August 30, 2003 Oneida, NY
Heckman and Faulkner's Mixed Bag Wins 4th Oneida Teams

Click Images For Larger View

Faulkner And Heckman Faulkner And Heckman Griffith And Fey Griffith And Fey Goffredo Top 3 Teams

Results

Heckman and Faulkner's Mixed Bag Wins 4th Oneida Teams
Saturday, August 30 was the date of the 4th qualifying event on the Angler's Choice Oneida Team Trail. A very loyal 12 teams arrived early at Oneida Shores Park in an attempt to beat the Labor Day weekend pleasure boat crowd. At the 6:00AM blast-off a stiff breeze and ominous gray storm clouds greeted the angler's, and stayed with them for most of their 9 hour day.

All 12 teams ventured toward the east end of Oneida Lake, just north of Syracuse, NY choosing to save the weather-protected canal for a back-up locale if needed. The air temperature was in the high 50's as a cold front moved in during the previous night...the first major temperature change of the second half of 2003. Would this affect the largemouth and smallmouth bass that inhabit Oneida lake?

At the 3:00 weigh-in all teams arrived at the ramp safely and on time. To everyone's surprise, the expected "boat jam" at the ramp never materialized and our teams were able to pull their boats quickly. Gasoline prices may have kept many people at home on this holiday weekend. Although the pleasure boaters were virtually non-existent, the assembled crowd at weigh-in has been the story at Oneida this year. Over 50 spectators were in attendance not including the angler's.

While the Oneida Teams Division of Angler's Choice was put together too late to be visible at the winter fishing and boat shows, this trail has generated a lot of interest from local bass fishermen and should develop into a very strong trail in 2004. Our strong core of 12 teams has helped spread the word and are doing more than their share of advertising the benefits of Angler's Choice.

Finishing in 5th place was the team of Steve Bosely and Tom Perrault from New York. They weighed in a nice 5-fish limit of smallmouth that totaled 13.25 pounds. Steve is the Bass Cat sales representative in the north east, and brought a beautiful 2004 Bass Cat Pantera IV to this tournament. He was kind enough to stay around for almost an hour following weigh-in to answer questions and show the features and benefits of the new edition Pantera from Bass Cat. Thanks, Steve and Tom.

In 4th place was the veteran New York team of Stewart Bird and Steve Croll. Their 13.49 pound limit easily kept them near the top in the AOY race, and added to their Traveler's total as Stewart and Steve are multi-division angler's. They have finished 4th or better in each of the 4 Oneida events. That's consistency!

In 3rd place was the team of Bill Sharp and Tom Bienkowski, also from New York. Bill and Tom know the lake well and have managed claim the Big Bass prize at each of the last 2 Oneida Teams events. They had a limit of 5 bass today that lowered the scales to 15.50 pounds! Bill reported losing a giant bass first thing in the morning that would have put them at the top. Luckily, he and Tom rebounded nicely to finish 3rd and win 2 plaques and 2 Okuma spinning rods.

Our 2nd place winners are the hottest team on the Oneida Teams circuit. New York's Jim Griffith and Norm Fey won our August 9th event, had lunker in our first tournament, and also had lunker in today's tournament. Their limit of largemouth weighed in at 16.30 pounds, anchored by the big bass of the tournament, a 4.93 beauty worth $120 and the walnut "lunker plaque". Jim and Norm also received $430 for their finish and 2 more plaques. They moved into second place overall in the AOY standings and are not looking back with 3 Oneida events to go!

The champions of the 4th Oneida Teams Division are from the state of Pennsylvania. They have been in the money previously and are no strangers to collecting checks at an Angler's Choice tournament. They have collected checks in the DelMarVa Division and are money winners at the 2002 Northern Regional Championship held on Columbus Lake in Mississippi last fall.

Tom Heckman and Bill Faulkner were able to bring in a combination of largemouth and smallmouth bass that weighed 17.12 pounds to win this event. Tom and Bill also collected the "Smallmouth Bounty" pot for weighing in the largest smallie of the tournament, a 3.97 pound beauty! Tom and Bill also used this victory to vault into the AOY lead and have their sights set on Kentucky Lake and the Northern Regional Championship. For their win at Oneida, they were presented the 1st place plaques, a Bass Cat Bonus Bucks certificate, the smallmouth bounty loot, and prize money that gave Tom and Bill a payday of just under $2000! Great job, guys!

The next Angler's Choice Oneida teams qualifying tournament is scheduled for September 13 at Oneida Shores Park.