Cayuga Lake Elite Series

Competition Wrapup
Saturday, August 23, 2014

Aaron Martens

> Day 1: 5, 12-14
> Day 2: 5, 16-00
> Day 3: 5, 19-04
> Total = 15, 48-02 (15th place)

This tournament could've been better, but it could've been a lot worse, too. I goofed up in practice and didn't really understand the lake. I didn't think it had that many fish. It has maybe 10 times more than I thought.

Once I knew what to look for, I picked apart some areas here and there and found the big ones. I caught them (on day 2) really good, too, but I just didn't have the big bites. I caught a third of those on a crankbait and the other two-thirds on a dropshot and today when it got windy I got out the big worm and Texas-rigged it with a 3/8-ounce weight on 16-pound Sunline Sniper (fluorocarbon). I covered a lot of water and made a lot of casts.

I used the 6-inch Roboworm Fat in Aaron's Magic and MM3 and I also used some worms that Todd Faircloth gave me.

The fish were in 14 to 17 feet in milfoil and a hydrilla-type grass. It's not hydrilla like at Guntersville, but almost like coontail. I fished some really healthy patches of milfoil.

I tried dropshotting with braid with an 8-pound Sniper leader, but the quagga mussels on the grass clumps were cutting through the braid – they go through it like a hot knife through better. It's a lot better to just go with straight fluorocarbon.

Brent Chapman

> Day 1: 5, 19-01
> Day 2: 5, 17-06
> Day 3: 5, 17-13
> Day 4: 5, 15-09
> Total = 20, 69-13

Going into the event it was do or die for me and I honestly thought a Top 10 would put me in the Top 50 in the points, but that wasn't how it worked out. I didn't know a whole lot about the lake. I took a day last year (after the St. Lawrence River tournament) and rode around it. The wind was blowing about 30 mph out of the north, but I was at least able to wrap my brain around what to expect and that was very beneficial when I went back.

Bass are typically an edge species and in the summertime they were going to be out on those giant flats of milfoil, coontail, hydrilla at whatnot. In practice I started out with a deep-diving crankbait and got on a pretty strong pattern, and then I got up shallow and started catching some off docks. I knew right then and there with the practice I had that there was going to be a lot of fish caught.

I caught a few on a wacky worm, but flipping didn't really pan out until the third day. There were so many boats doing it in the same area that I think the pressure just shut the fish down. Guys were flipping in my cranking areas, but I was getting reaction bites from fish that had already been stuck or were freaked out by the pressure.

I tried fishing down the lake some and I should've tried even farther south, but with 3 days of practice you only have so long to put something together.

Practice Wrapup
Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Aaron Martens
I caught a lot of keepers, but I think there's going to be a lot of boats in the same areas. I won't know that for sure until tomorrow, but everybody finds everything.

I'm going to fish deep, shallow and everywhere in between. I've caught them from 1 foot all the way down to 20. I had some decent days, but that was without anybody really pressuring those areas. When a bunch of boats get on them the weights will probably go down.

This lake's fun to fish, but I don't think it's going to be a really fun tournament (due to crowding). I hope I catch them, but I don't know if I will or not. I hope I can get through this one with a Top 12. I'd like to win it, but I just have no idea what's going to happen.

Brent Chapman
Practice was pretty good. I feel like I've got something decent going on but I'm really not sure what to think with all the fishing pressure that's going to happen. It's going to be like the St. Johns River all over again with people all over stacked on top of people. Once we start sticking fish, we'll see how much of an effect that's going to have.

It's possible to catch 25 pounds a day here and we may see one of those bags. If it happens, I hope it's me, but I find it hard to believe it's going to take 20-some pounds a day to win. I think it'll be more like 17 or 18 a day to win and probably 15 a day to stay up there in the standings.

I know what I've got to do, so hopefully I can go do it.

Day 1 Practice Report
Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Aaron Martens
There's a lot of fish in here, but it's going to fish small. A lot of people are going to find the same fish and most of them will be ganged up on the north end.

I caught one 4-pounder today and I shook a bunch of fish off. In some places I saw a bunch and just kept going – I didn't fish for them. I'm trying to locate areas because this place is tricky. It's not good everywhere and that's why it's going to fish small.

I've been up and down (the water column). I fished from 2 feet down to 30 feet and there's bass in all of it.

The weather's perfect – it was just ridiculously nice today. There was just a little breeze, like maybe 5 to 6 mph, and it was about 72 degrees.

I was hoping to be able to pattern them here, but it looks like it's going to be more of a spot thing. Finding the little hot spots isn't easy because you hit a lot of dead water.

Brent Chapman
This place is pretty good. It seems like there's a lot of fish in here and it'll be night and day compared to the Delaware. It'll probably take some pretty good weight to do well here, but for me it's do or die at this point – I've got to have a Top 10 to move on, so I'm going to swing for the fences and try to catch some big ones. Today was at least a good start in that direction.

We've got a couple more days of practice and it'll be interesting to see what all this pressure does to these fish. They're getting beat up big-time.

I'm sure this tournament will come down to the guy who's able to adjust every day. I'd be shocked if somebody was able to do the same thing all 4 days and be able to catch them consistently.