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Chad’s Tour Journal
The reality of the challenge of fishing the Delaware River didn’t hit me until just a few months before the tournament was slated to start. I talked to Mike Iaconelli, the hometown favorite and a veteran of this fishery, and he told me that 12 pounds a day would be the golden ticket.
I knew it was going to be tough, but I also felt that the river was set up to fish the way I like to fish – there would be eelgrass and hydrilla and milfoil, so I kept up a good attitude and thought that I’d figure something out. The one hitch would be the violent tide swing, up to 9 feet. I’ve never experienced something that drastic, and until practice was underway, I didn’t realize how short the optimal window would be. Typically, you want to be on your best stuff at a low, outgoing tide, and that doesn’t last all that long on the Delaware. Making it tougher, that optimal zone got a bit later each day, and with a short day on the third day of practice, it was impossible to run around and check lots of places out at their best. It makes you pick an area and commit to it, which is hard to do on a system you don’t know all that well.
Even though the fish population was small, I was confident that if I got around the right group of fish I could wait out a decent bag. I wasn’t going to run the tide because that probably meant trips of 60 or 70 miles into the unknown. Practice was a grind – I got five bites the first day, none the second day and two the last day. With the exception of one fish close to two pounds that jumped all over a frog, I didn’t see any of them because I was afraid to set the hook and burn up a fish I might need during competition.
On the first day of competition, I made the easy choice to go up where I’d had the five bites and arrived to find it covered up with boats. That was reassuring that I’d found something good, but it didn’t give me much freedom to move around. It forced me to stay in my best areas and really bear down. I had to be sure that I’d catch fish and get some points. When I’d talked to Kevin VanDam that morning, I heard concern in his voice and saw it in his face. He had a very difficult time this week, blanking on Day One, and that’s not a frequent occurrence. I managed two bites that first day and caught them both. They weighed 3-09.
On the first day I left my key area when the tide turned and most of what I hit after that proved to be unproductive, so on Day Two I committed to my first area, kept my head down and fished hard. That day I had three bites. One was short and two kept. They weighed slightly less than my two fish the first day, a total of 3-02. I was glad to have them.
I threw a wide variety of lures at the Delaware, but the two best presentations turned out to be a Lunker Lure Limit Series jig and pitching a Trick Worm on a 3/16 ounce Lunker Lure Shakey Head. The jigs were black and blue, both 3/8 and ½ ounce depending on the desired fall rate. I fished them on a Denali Noirwood 7’ heavy action rod with a Shimano Ci4 baitcasting reel spooled with 16 lb. test Gamma fluorocarbon. I tipped the jig with a Missile Baits Baby D-Bomb in “Bruise.” The worm was green pumpkin, and I fished it on a 7’ medium-heavy Denali Noirwood rod and a Shimano Ci4 baitcasting reel spooled with 14 pound Gamma fluorocarbon. The water was quite dirty and, when the tide got up, the jig was better than the worm. I caught one weigh fish each day on each bait.
Overall, while I’m not thrilled with a 75th place finish, I feel that I practiced well and fished clean this week. If I had it to do over again, I’d probably spend some time farther south, but it was so hard to just get a bite that you couldn’t run all over the place. Only one guy caught a limit every day. You simply can’t master that system in 2 ½ days.
My performance locked me into the AOY event on Escanaba, but I haven’t yet locked myself into next year’s Classic. Before we go to Michigan, there’s Cayuga, and I’m jacked up about that one. It has deep grass and shallow grass, and I know they catch big bags dropping a jig. I’m going to practice daylight to dark and do my best to make up some of the lost ground from Philadelphia.
75th Place; 4 fish, 6-11
Find me at www.chadmorgenthaler or Facebook – Chad Morgenthaler; Twitter & Instagram – CCMorgenthaler
Rayovac FLW Series Northern Division Headed to the James River
FLW College Fishing Northern Conference Event Set for Chautauqua Lake
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (Aug. 12, 2014) – FLW College Fishing is headed to Chautauqua Lake Aug. 23 for the final regular-season stop in the Northern Conference. Up to 50 college teams will be competing for a top award of $2,000 and a berth in the Northern Conference Invitational tournament.
“Chautauqua is a really good place to fish. It’s my favorite place to go,” said Kellogg’s Frosted Flakes pro Dave Lefebre, an 11-time Forrest Wood Cup qualifier. “It’s a super, super good lake. I like the diversity. It has a little stain to it, and there is a lot of target fishing there. The average fish is three pounds or better.
