June 21, 2003 Oneida, NY
Ash And Swearer Win Inaugural Oneida Teams Event

Swearer And Ash	Ranaldi And Parente
Fey And Griffith	Barker And Moore
Goffredo And McGarver
Results

by Dave Kilby, Tournament Director

The heavy rains that have pummeled the entire east coast in the past week may have deterred some potential teams from competing on Saturday, but it did not dampen the hopes of the 12 teams who entered this tournament.
Heavy rain of more than 1 inch per hour at times from Friday into Saturday morning had all of the makings of a gloomy, dismal day on Oneida Lake. By 5:45, however, the rain had let up enough to ensure a safe blast-off. Although the rain continued to fall for much of the day, it was lighter than expected.
All 12 of the teams who represented 4 surrounding states raced to their favorite spots on the lake in search of the winning combination of largemouth and smallmouth bass on this outstanding bass fishery. Many teams opted to spend the morning fishing the shallow grass beds on the west end of the lake in search of a quick limit of largemouth. After a limit was secured, many teams headed toward the east end of Oneida Lake to fish the rock shoals and deeper grass trying to entice the big smallmouth to attack a tube or big spinnerbait.
As the 3:00 weigh-in time approached, all teams checked in on time with their livewells full. Remarkably, ALL 12 teams returned to the scales with a 5-bass limit.
Finishing in third place was the New York team of Stewart Bird and Steve Croll. Their bag of fish weighed 14.97 pounds and they were presented with 2 nice walnut plaques.
Our second place finishers had never even seen Oneida Lake until Friday. They mustered up all of their fishing knowledge to put together a pattern that would produce them a mixed bag of large and smallmouth bass that lowered the scales to a weight of 15.39 pounds. Pete Parente and Bill Ranaldi, making the long trip from Rhode Island were presented runner-up checks totaling $430 and 2 plaques.
Our first Angler’s Choice Oneida Team Trail Champions hail from the state of Pennsylvania. They were able to weigh in a limit of 5 beautiful Oneida smallmouth bass totaling 15.80 pounds, narrowly edging Pete and Bill. For their victory, Rick Ash and Chris Swearer were awarded plaques, checks for $865, and a $1000 Bass Cat Bonus Bucks certificate for an $1865 payday! Great job, guys! Rick and Chris also cashed in on the “Smallmouth Bounty”, weighing in largest smallmouth bass at 3.57 pounds. This bronzeback earned them a Shimano Jimmy Houston Series rod courtesy of The Fishin’ Shop in Baltimore, MD.
The tournament lunker, however, was a beautiful largemouth bass that weighed 4.11 pounds! New York’s Jim Griffith and Norm Fey fooled this bass into visiting their livewell. They were given a lunker plaque and a check for $120. Nice job, Jim and Norm!
Thanks to Judy Talbot at Oneida Shores Park for helping to promote this event and opening the gates early and controlling traffic as Angler’s Choice members launched their boats. Also, thanks to my assistant director Randy Knopp and our volunteer assistants Kim Major and Patty McGarver.
A special thanks to Greg Nichols who helped one of our teams who broke down near the I-81 bridge get to weigh-in in time per Angler’s Choice rules. That’s a class act, Greg...I’m sure Tony and Sam from New Jersey are grateful for your efforts. That’s what this circuit is all about!
The next Oneida Team Trail event will be Saturday, August 2 out of Oneida Shores County Park.