Ronald Caldeira of Middletown, Delaware, caught a five-bass limit weighing 21 pounds, 6 ounces, Saturday to win the 2018 T-H Marine FLW Bass Fishing League (BFL) Northeast Division opener on the Potomac River presented by Navionics. For his efforts, Caldeira took home $6,796.
“I caught them all on main-river points in the mouths of Mattowoman and Quantico creeks,” says Caldeira, who notched his first win in FLW competition. “I had five points that I cycled through, and each had pebble rock and sand. I think the big females were transitioning to the points right outside those main creeks, getting ready to spawn. I only had seven bites, but they were the right ones. Some of the fish were tanks – they’d been eating for a while.”
Caldeira used a Rapala DT-6 crankbait in 3 to 5 feet of water and for shallower situations a Chartreuse and Black Back-colored Strike King KVD 1.5 HC Shallow Squarebill.
“I’d start far off the point with the Rapala and then switch to the Strike King as I got shallow so I wouldn’t get hung up as much,” says Caldeira. “As soon the lure would bounce off the rock and free itself, that’s when they loaded up on it."
The top 10 boaters:
1st: Ronald Caldeira, Middletown, Del., five bass, 21-6, $6,796
2nd: Anthony Ebel, Davidsonville, Md., five bass, 19-12, $3,843
3rd: Rick McFaul, Phoenix, Md., five bass, 19-11, $2,134
4th: Jeremy Mathias, Monrovia, Md., five bass, 19-7, $1,352
5th: Brian Barnes, Seaford, Del., five bass, 18-14, $1,159
6th: Andrew Heivly, Malvern, Pa., five bass, 18-8, $1,063
7th: Kenny Garippa, Tobyhanna, Pa., five bass, 18-7, $869
7th: Matt Stoupa, Colonial Heights, Va., five bass, 18-7, $969
7th: Daniel Gray, Butler, Pa., five bass, 18-7, $869
10th: Thomas Arens, Purcellville, Va., five bass, 18-2, $676
Complete results can be found at FLWFishing.com.
Ebel brought a 6-pound, 3-ounce bass to the scale – the heaviest of the event in the Boater Division – and earned the day’s Boater Big Bass award of $945.
Frymoyer wins co-angler title
Steven Frymoyer of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, won the Co-angler Division and $2,898 Saturday after catching five bass weighing 15 pounds, 15 ounces.
The top 10 co-anglers:
1st: Steven Frymoyer, Wyomissing, Pa., five bass, 15-15, $2,898
2nd: Jodi Werner, Tatamy, Pa., five bass, 15-2, $1,449
3rd: James Easley, Middletown, Del., five bass, 14-13, $967
4th: Ethan Luta, Bradford, N.Y., five bass, 14-10, $676
5th: Michael Nelms, Hartwood, Va., five bass, 14-8, $780
6th: Michael Bahnweg, Union Dale, Pa., five bass, 14-7, $531
7th: Mark Fenstermaker, Allentown, Pa., five bass, 14-4, $483
8th: Richard Falcon, Arlington, Va., five bass, 14-1, $435
9th: Frank Hutchinson, Sewell, N.J., five bass, 13-10, $436
10th: Cherif Zaher, Orangeville, Pa., five bass, 13-7, $321
10th: Roland Gittings, Perryville, Md., five bass, 13-7, $321
Henry McKee of Haddon Heights, New Jersey, caught the largest bass in the Co-angler Division weighing in at 6 pounds, 5 ounces. The catch earned him the day’s Co-angler Big Bass award of $472.
The top 45 boaters and co-anglers in the region based on point standings, along with the five winners in each qualifying event, will be entered in the Oct. 11-13 BFL Regional Championship on Chesapeake Bay in North East, Maryland. Boaters will compete for a top award of a Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard and $20,000, while co-anglers will fish for a new Ranger Z518C with a 200-horsepower Evinrude outboard.