2005 Tournament Results:
2nd Place
in US Anglers Choice Team Northeast Regional Championships
Out of the Buffalo Smallboat Harbor Buffalo, NY on October 14th &15th,
2005
I finished 2nd with my tournament
partner Joe Fonzi in the
US
Anglers Choice Northeast Team Regional Championships , October 14th &
15th on Lake Erie out of Buffalo, NY. We were edged out by .02 of a
pound by another local team of Tim Braun and Jeff Wagoner, Congratulations
to them on a job well done, beating 74 other Teams from Delaware, Maine,
Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and New York.
They deserve it, we didn't execute well enough for the claim the win.
We couldn't get our fish in the boat to get the job done, having
11 fish on the first day in the first 10 minutes and only landing 4 of them
which equaled about 16 pounds. The first fish I lost was a legitimate 5 1/2- 6
pound Slob Smallie (on first drop to the 38' hump in 44'), followed by losing
a mid 4 to 5 pounder on the next drop, then losing another 4 pounder before
finally landing a 5.20 Hog that wound up being our biggest fish of the day. We
should have easily had 23 to 24 pounds in the livewell, but this would wind up
haunting us later! We moved to another spot we had, only to find the fish were
gone after wasting about an hour and half in running/scanning time. Then on to
another deep water hump that came up to 34' in 40' off Myers Reef were Joe
picked a nice 5 pound Smallie and we culled out a fish with another 4 pounder.
This would be the last fish in the livewell for us for the day giving us a
total of 21.70 pounds for our 5 fish, leaving us sitting in 3rd behind Mike
and Chris Kozel who had 22.64 pounds. We wound up catching 19 or 20 Bass, a
Walleye and huge Sheepshead (about 7-8 pounds). Using
Okuma Reels
on Okuma,
Bass Pro Shops & Gander Mountain Rods
with green 4"
Mizmo Tubes,
smoke 3 1/2" Bass Pro Tender Tubes, 1/2 & 3/4oz Hopkins & Bass Pro
Shops Spoons, drop-shotted
Snakebite Tackle
3 1/2" Sculpins (Goby imitator) and 3"
Drop Shot worms to catch all of our fish.
The first day on Erie
proved to be interesting with many different strategies employed by the competitors.
From running as far as Dunkirk/Barcelona to the Canadian Shoreline to fishing
in the upper Niagara River. With many different patterns used to catch
the eager Smallmouths on Erie and Largemouths & Smallmouths in the River.
Everything from Tubes, Drop-Shot rigs, Spoons, Senkos, Spinnerbaits, Jerkbaits
and Topwaters were all implemented in catching the numerous 16 - 20 pound
limits that a lot of the teams enjoyed.
On Day 2, the weather looked to pose a serious threat to everyone's
safety with predicted 15-25+ mph winds out of the Northwest and 4-6' waves.
The tournament director used good judgment in siding with safety by calling
the Lake off limits and that everyone had to fish in the Niagara River or
behind the break walls. Although the lake was rough, 3-4 footers with the
occasional 5 footer it wasn't unfishable, but to those who aren't used to
running and fishing in rough water it could have been a dangerous
situation. The local teams would have had more of an definite advantage,
so this leveled the playing field dramatically.
We were in the last flight on day 2 and were beat to our first 3 spots,
having to share them with several other boats catching nothing but short fish.
We didn't catch a keeper until about 9:30 on our 4th spot. Joe got a nice 3
1/2 pound Smallie on a Senko and then we put a dozen fish in the boat from
same bunch of old submerged pilings, managing just 2 other keepers, a pair
of 13" Largemouths. We continued to work a few more spots that only
produced a few undersize fish. With only about an hour to fish, we moved into
a shallow (5-6") rocky flat after seeing another team inside us catch a
couple fish and leave. On Joe's first cast. he nailed a 4.20 pound Smallie on
a Tube. We caught 4 more keepers, finishing out our limit and culling the
Largemouths with 2 pound Smallies to give us a day 2 weight of 12.77 pounds
and a total of 34.47 pounds. Our fish came on 4" green & white Mizmo
Tubes and 4" Senko's in white and purple.
We wound up winning a 2006 Bass Cat Pantera Classic (19') with a 200
Mercury Optimax, a Motor Guide 70 pound trolling motor, a Lowrance X51 graph
and custom trailer valued at $37,000!
Click here
for complete results of the US Anglers Choice Northeast Team Regional
Championships
Sept. 24th,
2005
-
US Anglers Choice Team Tournament Series
- Lake Erie Division - 6th Place Finish
Complete
Results
Sept. 3rd,
2005
-
US Anglers Choice Team Tournament Series
- Lake Erie Division
We finally Won One after finishing 2nd the last 2
tournaments in a row.
Complete
Results
August 20th, 2005
-
US Anglers Choice Team Tournament Series
- Lake Erie Division
We finished
2nd again!
Complete
Results
August 6th, 2005
-
US Anglers Choice Team Tournament Series
- Lake Erie Division -
2nd Place Finish!
Complete
Results
July 23rd, 2005 -
US Anglers Choice Team Tournament Series - Lake
Erie Division
We learned a very big lesson during this tournament that
wound up costing us! During pre-fishing Joe found a big pod good fish and we had
a summer cold front come in which usually doesn't effect the Smallies as bad as
it does in the spring. So, we went there first thing and on the first cast, Joe
got a 12-13" Smallmouth and throws back! I say what are you doing throwing that
fish back? He replies; we won't need that fish, with the amount of fish I caught
here yesterday. I did start to think he was right as I hook a Slob Smallie on a
drop-shot paddletail worm that would wind up being our biggest fish of the day,
a 4.65 pounder. But, Wrong! We must of caught the only 2 fish there he didn't
catch the day before, as we struggled to catch keeper fish the rest of the day.
