Lake Maspenock, MA Fishing Report

Oktobrefest: Tourney Pig Edition

I get a call on Wednesday from the one and only legendary angler Valps. He tells me that he is hosting the final tournament of 2010 on his home turf, Lake Maspenock. Fellow Arrogant Angler Napa won't be able to make it so he asks me if I'd like to join him. I say yes of course. Within the next few days, Napa finds a way to attend the tournament but fellow angler B doesn't have a partner due to his brother working. We flip flop on whether we want to enter the tournament but finally decide to join after a few jabs from the other anglers.

Sunday morning comes around and we're as unprepared as we could possibly be. B's running late as usual and his plan is to strap the world's largest canoe onto my cars roof. B also loses his keys and I'm thinking to myself 'Is there anything else that can go wrong?' This whole process takes much longer than anticipated so of course we are the last to arrive at the tournament. Thankfully the tournament started a little bit later than planned so we weren't too far behind the competition.

We start packing up the canoe when B tells me that he forgot the cooler in the trunk of his car. I wasn't about to drive all the way back to his house so we grab the bucket from Chucks 1970's cocaine scale and get ready to go. Just as we are about to depart, I realize that we don't have an anchor and it is quite windy out. B asks me if I want to take 3 steps and grab the one right there. I arrogantly decline in what would end up being a foolish decision.

We cast our gary's for about an hour or so when we realize just how foolish of a decision that was because we were being blown all over the place. We didn't have a motor, so we paddle all the way back to the shore and grab one of Valps' homemade anchors. We're moving all around the lake but we haven't received any action. Finally we decide to head out to deeper waters near Blue Balls Lagoon. B picks a nice little spot right outside the lagoon and we get to work.

The day was unfolding just as I had feared. It was about 10:45 and we weren't getting any bites at all. We were going to miss the Patriots game for this? Anger, depression, anxiety and straight up self-loathing were a few of the things I was feeling at this point...

That's when it happened. I felt a massive strike and my rod nearly snapped in half. I started cranking hard and I could tell this fish was substantial. The battle was on and this thing did not want to be caught. I calmly told B to grab the net and then we saw her breach. She was a MONSTER! B netter her easily and brought her into the boat. I looked her in the eye and I could hear the donkey squealing EEEEHHHHH AWWWWW! EEEEHHHHH AWWWWWWW!! She was absolutely gorgeous!! We started going absolutely ballistic as I liplocked her while B filled up our bucket.

Napa and Valps were in Blue Balls Lagoon and could hear all the commotion. They called us up and I told them to come see the pig right away. They came over and couldn't believe their eyes. We all admired the donkey and took a few pictures. I was extremely she would nervous escape because we didn't have a cover for our bucket and she showed more than enough power to escape. Valps eased those concerns by rigging up a nice cover out of our net so that it was impossible for her to escape.

I spent the rest of the tournament alternating between casts and maintenance of the slob. The last thing I wanted was for her to pass away or even worse get out of the boat somehow. I kept one eye on her at all times. We didn't catch any other fish for the rest of the evening so B and I made sure we made it to the shore early so we could hide the slob and pull her out after everyone else weighed in.

Sure enough, we were the last to go. It was a tough day and the top bag at this point was about 4 and a half pounds. We opened the cooler and I pulled her out and watched jaws drop around the circle. My donkey was 21 inches and weighed in at 5 pounds and 10 ounces and she was good enough for first place, and of course the lunker. I took more pictures with her and had one last bonding session. I brought her over to the lake and milked her for a little bit. She was still very healthy due to the constant maintenance I gave her and she swam away with a little grin on her slobby face.

So everything that went wrong on this day happened for a reason. All of the foolish events led up to the slob so I wouldn't have had it any other way. Napa gets the assist for talking me into joining the tourney.

What a way to end my rookie campaign. ROY solidified!

• Added By: malessi on 10/20/10 10:35 AM
• Also There: napa angler21 bburrows6
• Location: Lake Maspenock, MA
• Report Date: 10/17/2010
• # of Photos: 3
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