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Hobie BOS: Winnipesaukee Slug Fest

Its always exciting to see a new fishery added to the kayak fishing schedule and one that I have been truly waiting to see happen is Lake Winnipesaukee in the New Hampshire Lakes Region. This lake is a little special to me personally, as it was the place I won my first tournament back when I had a 17’ Bass Tracker and was new to fishing my club at the time as a boater. Even being in that boat the lake seemed massive and intimidating with potential for large waves from either wind or big boats plus the potential danger if you aren’t paying attention to navigational buoys. The mountain lake is deep, clear and full of great scenery that is almost as amazing as the bass fishing can be.

Loaded with both largemouth and smallmouth bass anglers have to make one of three choices come tournament day - focus on smallmouth, largemouth or have a plan for both. Either species can be the winning tactic depending on what the angler can find for quality and sometimes having a solid back up plan can make the difference when the targeted species isn’t playing come crunch time. The latter is what won it for me back in the day when after a couple good largemouth bites at my first area just shut down. I then had to make the run to where I had found some descent size smallmouth that could fill my limit.

The Hobie BOS event angler line up is loaded with top kayak anglers including New England hammers Derrick Brundle and Matthew Conant. Bassmaster Elite angler Mike Iaconelli also making another Hobie BOS appearance. Iaconelli previously fished the Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship in March this year finishing 30th out of 91 anglers. It’s a great gauge for these anglers to see how they compare when fishing against known legends of the sport. The current B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year leader Justin Largen from Virginia is looking to solidify his position in the sport and is no stranger to smallmouth fishing.

Day 1: Bronzebacks Chewing

It was immediately apparent on Saturday that the fishery was healthy and thriving when anglers from 30th and up had over 80 inches on the board early. The 17 inch class smallmouth bass are abundant and were biting good for the majority of the field. Largemouth bass were also showing for a few guys, which when you can get on a good largemouth bite they can put you over the top at Winni.

At the end of Day 1 the top 3 anglers were Rhode Island angler Justin Lacasse with a great 92.75 inch start to the event with some healthy smallmouth including a beautiful 20.25 kicker. Justin Largen was sitting in second with 90.25 inches of largemouth bass. Third was the 2020 Kayak Bass Fishing National Champion from Massachusetts Mathew Conant with mostly largemouth bass as well. Iaconelli had a solid day and was sitting in 9th place with consistent fish all 17.25-17.5 inches.

The top 50 out of 80 anglers had over 80 inches and the top 25 with over 85 inches. This was a great showing for the lake and importance of finding a kicker or 2 when at the lake to get into the higher 80’s to 90 inch mark.

Day 2: Winni Still Producing

After a great Day 1 of fishing for most of the field, Sunday showed Winni had plenty more bass for the anglers to hook up to. 44 anglers ended up over 80 inches, with 15 anglers getting 85 or more inches on the board. Some anglers found it a bit harder to get the quality bites they had earlier such as Conant who put 82.25 inches of smallmouth on the board which wasn’t enough to stay in the top 10. Iaconelli had a similar day with a slightly smaller limit of smallmouth for 84.25 inches that dropped him to the 14th spot.

Day 1 leader Justin Lacasse was able to put up 85.5 inches which was enough to earn him 3rd place just a quarter of inch behind 2nd place finisher Mathew Zapala from New York who had a consistent weekend with 89.5 inches on Day 1 with a healthy smallmouth 19 inch kicker and a similar 89 inches on Day 2 with a couple of 18 inch class smallmouths to stay in the race with a total 178.5 inches.

However the big congratulations goes to Justin Largen who was able to put up 92.75 inches of bigger largemouth bass to top the field with a total of 183 inches giving him another solid win to add to a great 2022 season on the national circuits!

Overall Winner?

With all the great fishing I think we have to give it up for Lake Winnipesaukee for showing how great of a fishery it truly is. Even with the heavy boating and fishing pressure on the lake it still produces great numbers of healthy fish in both brown and green varieties with diverse structure and cover all around the lake to keep them healthy and well populated. If you haven’t visited the New Hampshire Lakes Region I suggest you make it a point to do so. There are numerous other lakes there with superb fishing as well such as neighboring Lake Winnisquam and Squam Lake which both have healthy populations of bass to keep the rod bent over all day!

Hobie BOS Lake Winnipesaukee Top 10

Place	Angler	Day 1	Day 2	Total
1	Justin Largen (VA)	90.25"	92.75"	183.00"
2	Matthew Zapala (NY)	89.50"	89.00"	178.50"
3	Justin Lacasse (RI)	92.75"	85.50"	178.25"
4	Ryan Nye (CT)	89.50"	87.50"	177.00"
5	Neil Tomarchio (NJ)	88.75"	87.25"	176.00"
6	Greg Krasnowiecki (RI)	86.00"	88.50"	174.50"
7	Mike Morcone (MA)	86.25"	88.00"	174.25"
8	Eric Polenz (MI)	85.50"	88.50"	174.00"
9	Dave Sewell (IN)	88.25"	85.50"	173.75"
10	Jason Cassetty (IN)	84.25"	88.75"	173.00"

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Eric Nelson
Professional Kayak Bass Angler

Biography

I was born in Southeastern Massachusetts, where I began fishing for bass when I was in my early teenage years, graduating to competitive bass tournaments in my late 20’s. I moved to North Carolina in 2015 and found the passion for bass fishing from a kayak, and quickly became involved in both the local and national kayak bass tournament scenes. My fishing skills have allowed me to qualify for almost every major event since joining the clubs, be it at a club, state and even national level.

Being a professional in the online web development and design field for publications, I have always used my skills to help promote the clubs and the sport as a whole in my spare time.  I have been a part of the club directors for Cape Cod Bass, and now for Carolina Kayak Anglers, one of the larger kayak clubs in the country. I am also a part of the national KBF tournament advisory board.

The Kayak Bass Fishing (KBF) format has allowed me to travel across the United States, fishing against the best fisherman in the country. Now with the KBF Pro format, and the merging with the FLW organization, I am looking forward to where this adventure takes me in the future.

Highlights

Total Career Earnings - $3,250

Competition Highlights
Inaugural FLW / KBF Cup Championship Qualified 2019 - Hot Springs, AK
KBF National Championship Qualified 2020 - Lake Guntersville, AL
KBF Challenge Championship 2018 - Toledo Bend, LA
2019 KBF National Championship - 57th overall out of 462 anglers - Shreveport, LA
KBF Regional Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - Lake Wheeler, AL
KBF National Trail Championship Qualified 2019 - La Crosse, WI
2nd Place 2018 KBF National Trail - High Rock Lake, NC
2nd Place 2019 - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake, NC
11th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Santee Cooper Lakes, SC
13th Place - 2019 KBF Southeastern Region Trail - Chickamauga Lake, TN
46th Place 2019 FLW / KBF Cup Qualifier - Nickajack Lake, TN
2nd Place - Plastic Pirates - Randleman Lake 2019
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass,  2002 - Lake Winnipesaukee, NH
1st Place - Cape Cod Bass, 2008 - Glenn Charlie Pond, MA