Winegardner and Colie top the field in their Divisions on the Potomac

The first SQT took place on Sunday, April 7th at Smallwood State Park. The week leading up to the tournament brought heavy rains and wind. The weather would make for tough conditions on the river which showed out in the final results for many anglers. There were only 5 limits in the boater division and only 4 limits in the non-boater division. However, some anglers did very well, as they always do. Congrats to those anglers who did well in some tough conditions on the river.

Brett Winegardiner definitely figured things out by besting the field on the boater side with an impressive 20.10 pound bag of fish. Brett would also bring in the big fish of the tournament with one weighing 5.13 pounds. He said this was one of those few times when you find a little something and when you go back it is even better. Brett said he was fishing wood with a squarebill and then he went to flipping a log as the tide got right. He ended up culling 4 times to finish with the weight that he brought to the scales.

Mike Roselle took second place on the boater side with an impressive weight,18.55 pounds for his best 5 fish. Mike said his day started out slow with not having a bite until 9:30. After trying many areas, he finally pulled into a grass bed and had a 20 minute flurry where he caught 5 keepers on a chatterbait and had most of his weight on that grass bed. Mike then moved to hard cover the last 2 hours of the day and was able to cull up 2 times on chatterbaits.

Brandon Pyles would take 3rd place on the boater side with his best 5 weighing in at 14.27 pounds.

Jessie Colie took first place in the non-boater division with 9.52 pounds of fish for his 3 fish limit. He also had big fish on the non-boater side with a 3.32 pound fish. Jessie was Brett’s non-boater partner for the day. Jessie said having high tide in the morning and the tide falling throughout the day was ideal for the Potomac. He said that he spent the day with Brett targeting hard cover along the shoreline in shallow water with crankbaits and a jig. Jessie said the area they were fishing had better water color compared to the majority of other areas in the river.

Richard Roselle took second place in the non-boater division with 7.78 pounds and a 2.94 pound kicker fish for his limit. He said he did not have a keeper fish until 10:30. He and his boater decided to switch up to fish hard cover. Richard’s boater was Michael Duarte who also did well, finishing 4th on the boater side. When the tide got low is when Richard said the fish turned on. His go to bait was a black and blue brush hog. Richard said it was game on for about 30 minutes and at one time, he and Michael hooked up at the same time, which was very cool.

J. P. Harrell took 3rd place in the non-boater division with 7.59 pounds for his 3 fish limit.

Next up for the Nation is the Mr. Bass event on the Potomac, April 20th and 21st.

The 2nd SQT event is in May at Dundee. Stay tuned.