The week off that Elite Series anglers had between Delaware River, PA. & Cayuga Lake, NY was typically spent fishing somewhere in the Northeast. For me it was 1000 Islands… one of my favorite bass fishing waters in all the United States. As I mentioned in my previous blog I was able to take a sponsor of mine, Dixie Electric, fishing for a few days at 1000 Islands and boy did we have a blast! Big brown smallies were had by all and it was a pleasure to be able to share the great fishing of the Northeast with some good West Texas friends. Going into my last Elite Series event of the year at Lake Cayuga of course I wanted to finish on a high note. I’ve had some experience at Cayuga Lake in the past and most recently a top 25 finish in the 2012 BASS Open event.
Aug. 21-24, Cayuga Lake, Union Springs, NY – BASS Elite Series #8
Practice:
Cayuga Lake is a natural lake and also a ‘finger lake’. It is very deep in the middle, (over 400 feet), with gradually sloping shallow contours on the shorelines with large flats on each end of the lake. I was most interested in finding fish on grass edges in the north end of the lake. I enjoy fishing vegetation and dropping big weights with Texas rigged plastics in the thickest areas of grass next to the edges of open water. Another effective technique is to work crankbaits around and over the open water grass clumps to elicit reaction strikes.
I feel the biggest fish in these types of conditions are in the thickest grass and closest to the deepest water during the mid-summer months. Practice day 1 was going a little slow but I was getting some bites here and there. Late in the afternoon I finally started to get several bites punching the outside grass with a ¾ to 1 oz tungsten weight with a Texas-rigged craw bait. Most of these bites came in one particular 100 yard stretch on the north end. I worked it over pretty well and felt confident the right fish were present to weigh 15 lbs a day. That type of weight on Cayuga should make a top 50 cut, no problem.
The next day I began running different areas on the shorelines from the north end to mid-lake looking for more groups of fish. I was having very little luck, nearly striking out everywhere I tried. I felt good though about the north end flats and would try to dial in the best areas of that section of the lake on day 3 of practice. I had one heck of a day landing several nice fish on crankbaits on day 3 under some very cloudy windy conditions. I was now ready for any weather that I might face in the tournament. I was ready to start and was positive things would go my way.
Event Day 1: 5 Bass / 11lbs 1oz – 81st place of 106
Just after my boat number is called I make the short ride to my best stretch on the north end and find a few other competitors in the area. I wasn’t discouraged because I just knew there were tons of fish in the area and felt we would all do well. I started near my best waypoint and Kenyon Hill, another elite angler, was basically right on it. We both fished around the juice for at least an hour without a bite. I started to expand some and was still running into tough conditions and very few bites. Catching lots of pickerel, I was finally able to start putting a few bass in the live well but they weren’t nearly the size I was expecting. Not that they were all good’uns in practice, but I was getting enough bites to have some culls and this day it wasn’t happening. I struggled to fill my limit and only managed to cull one fish all day and that was with about 10 min. to go. I tote to the scales a touch over 11 lbs… that stung!
Event Day 2: 5 Bass / 15lbs 13oz – 57th place of 106
I am telling myself not to worry. I know I am around the right size fish to make a good showing and redeem myself. A few big bites and I have a chance to make the cut for Day 3. I was only 2 lbs, 14 oz back of 50th place. I began day 2 in the same place as the first day. I start off slow but in the first 2 hours I have already gotten more bites than all of day 1. I am feeling more confident and it appears I will catch them today… I just need those couple of kicker bites. At about 10 am I catch my first solid fish… a 3 lb, 9 oz fish. I have limit and start the climb up. I thought a high teen’s bag would give me a shot to make the cut. I stick with punching all day since we have high bluebird skies. I am really beginning to feel I’m in the groove… just feeling at ‘one’ with my technique and how the fish are biting. I have supreme confidence in my game. I catch another quality 3 lb+ bass and cull… then another bass close to 4lbs. It’s about 12:30 and I have 3 solid fish and 2 smaller 2½ lbers.
I believe I am going to make it happen with about 2 hours left to fish. Then BOOM, another good fish over 3½ lbs and I cull again! I know I have about 16 lbs and a little over an hour left of fishing time. If I can get rid of that last 2½ lber and replace it with solid 3½ to 4 lber I’m in! Over the final hour I have 3 or 4 bites and catch a couple that won’t help… once it’s time to lift the trolling motor and head back to check-in… I can only wonder… Why? I miss the cut by 1 lb, 3 oz and my Elite Series season is complete.
Event Total - 10 Bass / 26lbs 14oz / 57th place of 106.
I kicked some butt at the beginning of the year and it felt awesome! Once I turned the corner to the second half I hit a bump in the road at Toledo Bend and really had a difficult time recovering. It became one good day and then one poor with nearly zero consistency. This game of competitive bass fishing is streaky… and I need to figure out how to make my good streaks longer than the bad ones. I’ll be back in 2015 with new goals and ambitions. Most of all I’ll be back in 2015 with a new beginning… See ya then!
Thanks BoatUS!
Next blog… Kicking off 2015…. Lots of changes coming… l look forward sharing them with you!
