ben23

Incredible! Thank you very much! I just shot you a PM! Ben God bless

Hey Guys, Although I have not posted in quite some time, I knew BR was the place to go to seek some assistance. My name is Ben Dziwulski, and in 2012 my partner and I, representing North Carolina State University, won the 2012 ACA Collegiate Bass National Championship on Pickwick Lake. Due to this win, we were fortunate enough to qualify for the 2013 TBF National Championship, which will be held on Grand Lake in Tulsa, OK on April 8-13. This is truly a blessing, and I cannot wait for the opportunity to compete in such a prestigious event. God has been so good through my college fishing career, and I cannot wait to see where he takes me continuing into the big leagues. The reason I am posting is to see if there is anyone who would be kind enough to let me borrow a bass boat for two days of practice. Basically, there are two days of unofficial practice, (April 8 and 9), and then one day of official practice (April 10). Then the tournament from the 11-13th. The TBF, fortunately, lets us use their fleet of fully-equipped Ranger Z520 for the 10th, 11th, 12th, and 13th, however, we are unable to use these provided boats on the two unofficial practice days (8th and 9th). Due to the fact that this will be my first time on Grand Lake, I would really like to capitalize on the first two days of practice in order to learn the lake as much as possible. Unfortunately, my partner and I are both not able to use our boats, and the 18+ Hour drive is not favorable for us to borrow a boat locally just for two days of practice. We are both heavily experienced with driving bass boats of any kind. I have used brand new Rangers, BassCats, Tritons, and Skeeters....all the way to my 20+ Year old BassCat (that has a worn-out starter and trim ). I am a Boater Safety Licensed driver, and assure you that I will be as protective of your gear as possible. I am not looking for any information at all, as I like to figure things out on my own. I also feel like this is the best way to force myself to actually figure the fish out in a way that I want to catch them. I just would like to maximize my time on the water by practicing all available days. PLEASE let me know if you are willing to help me out! I really appreciate the consideration and look forward to catching some studs on such an awesome lake! Thanks again! Please PM or respond here if you can help! Ben Dziwulski God Bless Col. 1:17

I know Sayers very well. A dropshot buzzbait rigged with a 20/0 circle hook usually does the trick for spawning pikefish. Good luck in your tournament. Watch out for those NC State fisherman they will probably have a basket.

Hey Guys, I will be heading up this Friday to fish Ft. Loudon in Knoxville, TN for the entire week. I am prefishing for the FLW College national championship that will be held there in early April. I have never fished the lake before, but by the time April rolls around, I should be very familiar- at least that is the plan. If anyone out there has been out there recently, or has any idea of what they are eating- let me know. I am hoping to get my tournament partner hooked up with his first smallie ever, and I wouldn't mind sticking a couple big bronzebacks either. Just shoot me a PM. Thanks guys. Ben Dziwulski God Bless.

Hey guys, I will be fishing Lake Hyco this weekend for a Basspack tournament for the first time. Has anyone fished there this time of year? I just wanted to hear what you guys had to say. I will be getting one day of practice on Saturday, then the tournament is on Sunday. All I know is that that water will be nice and WARM thanks to the powerplant. It will be a great change from Kerr this past weekend- the ENTIRE club zeroed. Water temps were 39 degrees and 6 inches of Visibility..........bass apparently don't like that? Anyway, lets hear about Hyco! Ben Dziwulski God bless

If any of you get a chance to spend time with these guys, you will end up rolling on the floor laughing. They are GREAT people and will keep the fun times coming. It was a pleasure hangin with them at the Classic. Oh yeah, and a GREAT line of products. Ben

Hey guys, I saw the whole Bassresource crew at the classic this year, and they got on me a little bit for not posting any more. There really is no excuse. I have been busy, but in the past I have made some really good friends here, and that is not something I can lose! Anyway, as I promised Gene, here I am! I am sure there are TONS of new faces as this site has grown a bunch since I dropped off the face of the earth, so I am sure most of you do not remember when I used to post back in the day. Anyway, my name is Ben Dziwulski. I am Sophomore at NC State university studying Business Management, and fishing for the fishing team, the Basspack. According to FLW and College Bass, we are the #1 ranked fishing team in the nation. I am currently in the process of getting Senko77 up here! You guys should give him a little convincing. Recently, my partner Kevin Beverley and I competed in the FLW College Northern Regional Championship on Lake Norman. We were blessed enough to win this event and qualify for nationals. We were even on VS Network for anyone who watched the coverage. Nationals is in early April on Ft. Loudon, and first prize is $100,000 and qualification for the Forest Wood Cup! Needless to say I am excited about this event, and if ANYONE knows a thing or two about Ft. Loudon- please message me because I would love to talk. Anyway, I am going to fulfill my promise to Gene and Glenn and start posting more!!! Ben Dziwulski God Bless NCSU BASSPACK

Thanks guys! DD- My favorite part about the Shakedown is the smaller screw. It does a great job holding the worms of any size, and can even go to much skinnier plastics like the Zoom Swamp Crawler. Also, the spring is flexible and I have never had one break on me, unlike the easily breakable Reaction Innovations Screwed Up Jighead. Ben Dziwulski God bless

