The New York BASS Chapter Federation (NYBCF) held its annual six-man Club Team Championship (CTC) Aug 21 & 22 on Owasco Lake. Rochester Bassmasters secured the day one lead and rode it wire-to-wire to successfully claim the title.
Twenty four clubs participated for a tournament field of 72 boats and they sampled the fishery of Owasco Lake with two very different days of fishing. On Saturday, the winds were out of the southeast with scattered clouds. Sunday, the day started with a light drizzle that developed into a steady downpour with winds from the south shifting to NNE by the afternoon weigh-in.
A couple of weeks prior to this event, a local tournament produced four bags over 17 lbs. and many CTC anglers anticipated similar success upon their arrival. Unfortunately, the lake decided to make them work for every fish and by the end of official practice on Friday many predicted the weights would fall well short of that mark with 6-8 lbs. a day being respectable.
Day 1
To say day one was tough is an understatement and the angler’s predictions weren’t too far off. As the day progressed, anglers battled 2-3 ft white caps in search of a bite and what no one expected was the number of blanks that occurred. By day’s end a total of 73 anglers failed to bring a fish to the scales. Overall, the day saw less than ten five fish limits hit the scales. Randy Bell (Erie County BMs) had the best limit with a weight of 13.95 lbs. Rounding out the top five were by Brett Hickey (Erie County BMs) 13.72 lbs., Fred Blom (After Breakfast Bass Anglers) 12.87 lbs., Noel Good (Southern Tier BMs) 11.99 lbs., and TJ Valle (Rochester BMs)10.60 lbs. Brett Hickey (Erie County BMs) took daily Bass Pro Shop lunker with a mammoth 6.44 lb. LMB taken on a Black Spro Frog.
Top Six Clubs
| Crown City | 27.56 |
| Southern Tier Bassmasters | 26.61 |
| Club | Total Weight |
| Rochester Bassmasters | 32.20 |
| Erie County Bassmasters | 31.89 |
| After Breakfast Bass Anglers | 20.47 |
| Westchester Rod & Reel | 20.33 |
Day 2
As the anglers launched, the dock talk was that any club in the top eight stood an honest shot at the title and every club in the top six needed a repeat performance of day one or better to hold their position. The weather forecast called for scattered thunderstorms and NNE winds 10-20 mph and this time they got it right. The field launched at 6 am with a steady rain which continued to pelt the field the entire day. Conditions seemed worse than day one, but the weigh-in proved the bite was on as many quality limits appeared.
Leading the field was John Badman (Crown City BMs) with a limit of SMB good for 17.15 lbs and the heavy weight bag of the tournament. Badman reports catching his fish on 1/2 oz. green pumpkin tube in 25 – 40 ft. before 10 am and he said once the net came out the paparazzi showed up and their boat activity just scattered the fish disrupting the consistent bite. Rounding out the top five weights were Bob Jorgensen (Westchester Rod & Reel) 16.54 lbs., Wade McClurg (Southern Tier BMs) 15.70 lbs., Noel Good (Southern Tier BMs) 14.57 lbs., and Lou Rizzotti (Rochester BMs) 14.26 lbs.
Fred Bloom (After Breakfast Bass Angler) held the day two lunker lead with a 4.47 lb LMB all the way to the end until of the weigh-in when Lou Rizzotti (Rochester BMs) brought in a 5.88 lb. LMB to take the Bass Pro Shop Lunker award. Rizzotti says he found the fish in some milfoil near a pin buoy on Thursday, he tried for it on Saturday with no luck and he went back on Sunday with a wacky rigged Senko (green pumpkin) and caught it.
Top Six Final Standing (Clubs)
| Club | Total Weight |
| Rochester Bassmasters | 70.67 |
| Southern Tier Bassmasters | 67.33 |
| Erie County Bassmasters | 64.50 |
| Crown City | 61.80 |
| Westchester Rod & Reel | 42.75 |
| Watershed Bassmasters | 38.47 |
A Team Strategy
The Rochester Bassmasters report fishing to their strengths. When they looked at the lake and determined it offered both large and smallmouth bass they agreed their best chance to win was for each angler to fish his strength. Largemouth guys chased those fish and the smallmouth anglers fished for those; with everyone sharing productive baits and locations. Knowing the tournament format was a shared clock event with each angler (boaters and non-boaters) getting four hours on the trolling motor; the boaters worked to find areas their non-boaters could go to when they got their four hours on the trolling motor. All-in-all it proved to be the right formula as the Rochester Bassmasters successfully defended their six-man Club Team Championship title.
During the awards presentation NYBCF President Mike Cusano announced that the Rose Mary Murphy Trophy was mysteriously absent from the weigh-in area and Rochester Bassmasters Team Captain Lou Rizzotti said, “We left it at home? hey, we had a feeling”.
Division Team Qualifiers
Also on the line were two positions for the NYBCF 2011 Eastern Divisional Team. These slots go to the first place anglers on the first and second place winning teams. Lou Rizzotti (Rochester BMs) earned the boater position and from the second place team Noel Good earned a non-boater position. The remaining slots on the 2011 Divisional Team (5 boaters, 5 non-boaters and one alternate) will be determined after angler’s points are tallied following the season finale on Oneida Lake Sept 12th
Top Three Individual Honors
| Angler | Total Weight |
| Randy Bell | 28.10 |
| John Badman | 27.04 |
Noel Good 26.56
For additional information contact Tournament Director Jeff Edgarton (315) 662-7925 or [email protected]
Trail Sponsors are North Jersey Marine, Humminbird, Triton Boats, Berkley, Toyota, Mercury, Minnkota, Motorguide, Keitech, Bass Pro Shops, Adirondack Reel Service, Mad-TY Custom Baits, Rapsody Fishing Rods, BMB Custom Baits, Plano Tackle, Ogdensburg Chamber of Commerce and Ticonderoga Chamber of Commerce, US Reel, Basscat Quest, Triton Alliance, Skeeter Reel Money, Bass Pro Shop Tournament Rewards, the Professional Anglers Association Payday Program, Team E Outdoors, Susquehanna Fishing Tackle, 1,000 Islands Clayton NY, and TungstenWTS.By: Burnie Haney
