OPEN BUDDY TOURNAMENTS

Union Lake, April 4  (7 bass limit):  This sixteen boat tournament featured steady rain all day and even a snow shower.  Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock weighed in two bass for 5 lbs 7 oz.  Dan Martin & Rod Blomdahl weighed in two bass for 4 lbs 11.5 oz.  The winning team had six bass for 14 lbs 10.5 oz.

Union Lake, March 28 (10 bass limit):  Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock came in second place in this tournament by weighing in a bag of eight bass for 18 lbs 6 oz.  The winning team had ten bass for 20 lbs 13 oz.  The lunker winner was a 4 lb 2 oz bass.  Bill Duckardt & Dennis Snyder weighed in one bass for 3 lbs 7 oz.  Thirty boats participated in the tournament and it looked like more than half of them got skunked.

Union Lake, March 20 (7 bass limit):  Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock won this 30-boat tournament with a four bass bag that weighed just over 9 lbs.  They cashed a $500.00+ paycheck.  Bill Duckardt & Dennis Snyder finished in second place with a two bass bag that weighed 6.33 lbs.  Duck's 4.19 lb bass won lunker.  They cashed checks totaling $660.00.  Only 28 bass were weighed in.

Parvin Lake, March 7 (6 bass limit):  Roy Henry & John Franchetta won this 30-boat tournament ($525.00) by more than two pounds with six bass for 14.75 lbs.  Other club members were turned away from this tournament as the maximum number of entrants was lowered at the last minute by the park staff.

2003
Union Lake, November 9 (10 bass limit):  John Franchetta fished this tournament with Eric Woodward and weighed in three bass for 4 lbs 4 oz.  Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock weighed in three bass for 3 lbs 9.5 oz.  Dave Sprigg Sr & Dan Martin didn't manage to catch any keepers.  All of them finished out of the money, as the tournament was won with ten bass for 15 lbs 3 oz.

Union Lake, September 28 (7 bass limit):  Ken Merlock & Dave Sprigg Sr weighed in seven bass for 13 lbs 12 oz and finished in 2nd place out of fourteen teams.  Dave reported that he got five keepers and Ken got four keepers.  Among their keepers were four smallies, including a two pounder that Dave picked up.  They also each had a three pound largemouth.  Bill Duckardt & Dennis Snyder weighed in four bass for 5 lbs 4 oz and finished in 12th place.  Mike Wright & Ken Wright weighed in two bass for 2 lbs 10 oz and came in 14th.

Lake Assunpink, September 14 (6 bass limit):  Ken Merlock & Kenny Merlock Jr weighed in four bass for 11+ lbs to come in 2nd ($72.00) in this tournament that only attracted six teams.  The winning weight was 13+ lbs.  Detailed results are not yet available.

Rainbow Lake, August 24 (7 bass limit):  Chris Oeser & Dave Sprigg weighed in four small bass and Bill Duckardt & Mike Wright brought in three small bass.  Both teams finished out of the money on this day when the lake water level was very low and the fishing action was slow.  Detailed results are not yet available.

Cooper River, July 19 (5 bass limit):  Mike Wright fished this tournament, but finished out of the money.

Union Lake, June 29 (7 bass limit):  Roy Henry & John Franchetta weighed in two bass and finished out of the money.

Union Lake, June 22 (7 bass limit):  John Franchetta & Roy Henry weighed in four bass for 8.57 lbs to finish 13th in the SJBCA's annual buddy tournament.  Their 4.00 lb entry for the special morning lunker award missed winning by two one-hundredths of a pound.  Mike Wright & Ken Wright had four bass for 5.87 lbs and finished in 21st place. Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock weighed in three bass for 5.44 lbs, finishing in 24th place. Fred Lentz & Bill Duckardt brought in two bass for 3.62 lbs and finished in 31st place.  There were forty-nine teams entered in the tournament.

Sharon Lake, June 21 (5 bass limit):  Chris Oeser & Dave Sprigg fished this tournament.  Results are not yet available, but Chris & Dave finished out of the money.

Union Lake, April 13 (10 bass limit):  Bill Duckardt & Fred Lentz only managed to catch three keeper bass for 7 lbs 5 oz, but on this very tough day of fishing that was enough to give them second place ($280.00).  Also, Duck's 2 lb 14 oz fish was the lunker winner ($220.00).  In this ten fish tournament, the winning bag was five bass for 12 lbs 2 oz. Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock weighed in three bass for 2 lbs 12 oz and finished just out of the money.

