Michael Marini of Slingerlands, N.Y. weighed a 19-14 sack on Saturday to win the Lake Champlain Northern Rayovac with a 3-day total of 57-07.
“It feels incredible,” said Marini, who weighed the biggest bag of the day on Saturday to move up from 4th place and earn his first win in FLW competition. “It is honestly one of the biggest accomplishments of my fishing career. I’m looking forward to fishing more in the future. I’m very confident on this lake and it paid off.
“I fished the same exact techniques all 3 days,” he explained. “The first 2 days I rotated between two primary spots. Today I recognized that it was a slow bite. I stayed with one spot and milked it all day. I never fired up the main motor except to go get gas for the run back from Ticonderoga.”
He said that his primary area was a grass flat about the size of a football field and that he targeted depths ranging from about 4 to 6 feet. He caught all his fish on a bright-colored Yamamoto Senko that he either wacky-rigged or Texas-rigged with a 1/2-ounce weight.
Full details of his winning pattern will be published soon.
Following are the totals for the final Top 10:
1. Michael Marini: 58-07
2. Chris Johnston: 56-11
3. Dave Lefebre: 56-01
4. Jordan Lee: 55-09
5. Derick Olson: 53-10
6. Glenn Babineau: 52-12
7. Mark Daniels Jr.: 52-00
8. Mike Neilson: 49-08
9. Mike McDonald: 47-12
10. Cory Johnston: 47-03
