Liardo First Overall At Candlewood!

The Bergen Bassmasters held their second points of the season at Candlewood Lake on May 30th. Fish were found in all stages of the spawn as water temperatures varied between 68 and 72 degrees. With a picture perfect day and despite some heavy fishing pressure from at least four other club tournaments, the Bergen Bassmasters still managed to set a new club record for most fish in a single day event with 145 fish coming to the scales. That an average of 4.3 fish per angler.

Elliott Liardo claimed his first ever Bergen win and jumped into first place overall after two events by weighing in his 6 bass limit of largemouth for a total of 14 pounds 5 ounces. Elliott had pre-fished both Saturday and Monday. His winning pattern was using 4" worms and a spinnerbait in 6-8 feet of water. He culled 3 fish throughout the day.

Club rookie,Ron Fairbanks, is known to be an excellent bed fisherman. He proved this by bringing in a big bag of smallies along with an anchor largemouth for a total of 14 pounds 4 ounces. Ron missed claiming the victory by only one ounce. Ron had pre-fished on Friday to locate bedding smallmouth throughout the lake and executed his game plan well on Saturday allowing him to cull 8 bass. His main baits included a gitzit and a lizard.

Eric Lehmann placed in third place but perhaps found the top pattern for the tournament. He had caught about 20 keepers and his final limit weighed in at 13 pounds 15 ounces. To no surprise, Eric fished 4" power worms which he skipped under trees in the Sherman arm of the lake. He had prefished on Monday but was driven off the lake early by severe thunderstorms, thus he developed his pattern while fishing the tournament.

Last year's Angler of the Year, Nick Albano returns to the list of top finishers by taking 4th place at Candlewood with a limit weighing 11 pounds 12 ounces. Nick was unable to pre-fish so he fished his confidence pattern. He fished larger, 7" worms under the overhanging trees to catch about 20 keepers. Nick could have weighed in a larger total, but he had a small dead fish which Bergen rules prevent an angler from culling.

Rounding out the top five was Alvin Walters. Alvin established his pattern while pre-fishing and used it to weigh-in a limit for 11 pounds 10 ounces. He fished a 4" worm on a split shot rig around docks. Alvin stated that the fish were relating to the shady dock structure and that there were no weeds nearby.

The tournament lunker was weighed in by the Tournament Director, Rich Gerken with a largemouth weighing 4 pounds 12 ounces.

In total the 34 club members weighed in a record of 145 bass including 94 largemouth and 51 smallies for a combined weight of 245 pounds 5 ounces. The club has had excellent catches in each of it's first two tournaments and is picking up where it left off in 1997. With one record already broken, how many more will fall in 1998? Only time will tell as the club resumes its schedule at the Mohawk River on June 20th.

All contents created 1996 by Mark B. Scocco. Contributing editor: Nick Albano