Union Lake, April 5 (7 bass limit):  Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock brought in a seven bass limit for 15.06 lbs (after a dead fish penalty).  That gave them a 2nd place finish and a $250.00 paycheck.  Their bag included (only!) one smallmouth.  The winning weight was 15.58 lbs.

Union Lake/Sunset Lake, March 29 & 30 (7 bass limit each day): Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock finished in 2nd place on Day 1 with a 17+ lb bag that included four smallies (two in the 3 lb range).  See photo in the Photo Gallery section.  Having made the Day 1 top ten, they proceeded to Day 2 starting at zero.  On Day 2 they brought in a seven bass limit for 12 lbs 3 oz.  That put them just out of the money in 4th place.  The winning weight was 15 lbs.  The winning Day 2 lunker was 5 lbs 3 oz.  Mike Wright and his partner(?) fished Day 1 and brought two bass to the weigh-in.  Twenty-six boats entered the tournament.  Reports were that there were high winds and three foot swells in Union on Day 1.  Day 2 was marked by cold temperatures, moderate winds and rain.

Parvin Lake, March 30 (6 bass limit): Roy Henry & John Franchetta brought in two bass for 4 lbs 8 oz.  That was good enough for 3rd place in this nine boat tournament.  They won a free entry to a future Newfield Bass Club tournament.  The winning weight was 8+ lbs.  The winning lunker was 3 lbs 8 oz.

2002
Sunset Lake, October 13 (5 bass limit):  Our club was extremely well represented at this tournament, with five of the ten teams having full-time or part-time members of our club on them.  Chris Oeser & Dan Martin finished in 1st place ($300.00) with five bass for 9 lbs 12 oz.  Roy Henry & Eric Mathias finished in 2nd place ($100.00) with five bass for 9 lbs 2 oz.  Also participating were Ken Merlock & Dave Sprigg who had four bass for 7 lbs 13 oz (including a 3 lb 8 oz bass that Ken caught), Bill Duckardt & Fred Lentz who had three bass for 3 lbs 8 oz, and Mike Wright & Ken Wright who didn't pick up any keepers.  See photos of Chris/Dan and Ken/Dave in Photo Gallery.

Union Lake, September 29 (7 bass limit):  Ken Merlock and his son Kenny Jr brought in five bass for 9 lbs 11 oz, including two nice smallmouths.  That gave them 3rd place and a $100.00 check.  Fred Lentz & Bill Duckardt culled two bass and were one of only two teams to bring in a seven bass limit, but they had only 7 lbs 8 oz and finished in 6th. Mike Wright and his brother Jim weighed in four bass for 6 lbs 9 oz.  The winning weight was 13 lbs 0 oz and the winning lunker was 3 lbs 13 oz.

Union Lake, September 8 (7 bass limit):  Fred Lentz & Bill Duckardt brought six bass to the scales for a total of 11.10 lbs.  That was good enough to finish in 2nd place and take home a $288.00 check.  Their fish included a 3.55 lb bass that Fred caught (one tenth of a pound lighter than the 3.65 lb tournament lunker winner).  Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock brought in 3 smallmouths for 4.85 lbs.  Mike Wright, fishing solo, weighed in 2 bass for 3.05 lbs.  The winning stringer was 14.45 lbs.

Maurice River, August 25 (5 bass limit):  Mike Wright brought in one bass for 1.15 lbs at this tournament where only 20 bass were brought in.  The winning stringer was four bass for  4 lbs 11 oz.

Mercer Lake, August 17 : (5 bass limit) Mike Wright weighed in in two bass for 3.95 lbs on a tough day.  That was good enough to finish 7th out of 25 boats.  The winning bag was 5 bass for 9.11 lbs.

Union Lake, July 28 (7 bass limit):  Bill Duckardt & Fred Lentz managed to pick up four bass for 10.15 lbs, anchored by Fred's 4.30 lb kicker, in this seven fish tournament on a tough day.  That was enough to finish in 5th place out of 25 boats.  The winning weight was 11.95 lbs.  The winning lunker was 5.00 lbs, making Fred's fish the second biggest bass weighed in.

