TW_Staff
09-01-2009, 10:45 AM
It isn't often that an angler who wins a tournament would gladly trade places with the runner-up, but that was the case in Plattsburgh, N.Y. over the weekend at the conclusion of the Champlain Northern Stren.
Steve Lucarelli. a 60-year-old resident of Meredith, N.H., caught a 20-06 bag on the final day to rise from 4th place to the victory podium. The 2nd-place finisher was his 30-year-old son Joe, who'd taken an advantage of nearly 3 pounds into the last day.
"My goal was to cash a good check, but my dream was to come in 2nd and have (Joe) finish 1st," the elder Lucarelli said. "To come that close was a little too much and I got a little bit emotional up there on the stage. It was bittersweet because for me, family comes first in everything.
"I'd give up the ($40,000 top prize package) and take his $8,500 in a second. That part was very difficult."
His big stringer on the last day gave him a 57-00 3-day total, which was 1-03 more than his son managed. It's believed to be the first time that a father and son have finished 1-2 in a tournament of this magnitude.
"It hurt a little bit," Joe said, "but if I had to lose to somebody, I'm glad it was him."
Steve Lucarelli came into the tournament off a 23rd-place finish at the Champlain Bassmaster Central Open the previous week. He was thinking this might be his final event on the pro side – he didn't think he was competitive against the many tour pros who fish the Triple-A derbies at Champlain.
This time around, Steve was determined to stay in the New York side of the lake. He'd fished the Inland Sea on the Vermont side in the Open, but wanted to stay closer to the launch because of the weather forecast that called for strong winds during the Stren.
He found two places in practice that produced 14 of his 15 weigh-in fish. One was a weedy spot in 15 to 18 feet of water that held bronzebacks constantly, and the other was a big boulder out in the middle of nowhere in 28 feet that was devoid of life unless there were baitfish present.
"It was like a water hole in the middle of a desert and it was a feeding station when the bait was there, and they were all 3- to 3 1/4-pound fish," he said. "It was the first spot I'd go in on, and then when I got to my all-day spot I was comfortable because I had some fish in the boat to try to cull out."
A dropshot rig was ideal for catching smallies from the deep rock, and he'd switch to a Carolina rig when he got to the shallower weeds.
Competition:
Lucarelli started day one on the lone rock area and pulled three solid keepers from there. He got onto a strong bite at the weedy locale as well, and his near-19-pound bag slotted him into 8th place.
His co-angler, Don Vantassel of Massachusetts, had some watermelon-chartreuse lizards that seemed to be just the ticket for Carolina-rigging.
"He was kind enough to let me have a few of them, and by the last day I was using Mend-it to resurrect them," he said. "I thought it was kind of odd that I was fishing for $40,000 with torn-up lizards, but it truly was a lifesaver."
Day 2 required a bit of an adjustment at the rock. The fish had been holding near the top of it, but that wasn't the case that day.
"It appeared as if the rock bass had taken over and pushed the smallmouth to the perimeter. I eventually slid out to 33 feet and found them there."
He ended up catching a full limit there, and that was fortuitous because the lower unit on his motor went out on his run to the weed place. He had to cover the last mile or so with the trolling motor.
"J.T. Palmore saw me out there adrift at 8:00 in the morning and came up to me. He told me he'd come back at a quarter to 3 to get me, and he did."
He got his motor repaired for day 3, which had an ominous beginning due to the threat of Hurricane Danny. There was speculation that winds could reach 40 mph, but it ended up being an overcast day with winds in the 10- to 15-mph range.
"It isn't that often the wind blows from the east, and it may have affected the weedbeds that some of the other guys were fishing," he said. "In my case it didn't affect anything and it really wasn't all that rough."
There was no bait at the rock, though, and therefore no bass. It was 10:00 before he caught his first good fish from the weedy spot, and the action picked up at about 11:30 when the wind shifted to the southeast.
He left there at about 2:00 to try for some release fish near the launch and ended up catching a 4-pound largemouth. That gave him a quintet of four brown fish and one green one that were all of nearly identical weight.