“I’m not sure if it is officially one of the Finger Lakes, but it fishes like one of them,” said Lefebre, who lives in nearby Erie, Pa. “It is full of both largemouth and smallmouth. This tournament can definitely be won with either species, but because of the time of year it will probably be mostly largemouth.”
Lefebre said that the competitors would have a variety of cover to fish, ranging from docks and canals to milfoil and pads.
“Big worms are really good for largemouth there, but that takes you out of the ballpark for a lucky smallmouth bite,” said Lefebre. “Jigs, Senkos, shallow crankbaits, topwater frogs and spinnerbaits could all be good. Topwater baits could really play too.”
Lefebre estimated that the winning weight would be 21 to 23 pounds.
Anglers will take off from Long Point State Park located at 4459 Route 430 in Chautauqua at 6:30 a.m. Weigh-in will be held at the takeoff location starting at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. Takeoff and weigh-in are free and open to the public.
Schools competing in the Chautauqua Lake tournament, which is hosted by the Chautauqua County Visitors Bureau, include:
Bowling Green State University – Kevin Klensch, Cincinnati, Ohio, and Maxwell Newcomer, Whitehouse, Ohio
Bowling Green State University – Zachary Goeglein, Livonia, Mich., and Jason Scott, Perrysburg, Ohio
Centenary College – Evan Miles, West Orange, N.J., and Lucas Bogosian, Harrington Park, N.J.
Central Michigan University – Brian Bustamante, Dearborn, Mich., and Blake Goodell, Traverse City, Mich.
Central Michigan University – Sheldon Miller, Frankenmuth, Mich., and Brandon Carman, Mecosta, Mich.
Fairmont State University – Bryson Grimes, Kingwood, W.Va., and Aaron Davis, Pleasant Valley, W.Va.
Fairmont State University – Landon Paul, Fairmont, W.Va., and Ryan Houser, Morgantown, W.Va.
Grand Valley State University – Scott Taege, Algonquin, Ill., and Matt Smartt, St. Clair Shores, Mich.
Kent State University – Matthew Fernandez, Dallas, Pa., and Evan Kruse, Bellevue, Ohio
Kent State University – Greg Perry, Cortland, Ohio, and Trevor White, Newton Falls, Ohio
La Roche College – Jonathan Coholich, Allison Park, Pa., and Nicholas Yund, Pittsburgh, Pa.
Liberty University – Brice Bahhur, Lynchburg, Va., and Shane Fetty, Newport News, Va.
Liberty University – Landon Riggleman and Chris Parent, both of Lynchburg, Va.
Lynchburg College – Luke Taylor, Jefferson City, Mo., and Graham Bird, Lynchburg, Va.
Mansfield University – Matt Novitski, Kingston, Pa., and Alec Engleman, Milton, Pa.
Mansfield University – Tyler Grabowski, Fairless Hills, Pa., and Ryan Fluharty, Perkiomenville, Pa.
Michigan State University – Kenney Bennett, Sterling Heights, Mich., and Dylan Jones, Warren, Mich.
Michigan State University – Ross Parsons, Dewitt, Mich., and Seth Gibson, Union City, Mich.
Northern Michigan University – Justin Brown, Bear Lake, Mich., and Brody Layher, Grass Lake, Mich.
Northwood University – Zach Lowe, Troy, Mich., and Travis Riedel, Falmouth, Mich.
Ohio Northern University – Cole Cochran, Troy, Ohio, and Austin Hostetler, Dover, Ohio
Ohio State University – Kain Fadeley, New Philadelphia, Ohio, and Brad Olinger, West Lafayette, Ohio
Ohio State University – Brett Warrick, Westerville, Ohio, and Sidney Hoover, Findlay, Ohio
Pennsylvania State University – Steven Griffith, Imler, Pa., and Dylan Myslowski, Wapwallopen, Pa.
Pennsylvania State University – Ben Barcaskey, Moon Township, Pa., and Sean Cummins, Huntingdon, Pa.
Radford University – George Fleming, Lorton, Va., and Tanner Blanks, Radford, Va.
Ramapo College – Andrew Annuzzi, Port Monmouth, N.J., and Andrew Zapf, Whippany, N.J.
Ramapo College – Mike Concato, Wayne, N.J., and Joseph Zapf, Whippany, N.J.
Rochester Institute of Technology – Jason Karol and John Henderson Jr., both of Rochester, N.Y.
Rutgers University – Kyle Genova, Millstone Township, N.J., and Andrew Ridinger, Thorofare, N.J.
Shenandoah University – Thoman and Billy Arens, both of Winchester, Va.
