Willis Breaks Through, Attacks Record Book
By Senior Editor Tim Shoeshine
SOUTHWICK, MA – Some things are worth the wait. Just ask Dave Willis. In the early hours of Sunday morning at Congamond Lakes, Willis finally claimed the first place finish that had eluded him after three and half years and 23 tournaments fished. Just to make things more interesting, he did it in a dramatic fashion breaking the all-time lunker mark, as well as bringing in the second biggest 5-fish bag in BAWS history.
“I thought I had a chance when I brought in the big one,” said Willis, who stated he didn’t have a consistent pattern, but got the bites that mattered throughout the night. “I started thinking it was possible, but that I’d get hit by a meteor on my way in.” Willis’s 5.74 lbs lunker surpassed Kevin “Rhodes” Repoli’s three-year-old record of 5.70 lbs. In addition to the lunker, Willis’s overall weight of 14.87 is now second only to Tim "Shoeshine" Shanahan’s top spot from Candlewood last spring.
Willis’s net-man, Chris Then, brought a four-pounder to the scale himself and refused to weigh it out of respect for Willis’s cow. “Not even close,” said Then.
Mike River continued his hot streak (three top 3 finishes in the last four tournaments) by weighing in 13.66 lbs, good enough for second place. “I only slept for an hour tonight,” a bleary-eyed River claimed.
Rounding out the top three was Shanahan, who only caught four fish. But those four weighed a combined 12.93 lbs. “I couldn’t get that last bite,” said an animated Shanahan. “I knew if I could get one more quality bite, I had a chance.” Shanahan was also bumped out of the top spot for lunker largemouth for the season. “I’m just glad it was Willis who beat me, he deserves it” conceded Shanahan.
The race for fourth place was tight, with Congamond-junkie John Dowling just nipping Doug Grant by one-tenth of a pound. Grant, who towed his boat to the tournament with a rented U-Haul truck, explained that he was distracted by the thought of having to stop at a weigh station on the way home. “It was hard enough backing this thing up to launch the boat, I just want to go to home,” said Grant.
As usual, the annual night tournament at the border lakes produced the best weights of the year. 6 of the overall top-20 weights of all time were caught Saturday night (Willis, Shanahan, River, Grant, Dowling and Nic Okun (10.33).
Willis has no plans to wait another three years for his second victory. “At least now I can sleep,” he said. And sleep well he will.
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