We only managed to only to catch other 4 keepers that weighed 9.95 pounds and
finished 7th. While we did learn some good lessons; don't beat up your fish the
day before a tournament (just check to see if they there and leave them alone)
and put every Keeper in the Livewell until you have a limit, you never know what
could happen as you can always cull them out later. This mistake may have cost
us the point championship in the end!
Complete
Results
July 10th, 2005 - BASS Weekend
Series - 1000 Islands / St. Lawrence River, NY
It was the first time I've ever fished the 1000 Islands/
St. Lawrence River from a boat as I've ice fished Lake of the Isles in the past
and was anticipating the trip after hearing all the stories of how great fishing
is. After seeing the past tournament results with the Smallies dominating the
limits. I prefished a lot of different spots through out the River and ventured
to some of the various Reefs(12-17 miles) out on Lake Ontario. Only to become
disappointed and frustrated in not finding any good Smallmouths only catching a
couple undersize ones, a couple Perch and a Northern Pike on the first day of
practicing. I started out looking for Smallies again on my second day as well
with the same results, so I resorted to going after Largemouths in some of the
bays, docks and weed beds. I put together a couple decent patterns on Senkos
under docks and Jerkbaits on the deep weed edges. The extreme fishing pressure,
tons of pleasure boats and constantly changing weather (hot, 80-90+ degrees and
Thunder Storms rolling through each afternoon) definitely affected the fishing.
I went to the best set of docks I found first thing on Tournament Day and it
started out great. In the first 15 minutes I had 4 keepers in the live well, but
lost a legit 3 -3 1/2 pound Largemouth as it got wrapped up under a dock and
broke off. That would come back to haunt me later as I never caught another
keeper the rest of the day. I did catch a bunch of undersize Bass and broke
another big fish off that I don't know if it was a Largemouth or Pike. It was
extremely tough fishing for everyone after seeing the weigh in. I wound up
finishing 77th with only 5.0 pounds and that lost fish wouldn't gotten me a
paycheck but would have at least given me a respectable finish. I left the 1000
Islands wondering how an area with so much awesome structure and different
fishing options available could be so difficult to fish. I still had a great
experience, enjoyed the scenery and look forward to fishing there again!
Complete Results
July 2nd, 2005 - US Anglers
Choice Team Tournament Series - Lake Erie Division
I decided to fish a Pro Tournament Series for the first
time with my usual partner Joe Fonzi. We've fished a ton together and done well
on the local level in the past so we stepped up ladder to the next level.
The day started out ok, with the Lake's waves rolling about 1-2' a near perfect
condition, but that would change dramatically! By weigh in time the Lake had
blown up to near small craft warnings with 5-6' waves! We caught about 20
Smallies mostly on green and Goby colored Tubes. We found it tough to find any
big Smallies that would cooperate and tougher to get bit as the day went on. We
wound up 6th with 13.18 pounds while the winners; Rick Kazmierzac & Mike Marcaccio had a whopping 24.77 pounds (the biggest 5 fish weight of the series)!
They caught there fish off Myers Reef in about the first hour and then struggled
like everybody else.
Complete
Results
June 26th, 2006 -
BASS Weekend Series - Cayuga Lake, NY
It was only the 3rd time on Cayuga Lake, with the first 2
times ending with easy 12-14 pound
limits. Although it was much different this time as the fish were just finishing
up spawning. Between post spawn negative mood and the ton of fishing pressure
made the bite extremely tough. During pre-fishing I struggled to try to find
some of the Lake's big Smallies, fishing a ton of spots; drop offs, points and
deep weed edges without a Bass. I resorted to fishing shallow in the weeds for
Largemouths but, had a hard time catching keepers. I managed to catch 3 keepers
and 5 short fish on a Texas rigged Senko and a 1/4 oz golden shiner home-maid
spinnerbait. I only lost one keeper fish that wouldn't have made a difference. I
wound up a rather disappointing 103rd.
Complete Results
May 21st, 2005
- MAKE-A-WISH Millennium Bassmasters
Tournament
I fished with my normal partner Joe Fonzi to a 35th
place finish out of the 136 teams. We should have done much better as we had a
bunch of big fish located, but the 20 degree cold front that blew in overnight
slowed the bite considerably. No excuses as everybody was on the same playing
field. We just couldn't get any big Smallies to bite even though we caught about
20 Smallmouths and a Walleye, while most Teams struggled to catch a few fish.
2005
Make-A-Wish Results
May 8th, 2005 -
Niagara Frontier Bassmasters Partners Tournament
I finished 4th with Rich Pickles, we a good day on the water catching about 30
fish between us with most of our fish coming off jigging spoons, Sonars /
Silver Buddies and hair jigs. But, I lost the Biggest Smallmouth Bass I have
ever personally had on right at the boat. A legitimate 6 1/2-7+ pound Slob
Smallie on a hair jig that I thought was a big Catfish when I hooked it! I can't
say it would have helped us win, but would have definitely put us in the money.
Past Tournament
Results:
2006
2004
2003
2002
2001
Schultz Sportfishing Home Page