Outdoors: Grandpa lets granddaughter reel in 6-pound largemouth bass

PHOTOGRAPHER: EmilyRose

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Mike Auriemma is a dedicated fisherman and a very successful Great Sacandaga Lake walleye angler.

From the tone of his email, I could tell his most enjoyable fishing ever was recently with his 7-year-old granddaughter, Giana Capone. Mike was helping Giana fish his cousin’s six-acre pond when a big largemouth bass grabbed her live bait.

It was quite a battle for the little lady, but she wanted to do it alone. Only when she got a bit tired, grandpa would put his finger under the rod until she regained her strength. She was determined and did all the reeling. The big bass tipped the scales at 6 pounds plus and was bigger than any bass grandpa had ever caught.

I wasn’t there, but I guarantee you grandpa was smiling from ear to ear. If you would like to see Giana and her big bass go to http://noonanpics.blogspot.com/.

In area bass tournament activity, the Greenbush Bass Open on The Great Sacandaga Lake attracted 26 teams and the smallmouth were biting. Leading the way and taking home $580 first place cash was the team of Brenden Murphy and Chris Dempsey with a five-bass team total of 11.06 pounds. Second-place cash, $320, went to Bob Rankin and Ken March with 11.01 pounds. Dan Fogg and Brian Squires were third ($280) with 10.88 pounds. Fourth and $200 went to Adam Bielawa and Jerry Gibson with 10.36 pounds. Adam and Jerry also took the tournament lunker money of $260 for their 2.92-pound bass.

The team of Jeff Russell and Danny Dyer won the Saratoga Tackle Bass Challenge for the third time this year with a five-bass catch totaling 14.62 pounds. First place paid $585. Second, $351, went to Dan and John Harms with 12.74 pounds. They also had the tournament lunker, a fat

5.90-pound largemouth, worth an additional $260. Third, $234, went to Tony Pascucci and Paul Latterick for their 11.50-pound catch.

Seventeen anglers fished the Mohawk Masters Single Man Tournament out of Duffels boat launch, Fort Edward, and just .05 ounces separated the top two positions. Larry Andrews won it with 12.07 pounds anchored with a 3-pound bass. Tim Longo was second with 12.02 pounds. These two anglers are neck-and-neck for the Angler-of-the-Year championship; Larry has 64 points, Tim, 54. Third place in the tournament was Bob Mis with 11.10 pounds. Jay Pompilio’s 3.08-pound bass was lunker.

Tournament reminder

The Great Sacandaga Lake Fisheries Federation’s 14th Annual Fall Fishing Contest will be held on Sept. 12, from

6 a.m.-4 p.m., with all measuring at the Sport Island Pub. The entry fee is $30 pre-registration only. Five places will be paid in each of the following four species: bass, walleye, pike and trout ($300, $200, $100 and $50). For further detail and an entry form go to: www.gslff.com.

Round Lake/Lake Lonely

I talked with a few anglers who fished Round Lake several days last week and they said they got a few largemouth early in the morning, pulling plastic frogs over weeds/pads, but that ended around 9 a.m. They finally started to catch them again around 11 a.m. in 10-15 feet of water using drop-shot rigs and black/blue quarter-ounce jigs with blue twin-tail grubs.

Lake Lonely also continues to produce good bass catches. They’re getting some in the creek heading out to the main lake, but most of the action is off the weedy shoreline on both sides of the lake. They seem to be hitting plastics best, but crankbaits have also put fish in the boat.

DEC news

The Department of Environmental Conservation has anounced a pilot project which will incorporate modern technologies along with the gathering of input directly from a broader cross-section of New Yorkers to improve the collecting of public input about deer populations.

It will be initiated in central New York which has a 1,325-square-mile group of Wildlife Management Units (WMU) — 7H, 8J and 8S, in Seneca County and portions of Ontario, Wayne, Yates, Schuyler, Tompkins and Cayuga counties. The Human Dimensions Research Unit and the Cooperative Extension in the Department of Natural Resources at Cornell University will assist DEC.

The new process will replace the existing Citizen Task Force model for seeking public recommendations on desired deer population levels within individual WMUs that have been in place since 1990. For a complete view of all the sections of this program go to, http://www.dec.ny.gov/press/103053.html.