skaneatles lake Results: Jun 16, 2012
Happy New Year!!! No, not to January 1st; and yes, I know the year is almost 7 months deep already. But for the New York Upstate Division, it’s a brand-spankin, new year!
Our first stop of the new season: the deep, crystal-clear waters of Skaneateles Lake. Smallmouth Country.
Our Friday night meeting was hosted by Calvary Bible Baptist Church in Elbridge, N.Y. where Pastor George Berkinshaw would bring our inspirational speech. A fine meal was provided by Franco’s Pizzeria of North Utica and door prizes and raffle prizes were brought in by Sport Fishing Ventures Unlimited (www.sfvu.com) and Welcome to the Woods LLC (www.welcometothewoodsllc.com) and by Smiley's Too Antique and Collectibles Auction.
Opening the season at Skaneateles Lake, we wanted to see a tournament take place during the spawn. Something that is uncommon here in New York with our regulated mid June start date. And on the water, that is what we saw. Our top two finishers engaging in a sight fishing tug of war. In the end though, it was the team of Jason Maxwell and Perry Hixson who would have the stronger pull and take the prize in their first divisional tournament.
The morning brought strong winds that made sight finishing nearly impossible, when Perry and Jason fished the bottom with an array of finesse lures but yielded only small fish. But as the sun rose, the wind died, and they moved into the shallows for bedding fish. They anchored their winning catch of 5 smallmouth with a hog taken off a bed that would weigh 3.67 pounds, the Big Bass of the tournament. Their 5 fish limit weighed in at 13.42 pounds, barely edging out second place by less then half a pound.
Capturing second place was the team that domintated the division last year winning 4 out 5 tournaments they fished in, Ryan and Frank Frisca. Like Maxwell and Hixson, the concentrated on rocky flats in the 5-8 foot range in the morning until the wind died down. When they went to the banks to sight fish, they only found small fish that would not help their cause. They went back to the flats fishing a dropshot and small jig to bag a solid limit weighing 13.05 pounds. They anchored their catch with the Second Big Bass of the tournament, 3.31 pounds.
Third Place belongs to the team of Glenn Smiley and Lynda Sheehan, who also brought in prizes from their auction house, we will get you the name of that in the next article. They brought in a 5 fish limit of all smallmouth that would go 11.32 pounds. After a great practice they had high hopes, but high boat traffic and other fishing pressure did not allow them to fish their area effectively. They did make a good adjustment changing areas and approaches to salvage a decent finish.
Please see the results page for the entire results.
From here we move to the famed waters of Oneida Lake on June 30, 2012. Oneida is one of the best bass fishing lakes in all America, but it could be tough for the field if the fish are transitioning from their post-spawn to summer patterns. Look out for a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth to take the top spot here. The Frisca’s won both tournaments we hosted on Oneida Lake last year, But they will need to do better as weights will likely be up from then. A variety of techniques can win any weekend at Oneida, and anyone can surprise the field anytime.
A special Thanks needs to go out to everyone who works to make this happen: Fishers of Men National Head Quarters, Skeeter Boats, Yahama motors, Pflueger rods and reels, Markel boat insurance, Strike King, Power-pole, Calvary Bible Baptist Church, Franco’s Pizzeria North Utica, SFVU, the auction house of Glenn Smiley and Lynda Sheehan, and Welcome to the Woods LLC.
Tight Lines Everyone and God Bless
