“Ended up with around 20 fish today. Just couldn’t get the fish to bite on our big fish spot and that’s just how it goes sometimes.” – Adrian Jimenez (Facebook)
Lake Washington was the battleground for the season opener for the American Bass Association Washington West Club. 15 bass boats were lined up to launch before the sun rose. The morning grey skies, and patches of rain clouds would stick around for the entirety of the day. The event was scheduled to take place a week before, but a winter weather advisory had ben issued for the Seattle area. Although it was a gloomy day on Lake Washington, it was a better fishing weekend than the originally planned event.
15 Teams competed in the tournament, and a total of 47 fish had been weighed in, most of them were Smallmouth bass. The Big Bass weighed in at 5.47 lbs. and was caught by team Dmitry Kharchenko and Yevgen Chernetskiy. Catching a five-pound smallmouth in the middle of winter is not easy to do.
Team Adrian Jimenez and Cody McKenna caught a 5 fish limit that weighed in at 17.96 lbs., and that would be enough to take the win and gain 100 points in the 2024 AOY standings. Adrian went to Facebook later that day and posted about his experience, “Ended up with around 20 fish today. Just couldn’t get the fish to bite on our big fish spot and that’s just how it goes sometimes.” A 20 bass day in January, you can’t beat that.
The Second-place team was hit with a .20 penalty, but that wouldn’t stop Dmitry Kharchenko and Yevgen Chernetskiy from finishing on the podium with a weight of 17.08lbs. They also caught the big bass for the tournament with a 5.47 lbs. Smallmouth. Hard work during the offseason would pay off, after a 4th place finish in last year’s January tournament, they would start 2024 in second place and with 99 points in AOY standings.
After a 10th place finish in the first tournament for the new year in 2023, team Mike Magnotti and Aaron Weinberg were looking to start the season off towards the top of the AOY leaderboard. They would finish the year tied for AOY in 2023. Their third-place finish with a weight of 16.90lbs., gives them a great start towards achieving the AOY award for 2024.
The 2023 AOY winners, Larry Vance and Chris Hornbrook finished in 11th place and will start the season ten points behind the leaders in the standings. The team looks to bounce back at the second event of the season on Mar 23 at Lake Sammamish, where Larry and Chris finished the tournament third, last season.
Northwest Bass Fishing Tournaments for February.
17th Lake Sammamish Freeze Your Bass Off. Washington Bass Federation Qualifying Event, hosted by Evergreen Bass Club
17-18th Shasta Lake, Rogue Valley Bassmasters
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