. Joe Delauney is third with 394, resulting from a second at the DCL and a sixth in the Potomac . Ryan Fogel and Charles Russler with 389 and 384, respectively, round out the top five riders.

The most unusual catch in the tournament was made by Bob Sweeney who caught a nice bass with a snake in its mouth. Boating a bass with a snake requires extra caution, especially if the snake is alive. This snake however was dead with only the tail protruding from the largemouth's gullet.

MBFN tournament director Kelly Comer relinquished his duties for the Deep Creek tourney because of his daughter’s wedding. The MBFN Western Region hosted the tournament, with Gunnar Beale taking over as the tourney chief. Gunnar was ably assisted by Brandon Pyles and Mike Payne. The tourney ran very smoothly to the credit of Gunnar, Brandon, and Mike. The team did a great job, and should be commended for their hard work.

Regarding sponsorships, Brett Winegardner expresses his appreciation to his sponsors: Case Plastics, makers of the Case Magic Stick lures; Big Mouth Lures; Ranger Boats; Frederick , MD boat dealer MARE, Inc.; and Mercury Outboards.