Solverson/Pauly Win Midnight Open Moonlight Marathon



Anglers gather for a briefing before the launch of the
2013 Rocky Mountain Team Series Midnight Open

7.20-21.13, Pueblo Reservoir, CO

     The second Open event of the season for the Rocky Mountain Team Series saw half of the field bringing in limits over the required 15 inches, almost everyone catching at least a few keepers, and a back-to-back win for Jeff Solverson, who recently won the RMTS tournament at Wilson Lake, KS presented by Marine Specialty.
      While the usual Team Solverson is a father and son collaboration, Jeff’s son Justin was not able to attend, so Jeff partnered with Dave Pauly for the Midnight Open event.  Together they caught the best overall weight of black bass in the tournament and as a bonus also landed the biggest bass!  A five fish limit weighing 10.52 lbs. was anchored by a nice 3.65 lb. Pueblo Lake lunker.  Solverson credits soft plastics, tubes and creature baits, to land their fish.  He paired a BPS Extreme rod and BPS JM Signature reel to cast BPS Tender Tubes, and a W & M rod and reel outfit with a TroKar hook for the creature bait, while keying on areas of shallow rock and gravel.
     Keeping focused for a 12-hour tournament is fundamental when the bite is tough and having faith in your area helps.  “Persistence,” pays off, says Jeff, “keep working the areas with better fish all night and some decent ones will show up eventually.”
     Beating the summer heat, boat traffic and ramp congestion help make fishing a night tournament even nicer for Solverson and Pauly, “Pueblo at 3 in the morning is sure a lot nicer than at 3 in the afternoon.”

Matt Massey and teammate Scott Tracy got a nice
picture of the second heaviest bass of the event.

      Nipping on Solverson and Pauly’s heels for both the win and big bass is Team Matt Massey and Scott Tracy, who brought in 10.47 lbs. and also came close to the Big Bass prize with the second heaviest, a smallmouth weighing 3.43 lbs.

     Tournament Director Don Speas commented that it was sure nice to see a variety of participants come out for this event, including some long-time bass tournament guys that have not been seen much lately, more new anglers including husband and wife teams, and of course the die-hard usual suspects who will accept any challenge or excuse to get out on the water just to go fishing with friends.  Thanks to all of you this was another successful and safe event without any issues.
      Reports from anglers say the 12 hour marathon, which started at 7 pm and stopped at 7 am, showed at times a partly cloudy but often moonlit night, a fantastic lightning show around the lake, and some windy conditions.
     Click here to see a cool video that Frank Villa video captured of the lightning show during the tournament.