black lake Results: Aug 4, 2012
Event Pictures
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Perry Hixson and Jason Maxwell go on top to take the top spot at Black Lake and achieve a near untouchable spot in the AOY race.
The New York Upstate division held its fourth of five divisional tournaments on Black Lake in Hammond, NY on Saturday August 4, 2012. We held our Friday night meeting at Sunnyside at Black Lake motel and fishing camp right in Hammond. One of our anglers, Glenn Smiley, shared his testimony with us how God used bass fishing and the serenity prayer, and above all else his power to bring him out of the miry clay and set his feet on the solid rock.
Five teams took to Black Lake on Saturday morning. For the teams that didn't have much experience on the lake, it was a struggle most of the day. The two teams that do frequent the lake were able to use that experience and practice time to put together solid bags.
Perry Hixson and Jason Maxwell, as they did at Oneida Lake earlier this year, stuck to throwing top water lures all day to catch 4 largemouth and 1 smallmouth that totaled 14.95 pounds. Good enough for 1st place and their third win this year. They started the morning at the north end of the lake in a large weed bed and then moved south of the causeway to complete the limit. Their primary weapons were a Strike King RageTail Shad, Strike King Caffeine Shad, and a Lucky Craft Sammy. Early in the day they were able to catch the Big Bass of the tournament weighing 4.89 pounds.
Second place was the team of Glenn Smiley and Lynda Sheehan. They started down lake looking for smallmouth, but when that failed to produce any quality fish, they moved up north not far from Hixson and Maxwell. They used their favorite bait, a wacky rigged, 5" senko, on heavy baitcast gear. The story of their season repeated itself again at Black , miscues on a couple of quality fish may have cost them a shot at Hixson and Maxwell.
Finishing in third place was the guest team of Shawn and Duane Hicken. They were able to execute their best day on the lake in their time there and bring four nice fish to the scales that weighed 12.11 pounds, which was actually the best average per fish in the field. They were just missing number 5.
Ryan and Frank Frisca salvage 4th place by bagging two fish in the final moments to put them over the top of their family, the team of Jef and Julie Raner who claimed the last spot.
With the win, Hixson and Maxwell are in the drivers seat in the AOY point race. Not only are they I the driver seat, they have it on cruise control. They take a 3 point lead into the final divisional tournament of the year. And in a division that only gets 5-6 boats at a tournament, that's is a huge deficit to over come. Not impossible though, and Smiley/ Sheehan and the Frisca's still can take the top spot in points, but they need lots of help all the other teams to finish in front of Hixson/Maxwell.
The final event this season will be held on Cross Lake on Saturday August 18, 2012.
