Fred Shows Who's Boss With 5.46 lb. Limit at Brimfield

Word was that it was probably going to be a tough bite regardless, as evidenced by the low weights and few fish caught a week earlier during practice and at the Mass. BASS Nation tournament of champions.

It was indeed.

Fred Naymie cemented the win with the only limit among the twelve contestants with a bag weighing 5.46 pounds. In second was Paul Carvalho with three fish totaling 5.13 pounds. John Shpack took third place with three fish and 3.52 pounds. The lunker award went to Dave Waugh with a 2.60 pound fish.

Most of those who found fish found them very shallow, holding tight to shoreline cover, sometimes in just inches of water. Fast moving reaction baits only triggered pike and pickerel bites, so s-l-o-w presentations worked for bass, though one could hardly say they were highly successful.

To give the term 'dog' some meaning, let's put this event in context by comparing it to some of the other events mentioned above:

• The lowest winning weight of any Avid tournament to date was 4.80 pounds, by Mike Caudle at South Watuppa on Sept. 12, 2009, on just 3 fish. Brimfield was next at 5.46 pounds.
• Only two tournaments have had smaller lunkers.
• There have only been 6 tournaments (out of 52) in which fewer fish were caught. The lowest total ever was 9, at Ashumet, compared with 14 at Brimfield. However, the ratio of fish caught per angler at Brimfield ranks third worst at just 1.16. Ashumet is worst at .87.
• There have only been three other tournaments in which no co-angler caught a fish. But only one in which more co-anglers (five) fished than fished at Brimfield (four).
• The lowest average weight per fish at any tournament was 1.27 pounds at Watuppa in 2010. Brimfield is next at 1.32 pounds.

Given the weak showing, its unlikely we will be headed back to Brimfild anytime soon. Instead, we can look toward a winter of prepping our gear for next season in hopes there's nothing like Brimfield looming in 2015. Woof!