5 Key Things from Day 2 on the St. Lawrence River
MASSENA, N.Y. – If not for Friday’s record-setting smallmouth smash fest on Day 1 of Bass Pro Tour Stage Five on the St. Lawrence River, the second qualifying day would have been a very impressive day. The bite for Group B slowed down some due to the overcast conditions that made sight fishing more difficult.
But it was still a very good day.
Yesterday, nine anglers surpassed the 100-pound mark, and today, no angler reached that threshold. John Cox took command of the lead for Group B with 31 bass for 99 pounds, 1 ounce.
Yes, the catch numbers were down, but there was still a lot going on as the 39 anglers in the group jockeyed for a top-20 spot. Because of the different weather conditions, anglers caught fish with a broader range of techniques.
Here are five key things from the second day on the St. Lawrence River.
A Lot Less Flogging
The orange cones that were so visible in the hands of most of the top anglers on Friday were much less of a factor today. This was mainly due to the cloudy conditions – if the sun comes out again in the remaining competition days, the floggers will be out in force once again.
Pro Circuit angler Ron Nelson shared some insight into using the plastic cone, which is officially called a “bathyscope.” Nelson won the 2017 Toyota Series on Lake Champlain by sight fishing for smallmouth with one of the devices.
“The fish I caught in that tournament were all fish I found in practice,” he said. “It would be hard for guys to use one to locate fish with one and be efficient; you need to know they are or see a light or dark spot on the bottom with your eyes. (Floggers) pretty amazing, though, because even in cloudy conditions, it’s like you are looking through a snorkeling mask and you can see every little pebble down there.”
More Largemouth Sightings
There’s still hope for largemouth anglers as several anglers had some success targeting them today. While the smallmouth numbers went down, the largemouth totals went up.
Group A caught 30 largemouth bass, while anglers fishing in Group B more than doubled that: 63 largemouth made it onto SCORETRACKER®, including a handful over 4 pounds.
Anglers are catching them with tried and true largemouth techniques like topwaters and ChatterBaits, as well as finesse tactics. There’s still an outside chance that a handful of anglers who chose to target largemouth will make it to the Knockout Round, but the pre-tournament predictions of them being a significant factor will likely not come to fruition.
The Western Connection
West Coast anglers have a long history of performing well on northern smallmouth fisheries. Their experience fishing clear reservoirs with light line and drop-shots fit seamlessly to the Great Lakes region.
Josh Bertrand won an Elite Series event on the St. Lawrence, and Justin Lucas claimed both the Bass Pro Tour event on Sturgeon Bay and the FLW Tour Super Tournament on Lake Erie last year. Those are just a few examples of this long-running theme.
It’s happening again this week as Brent Ehrler, Bertrand, Lucas, and Cody Meyer finished third, fourth, sixth and seventh, respectively, on Day 1; Saturday, it was John Murray (fifth) and Brett Hite (sixth) in the mix.
Weather Watch
The differences in weather conditions over a 24-hour period were vast. Sun and generally pleasant weather on Friday was replaced by rain, clouds and wind today. The anglers in Group A will return to the water with another curveball on Sunday: warmer conditions and even more wind.
Sunday’s forecasted high is 88 degrees, with winds up to 18 miles per hour. How this will affect the bite is hard to predict, but it will force the Group A anglers to adapt if they expect to keep up the blistering pace they set to start the event.
Pro Circuit Watch
As with each event on the Bass Pro Tour this season, four anglers from the Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit have been invited to fill out the 80-angler field. They’ve had a smattering of success so far, with a few advancing to the Knockout Round. If the four anglers fishing this week hope to advance, they’ll have to step it up.
Ryan Davidson finished Day 1 in 30th with 40-11 and Trevor Fitzgerald had 34-1 for 34th. Jason Abram finished Day 2 in 30th and Mitch Crane ended up in 31st.