NH BASS Nation Open Team Trail Event #3

Moore Reservoir | August 7, 2022
Littleton, NH

Moore Reservoir in Littleton, NH may not be the “smallmouth Disneyland” as described by elite angler Taku Ito of the famed Thousand Island fishery, but it may qualify as the smallmouth "It’s a small world ride” of Disneyland. This body of water is the northern most impoundment on the Connecticut River and occupies approximately 3181 acres with depths up to 130 feet and 30 miles of pristine shoreline. Teams were free to launch from any of many boat ramps throughout the lake and the sand bar at Regatta Point provided us with the perfect location for our weigh-in. This reservoir has an abundant population of smallmouth bass that average around 12 inches more or less, the occasional largemouth bass, and rumor has it that some giants do exist.

As the whole New England region has been under drought conditions with minimal rainfall and extreme heat, we found both low and warm water conditions on tournament day that shrunk the size of our playing field. At send off, anglers were reminded about this year’s new rule prohibiting penetrating cull tags and to also pay extra attention to fish care due to the hot condition. Of the 27 teams that came to support our Open Trail, the majority headed for mid-lake area flats and drop-offs with plenty of spinning gear on deck. There certainly was no lack of action from catching, but the bump boards and cull beams received an extensive work out. The afternoon temperature soared up to near 90 degrees, and while it seemed we were in store for rain and lightning as the sky darkened and threatening storm clouds formed, luckily the bad weather never materialized.

Complete results can be found here.

Team Recaps

1st – John Fortier/John Foster   13.21 lbs with lunker smallmouth 5.26lbs

As I mentioned before, Giants do exist, a 5.26 giant smallmouth was captured by none other than our president John Foster first thing in the morning -- what a way to start the day! I was told that the monster came on a drop shot and she jumped on the other side of the boat out of eyesight from the angler. Question was asked, was that a bass?  "Our day started by John catching that 5lber first thing in the morning, actually, the day got really tough on us for a while, we only had three fish when we talked to you at about 11:30, then they started to bite, the front came through that shut them off, but afterwards they started to bite again, all in all, we probably caught a dozen to 14 fish, culled a few times, it was just a grind. We were lucky that we got a great bite. We were seeing them in this one area, they were doing funny things, they chased it down and we had to really mess with them to get them to bite".

2nd – Jeff Perron / Peter Owen   12.74 lbs

"Today for us was about points and surviving. We practiced a little yesterday, searched, and saw some fish. Today, we went to try to catch them and they were gone. We adapted a little bit, moved in a little bit and we just grounded out, stayed in one stretch of 100 yards bank all day long, back and forth, back and forth, upgraded throughout the day, no giants, our biggest was just under two pounds, it was just consistent. This is the first time we are here with Active Target so we thought the weights will go up a little, but it didn't. It was about 60-70% looking, we did catch some blind casting, a lot of looking but you wouldn't know they are going to bite it or not when they come up to your bait. Majority of our fish came on drop shot targeting 15-20 ft depth.”

A side note, our team of the year contest is really heating up. Going into this event, team of Fortier/ Foster were in second place trailing first place team of Perron/Owen by just two points. At the end of weigh in today, Fortier/Foster finished two points ahead of Perron/Owen, first and second respectfully, so they are tied for first place. Can't wait to find out who will come out on top at our final event 10/9 on Winnipesaukee.

3rd – Ben Simpson / Robin Roystan   11.90 lbs

"It was all on drop shot with Berkley flatworm all on rocky flats, 8-10 feet of water where we can get to deeper water not far away. We caught a lot of fish today, moved around a lot to get to the bigger ones, each time we get a big one that usually is the only big one there, so it was up and down up and down all over the lake. The bite was fairly consistent throughout the day, morning wasn't better than afternoon, just consistent all day long. Ben and Robin like to have a shout out for their sponsor The Outdoor Gazette.

4th – Cam Sterritt / Jack Albert   11.85 lbs

NH Bass Nation is very proud of our long-standing successful youth program. To see our young anglers mature through our youth program and become excellent anglers in their own right and go on to represent our organization not only in Regionals, Nationals but go on to the Bassmaster Classic truly speaks volume. Watch out guys, they are coming after us!

"Tough day overall. Started with spinner bait on flats in the morning and caught a couple shorts and smaller keepers, but couldn't get a consistent bite going. Spot hopped on points and drop offs until we found one hump that produced a couple good keepers. Tried other spots when that one cooled down but didn't get anything. Kept rotating back to that hump every so often and it would reload and produce another 2-3 keepers, alternating between spider grub and drop shot depending on what they would eat. Didn't get bit on much else. Cam boated our big fish the 1.90 with ten minutes to go before weigh-in, culling out our last 12 incher".

5th – John Richards / Brent Bowen   11.38 lbs

The team went MIA after weigh-in and attempted contact by our author was not successful, therefore, their winning info will remain a secret.

The elusive largemouth bass did not make an appearance for this tournament, so the not so often rewarded second lunker smallmouth went to the team of Dennis Rocheford and Chad Magoon, 2.67.  "We caught it on a top water bait, it was actually a Pop-R, threw it out on the deep end of the water, it came up and hit it first thing in the morning".

THANK YOU!

We had the pleasure of hosting this double down event with the North Country Bronzebacks Club. Big thanks to their club members for helping out after the weigh in so we could all escape the heat with a quick wrap up. Thanks guys.

As always, we want to thank all of our sponsors from the national, state and local level for their support. We also want to thank the state team members for their help, Jeremy Arnold for helping out at the weigh in and all of the anglers for coming out to support NH Bass Nation. Next Open is October 9th on Lake Winnipesaukee out of Silver Sands Marina, please join us for the chance to win some great prizes, enjoy some great New England Autumn foliage from the "Big Lake" and watch how the Team of the Year unfolds.