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Article printed in the StarLedger, December 14, 2006
Kenneth Zwirko of Union got his Team Power Play into Saturday’s Wal-Mart FLW Championship at Virginia Beach and managed a fifth-place finish worth $1,500 plus a $1,250 bonus for using Yamaha engines. The lone N.J. qualifier for the final had two stripers totaling 30 pounds, 13 ounces for the two qualifying days plus Saturday, when each of the five boats had a TV crew aboard. Those bass, plus all others entered during the FLW sereis, had to be caught on a single arificial lure. Only stripers within a 28- to 34-inch slot limit and kept alive in special boxes for release after weighing were eligible.
Not only were small bass a problem in this unique contest, but also larger stripers such as the two in the 30-pound class that Gene Graman of Middletown trolled aboard Team Wellcraft during the first day of qualifying last Thursday. Tom Morford, of Atlatic Yachts in Sea Bright, along with Graman, Capt. Hans Kaspersetz of Weehawken and your reporter, qualified for the no-entry-fee finals during the first tournament at Oceanside, N.Y. and a couple of others.
Since small bass dominated at the Chesapeake Bay Bidge-Tunnel, we ran down the beach from Cape Henry and found some gannets over bait off Currituck Beach, though there were no fish on the surface. Morford trolled around bait readings where Graman hooked a fat 39-incher on a shad rig with only one hooked shad as a trailer. A double hookup later produced an even larger striper for Graman, while I caught exactly what we wanted. Though smaller bass are measured overall to reach at least 28 inches, the 34-inch maximum is measured to the fork of the tail-meaning they're really about two inches longer. Mine was a near-perfect FLW linesider of 33.5 inches that weighed 17 pounds, 15 ounces and produced lots of excitement while Graman's lunker was dropped ignominioulsy over the side.
All we needed was one more like that, or even barely over 28 inches, and we'd have been in the top five that qualified for the Saturday championship. Shortly before running out of time to make the weigh-in, it looked as if Kaspersetz had just what we needed. That fish was bucking on the wire line rod, though not taking line, and was probably in the slot size - but got off as he was fighting it. As a result, we only had one of the two bass that could be weighed and finished 15th in the 26-boat field. Friday's gale warnings for 50-mph winds in the northwester that also roared through New Jersey resulted in a postponement until noon of the second qualifying day, and only two boats managed to catch a slot bass in terrible conditions within the few hours allotted.
Matthew Fleisher of Niantic, Conn., won the title Saturday and the $50,000 prize (plus bonuses of $15,000 each for using a Hydra Sports boat and Evinrude outboards) for his Team Keepers that included his wife Amy plus Mark and Amy Brett. They trolled near us Thurdsay for two bass weighing 27 pounds, 7 ounces, added a 13-pound, 9-ouncer Friday - and boated two for 32 pounds Saturday.
Other New Jersey qualifiers also had a hard time finding the right fish. Michael Greene, from Long Beach Island, with LBIFT just missed out on the final by finishing sixth with two bass totaling 29 pounds, 12 ounces. JosephShastay finished 20th on Team Shastay-Ganter with a single 10 5/8-pounder. Daniel Riley on Jersey Boys had no entries.
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