The Bassmaster Elite tournament out of Clayton, NY just wrapped up and it was a smallie Smashfest. Lake Ontario was like a mill pond all 4 days and it allowed the pros to really capitalize. It was a great derby to watch, and Paul Mueller finished 5th, but a 23 year old rookie won it wire to wire. 2 anglers hit the century mark for all smallmouth. What a great fishery thanks to zebra muscles, gobies and weather that limits the pressure.
#1833035 - 07/21/2211:31 AM
Re: 102 lbs of smallies
[Re: Tall 1]
Jon Pski
Member
Registered: 04/15/02
Posts: 5742
Loc: Winsted, CT
Crazy weights up there. Day one average was something close to 4.5 pounds! 20 smallmouth for over 100 pounds is amazing. 20 pounds a day couldn't get you into the top 47 cut.
Don P
Member
Registered: 05/03/07
Posts: 19031
Loc: CLINTON, CT
Yea, for us non-bass non-tourney non-freshwater guys thanks for clarifying the breakdown of 102#s of Smallmouth Bass……..so that was for the top 5 boats weighed in a total of 102#s?…….not a solo winning angler?
(Still all too small to use as baitfish for us salt guys )
Each angler weighs in his 5 biggest fish each day. The winning pro weighed in a record 102 lbs total over the 4 day tournament. His 20 total bass, (5 per day for 4 days), averaged over 5 lbs each. These giant weights are mind blowing and the winner was a 23 year old rookie angler from Wisconsin who had never been to the Thousand Islands/ST Lawrence/Lake Ontario before.
Amazing weights were brought to the scales by everyone.
When a smallmouth derby has over a 5 lb average to win it’s very special and may never happen again. It was the perfect storm (calm weather, sunny, shallow fish, lake and river in play)
Think of a 5 lb Smallmouth as a 40 lb striper., it's a lifetime fish for most people and although they do get bigger most people will never catch one much bigger than that, and there are only certain places that you can go that give you a legitimate shot at catching one year round and any given time. Lake Ontario, for those of you who have not had a chance to fish it, is one of those places and I would recommend to anybody. The St Lawrence River is very good but the star of the show is Lake Ontario. The amazing thing is there are other Fisheries that are even better than this. Several other spots on the Great Lakes aren't getting any pressure have no tournament activity and are just too far off the beaten path. Canada, michigan, Minnesota, New York State... these are unbelievable Fisheries and right around the corner is Idaho, Oregon and Washington, which are producing some ridiculous fish right now.
I've cut down on a lot of local fishing in order to focus on traveling to the destinations near us within about 5 or 6 hours at the most with Lake Ontario Oneida Cayuga Champlain and a few other spots in Vermont being on that list. Haven't made a lot of them this year but when I've gone it's been nothing short of amazing. These places are fish factories.
Wait til they hit 120 pounds for 4 days. It's ABSOLUTELY possible.
mattmann7
Member
Registered: 08/25/06
Posts: 3844
Loc: wethersfield ct
Originally Posted By: Tall 1
The Bassmaster Elite tournament out of Clayton, NY just wrapped up and it was a smallie Smashfest. Lake Ontario was like a mill pond all 4 days and it allowed the pros to really capitalize. It was a great derby to watch, and Paul Mueller finished 5th, but a 23 year old rookie won it wire to wire. 2 anglers hit the century mark for all smallmouth. What a great fishery thanks to zebra muscles, gobies and weather that limits the pressure.
Exciting tournament to follow. Thought for sure Paul had a chance to catch the rookie around noon on Sunday till the rookie boated 2 over five back to back.
Too lazy to start a different thread but keep an eye on the final Northern BASS open. Middletown angler Alex Wetherell is essentially leading the points race going into the final event. The only guy ahead of him already fishes the elites.
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