HAMBURG, N.Y. – The top 20 pros and co-anglers took off from Buffalo’s NFTA Boat Harbor at 7 a.m. Friday for another day of feisty smallmouth fishing in EverStart Series Northern Division competition.
As far as brownback fishing goes, this part of Lake Erie is hard to beat. More 5- to 6-pound smallies have come across the scale in this tournament than at any other event in recent memory.
Still, anglers are taking a beating in getting after them. The moderate southwest wind that stirred up 5-foot swells on the big lake the first two days is back again for day three. So don’t be surprised if some anglers return from action looking a little green in the gills again.
Two or three 20-pound sacks have led each of the first two days. Friday’s leader should come in with about the same weight, and the semifinalists have as good as shot to catch a limit here as anywhere. Weights will be tight.
Friday’s weigh-in will be held at the Wal-Mart store located at 4255 McKinley Parkway in Hamburg beginning at 4 p.m.
Weights are cleared for the semifinal round, and anglers compete for one day to determine who will advance to Saturday’s final round. Only the top 10 pros and 10 co-anglers compete Saturday, and the winner is determined by the heaviest two-day weight.
Friday’s conditions:
Sunrise: 6:35 a.m.
Temperature at takeoff: 73 degrees
Expected high temperature: 82 degrees
Water temperature: 67-70 degrees
Wind: from the south-southwest at 14 mph
Maximum humidity: 77 percent
Day’s outlook: isolated thunderstorms