1st Place Frank Poirier and Tom Leary
2nd Place Chris Stanley and Donald Green
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Clear skies and very light winds greeted 18 teams on the Potomac River for the 4th stop of the Richmond Marine Centers US Anglers Choice Virginia Division. With the days weather expected to be hot and sunny everyone was excited to finally have a “normal weather day” for one of our events. This time the forecast lived up to its hype it was an excellent day on the water and everyone caught fish. The Potomac River has been fished to a froth over the recent weeks, with BFL events and the recent FLW Rayovac series on the river just a few weeks ago. Not to mention fishing on a Sunday presents challenges of fishing pressure from Saturdays anglers. Most teams were able to figure out how to catch fish but only a handful got a big bite to make the difference.
In the end it was the team of Frank Poirier and Tom Leary who topped the field with a winning weight of 13.60 lbs. The team reported catching their fish on soft plastics and top water frogs. The team had a big fish that anchored their catch of 4.92 lbs that Leary caught on a frog. According to Frank, Tom told him early in the day he was going to catch a big fish on the frog and he produced. That fish along with the others netted the anglers winnings of $1,020 for their catch. Congratulations.
Finishing in second place with a winning weight of 13.25 lbs was the team of Chris Stanley and Donald Green. Chris and Don caught their fish on swim jigs in and around grass all day to secure their catch. Water depth of less than 4 feet seemed to be the key to their success. For their efforts the team took home $539.
Rounding out the top 3 was the team of Mike Hicks and Keith Lupo with 5 fish weighing in at 12.46 lbs. Hicks and Lupo caught fish throughout the day on wood cover grass and pads. Hicks stated they caught fish in plastics, crankbaits and chatterbaits for their weight. This is the teams 2nd top 3 in four events and puts them in a good position to make a run at the point’s championship for the season.
Big fish honors for the event went to the tram of Ken Pressley and Jeff Salmon. Pressley caught the big fish on a topwater frog in the pads over about 3 feet of water. The team’s big fish weighed in at 4.99 lbs and helped the team take home $180.00 for their catch.
The Virginia Division also offers the Missile Baits “Boost Award” to the team that finishes the first spot out of the money in each event. The Missile Bait “Boost Award” winning team for the Potomac River event was the team of Ken Pressley and Jeff Salmon with a total weight of 12.22 lbs. The team will receive $50.00 in Missile Baits products of their choice. Congratulations!
For the event, we had a total of 86 fish brought to the scales for a total weight of 179.94 lbs for an average of 2.09 lbs per fish. With the water temperature ranging from 81-88 degrees, the river is producing fish in post spawn summer patterns.
Richmond Marine Center’s AC Tournament Trail Virginia Division could not exist without great sponsors. We would like to thank Richmond Marine Center for logistics and organizing the set up and take down for the event. If you are looking for a new bass boat or need service on your current rig, give Ben Gibson a call, they will take great care of you and your equipment.
A big thank you goes out to Hopkins Gun and Tackle located in Mechanicsville, VA for the awesome weigh-in trailer that provided us protection during the terrible weather conditions. If you have not visited their store, make plans to do so soon. They carry everything a bass fisherman could want and need for their tournament success.
We would like to thank these other great sponsors, Missile Baits, ALX Rods, Optima Batteries, Jethro Baits, Lowrance Electronics, All Terrain Tackle, Propeller Dynamics and Sqwincher.
AC Tournament Trail National Sponsors: Legend Boats, Mercury Outboards, Motorguide, Rayjus, SolarBat, TFO Rods, Lunker Lure, Fishidy, SureLife, EGO S2 Slider and Bass Tackle Depot.
Our next event will be on James River August 9th launching from Osborne Park Landing. If you have questions about the upcoming events or the tournament trail, please feel free to give me a call. Jeff Salmon 804-221-7653
