Final 2013 Angler of the Year Standings

Matt Baden - 27
Jon Snyder - 21
Bryan Herndon - 19
Shane Clift - 16
Wayne Chimielewski - 16
CJ Espey - 13
Dave Thompson - 12
Dave Baden - 11
Dave Adlington - 10
Jeff Adlington - 9
Alberto Tabian - 9
Robert Clemente - 8
Mike Soudee - 8
Andy Gaiser - 7
Frank Krainaker -7
Chuck Bieller - 6
CJ Lutz - 5
Jeremy Angle - 4
Matt Eikenberg - 3
Kodi Bowers - 3
Will Pezzuto - 3
Zach Huntington - 2
Steve Sekula - 1

[volboy23]

Great job everybody! Thanks for running things Matt! I plan on being at the events next year!

[Turtle135]

Congratulations Matt! I believe you made due with less fishing time than everyone else (due to your tournament organization duties) but you finished consistently well in the events of this series. Hope you are able to make it down to South Carolina for the KBF Invitational to take a swing at that 5 grand top prize!

Thanks to Bust 'Em Baits for sponsoring this event. I will be ordering some of those craws and beaver baits to try out on my local reservoir.

As for the fishing at Mallows Bay it sounds like it was slow for everyone across the board. I was able to scratch a few bass here and there mostly in water that was only 1-2 feet deep. I found some shallow hydrilla beds that had a slop mat floating above. I was casting a weightless 12" plastic worm to the edge of the slop mat and the bass would come out from underneath the mat, take the worm and head back under the cover. That technique produced 4 largemouths and the 14" and the 16" that wound up on my final board for the day. The other technique I employed was a 1/4 ounce Arkie Jig (in bluegill) tipped with a Baby Paca Craw in "Potomac Blue". With just 3-4 feet of line out I would lower the jig into any cover item that provided a little bit of shade. That picked up 3 more bass and the 14.5" that culled a smaller bass.



I also had a few minutes of excitement with what had to be a monstrous blue catfish. I was fishing the little jig inside of one of the old ship hulls when I had the tell tail hit from a catfish on a jig. Those cats typically hit a jig with a running start and the strike indication you get is that the rod gets nearly ripped from you hands. For a brief moment I thought I might have a monster bass but the pure power telegraphing up the line indicated big cat. For a good three minutes the cat confined itself inside the remains of the ship hull going in circles. I applied max pressure several times but it seemingly had no effect on the cats progress along the lines of the hull. I had both feet over the side of kayak anchored on the top edge of the ship. Each time the cat passed in front of me I had to stand and get the rod up to keep the line from getting sliced by exposed metal. Apparently the cat finally grew tired of the annoying pressure from above and it decided to leave the inside of the hull. I was expecting to get cut off as it exited but magically I was still attached and the cat appeared to be headed off to open water. I thought I might have a chance of landing it as it started to tow the kayak off towards the main river. Tragically one last piece of Mallows Bay metal was laying in wait as my line was suddenly and cleanly cut. Deflation

It was great fishing with you guys! Hope to see everyone back next season and best of luck on the water for the rest of this year.

Take Care

[HearadonCatch]

Congrats Matt! You fished a good consistant series. If I could ever figure how to catch a tidal largemouth, I'll be able to give you a little more competition. This was a great series and I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did. Already looking forward to next year!

[YakidiYak]

WTG Matt on placing first for the 4 events. Had fun in all the events and meet some nice guys. Only thing better would have been to have caught my 3rd fish and finish in the top 5.Fish2 7.27.13.jpgFish1 7.27.13.jpg

[acg_osprey]

Great series Matt! I enjoyed every event and can't wait till next year. Maybe by then I can solve those tidal Potomac bass.

You put in a solid performance in every event and I hope you knock them dead @ the invitational.