Coyle Wins Boater Division while
Brown Claims Non-Boater Honors 
on Nanticoke River Tournament Trail
By Jamie Coyle

On a day when fishing was marginal at best, the Nanticoke River produced some nice limits of fish.  Jamie Coyle, from the Captains Choice Bassmasters spinnerbaited and jigged his way to a victory at the third Maryland Bass Federation Trail event of the year.  Dick Brown, from Hub City Bassmasters took first place on the non-boater side. Coyle hauled in a solid 5 fish, 10-pound, 8-ounce limit on an early foggy and late rainy tournament day to easily best the field of 58 anglers. To show you how tough this event was only 15 limits were brought into the scales and the 58 anglers brought 138 fish in to the weigh in for a total weight of 210 pounds of fish.

As for this trail event, the challenges an angler faces on actual tournament day and the ability to adapt quickly is the reason Federation Angler Jamie Coyle landed atop the leader board. Jamie stated that he prefished the Nanticoke , but could only come up with small fish. Coyle, using his knowledge of the next river over, made the run to the Wicomico for the first time in 5 years and started hitting pads and wood with a special home made black red Spinnerbait and a white long haired Jig.  "My strategy was to hit the same 10 areas over and over and hope that the fish would move in," Coyle said. Throwing his baits up under the wood line and edge of pad fields and letting it fall into 4 feet of water produced the rest of Jamie’s weight, culling four of his smaller fish. Having won by just 3 ounces, Coyle stated, “I bet that the 20 pounds of ice I put in the live well through out the day kept my fish from loosing a couple of ounces.”

Roger Shirkey placed third, while Jamie Coyle was crowned champion.  Bryan Barnes on right placed second.	President Roger Trageser presents Dick Brown with the Non-Boater's first place check and plaque.

Long time Federation angler Dick (Shakey) Brown crushed the non-boater side of the field with an impressive five fish limit of 9-pounds, 10-ounces to best the non-boater side by over two pounds. Fishing with Brian Barnes, who finished second on the boater side, Dick managed to limit out using  Buzz Baits and Senko’s. “Changing up colors was the key, we would hit the same stuff over and over and throwing in a different color would garnish a strike,” Brown stated. “I’m not sure I’d make that run to the Wicomico in the fog by myself, thank goodness Brian new where he was going, I’d also like to thank my partner Brian Barnes for being one of the best partners Dick has ever had—what a great day of fishing, that’s what it’s all about,” Dick mentioned.

Second place angler on the boater side, using a slow borrowed boat, Brian Barnes caught a solid limit from the Wicomico River using the same patterns as his partner, Buzzbaits and Senko’s. His weight of 10-pounds 5-ounces was good enough for the second place slot. “The key was high tide at the edges of the pad fields were wood was and at low tide knowing which docks and pieces of wood would be holding fish.  Any dock that had a brush pile or ladder around it seemed to have the better quality fish,” Brian stated. “Most of my fish came from a buzzbait reeled really slow on the outside edges. A Senko and Jig produced my bigger fish as the tide was going out.”

On the Non-Boater side, second place went to Andy Smith from Canepole Bassmasters. His 5 fish limit weighed 7-pounds 4-ounces. Andy’s pattern was targeting main river docks with jigs and throwing a frog and spinnerbait into the pads at high tide. “The key was finding the right areas on the back edge of the pads at high tide,” Smith stated. Andy wanted to thank Bill Bennett, his boater, for a great day of fishing.

On the Non-Boater side, second place went to Andy Smith from Canepole Bassmasters.	JR Knight, on the non-boater side, finished third.

Roger Shirkey, on the boater side, and JR Knight, on the non-boater side, finished third in their respective divisions. Rogers weight of 9-pounds 1-ounce was caught on a falling tide flipping worms on 20 pound test big game. The lower section of the Nanticoke produced about 10 keepers for Roger. JR’s weight of 6-pounds 9-ounces came from tossing spinnerbaits into the back pockets of pads on the main river and Broad Creek. High water was the key for JR.