BURLINGTON, N. J. — There’s no denying it. New Jersey put on a stellar performance in their home state to win the team competition in the 2011 B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Mid-Atlantic Divisional presented by Yamaha and Skeeter.
Extending their lead every day, New Jersey’s final margin of victory was just shy 44 pounds. And, they did it the old-fashioned way. Each of their 14 members — 12 adults plus 2 youth — caught at least one bass. Even more impressive, 11 of their members caught three or more.
To put those numbers in perspective consider that a total of 152 keepers were caught in this, the toughest tournament on the Delaware River in recent memory. Of that number New Jersey caught 50. That’s about one-third of the total catch. That pretty much sums it up. Click here to view Day One, Day Two or Day Three team standings.
Trailing New Jersey was West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and Delaware — in that order.
Overall individual honors went to Richard McCrone of New Jersey in a tiebreaker with West Virginia’s Chris Morrison. Chris Price, fishing for Delaware, finished third with 11 pounds even, just one ounce off the pace.
McCrone earned his title with a consistent and detailed plan. He fished the same shallow, brushy backwater cove all three days and concentrated his efforts by only fishing with two lures.
“I caught my first bass on the first day on a spinnerbait but then broke one off in the bushes using a jig,” he explains. “After that I stayed as close to the bank as I could and just kept tossing it into the brush and working it up and down. The bite was real slow so you had to cover water but at the same time you had to fish each spot slowly and carefully.”
“That was the game plan I developed during practice. I just stuck with it. Heck, conditions were so bad out there you couldn’t change even if you thought something else might work better. I’m real happy about how things turned out.”
The individual state champions are Chris Price for Delaware, Paul Gietka for Maryland, Richard McCrone for New Jersey, Scott Sirakos for Pennsylvania, Mike Cumberledge for Virginia, and Chris Morrison for West Virginia.
Each top angler will advance to the 2011 B.A.S.S. Federation Nation Championship presented by Yamaha and Skeeter, November 3-5, 2011 on the Ouachita River out of Monroe, La.
Big Bass honors went to West Virginia’s Chris Morrison. He brought a 4-3 ounce beast to the scales today. Morrison also weighed in yesterday’s big bass. That fish weighed 3-6.
Click here to view Day One, Day Two or Day Three team standings.