By all accounts, the Bay and surrounding areas gave up some very good fish this weekend and made for an exciting weigh-in at the Plymouth 400 Bass & Blue Tourney.

While I didn’t exactly fish the tournament this year (thanks for having your wedding this weekend, Dustin) a few friends of the blog did very well, so I’m going to sing their praises.

A few quick thoughts:

• There were zero blues caught in the tournament this year. How strange is that? I’ll dive into this deeper in a different post, but I think the decrease in numbers last year started a pattern of decline for our beloved, tackle-shredding yellow-eyed devils. It may be a rare catch to find even one this year.
• The bite seemed to be very spread out Saturday and Sunday. The big fish weren’t concentrated in any one spot, which speaks to the amount of bait in the bay right now. At one point on Saturday we had squid, pogies and mackerel in the livewell. The trifecta.
• While there were some large fish caught at the East End by boat on Saturday, it wasn’t light out by any means (full report to follow from this trip. It was a good one). This may have been due to the boat traffic, because we marked plenty of fish. I’m thinking the bass that made it through the gauntlet either took a hard right and headed toward Sandy Neck or went straight into the bay to feed on the massive schools of pogies.
• This really is a well-run tournament. It’s one of the bigger ones in the area. If you fish out of Plymouth or the surrounding areas, I highly suggest getting into the fray. I’m already looking forward to next year.

Okay, onto the round-up.

Johnathan Nero gets a keeper to the weigh station as time expires–good for third place in the youth division

Team Nero had some boat issues on Saturday that delayed their start to the tournament. But they more than made up for it on Sunday. While chasing big schools of bait in a flat calm Cape Cod Bay, Johnathan threw a weighted treble, snagging a pogy.

After drifting the snagged pogy for some time, (and possibly while Johnathan was eating a sandwich) it got picked up. Johnathan fought the fish to the boat and after a few attempts, lifted the beast out. The weight was 26.9 pounds, good for third place in the youth division–and biggest fish ever on the F/V Nero.

Rookie Captain Joe Slowey and Team Stormcloud takes top honors in the team division with an absolute COW

Team Stormcloud fished the Bay hard both days of the tournament trolling bunker spoons and snagging and dropping pogies. In the Bay, Captain Slowey of the vessel Stormcloud snagged a pogy at the edge of a school, and with the help of seasoned anglers Rick and Mike Golden and co-captain Jeremy Morgan, got the fish on the deck.

The bass tipped the scale at 39.9 pounds, by far the largest fish landed of the weekend and good for top dog in the team division.

Ron beats the crowds and finds quality fish by Race Point on Sunday

I fished next to Ron and the Lucy Blue on Saturday, in the middle of around 300 other boats, and we struggled to pick up quality fish in any type of numbers. On Sunday, Ron decided to zig when everyone was zagging and head across the Bay to Race Point.

While the Race seems to lose steam when mid-July hits, Ron, not wanting to combat fish at the East End, went across to see what he could find.

What he found was plenty of mackerel, very few other boats, and a bunch of stripers up to 40″. While he didn’t win the tournament, any day you can spend fishing that area essentially by yourself is a day well-spent.