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| 2026 DPC |
The 2026 DPC was surely one for the books. Lake Champlain was glassy for the entire event. That does not happen often so, 92 anglers went full throttle for a day and a half. We met at check in on Saturday where people signed their lives away, paid into the big pickle pool with 100% entering, and ravaged the flies for sale tied by Bubba of 802 Flies. While the windless day made for some great cruising around the lake & for casting poppers, it was Hot! There's not much shade out on the big pond and with zero cloud cover many anglers returned to awards on Sunday much tanner than they were at check in.
On Sunday, anglers came to the barn and scanned the QR code to enter their scores. While Brendan sorted through the scoring the teams told tales amongst themselves of sea monsters, breakdowns & broken rods and the ones that got away. Caja Medera served up some delicious tacos and picklers were enjoying themselves in their fresh camo hoodies from Nick Mayer of Predator Fly Gear. With only one tie in the exotic category, scoring moved along quickly and here is how it all played out.
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| 2026 DPC Champ Jared Shaw |
The individual title of 2026 DPC champ goes to none other than Mr. Jared Shaw of team "Shaw's Law" who posted up 29 individual points. Jared and Tim Shaw have fished this tournament for as long as I can remember so, this was a long time coming. Jared took home an Orvis helios outfit and the coveted DPC trophy to sleep with, i mean, put on his mantel. The W did not come easy though as he barely topped his nearest competitor Mr. Dan Russel of team "You're Killing Me Smallies". Dan, a former DPC team Champ, put up an impressive 28pts, falling just 1 point shy of the title but a monster score nevertheless. In 3rd place it was no other than Ben Wilcox of team "Bash Badge Plus" with 27pts. Ben had been the repeat champ the past 3 years so, for him to podium again is an amazing feat amongst so many fine anglers.
In the team division it was Matthew Scott and Nicholas Chiarelli of team "We're Bass Guys" with 49pts who put together two scores that when added up, no one could surpass. They were closely followed by last year's champs, Ben Wilcox and Mike Woulf of team "Bass Badge Plus" who consistently put up big numbers and big fish. This year that big number was 47pts. The 3rd place team this year was Shawn Ricker and Zachary Dexter of team "False Casting Couch". Shawn and Zachary combined their talents to post a solid score of 44pts.
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| Top Paddler Mr. Paul Guidetti of team "Code Brown" with 19pts. |
In the paddle division it was Paul Guidetti of team "Code Brown". This was Paul's 1st time ever fishing lake Champlain which makes his winning 19pts even more impressive. Paul said he was under the tutelage of former champ, his team mate, Matt Dickstein. So, it's no surprise he was able to lock in and post the top score. In 2nd place it was Ms. Madeline Mezitt of team "Stoned Flies" who was able to paddle her way to 15pts. In 3rd place we had returning pickler Dominic Scaglione of team "Basstards" throwing down 5pts.
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| Stefan King with a "30.5 bowfin |
In the exotic category we had a tie between Stefan King of team "Bass King & the Travesty" and Kyle Matzke of team "Fishizzle" who both submitted a nice "30.5 bowfin. It was close! So much so that Brendan walk outside to see the pics under natural daylight. When Brendan asked them if they wanted to know who won or would they rather be surprised at the announcement, they chose to wait. When our MC Chris Lynch grabbed the mic, it was Stefan King who Milimetered his was to the top. One honorable mention worth noting was the catch by Evan Potter. Evan of team "Thistle Do" caught a rather elusive fly caught fish we don't see often in the Pickle, a walleye. Not just any walleye, a 26" beast. Well done Evan!
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| Evan Potter of team "Thistle Do" with the exotic honorable mention. |
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| Finn Barden of team "80 Grit Thumb" wins top Jr. with 21pts. |
On to the Jr. Division. We had 4 Jr. anglers this year and each had a great showing but, in the end it was Finn Barden of team "80 Grit Thumb" who put up a whopping 21pts. proving he is ready to hang in the big leagues. Finn won a Orvis clearwater out graciously donated by Ben Wilcox of Maple country Anglers and his team mate Mike Woulf. We love to see the Jr. anglers spending time on the water with their parents and it really is the essence of what the DPC is about. So to Finn, Iris, Fox and Elanor we salute you! It's a loooong day on the water yet, we hope it was fun fishing with your dad's. I know they won't ever forget it as I'm sure you will remember it forever as well. We look forward to seeing you all grow as anglers and humans:)
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| Matthew Scott with $940 in cold hard cash! |
The big pickle was tight but it was Matthew Scott of team "We're Bass Guys" who took it down with a 20.5" smallmouth.
In the pike category it was John Bond of team "Pickle Popper M.D.-Viaseceton" who took the top prize with a 32.5" pike. Close behind it was Tom Carton of team "Cal's Pals" with a 31" pike. Matthew Scott of team "We're Bass Guys" had a great showing overall winning the big pickle, top team and....3rd place pike with a 27"er.
The dink award went to Kyle Forest who can go home and brag to his friends and family about his 3.5" slob of a bass. Kyle took home a monster net that those little bass can slip right through.
The breakdown award is always a fan favorite and we had a couple to consider. A bunch of broken rods, an iPhone with fish pics lost to the depth but, it was Max Hogg and Leo Nerbank of team "Broke Knee Bassin" who took home 2 bottles of Whistle Pig whisky for their motor trimming up for no reason, then while repairing it Max hooked a bowfin which cracked his rod in 3 spots. Max reeled it in using the but section but it wasn't pretty with tools and repairs underway.
The best team name went to Jack Filion and Paul MacPherson of team "Bleached Bassholes". They took home 2 jugs of maple syrup donated by Sterling Ridge Resort.
That's how it all went down on Lake Champlain. A huge thanks goes out to Brian Cadoret and Nick Yardley for supplying a bunch of Fulling Mills fly and swag, Ken at the refugee for allowing us to check in there, Sterling Ridge Resort for the syrup, Ben and Mike for the Orvis outfit, Whistle Pig whiskey for their years of continued support, Chris Lynch for his IT prowess and MC skills, Brendan Hare for scoring fair and square, Steve "Bubba" Stanley and Kev for their captain bag flies, Nick Mayer for the hoodies and anyone else I forgot to mention. It takes a village to pull this off and we appreciate everyone involved.
Most of all, we appreciate you! Thanks so much for showing up year after year and thanks to those who came out for the first time. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did!
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| Cleaning the pickle sticks. Good night pickle. See y'all next year. |
Top Teams:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1zo6bd8MNnZV0vdaGDWE5IZybmFZF1u3XDojNMl4_PWQ/edit?usp=sharing
Top Indy:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/17h0gkKA2TFIVUyzT0SjBe7iKqY5Pxoab/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109780410643198465846&rtpof=true&sd=true
Top Paddler:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ElyYTcMIL2ldGlVJCOf8JAxBGMdXGiKX/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109780410643198465846&rtpof=true&sd=true
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