North Pond, Smithfield, Maine: Pine Tree Camp was the May 23rd site for the annual New England Paralyzed Veterans of America Bass Trail Team Tournament. Federation anglers representing both the Maine B.A.S.S. Federation Nation (www.Mebass.com), and the Maine TBF Federation (www.tbfmaine.com) volunteered their time as Team Boat Captains.

As a totally Handicap accessible facility Pine Tree Camp caters to wheelchair anglers, allowing them to move around the entire area on their own unobstructed. Pine Tree Camp is an ideal location for the New England Paralyzed Veterans of America Bass Tournament format. With an added bonus for the NEPVA Bass Anglers, Pine Tree has a huge boat dock area, pontoon boats plus a newly constructed fishing pier for wheelchairs. (www.pinetreesociety.org)

“It takes the dedicated efforts of both federations, to fill the Boat Captains spots for all of our Boater Division for the NEPVA Anglers,” says Tiny LaFontaine tournament Director for the NEPVA Bass Trail. That and several other boat captains that fish the whole trail.
Seventeen New England PVA anglers were paired with Boat Captains in the Boater Division, while another Four New England PVA Anglers signed-up for the Bank/Pontoon Division.
“Our Bass Trail is the number one sporting event for the New England PVA with a Free Entry Fee, presently we host tournaments in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire,”
In the past it was held in October but the Maine event was moved to May in 2007 to better coordinate with both the Pine Tree Camp schedule as well as that of the Maine Federation Nation and the Maine TBF Federation’s state tournament schedules.

The day began with the water looking like glass and a gentle breeze with bright sunshine. The day was turning into a beautiful Maine Saturday to the delight of the fisherman, highs of 78 degrees were expected and didn’t disappoint and all were anticipating a great day on the water.

After a breakfast by NEPVA chef Jim Marino, Steve Wilson President of the Maine BASS Federation Nation and the boat captains along with the help of the NEPVA staff, loaded the New England Paralyzed Veteran Angler’s onto their assigned boats, including those competing in the Pontoon Division. All were safely launched at 8:00 am and the fishing began.

At 2:00 pm the boats returned for the weigh-in where the numbers started to fly. This tournament was a Catch, Measure and Release tournament for the fishermen this day. From Mothers day to Fathers day you cannot keep a fish when caught, it must be released right away.
The anglers kept a weigh-in slip with the length of each fish they caught and added up their best
5 fish.
After leaving the boats they headed to the weigh-in area held inside the dinning hall to check in with the staff so they could tally up the weigh in slips.
While waiting for the results a cook out was served and everyone proceeded to eat and brag about their day on the water.
Tiny LaFontaine started the weigh in results off with the following:

3rd Place: Captain Greg Mazor and Loyde Jones with 91 total inches, Greg and Loyde caught their fish on Tubes and Spinnerbaits, they fished from shallow to the first drop and were culling by 9am.

2ed Place: Captain Eric Kuehne and Dave Sawyer with 94 ½ inches. They targeted their fish with
Yamamoto Hula grubs and Watermelon Senko’s w/ green fleck.

1st Place: Captain Joe Kennedy and Marc Elias with 95 ¼ inches. Joe and Marc fished Black tubes along rocky shorelines and shallow beds to take their fish.

Pontoon Division was taken by Phil Pauquett with 88 inches

Lunker of the day was caught by Dave Sawyer with a 21 ¼ in Largemouth Bass (see pic)

ED Tyler of the Disabled American Vet’s Chapter 3 of So. Portland was elated to present the New England PVA Bass Trail a check for $200.00 as a token of their appreciation and support to help off-set the Bass Trails expenses. With a huge smile on his face and a tear in his eye NEPVA Bass Trail Tournament Director Tiny LaFontaine replied, “This check for $200 from The Vets of Chapter 3 So. Portland will help to off set our expenses for this tournament. I can not express how important these monetary contributions mean to the existence of the NEPVA Bass Trail…Thank you so much!”



All NEPVA Bass Trail Tournaments are totally FREE to ALL participates and open to all individuals with disabilities whether veterans or non-veterans! Individuals interested in fishing the tournaments may contact Tournament Director Tiny LaFontaine @ 1.781.935.2480. As a non-profit organization the tournament trail is funded only by generous donations from its sponsors, with all sponsor donations being tax deductible. For information on becoming an NEPVA sponsor, contact the NEPVA office @ 1.800.660.1181 or visit their web site @ www.nepva.org.