Winning Gear:
Carolina rig gear: 7' medium-heavy Fenwick Techna AV rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FTAVC), Abu Garcia Revo (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) (15-pound main line and 12-pound leader), 3/4-ounce unnamed tungsten weight, 2/0 Ohio Pro Lure Sure-Grip or Yamamoto Sugoi hook (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YSH), unnamed lizard or crawfish (various colors, including watermelon/chartreuse and green-pumpkin).
"The fish seemed to get accustomed to what I was throwing – I'd catch one or two and then there'd be a lull," he said. "I'd change colors or the type of bait and usually get a significant fish within 5 minutes. I just kept rotating colors to find what they wanted."
He said the Ohio Pro Lure hook with its Sure-Grip keeper clip was perfect for the lizards, but the lighter-wire Sugoi was better for the smaller crawfish imitations.
Dropshot gear: 6'8" Fenwick Elite Tech Drop Shot Rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETS), Abu Garcia Cardinal (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGC7) 704 spinning reel, 15-pound Spiderwire Ultracast line with 5-pound Sugoi or 8- or 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) leader (18 inches), 3/8-ounce unnamed tungsten dropshot weight, unnamed size 1 hook, Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YSSW) (green-pumpkin/red flake).
Main factor in his success – "Help from others – my co-angler Don with the lizards, J.T. coming to the rescue and my son for giving me the confidence that I can compete with these gentlemen at this level."
Peformance edge – "My Humminbird fishfinder (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=HB1100) with Side Imaging. It's what allowed me to find that spot with the rock."
The Field:
Joe Lucarelli:
He certainly appeared poised to lock up the wire-to-wire victory, but despite topping the field for the first two days and entering the final round with nearly a 3-pound lead.
Lucarelli relied mostly on a green pumpkin Gary Yamamoto Flappin Hog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YFH). He flipped this bait on a football head jig and fished it on a Carolina rig. He was hoping to capitalize on the strong largemouth action he had found earlier in the week, but with the day’s blow coming mostly from the east, Lake Champlain just didn’t cooperate.
“I could work with any wind but an east wind,” he said. “That east wind was right on my (largemouth) water and kind of wrecked it. I had to switch up to smallmouth, but they just didn’t bite well. I got one good one and that was it.
“There was a brief period when the wind switched from east to south. The water kind of slicked off and the fish bit for about 40 minutes and then they just quit.”
Lucarelli ended up catching his limit of smallies over clean bottom with abundant grass in 20-22 feet. Noting the fishing tradition he shares with his father, he said: “He always used to tell me ‘You can’t get into trouble when you have a fishing rod in your hand’.”
Donald Sheldrake:
“The day actually didn’t start off too well,” Shelldrake said. “I got one good fish early in the morning and by 11 o’clock, I still only had one fish. I told my co-angler that we would fish until 2 o’clock, no matter what we had. I wasn’t prepared to beat the boat up or beat our fish up, so that was the plan.”
Fortunately, Shelldrake had located a productive spot earlier in the week that had produced well for him and another boat during days one and two. Returning to that spot proved to be his day-saver.
“We just kept refining our drifts and got lucky and caught some nice fish,” Shelldrake said. “I caught almost every one of my fish on a Carolina rig with a green lizard. They loved that bait today.”
Jimmy Kennedy:
Kennedy reached the top-10 with consistent performances of 17-15 and 17-7 on the first two days. On day three, he caught his fish on dropshots rigged with Slammers and wacky-rigged Senkos (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YAS). For his mixed bag, he fished over isolated rocks in 30 feet of water for smallmouth and targeted shallow weed beds for largemouth.
Terry Baksay:
Unable to get bit on the hard baits he preferred, Baksay threw Mizmo tubes and dropshots with 4-inch Slug-Gos (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=LCS) and Slammers. Baksay reported staying busy with plenty of action, but he found quality fish few and far between.
“I probably caught 50 fish today, but I never caught so many pound-and-a-half fish in my life,” he said.
