Fred prevails at Ticonderoga to open 2018

2018 opened for Avid's anglers with a two-day trip to Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. This was the first time the club had lodged on the Vermont side of the lake and it will probably be the last!

It's not that the accommodations were bad or lacking, and the ramp was excellent and spacious. It's just that making the connection to each was questionable and even risky. A nearly 40-minute trip was required each way, and much of that was on windy, unpaved roads that were loaded with potholes and also under construction. Trailers and truck suspensions took a beating and one member got a flat tire.

A few guys started the trip early, either by staying the week in advance or traveling up on Thursday or Friday to pre-fish. That paid off for most, who found fish that eluded hundreds of BASS pros and local fishermen competing in various events held on the lake the same weekend.

Surely the weather and wind influenced the fishing as it blew pretty hard out of the south on Thursday, and turned from the north for the weekend beginning on Friday, just in time for the weekend tournament. There’s evidence of this in that much smaller fish were caught on Sunday (average weight was more than half a pound less than on Saturday), as well as comments from anglers that the fishing was tougher overall. The wind was strong enough on Friday that the BASS Elite series out of Plattsburgh was cancelled for the day. It was still blowing strong again on Saturday but finally calmed for Sunday. Overall, the weather was pleasant. There were some showers and overcast on Thursday, and it was cool in the mornings, but mostly sunny and around 80 degrees all weekend for the tournament itself .

Day 1 of the event had John Shpack in third place with a limit of largemouth that weighed 15.04 lbs. In second was Mike Caudle, with not only a mixed limit weighing 16.48 lbs., but the tournament’s largemouth (5.92 lbs.) and smallmouth (3.11 lbs.) lunkers! In the lead after day 1 was Fred Naymie, whose 5 largemouth came in at 16.80 lbs, a hair ahead of Mike.

Day 2 ended with coangler Nick Mulcahy weighing a mixed bag of 4 fish that tallied 8.51 lbs., good for third place. In second was Fred, who tacked on to his total another limit of largemouth weighing 8.86 lbs. Jeff Jenness bested the field on Sunday with an 11.45 lb. mixed limit.

The final combined standings saw Mike finish in 3rd with a total of 18.40 lbs. and both halves of the split lunker award. Jeff, on the strength of his day 2 smallies, claimed second place with 20.71 lbs. And, no stranger to the winner’s circle, Fred Naymie took the top prize with his 2-day total of 25.66 lbs.

Day 1

Day 2