Sharon Lake, June 22 (5 bass limit): Chris Oeser & Dave Sprigg fished a tournament at this private lake (previously known as Timothy Lake) in Franklinville. They finished in 4th place out of 20 teams, with a little over 7 lbs.  They missed 3rd place by less than 3 oz.  The winning team had a little over 9 lbs.  Apparently there was some controversy because the scale broke during the weigh-in and a different scale had to be used to complete the weigh-in.  Dave reported that he caught a 5 lb pickerel which he had weighed, in order to enter it in The Atlantic City Press fishing contest.

Union Lake, June 16 (7 bass limit):  Our club had three teams entered in this tournament.  Unfortunately, we didn't make a great showing.  Fred Lentz & Orie Summers fished together for the first time ever.  Fred got one bass for 2 lbs 15.5 oz (the second heaviest fish weighed in in the tournament) and they finished in 18th place.  The Ken Merlock & Chris Oeser team didn't catch any keepers until Chris had to leave and Ken's son, Kenny Jr, joined him for the last couple of hours and Junior picked up a nice 1 lb 10.5 oz smallmouth.  They finished in a tie for 22nd place. Bill Duckardt & Dennis Snyder didn't weigh in any fish.  The winning stringer was 7 bass for 13 lbs 10 oz.  Lunker winner was 4 lbs 0.5 oz.  Thirty-five teams were entered.

Union Lake/Sunset Lake, April 13 & 14  (10 bass limit):  For the second week in a row Fred Lentz & Bill Duckardt had a rough day and only managed to bring two small bass to the weigh-in (2.1 lbs).  They didn't finish in the top ten and, therefore, didn't advance to Day 2 at Sunset Lake.  Mike Wright also fished this event, but didn't bring any fish to the weigh-in.  The highlight of the day was some guy running his bass boat with 115 hp motor up and down the lake on full plane.  In the end, the police caught up with him and rumor had it that the fine was going to be a big one.

Union Lake, April 7 (10 bass limit):  Bill Duckardt & Fred Lentz had a rough day of fishing in extremely cold temperatures, only bringing two bass to the weigh-in for a total of 2 lbs 3.5 oz.  They finished in 12th place.  Part-time club member Dan Martin and Don Hamer, who was briefly a club member, finished in 5th place with 3 bass for 8 lbs 9 oz.  Of the thirty teams entered in the tournament, only thirteen brought in any fish.  The winning team had 10 bass for 19+ lbs (the second place team only had five bass).  The lunker winner was 4lbs 5 oz.

Union Lake, March 17 (10 bass limit):  Bill Duckardt & Fred Lentz managed to catch 9 bass, but not enough big ones to finish in the money.  Of 29 boats, they took 7th place with 16 lbs 5 oz (all caught before 9:30 am). Chris Oeser & Ken Merlock finished with 4 bass for 11 lbs 1 oz, including a huge smallmouth and a big largemouth that Chris caught.  We believe they finished in 8th place.  Dan Martin also fished this tournament, but wasn't among the top finishers.  The winning team had 9 bass for 26 lbs 3 oz.  The winning lunker was 6 lbs 1 oz.

Parvin Lake, March 10 (6 bass limit):  Chris Oeser & Rob Martin fished this tournament on an extremely windy and cold day.  Of 25 boats, only six brought fish to the weigh-in.  Chris & Rob's boat was not one of them. Dan Martin also fished this tournament, but left early due to equipment problems.  The winning team had two bass for 5.10 lbs.  Lunker was 3.80 lbs.

B.A.S.S. OPENS & PRO TOUR EVENTS

Hudson River, NY, August 12-15:
PROS: Chris Oeser - 54th place - 7 bass for 10 lbs 01 oz (Day 1: 5    7-07  ,  Day 2: 2    2-10).  Dan Martin - 125th place - 5 bass for  4 lbs 11 oz (Day 1: 2    1-13 ,   Day 2: 3    2-14).  AMATEUR: Ken Merlock - 15th place ($1,000) - 5  bass for  10 lbs 14 oz (Day 1: 1 bass 3-01, Day 2: 3 bass 5-06 , Day 3: 1 bass 2-07).

Lake Erie, Pa, June 24-27:   Dan Martin and Chris Oeser fished this event as pros.  Dan finished in a very impressive 20th place ($2,200) with a three-day total of fifteen bass for 43 lbs 15 oz.  Chris just missed the cut for advancing to the third and final day by 6 ounces and finished in 55th place with ten bass for 25 lbs 3 oz. Ken Merlock entered as an amateur and finished in 10th place ($1,600) with a three-day total of fifteen bass for 41 lbs 13 oz.

