Our featured Angler's for June are Six Man Winners Shannon Fletcher and Ray Armes

by Peter Robbins
(Who is Pete Robbins & what else has he written?)

Shannon Fletcher

Region 1, 4, 5, 6 and 8 Six Man Winner, Shannon Fletcher

Shannon Fletcher had reason to think that his four leaf clover wasn’t working.

Usually, when Fletcher’s mother gives him a four leaf clover prior to a tournament, the thirty two year old member of Region 4’s Virginia Rangers ends up placing high. In fact, many of the times that she has sent him off to a tournament with a good luck charm he has returned to his home in Homaker, VA with the first place check.

At this year’s first Chapter Teams Tournament, however, the clover didn’t seem to be working. Fletcher spent the first day of the tournament Carolina-rigging in the Clarksville area of Buggs Island, but all that he could muster was a quartet of two pounders. With only a little over eight pounds (fishing a four fish limit), Fletcher was mired in 61^st place.

While many anglers might have "punted" under similar circumstances, Fletcher recognized that the standings presented something of an illusion. Even though he was over 50 places off the pace to make the state team, in actuality, he was only about 4 pounds out of first place, and the difference between 61^st and the top ten was under 2 pounds. If a few anglers were to stumble, and he could add a big bite to his limit, then the state team was within reach. "I’ve been in the lead after the first day," he says, "and to tell you the truth it’s better to be back in the pack…..no pressure."

On day 2, Fletcher went out and Carolina-rigged an early limit. Again, however, they were just plain keepers, not the type of fish that could lift him among the leaders. While most anglers were convinced that the spawn had already ended on Buggs Island, Fletcher was convinced that there might be some late spawners, and the slightly rising water might push them up shallow. With this in mind, Fletcher pushed back into the pockets near Clarksville, working a floating worm, a lure he has successfully used under similar conditions in the past.

He quickly found out that as a result of the "sunny and hot weather, the fish that hadn’t already bedded had moved up good." As his partner ate a snack, Shannon quickly caught 2 fish. Additionally, he watched another angler fishing back in one of the pockets catch "a five or six pounder" on a zara spook, further adding to his confidence.

Sometime after 10 o’clock, Fletcher got the fish he needed, when a 6.36 pound monster inhaled his floating worm. The fish would earn him over a thousand dollars as the biggest fish caught during the tournament, but more importantly, as he reeled it in he started thinking that this was the fish that could put him on the state team. As he ran back into the weigh-in, he had a feeling that there was a "pretty good chance" he’d be going to Connecticut with the team this Fall. And he was right, after weighing in it turned out that he had leapfrogged sixty other anglers to take the top spot in the tournament and a boater’s spot on the state team.

Reflecting back on the tournament, Fletcher notes that the partner pairing was a critical part of his success. This was the first time since 1994 that he was going into this tournament as a non-boater. The week prior to the Chapter Teams Tournament, Fletcher had fished a Region 4 tournament with Gerald Dye, who has been his partner since he was fourteen years old. The two were on a pretty strong Carolina-rigging pattern near Clarksville, and they expanded on it during their two days of practice immediately prior to the tournament.

Fletcher drew out with Jan Pruitt of the Buggs Island Bassmasters. Pruitt was quick to admit that he was not on anything strong, and was willing to go wherever Fletcher wanted. This was refreshing for Fletcher. On another occasion, he had been leading the Chapter Teams tournament after the first day, catching fish he had located, but his partner, despite not having discovered anything good in practice, insisted on spending the first half of the day on day 2 on the other end of the lake, fishing a totally different technique. He ended up missing the state team by only three ounces. Having been "pulled off of my fish" in the past, Fletcher recognizes that it "takes a great partner to make the state team," and realizes that "it’s tough to string two good days together." Accordingly, he genuinely appreciates Pruitt’s honesty and selflessness.

When asked about the upcoming Eastern Divisional on the Connecticut River, Fletcher calls his first time on the state team "a privilege," and straightforwardly states that "I don’t know anything about it yet." Still, you can bet that he’ll encourage his mother to search extra-hard for a four leafed clover, and if he’s back in the pack after the first or second day, he’ll dig deep and look to make a charge to the front.

Ray Armes

Region 2, 3, 7, and 9 Six Man Winner, Ray Armes

Like Shannon Fletcher, Ray Armes, the winner of this year’s second Chapter Teams tournament, is a first-time member of the Virginia state team. His other similarity to Fletcher is that he had previously come close to making the team, missing it by ounces.

A few years back, Armes, of Region 2’s Rustburg Bassmasters, finished 5^th in the Chapter Teams tournament. Among many Federation members, 5^th place is known as the most painful good check you can get – you’ve fished a good tournament, perhaps even executed flawlessly, but you just missed making the team. He also finished in the bottom half of the top 10 on several other occasions. Close, but not enough.

This year, Armes, a 28 year old machinist by trade, only had one day to practice for the tournament. Launching at Occonneechee, he fished his way all the way down to North Bend, largely because he remembered that he had to get his boat checked there. He had lots of bites that day, slinging a spinnerbait and flipping newly flooded bushes, but most of the fish were small.

At the meeting that evening, Armes drew out with John Guzik of Smithfield. The two apparently worked well together – Guzik finished second in the tournament and will also be a member of the team going to the Connecticut River.

The partners focused on the area "from midlake up, starting at Rudds and fishing all the way up past Buffalo." On Saturday, they threw a spinnerbait early for the majority of their bites, but tried to upgrade their catches by flipping. Armes notes that the particular spinnerbait "did not seem to matter a great deal" – he threw a Nichols and a Terminator, while Guzik threw a different style altogether.

After Day 1, Armes was in 25^th place, but he had been catching fish consistently, so the partners agreed to fish the same water and same techniques on Sunday. "I knew I was only two and a half pounds out of first," he recalled, "and I knew I could catch a limit." Following their game plan, Saturday’s plain keepers were replaced with three pounders. Additionally, while they had culled a few times on Saturday, on Sunday the pair caught over twenty keepers. After catching their limits, they moved and culled frequently.

The only explanation that Armes could offer for his improved catch the second day is that Saturday’s big storm, which resulted in "a complete change in wind direction" somehow stirred the fish. In the end, the weather conditions played right into his hands, and stirred them up enough to improve the spinnerbait bite, and to lift him not only onto the team, but also into the winner’s circle.

Armes admits that he is not much of a tidewater fisherman. He says he has fished both the James and the Potomac, with limited success. Still, he is looking forward to traveling to Connecticut as a member of the team, and plans to prefish the river at least once or twice before the week of the tournament, as much as his work obligations will allow. "I don’t know much about it except that it’s a shallow river," he says, but he’s confident that if conditions are right, he can run and gun his way to success on the strength of his spinnerbait.