Gietka and Crummitt Win on the Nanticoke

Mike Day Aug 14th, 2010 Permanent Link
Congratulations to Paul Gietka and Jay Crummitt for their tournament wins on the Nanticoke River. Paul was able to bring in 8lbs 4ozs for the boater win, and pocketed the lunker money with a 3lb 12oz kicker fish. With two tournament wins this season, Paul is dominating the leader board in the boater Angler of the Year race. Jay brought 5lbs 15ozs to the weigh-in to take the rider top spot. Jay's two-fish bag was greatly improved by his 4lb 1oz big fish, which would have earned him the rider lunker money if he paid into the pool! See the full results here, and the AOY standings here.

From left to right: Rick Kindle (2nd Place Rider), Paul Gietka (1st Place Boater), and Scott Sewell (3rd Place Boater). Photo courtesy of Paul Gietka.

Thanks to Cindy for her assistance with this tournament and helping make the weigh-in go smoothly - it is appreciated.

May 1st Upper Bay Trail Story

Mike Day Jul 21st, 2010 Permanent Link
Thanks to Tony Lohr for his story on the Upper Bay trail tournament on May 1st. Check it out here.

Trail #3 - Upper Bay Results

Mike Day Jul 17th, 2010 Permanent Link
Congratulations to John Hansen and Walt Lechert for their tournament wins on the Upper Bay. John and Walt fished out of the same boat, and were able to bring in 13lbs 13ozs and 11lbs 2ozs respectively, earning them top spots in the tournament. Ron Hines landed the tournament lunker, a nice fish weighing in at 6lbs 5ozs. See the full results here.

From left to right: John Hansen (1st Place Boater), Bill Sanders (2nd Place Boater), Ron Hines (3rd Place Boater), Gerald Brown (3rd Place Rider), David Kyle (2nd Place Rider), Walt Lechert (1st Place Rider). Photo courtesy of James Kim.

Thanks to Roger Trageser, Kelly and Karen Comer for their assistance with this tournament - it is always appreciated.

Mr. Bass Results

Mike Day Jun 20th, 2010 Permanent Link
Gunnar Beale brought a 2-day total of 20lbs 2ozs to the scales at Deep Creek Lake and becomes the 2010 MBFN State Team Captain. Bruce Shives took second place with 19lbs 4ozs and takes a rider position on the state team. See the full results on the tournament results page. Congratulations to both on their solid performance this weekend.

From left to right: Mike Day (Tournament Director), Gunnar Beale (1st Place and 2010 State Team Captain), Bruce Shives (2nd Place and 2010 State Team Rider), Dick Brown (Western Region Director). Photo courtesy of Rich Welden.

Thanks to Dick Brown for all the assistance with this tournament and keeping the weigh-in process running smoothly. Also thanks to Dick Berich for the day 1 boat checks in the afternoon, and Jon Blaine and the other members of the clean-up crew at the end of day 2.

B.A.S.S. Requesting Federation Support

Mike Day May 18th, 2010 Permanent Link
B.A.S.S. is requesting support from the BFN with the National Fish Habitat Conservation Act. This act establishes a national framework for freshwater and coastal habitat protection, restoration and enhancement. This act implements the National Fish Habitat Action Plan, a national framework developed jointly by the states, federal agencies, business and the angling and conservation community that lays out a clear set of national goals and objectives for protecting, restoring and enhancing aquatic habitats on a national scale. Modeled after the highly successful North American Wetlands Conservation Act, this legislation will bring a strategic, science-based and action-oriented approach to freshwater and coastal habitat conservation and provide vital resources to support these efforts and leverage other public and private resources.

Please mail or email these letter templates to the appropriate individuals:

State Qualifying Tournament Results

Mike Day May 17th, 2010 Permanent Link
Sitting in third place going into day two of the SQT, Kirk Wagner was able to find 16 lbs, 7 ozs of fish to land in first place. Todd Darby was the leader going into day two with 15 lbs, 15 ozs, but his day two catch of 12 lbs, 13 ozs was not enough to maintain the lead. See the full results here. See additional club-specific results posted in the message board here.

From left to right:

Scott Shelton (Big Dawgs), 4th, 23-13 total, state team boater
Brian Trieschman (Deep Run), 3rd, 25-01 total, state team boater
Todd Darby (Central MD B/M), 2nd, 28-12 total, state team boater
Kirk Wagner (Upper Bay II), 1st, 29-11 total, state team boater
Nathan Moore (West Mar), 5th, 22-10 total, state team non-boater
Gunnar Beale (Bronzeback), 6th, 21-12 total, state team non-boater
Terry McCumber (MudBug), 7th, 21-11 total, state team non-boater
W.T. VanMetre (Bass Magic), 9th, 21-01 total, state team alternate
(Not Pictured) Ric May (Guy Brothers), 8th, 21-02 total, state team non-boater

Also on the state team from the 2009 tournament trail, Ed Riley as a boater and James Hitt as a non-boater. The final two state team members will be determined during the Mr. Bass tournament, June 19-20. The first place winner will be the state team captain and earn a boater spot while second place will earn a rider spot.

Rodney Bailey caught the biggest fish during the SQT, weighing in at 6 lbs, 2 ozs.

Thanks to all the volunteers that assisted with running this tournament, it is always appreciated!

Upper Bay Trail

Mike Day May 1st, 2010 Permanent Link
After a rough morning that resulted in a delayed launch and a weigh-in extension, Paul Gietka and Rick Kindle were able to overcome the tough conditions on the water to win on the Upper Bay. Paul brought 5 fish to the weigh-in for a total weight of 15-4 and won the boater side. Rick had 5 fish weighing 12-9 to win the rider side. Congratulations to both of you. See the full results here.

Thanks to Roger Trageser for all the work he puts into maintaining the weigh-in station and keeping it in tip-top shape, plus for getting the banners mounted and manning the fish-bumping station. All that work makes my job a lot easier! Thanks also to Karen Comer for assisting with the weigh-in and keeping the weigh lines moving quickly.

Thanks to James Kim for taking all the post-tournament winner photos. James is a professional photographer with a very expensive-looking camera so I'm sure his pictures will look great! I'll post them in a couple days when I get them.

Tournament Trail Opener

Mike Day Apr 10th, 2010 Permanent Link

Congratulations to Rick Allen and Anthony Lohr on their tournament victories, bringing in 17-08 and 19-04 respectively. Anthony also caught the tournament's biggest fish, weighing in at 7-01. After a delayed start caused by the closing of Indian Head Highway (MD 210) due to an accident, anglers were able to fight through the wind and the cold to bring in a few heavy sacks of fish. Check out the full tournament results. A huge thanks to Bill Shepard, Greg Scruggs, and Michael Allen for helping me with the afternoon weigh-in.

Duarte Wins Junior World Championship

Mike Day Oct 20th, 2009 Permanent Link

John Duarte Jr., a 14-year-old from Baltimore, MD, relied on frogs to help him catch 5 pounds even — enough to win the 11- to 14-year-old division of the JWC. Duarte also took fifth place in the 2009 Bassmaster CastingKids Championship held earlier in the day.

Read the full story on BASSMASTER's Youth page.

DNR Initiates Bass Tournament Survey Form

Mike Day Oct 1st, 2009 Permanent Link
Maryland's DNR announces a new tournament summary sheet form which is up and running on the DNR website. Now, tournament organizers or participants can fill out and submit the summary sheet from the DNR web site. The information will go directly into a database being managed by DNR. Click here to access the survey form.