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For an entire week, Tim Harris could think of nothing else but getting on the water last Wednesday for the start of the weekly Duke’s Bass Tournament at Harveys Lake.
Several miles away in Kingston, several members of the Suskie Bassmasters gathered in Nesbitt Park on the same night for what should’ve been the start of their weekly tournament, but unlike the Harveys Lake anglers, they had to wait.
June 13 marked the opening of bass season across the state, and it also signaled the unofficial start to the club and open tournaments held throughout the area.
At Harveys Lake on Wednesday, Duke Dalley and his grandson, Tyler, manned the registration booth as almost 60 anglers signed up for the evening tournament. Dalley said the kickoff week is filled with anticipation every year.
“I’m thrilled. Almost everyone that signed up has told me that they’ve been waiting for this all winter,” he said. “Now it’s time to get fishing.”
At Nesbitt Park, the anticipation for opening week was put on hold. With the river level approaching seven feet the day before opening night, Suskie Bassmasters officials decided to cancel the tournament for safety reasons. Board member Jim Lacomis and several others sat at the registration booth by the boat launch to let anglers know they will have to wait for next week.
“The water was a bit high and there was a lot of debris, so we didn’t want to take a chance,” Lacomis said, adding they will add an extra week to the summer tournament.
Still, Lacomis did come away with a good idea of just how anxious anglers are to get started with the river tournament.
“We had 25 signed up a week ahead of the tournament, which is a decent number. We’ve also had new new members come out, so we’re hoping to hit 80 for our membership,” he said.
Lacomis said as the tournament continues through the summer, the river becomes more of a challenge to fish as the water warms and the big bass can be hard to find. That challenge, Lacomis said, is what anglers look forward to.
“The tournament got pretty competitive at the end of last year, and that carried over to this year,” he said. “Everyone’s pretty excited.
“But for me it’s just about getting out there fishing, teaching our new members about the river and just having a good time with everyone.”
As the 9 p.m. weigh-in deadline approached at Harveys Lake, anglers lined up to have their catch weighed by Dalley. While only 22 bass were brought in, the competition came down to the wire.
Harveys Lake resident Tim Harris took the early lead with a smallmouth that weighed 2.83 pounds.
“That was the only bite I had even though conditions were pretty good,” Harris said. “There’s so many anglers that come to this tournament, it’s always a good challenge every week.”
Harris lost his lead when a bass that weighed just over three pounds came in.
But that wasn’t good enough to win.
Shaun Kucharski, who took first place for last year’s tournament season at the lake, got off to a winning start this year when he weighed in a 3.23-pound largemouth bass that was the heaviest of the night.
Kucharski caught the bass on a jig in three feet of water, and it was the biggest of the six legal bass he landed on the night.
“I was really ready for this. I’ve been practicing for a while,” Kucharski said. “It feels great to win the first week. This tournament brings out a lot of the better anglers in the area. There’s a lot of talent here.”