Lake Guntersville, AL, February 26-29:   On Day 1 of this pro tour event, Dan Martin zeroed and was in a tie for 98th place.  After his rough start on Day 1, he picked up three bass for an incredible 16 lbs 10 oz on Day 2.   He didn't have enough total weight to advance to the final day, but he did finish in a very respectable 29th place and picked up an $850.00 paycheck.  His Day 2 bag included a bass reported as 8 lbs 7 oz and another one around 5 lbs.  Unbelievably, his 8/7 didn't win lunker, as another amateur brought one in that was 9 lbs 10 oz.

2003
Toledo Bend, LA, December 4-7:  This inaugural BASS Open Championship tournament was for the top pros and amateurs from the BASS Open tournament trail in 2003 (top 20 from each of the four regional trails).  After Day 1, Chris Oeser was in 12th place with three bass for 7 lbs 14 oz.  Dan Martin was in 38th place with one bass for 3 lbs 1 oz.  After Day 2, Chris was in 3rd place with a total of seven bass for 16 lbs 9 oz.  He advanced to Day 3.  Dan didn't weigh in any fish on Day 2 and finished in 53rd place.  On the third and final day, Chris only weighed in one bass for 1 lb 7 oz, but his total weight of 18 lbs was enough to put him in 4th place overall and give him a $3,000 paycheck and free entry into next year's Open tournaments.

Oneida Lake/Syracuse, NY, October 2-4:  After Day 1, Dan Martin was in 19th place with five bass for 11 lbs 4 oz.  Chris Oeser was tied for 69th place with three bass for 6 lbs 1 oz.  After Day 2, Dan Martin was in 21st place with ten bass for 19 lbs 4 oz. Chris Oeser was in 94th place with five bass for 9 lbs 7 oz.  Day 3 was canceled due to bad weather, so the Day 2 results were the final results and Dan won $700 for his efforts.

Lake Erie/Buffalo, NY, September 11-14:  After Day 1, Chris Oeser was in 23rd place with five bass for 14 lbs 10 oz and Dan Martin was in 27th place with five bass for 14 lbs 4 oz.  After Day 2, Dan Martin was in 19th place with ten bass for 26 lbs 7 oz and advanced to the third and final day.  Chris Oeser was in 55th place with seven bass for 21 lbs 13 oz and just missed the third day cut.  After Day 3, Dan Martin had a total of twelve bass for 30 lbs 1 oz.  That put him in 39th place in the final standings and gave him a paycheck of $500.

Potomac River, MD, July 17-20:  Chris Oeser fished as an amateur.  He was in 61st place after Day 1 with five bass for 8 lbs 14 oz.  After Day 2 he stood in 28th place with ten bass for 20 lbs 8 oz and advanced to Day 3.  Dan Martin was in 47 place after Day 1 with five bass for 9 lbs 15 oz, but on Day 2 dropped to 54th place with a total of ten bass for 17 lbs 6 oz (just missing the cut for the top fifty places who advance to Day 3).  Chris ended up in 14th place with fifteen bass for 31 lbs 10 oz.  He picked up a $1,000 paycheck.

Toledo Bend, La, February 20-22:  Chris Oeser fished this tournament as an amateur.  On Day 1 he weighed in five bass for 12 lbs 11 oz and was in 9th place.  Dan Martin weighed in four bass for 6 lbs 15 oz and was in 55th place.  Day 2 was cancelled due to bad weather, so the second and final day for amateurs was on Saturday. On the rescheduled Day 2, Chris weighed in one bass for 2 lbs 7 oz, giving him a total of 15 lbs 2 oz.  That put him in 24th place in the final standings with a paycheck of $1,000.  Dan weighed in another two bass for 3 lbs 1 oz, giving him a total of 10 lbs and a 69th place finish ($500).

Lake Seminole, Ga, February 6-8:  Chris Oeser fished this tournament as an amateur.  On Day 1 he fished with Kevin VanDam, weighed in one bass for 6 lbs 3 oz (lunker winner was 6 lbs 6 oz) and was tied for 21st place.  On Day 2  he weighed in two bass for 6 lbs 11 oz, giving him a total of 12 lbs 14 oz and putting him in third place going into the final round.  On Day 3 he weighed in one bass for 2 lbs 2 oz.  His grand total of 15 lbs allowed him to finish in 6th place and earn a $2,500 paycheck.