Joe McClosky and Roger Trageser take first place at Dundee
The second SQT event took place on Sunday May 19th at Dundee State Park. Joe McClosky won the event in the boater division. Joe’s paired rider for the day, Roger Trageser won the non-boater division. The day would end up being a great day to fish with sunny skies and light winds. Great conditions for the Upper Bay, especially for those running north.
Joe McClosky topped the field with 19.89 pounds for his 5 fish limit. Unfortunately, I did not get any feedback from Joe’s day on the water. However, as mentioned, his non-boater Roger took 1st place. Roger gave thanks to Joe for a great day on the water. He said, “Joe did the leg work with practice and knew right where he wanted us to be.”
Joe Puller placed 2nd on the boater side with a nice bag of fish coming in at 18.41 pounds. Joe’s week leading up the tournament would come with a concerning issue with his boat. After practicing for a couple of days, Joe’s dash control panel shorted out on Wednesday, and he had an out of town wedding to attend on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Joe had to order a control panel with rush order delivery and get it fixed before Sunday. However, things worked out for Joe, and he had a great tournament. He started his day in the Bush River but he could not catch anything for 2 hours. Joe ran to some grass near Harve De Grace where he had caught one in practice. Joe caught a small one pretty quickly and his first keeper in the first 15 minutes there. He said, he kept his head down and kept flipping a light Texas rigged kicking Yum craw in green pumpkin. Joe ended up catching 9 keepers and maybe 20-25 total fish.
Marty Osbourne would take 3rd place in the boater division with his total weight coming in at 17.84 pounds. The big fish on the boater side would be caught by Paul Reter with a 5.72 pound fish.
Roger Trageser bested the field in the non-boater division with a great bag at 13.17 pounds for his 3 fish limit. He also had big fish on the non-boater side with a 5.45 pound kicker fish. He said it was a great day for a boat ride with his boater Joe running north to fish the southern edge of the flats. Roger started with a 5″ senko to put a couple in the boat. However, one of those keepers barely touched the line for the 15″ legal size. Roger switched over to a 5″ fat ring worm that was recommended to him by a fellow Nation member. Bingo, he said he quickly hooked that big fish that weighed in at 5.45 pounds that hit right at the boat. He said it was a blessing that it hit so close because wrestling fish out of all that grass is no easy task. Roger fished that ring worm the rest of the day catching many fish and good size fish. Roger said “bite was extremely subtle, finger on the line, moving slow, lift and drop and just waiting for the slightest tick, then execute.”
Charlie Clifford would finish 2nd on the non-boater side with 12.51 pounds for his limit including a 5.30 pound kicker for his big fish. Charlie’s boater would also make the long run to the upper end of the bay. He said they started fishing hard cover and they were able to boat a few small keepers dragging small plastics. Charlie was dragging a Berkley pit boss and a wacky rigged senko. Next, Charlie’s boater Mike Roselle went to his primary area fishing main river grass, fishing a variety of baits. Charlie’s main bait was a swim jig that he was able to get some decent keepers swimming it through the emergent vegetation. “Around noon, the grass was starting to top out, so I decided to tie on a small hollow bodied frog.” “My first cast I caught a 5 pounder.” “Never had another bite on a frog – just got lucky.” Charlie could not thank Mike Roselle enough for putting him on fish. He said Mike is a great person and he really enjoyed fishing with him. “The best part of the day for me was headed back to the boat ramp, we only had about ten minutes to fish.” “Mike only had for keepers in the box” “We ran up on some hard cover and he flipped a worm into the wood and stuck a 3 pounder to finish his limit.” “I was screaming like we won the Classic.” “It was one of the coolest moments I ever had fishing.” “He deserved it, he worked his tail off for that limit and his patience paid off.” “Thanks again Mike, you are the Man!”