TW Staff
Steve Lucarelli. a 60-year-old resident of Meredith, N.H., caught a 20-06 bag on the final day to rise from 4th place to the victory podium. The 2nd-place finisher was his 30-year-old son Joe, who'd taken an advantage of nearly 3 pounds into the last day.
"My goal was to cash a good check, but my dream was to come in 2nd and have (Joe) finish 1st," the elder Lucarelli said. "To come that close was a little too much and I got a little bit emotional up there on the stage. It was bittersweet because for me, family comes first in everything.
"I'd give up the ($40,000 top prize package) and take his $8,500 in a second. That part was very difficult."
His big stringer on the last day gave him a 57-00 3-day total, which was 1-03 more than his son managed. It's believed to be the first time that a father and son have finished 1-2 in a tournament of this magnitude.
"It hurt a little bit," Joe said, "but if I had to lose to somebody, I'm glad it was him."
Steve Lucarelli came into the tournament off a 23rd-place finish at the Champlain Bassmaster Central Open the previous week. He was thinking this might be his final event on the pro side – he didn't think he was competitive against the many tour pros who fish the Triple-A derbies at Champlain.
This time around, Steve was determined to stay in the New York side of the lake. He'd fished the Inland Sea on the Vermont side in the Open, but wanted to stay closer to the launch because of the weather forecast that called for strong winds during the Stren.
He found two places in practice that produced 14 of his 15 weigh-in fish. One was a weedy spot in 15 to 18 feet of water that held bronzebacks constantly, and the other was a big boulder out in the middle of nowhere in 28 feet that was devoid of life unless there were baitfish present.
"It was like a water hole in the middle of a desert and it was a feeding station when the bait was there, and they were all 3- to 3 1/4-pound fish," he said. "It was the first spot I'd go in on, and then when I got to my all-day spot I was comfortable because I had some fish in the boat to try to cull out."
A dropshot rig was ideal for catching smallies from the deep rock, and he'd switch to a Carolina rig when he got to the shallower weeds.
Competition:
Lucarelli started day one on the lone rock area and pulled three solid keepers from there. He got onto a strong bite at the weedy locale as well, and his near-19-pound bag slotted him into 8th place.
His co-angler, Don Vantassel of Massachusetts, had some watermelon-chartreuse lizards that seemed to be just the ticket for Carolina-rigging.
"He was kind enough to let me have a few of them, and by the last day I was using Mend-it to resurrect them," he said. "I thought it was kind of odd that I was fishing for $40,000 with torn-up lizards, but it truly was a lifesaver."
Day 2 required a bit of an adjustment at the rock. The fish had been holding near the top of it, but that wasn't the case that day.
"It appeared as if the rock bass had taken over and pushed the smallmouth to the perimeter. I eventually slid out to 33 feet and found them there."
He ended up catching a full limit there, and that was fortuitous because the lower unit on his motor went out on his run to the weed place. He had to cover the last mile or so with the trolling motor.
"J.T. Palmore saw me out there adrift at 8:00 in the morning and came up to me. He told me he'd come back at a quarter to 3 to get me, and he did."
He got his motor repaired for day 3, which had an ominous beginning due to the threat of Hurricane Danny. There was speculation that winds could reach 40 mph, but it ended up being an overcast day with winds in the 10- to 15-mph range.
"It isn't that often the wind blows from the east, and it may have affected the weedbeds that some of the other guys were fishing," he said. "In my case it didn't affect anything and it really wasn't all that rough."
There was no bait at the rock, though, and therefore no bass. It was 10:00 before he caught his first good fish from the weedy spot, and the action picked up at about 11:30 when the wind shifted to the southeast.
He left there at about 2:00 to try for some release fish near the launch and ended up catching a 4-pound largemouth. That gave him a quintet of four brown fish and one green one that were all of nearly identical weight.
