District 15 NSF – Lake Hopatcong, NJ – September 27 & 28, 2025

The District 15 NSF, which encompasses the states of New Jersey and Connecticut was hosted by the New Jersey Bass Federation on September 27 and 28, 2025, on New Jersey largest lake, Lake Hopatcong.  With the typical September bass fishing doldrums in full swing, the field of 22 Boaters and 22 Co-Anglers found the fishing challenging as no pattern could be established, and the big fish bite was nearly non-existent.

In the Boater Division, 15 New Jersey anglers and 7 Connecticut anglers vied for the top prizes, and even more importantly, an automatic berth into the 2026 TBF National Championship.  Not unexpectedly, the New Jersey anglers, who are much more familiar with the lake, dominated the top spots.  Winning the Boater Division was New Jersey’s Giovanni Martino with a two-day 10 fish total weight of 24.32 pounds.  His win also made him the Boater qualifier from New Jersey to the National Championship.  Close behind in second was New Jersey’s Derick Olson with 23.63 pounds.  Rounding out the top three was New Jersey’s Manuel Cruz with 21.86 pounds.  The top Connecticut Boater was Matthew Marinelli who finished in fourth place with 20.49 pounds.  That finish made him the Connecticut Boater qualifier to the National Championship.

In the Co-Angler Division, which also had a 15/7 breakdown, the top two spots were separated by only 0.16 pounds.  Taking that Division was New Jersey’s Charles (C.J.) Tuite.  His total weight of 14.97 pounds was just enough to hold off the second-place finisher, New Jersey’s Robert Stock who had 14.81 pounds.  The win will send Tuite to his first TBF National Championship.  Third place went to Connecticut’s Jason Myslak with 12.82 pounds.  This finish will also send him to the National Championship as Connecticut’s Co-Angler Qualifier.

Special thanks to the Connecticut Bass Federation and its President James Johnson for its participation in this event.  Also, the New Jersey Bass Federation would like to thank the Bass University for its donation of a one-year subscription, hat and buff as raffle prizes.

DISTRICT 1 NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS GEORGIA AND FLORIDA

The Bass Federation (TBF) held its National Semi Finals Championship this past weekend, September 27-28 on Lake Blackshear, Cordele, Georgia. Three (3) days of practice started on Wednesday, September 24.  Practice for the competitors proved to be challenging with sunny weather, light breezes and the largemouth bass choosing not to participate in this event.

Anglers from both states blasted off from the Georgia Veterans Memorial State Park with weigh-in starting at 3:00 p.m. for Saturday and 2:00 pm on Sunday. Weather conditions on both days were sunny with some light breezes.

Day 1 results had Jesse Tacoronte of the Florida Bass Federation leading on the Boaters side with five (5) bass weighing 15 pounds 1 ounce.  David Perry of the Florida Bass Federation lead the Co-Anglers with two (2) bass weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces

Day 2 results had Boater Patrick Brown of the Georgia Bass Federation coming in with five (5) bass weighing 16 pounds 4 ounces and Co-Angler Kevin Watson from the Georgia Bass Federation weighing in three (3) bass totaling 8 pounds 6 ounces.

Overall winners for the 2025 District 1 TBF GA-FL National Semi Finals were Jesse Tacoronte of the Florida Bass Federation with eight (8) bass weighing 21 pounds 8 ounces on the Boater’s side and Gene Willis of the Georgia Bass Federation with five (5) bass weighing 11 pounds 11 ounces on the Co-angler’s side.

Top Boater and Co-Angler from the Georgia Bass Federation was Jason Cheek and Gene Willis.

Top Boater and Co-Angler from the Florida Bass Federation was Jesse Tacoronte and David Perry.

Big Fish for the tournament was caught by Brian Rodriguez of the Florida Bass Federation weighing 7 pounds 2 ounces.

A total of 177 bass were weighed in with a combined weight of 409 pounds 6 ounces.

The top Boater and Co-Angler from each state advances to The Bass Federation National Championship in 2026, where they will test their skills by competing against the winners of the other state federations.  Date and location of the 2026 The Bass Federation (TBF) National Championship TBA.

State Pride honors went to the Georgia Bass Federation.

District 18 Oregon and Washington TBF National Semi-Final on the Columbia River

The District 18 TBF National Semi-final always proves to be a challenging event for the most part with our 2025 season and dealing with high wind conditions on the Columbia River it was quite different for the 2-day event of no wind at all a pure glass river. There was hardly any current to speak of which made for some tough fishing for the anglers

Day 1 leader Jeffry Ball on the PRO side of Washington weighing in a bag of 17.91lbs and 2nd place was Mel Williams on the PRO side with a bag of 17.68 bls with a big fish of 5.10 lbs. The leaders for Oregon were PRO Jay Burford with 17.18 lbs. and Zip Decker with 16.53 lbs.

The AM leader for day 1 was Wes Williams of Washington with 15.70 bs and 2nd place AM was Hernandez Ruffin of Washington with 15.18 lbs.  And for Oregon it was Travis Schweitzer with 14.62 lbs. and Kevin Pangle 14.13 lbs.

Day 2 was still a very calm day for the Columbia River with no winds and no current made for a very tough day which changed the leader board with lower weights overall.   Rounding out Day 2 for the leaders PRO Rickey Hamilton of Washington weighed 18.40 lbs. and 2nd place for Day 2 was PRO Trystan Wallace of Oregon with 17.41 lbs.   The AM first place was Dave Roberts of Oregon with 16.43 lbs. and 2nd place was AM Jason Rose of Oregon with 14.57 lbs.

Congratulations to the winners – PRO Jeffry Ball of Washington as the overall division winner with a total weight of 34.97 bs.  And Congratulation to Trystan Wallace for the Oregon Division with a total weight of 33.54.

The AM winners are Dave Roberts of Oregon overall AM winner with 28.99 lbs. and AM Eduardo Bolich of Washington Division with 27.26 lbs.   Congratulations to these AM winners.

DISTRICT 8 NATIONAL SEMI-FINAL IOWA

The 2025 season is a wrap, and we have our next set of anglers qualifying for the TBF National Championship where anglers compete for over 400k+ in cash and prizes as well as advancement opportunities into the highest levels of the sport. Nate Maher ran away with this event on the boater side bringing in both the heavy bag and big bass both days of the event to finish with a commanding 6lb+ lead over 2nd place. Nate finished with a 2-day total of 30.33lb including a 4.77lb big bass on day 1 and a 3.69lb big bass on day 2. The weights were certainly tight on the co-angler side, but Justin Bauer was able to beat the field by bringing in big bass on both days as well bringing his two-day total to 18.31lb with a 3.14lb day 1 big bass and 3.52lb big bass on day 2. Rumor has it Justin was able to anchor his day 2 bag in the last 20 minutes of the event to earn his spot to Nationals!

These two anglers will be joining Chancy Walter and Jim Garton who both qualified for the TBF National Championship back in May by winning our Clear Lake Qualifier.

The river was a new body of water for a lot of anglers and for a weekend forecasted to be filled with rain we were all lucky to stay dry throughout the event. A lot of fish were caught, no one got stuck in a backwater, and the Mississippi showed why it truly is a special place to fish. We are already looking forward to the 2026 season and it is never too early to reach out about TBF membership or creating your own club to participate in next year’s events. Let’s congratulate all our anglers on more time who made it to the TBF National Championship, and we look forward to cheering all these anglers on as they compete for a piece of the “Living the Dream” prize package at Nationals. Thank you to all the anglers who participated in the 2025 season, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.