Shippensburg University – Kevin Hollasch, Marriottsville, Md., and Hunter Chamberlin, Shippensburg, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – William Hines, Erie, Pa., and Kyle Brown, Wexford, Pa.
Slippery Rock University – Tyler Sheppard and Tyler Branca, both of Hermitage, Pa.
State University of New York-Buffalo – Ronald Penders, Rochester, N.Y., and Morgan Fernaays, Buffalo, N.Y.
State University of New York- College of Environmental Science and Forestry – Jacob Ball, Naples, N.Y., and Austin Demarest, Syracuse, N.Y.
State University of New York- – College of environment Science and Forestry – Mike Longacre, Perkasie, Pa., and Zach Longo, Mohegan Lake, N.Y.
State University of New York-Plattsburgh – Matt Ziomek, Amherst, Mass., and Myles Tallada, West Chazy, N.Y.
State University of New York-Plattsburgh – Richard Lee, Port Kent, N.Y., and Brendan Bolis, Canton, N.Y.
United State Military Academy-West Point – Chrsitian Carrasco and Robert Barger, both of West Point, N.Y.
United States Military Academy-West Point – Caleb Primos and Thomas Matty, both of West Point, N.Y.
University of Akron – Christian Combs, Clinton, Ohio, and Kevin Arnold, Copley, Ohio
University of Akron – Mark Thaxton, Tallmadge, Ohio, and Derrick Lockhart, Akron, Ohio
University of Dayton – Robert Petrick, Imperial, Pa., and Sam Tunnacliffe, West Chester, Ohio
University of Pittsburg-Johnstown – Andrew Larson, Lanse, Pa., and Jacob Dunning, Duncansville, Pa.
West Virginia University – Benjamin Ray, Morgantown, W.Va., and Matthew Combs, Huber Heights, Ohio
West Virginia University – Matthew Gibson, Morgantown, W.Va., and Edward Rude III, Falling Waters, W.Va.
Western Michigan University – Erik Rogoszewski, Dewitt, Mich., and Shandon Miller, Frankenmuth, Mich.
Xavier University – Alex Vaisvil, St. Charles, Ill., and Andrew Decilles, Batesville, Ind.
Youngstown State University – Charles Cremeans, Youngstown, Ohio, and Stan Miketa, New Middletown, Ohio
FLW College Fishing teams compete in three qualifying events in one of five conferences – Central, Northern, Southern, Southeastern and Western. The top 15 teams from each regular-season tournament will qualify for one of five conference invitational tournaments. The top 10 teams from each conference invitational tournament will advance to the 2015 FLW College Fishing National Championship.
College Fishing is free to enter. All participants must be registered, full-time undergraduate students at a four-year college or university and members of a fishing club recognized by their college or university.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter at Twitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your school.
ABOUT FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2014 over the course of 229 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
PROJECT-T 2014 EPISODE3 ” NEW ZILLION-TWS”
Zona: Fantasy Football, Lake Ontario and Great Hair
Late summer signals the home stretch of the Bassmaster Elite Series season, plus a whole lotta Zona’s Awesome Fishing Show episodes that need to be filmed, and perhaps most importantly, me picking my fantasy football league roster.
Not to mention we’re fresh off the ICAST Show, which is the fishing tackle industry’s annual ‘show and tell’ trade show where all the cool new products are revealed.
Seeing lures I’ve been working on to develop with Strike King for months, or rod actions I’ve discussed for weeks with Shimano, all finally come to fruition at ICAST is hugely rewarding.
But it’s also like the first day of high school in that you wanna make sure your hair is rockin’ because you’re seeing a lot of your buds for the first time in months.
Everybody with any ties to the fishing industry goes to ICAST, from pro anglers like Swindle, to marketing dudes like Steve Levi of BoatUS Angler, and Brian Spiro from Carhartt. And trust me, just like your high school buds; they can’t wait to bust your chops if your clothes don’t match.
Speaking of BoatUS Angler, I am so glad my mechanically challenged self has their membership card in my wallet, because as I write this blog I’m organizing my boat for a trip to Lake Ontario. It’s an 11-hour drive to get there. Things can happen when you’re towing. Flat tires, smoked hubs, whatever. I don’t wanna think about it.
And then when you reach the water, Ontario is the best fishing on earth, but it can whip-up and humble you with waves bigger than the ocean in a heartbeat too. So again, I’m glad to know BoatUS has my back if I need to call them.
Until next time, good luck picking your fantasy football team, and make sure your hair is rockin’ for the first day of school.