Well guys, Two weekends ago I fished in the Maryland Junior FLW State Championship to try and qualify to the FLW Junior World Championship for the second year in a row. The tournament was located out of Mariner Point Marina to fish the Upper Bay. I showed up at the ramp and met with my boater who took me to the spots I had found in prefish. In prefish I really didn't find much, but was able to get a few nice fish to show themselves to me. I also did some searching and found quite a few beds, but could not spot any females. Anyway, come tournament day I started off by heading into Dundee creek where I had found some clearer water the day before. We pulled up on the point and started working the bank towards the "hotspot" of the bank when another boat pulled right up in front of us about 20 yards. It was not another competitor, but it was still a bummer to have my spot swept out right from under me. He caught one dink on the spot and I followed right behind him and caught a solid keeper, my first of the day. I caught her on a 3/16 Green Pumpkin Picasso Shakedown with a 6" green pumpkin Niffken Finesse worm (like a trickworm). I had it rigged on a 6'7 Medium Action Carrot Stix LTX with 10lb Hi-Seas Braid tipped with an 8lb Flouro Leader. I really feel that I can detect many more bites and set the hook better with the braid. After catching another fish on the same technique, I started to find a pattern. The fish were RIGHT up against the edge of the baygrass on the shore. The closer I could get to the edge of the standing baygrass, the better chance I had to catch the fish. I proceeded to catch 18 fish, 6 of which were above the 15" length requirement. The other 12 fish were ALL within 1/2" of measuring.... it was brutal. My last keeper came with 10 minutes to go in the day, and culled out my smallest fish for a good upgrade. All of the fish I caught were males except for one 3-9 female that I caught with the same pattern. The males were up shallow waiting for the females to move up. If the tournament was just a few days later.....it would have been a SLUGFEST. Anyway, I was happy with my limit. When I got back to the dock I knew I had a good shot, but did not want to expect to win. If I expect to win, it won't happen. As we pulled up to the dock I got word that no one else had boated a fish! All I needed to do was bring in a keeper to win! My limit ended up weighing 13.1 and was easily good enough for first. This means that I will officially be representing Maryland at the 2008 National Guard Junior World Championship. I have been very blessed and cannot wait to get back and try to win it! This year I will definitely be heading down early to practice, since there are no prefish limitations. The tournament will be held August 16 and 17th (I think) and will be on Monticello Reservoir in South Carolina. Here is a picture of my two biggest fish: Hope you enjoyed my long report! Sorry I have not been very active..........SUPER BUSY..... Ben Dziwulski God bless

Hey guys! I am fishing in a Junior Tournament this weekend that could qualify me for the JWC again. I have not had a chance to get out on the Upper Bay for a few months and was wondering if anyone has heard any details about water clarity and water temps in and around the Dundee Creek area. I feel like with the full moon coming this weekend, Saturday will be a ridiculous day of fishing, and they should be shallow and willing to bite. That is, of course, if the water temps and tide are right. If anyone has been out lately in that area or has previous experience this time of the year, please let me know!! post here, PM or email at b23ball23fisher@hotmail.com Talk to you soon! Ben Dziwulski God bless

My boater caught one fish for about 2.5 pounds....he didn't weigh it in though.

Hahaha too bad I didn't leave a carrot stick down there!!! Don't worry, I'll be down within the net month to reclaim the gear I left and also try to bring home another check.....except this time we will be wailing on them together. Dude that place is going to go nuts in the next few weeks.......too bad Prom is the 26th or I'd be down there in a heartbeat. Ben Dziwulski God bless

Well, Friday early morning I left with my buddy, Frank Ippoliti, to head down to Smith Mountain Lake for the Shenandoah division BFL. Friday we were able to prefish for a couple hours and I whacked a nice 6.5 + largemouth with about 4 boats around us.......it was hard not fighting the fish- I had to slack-line it so no one saw.... Anyway, tournament day went great! Out of a grand total of 146 boats, I finished 3rd on the Co-Angler side! I caught 5 keepers for 11 pounds even, and the winning sack was 11-06. I was only 6 ounces away from taking home a healthy 2,400$ check!!!!! I can't complain though, I am not saddened by 807$ and a nice trophy. It will definitely help the boat fund! All fish came on a 3/16 Picasso Shakedown Shakey Head with a Green Pumpkin Shakey Worm made by Cache Custom Lures. I had it on 10lb Hi Seas Braid with a 3 foot 8lb Hi Seas flouro leader with a 6'7 Medium Carrot Stick Spinning rod. As much as I hate throwing shakey heads, it came through when I could not get my crankbait bite going. However, I am disappointed in my performance. If I fished a clean tournament then I would be much richer! I had 2 fish on that individually would have easily culled a small 14incher and upgraded my bag to well over 13 pounds, but both popped off do to light hooksets (I was an idiot and put a shakey head on rod with mono, and set the hook as if I had braid). One of the fish I popped off was a 4.5 pounder that we found on a bed........yes a bed.........in 50 degree water temp. While my boater was skipping way under the docks, I focused on the outside pilings because of the rainy weather. I did not feel like they would be pushed up under the dock, but rather on the outside due to the clouds. It was a great event and I am very proud to finish as high as I did. I look forward to the FLW State Championship that is being held on the Upper Bay in two weeks! Hopefully I can do well and make it to the BFL Regional and the FLW World Championship in the same year! Ben Dziwulski God bless

I'll be there!

It was great to meet you guys finally!! I am bummed I wasn't able to make it out to Longhorn like I had hoped.....but I had a dinner with the e21 guys.....and it wouldn't have been smart to walk away from that.... Anyway, I'm glad to hear you guys are famous now....hehehe...but I loved chatting it up by the e21 booth. It was nice to get a break from giving the same explanation to the hordes of people that flocked to those weird looking orange things........ Ben Dziwulski God bless