Winning Gear:
Carolina rig gear: 7' medium-heavy Fenwick Techna AV rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FTAVC), Abu Garcia Revo (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGRP) casting reel, Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon line (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) (15-pound main line and 12-pound leader), 3/4-ounce unnamed tungsten weight, 2/0 Ohio Pro Lure Sure-Grip or Yamamoto Sugoi hook (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YSH), unnamed lizard or crawfish (various colors, including watermelon/chartreuse and green-pumpkin).
"The fish seemed to get accustomed to what I was throwing – I'd catch one or two and then there'd be a lull," he said. "I'd change colors or the type of bait and usually get a significant fish within 5 minutes. I just kept rotating colors to find what they wanted."
He said the Ohio Pro Lure hook with its Sure-Grip keeper clip was perfect for the lizards, but the lighter-wire Sugoi was better for the smaller crawfish imitations.
Dropshot gear: 6'8" Fenwick Elite Tech Drop Shot Rod (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=FETS), Abu Garcia Cardinal (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AGC7) 704 spinning reel, 15-pound Spiderwire Ultracast line with 5-pound Sugoi or 8- or 10-pound Berkley Trilene 100% fluorocarbon (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=BTFCC) leader (18 inches), 3/8-ounce unnamed tungsten dropshot weight, unnamed size 1 hook, Yamamoto Shad Shape Worm (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YSSW) (green-pumpkin/red flake).
Main factor in his success – "Help from others – my co-angler Don with the lizards, J.T. coming to the rescue and my son for giving me the confidence that I can compete with these gentlemen at this level."
Peformance edge – "My Humminbird fishfinder (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=HB1100) with Side Imaging. It's what allowed me to find that spot with the rock."
The Field:
Joe Lucarelli:
He certainly appeared poised to lock up the wire-to-wire victory, but despite topping the field for the first two days and entering the final round with nearly a 3-pound lead.
Lucarelli relied mostly on a green pumpkin Gary Yamamoto Flappin Hog (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YFH). He flipped this bait on a football head jig and fished it on a Carolina rig. He was hoping to capitalize on the strong largemouth action he had found earlier in the week, but with the day’s blow coming mostly from the east, Lake Champlain just didn’t cooperate.
“I could work with any wind but an east wind,” he said. “That east wind was right on my (largemouth) water and kind of wrecked it. I had to switch up to smallmouth, but they just didn’t bite well. I got one good one and that was it.
“There was a brief period when the wind switched from east to south. The water kind of slicked off and the fish bit for about 40 minutes and then they just quit.”
Lucarelli ended up catching his limit of smallies over clean bottom with abundant grass in 20-22 feet. Noting the fishing tradition he shares with his father, he said: “He always used to tell me ‘You can’t get into trouble when you have a fishing rod in your hand’.”
Donald Sheldrake:
“The day actually didn’t start off too well,” Shelldrake said. “I got one good fish early in the morning and by 11 o’clock, I still only had one fish. I told my co-angler that we would fish until 2 o’clock, no matter what we had. I wasn’t prepared to beat the boat up or beat our fish up, so that was the plan.”
Fortunately, Shelldrake had located a productive spot earlier in the week that had produced well for him and another boat during days one and two. Returning to that spot proved to be his day-saver.
“We just kept refining our drifts and got lucky and caught some nice fish,” Shelldrake said. “I caught almost every one of my fish on a Carolina rig with a green lizard. They loved that bait today.”
Jimmy Kennedy:
Kennedy reached the top-10 with consistent performances of 17-15 and 17-7 on the first two days. On day three, he caught his fish on dropshots rigged with Slammers and wacky-rigged Senkos (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=YAS). For his mixed bag, he fished over isolated rocks in 30 feet of water for smallmouth and targeted shallow weed beds for largemouth.
Terry Baksay:
Unable to get bit on the hard baits he preferred, Baksay threw Mizmo tubes and dropshots with 4-inch Slug-Gos (http://www.tacklewarehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=LCS) and Slammers. Baksay reported staying busy with plenty of action, but he found quality fish few and far between.
“I probably caught 50 fish today, but I never caught so many pound-and-a-half fish in my life,” he said.
TW Staff