Big smallmouth and big runs – that’s what the St. Lawrence River offers every time a tournament is held there. Thus, the biggest question for anglers in the Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Northeast Division tournament on July 20 is just how big a risk do they want to take.
Tournament details
Phoenix Bass Fishing League Presented by T-H Marine Northeast Division
St. Lawrence River
Massena, N.Y.
July 20
About the fishery
Launching out of Massena, N.Y., anglers will have more than 100 miles of river to explore, all the way up to Lake Ontario.
While the big lake is off limits for this tournament, it won’t stop many from running more than an hour and a half right up to it, as the Thousand Islands area is well-known as some of the best big-fish waters in the fishery.
Realistically, though, some of the biggest smallmouth in the world roam the waters from takeoff to the lake, and the winning bag could easily come with a 10-minute run away as it can an hour-plus. There’s a healthy population of largemouth that could come into play, but smallmouth will dominate.
What to expect
It was an abnormally warm spring in the northeast this year, and that has put the fish on fast forward a little.
“I’d expect the St. Lawrence to be like most the lakes up here this year, which is further ahead than normal,” says local pro Alec Morrison. “The fish wrapped up the spawn much earlier, and so while it may say July on the calendar, pros may want to fish more like it’s early August for this event.”
What that means if focusing deeper than normal, targeting fish that have left the shallow spawning flats and started hanging out on the deeper structures 20 feet and deeper. Then again, Morrison said anglers can’t rule out the giants that love to roam the river’s sandy shallows, especially around Wolfe Island. More than a few tournaments have been won by going the quality-over-quantity route up shallow.
Really, the biggest decision for pros will be how far they want to run, because they can use up the majority of their day in the driver’s seat if they’re not careful.
“You’re going to see plenty of guys who run all the way to the lake, but you’re talking more than half your day taken up driving and filling up with gas,” Morrison said. “But if you’ve found the right stuff down there, it’s worth it. At the same time, the dude who only runs halfway has won a bunch of these one-day events because they’ve got more time.”
Near or far, Morrison says anything less than 24 to 25 pounds is probably not going to compete for the win, as there’s just too many giant smallmouth in the system.