Rob Lamoy Takes New York The Bass Federation Season Opener on Lake Champlain
OutdoorHub 06.11.13
New York The Bass Federation (NYTBF) held their season opener on Lake Champlain June 9th. The conditions were reasonable with a morning drizzle and light westerly that gave way to sunny skies and air temps in the mid-70s for 2 PM weigh-in. Point Au Rouche state park just north of Plattsburgh served as the base of operations for the day.
Boater Division
Taking first place and Ranger Cup honors with a weight of 16.70 lbs. was TBF Eastern Divisional qualifier Rob Lamoy from Chazy, NY. Lamoy’s no stranger to the north end of the big lake and credits his win to hometown knowledge; that and about 200 waypoints he’s collected over the years. Lamoy stated these Champlain smallies are predictable and once you locate a spawning area you can rest assured some group of fish will use it year after year. Armed with that information Lamoy used Saturday’s practice period scouting areas that he knew ought to hold the better quality smallmouth for Sunday’s tournament.
Lamoy reports using a drop shot rig to coax bedding fish in the 5-8 ft. zone believing the bigger fish like it just a tad deeper. He piloted his Ranger boat though a milk run of way points burning a 1/2 tank of gas over the course of his day, but earned the victory, 100 AOY points and Ranger Cup points for his efforts.
Rounding out the top three were Casey Casamento with a weight of 16.40 and Dan Murphy with a weight of 16.30. Bringing in the Boater Division lunker was Jake Wilson with a fine largemouth bass of 4.60 lbs.
Co-Angler Division
The Plattsburg College Fishing Team also shook off the hometown bugaboo as they swept the top three spots. Leading the group taking first place and co-angler lunker was Jason Barnes with an impressive limit of 16.20 lbs. anchored by a 4.80 lb. largemouth bass.
Second place went to Ted Appleton with a weight of 15.10 lbs. and taking third place honors with a weight of 12.90 lbs. was Frank Benedetto. If anyone ever doubted the talents of this group of young anglers they just served notice and they’re looking forward to the annual competition.
