Curcio Wins Walmart Bass Fishing League Northeast Division on Oneida Lake
OutdoorHub 07.16.12
Jonathan Curcio of Minoa, N.Y., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 18 pounds, 12 ounces Saturday to win the Walmart Bass Fishing League Northeast Division event on Oneida Lake. For his victory, Curcio earned $3,926.
“This was my first ever tournament with FLW,” said Curcio. “It feels absolutely wonderful to get the win. I had a bed of weeds that I had been fishing for the past three months and my strategy was just to hammer that area. It’s not a very big area – the weed clump is the size of a small house. But there is a honey hole right in the middle of it where the water channels and the bait-fish get caught up in the middle of it. When that turns on, it’s magical.
“I fished it right away in the morning,” Curcio continued. “That’s when the bite is the best. I caught a couple, then left and fished some other areas and gave it a three-hour break to replenish. Then I went back and fished it again. All of my keepers came out of that one spot. It’s near the north shore of the lake in around 8- to 10-feet of water.
“I was throwing a Zoom Brush Hog and Reaction Innovations Sweet Beaver,” Curcio went on to say. “We started out using dark colors in the morning then moved to lighter colors as the sun came up and got brighter. The weather was perfect – sunny and a mild wind. This worked out nicely for me as no wind gives me a better pitching presentation. I caught around 15 to 20 keepers on the day.”
Rounding out the top 10 pros were:
2nd: Stanley Sypeck Jr., Sugarloaf, Pa., five bass, 18-2, $1,963
3rd: Richard Damianos, Cortland, N.Y., five bass, 16-0, $1,112
3rd: Matthew Martin, Chittenango, N.Y., five bass, 16-0, $1,112
5th: Michael Morrin, Waterloo, N.Y., five bass, 15-14, $785
6th: John Lorenzo, Kane, Pa., five bass, 15-6, $720
7th: Randy Troiani Jr., Dickson City, Pa., five bass, 15-4, $654
8th: Jamie Hartman, Newport, N.Y., five bass, 15-2, $589 + $1,000 Evinrude Bonus
9th: Michael Yeager, Boyertown, Pa., five bass, 15-0, $523
10th: Kevin Bishop, Hilton, N.Y., five bass, 14-15, $458
Complete results can be found at FLWOutdoors.com.
Joseph Zapf of Whippany, N.J., weighed a five-bass limit totaling 17 pounds even Saturday to win $1,963 in the co-angler division.
Rounding out the top 10 co-anglers were:
2nd: Joe Kazlauskas, Canastota, N.Y., five bass, 16-10, $981
3rd: Terry Beck, Lock Haven, Pa., five bass, 14-14, $655
4th: Jason Shipton, Muncy, Pa., five bass, 14-11, $458
5th: Mark Checki, Gouldsboro, Pa., five bass, 14-8, $393
6th: Kevin Mothersell, Henrietta, N.Y., five bass, 13-14, $360
7th: Robert Parmer Jr., Montoursville, Pa., five bass, 13-10, $327
8th: Matthew Hedges, Rome, Md., five bass, 13-8, $278
8th: Jason Karol, Rochester, N.Y., five bass, 13-8, $278
10th: Scot Neely, Loysville, Pa., five bass, 13-2, $229
The next BFL Northeast Division tournament is scheduled for Aug. 4 on Lake Cayuga in Seneca Falls, N.Y. After the fifth Northeast Division tournament is complete, the top 40 boaters and 40 co-anglers based on point standings will qualify for the Oct. 11-13 Regional Championship on Kerr Lake in Henderson, N.C. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard and a Chevy Silverado, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518 with a 200-horsepower Evinrude or Mercury outboard.
The BFL is a 24-division circuit devoted to weekend anglers, with 120 tournaments throughout the season, five in each division. The top 40 boaters and co-anglers from each division qualify for a regional tournament and compete to finish in the top six, which then qualifies them for one of the longest-running championships in all of competitive bass fishing – the Walmart BFL All-American presented by Chevy.
