Bryan Schmitt had planned on catching a mixed bag of largemouth and smallmouth bass on day 2 of the Lake Champlain Bassmaster Northern Open, but it was a limit of five smallmouth that nudged him into the lead.
When the lake’s surface turned slick in the afternoon, Schmitt knew what to do. He knew Lake Champlain smallmouth liked to feed on calm, sunny days.
“I leaned on the smallmouth as hard as I could, and that really helped me out,” said Schmitt, whose 20-09 stringer pushed his total to 40-15. “I had a lot of fun out there today. Hopefully, I’ll have one more day of it.”
The first morning, Schmitt concentrated on largemouth and caught a couple of keepers but had to switch over to a smallmouth pattern to complete his limit. Today, he decided to stick with brown bass, especially when the weather turned favorable for a smallmouth bite.
Both days he has keyed on three spots, and he said he never saw another competitor’s boat.
“I really sat on those spots a long time and tried to work them the best I could,” said the 35-year-old Chesapeake Bay charter guide. “Tomorrow, I can go lean on the smallmouth again the rest of the day. I'm hoping a couple of things that I'm doing will work because there shouldn’t be anybody there.”
A couple of missed fish plagued first-day leader Jesse Tacoronte, who slipped into 2nd place with 40-8.
“I jumped two 4 1/2-pounders off,” Tacoronte said. “I had one of them in my hand, and it jumped over my hand and broke the line.”
The 49-year-old owner of Enigma Fishing Co. used different baits and a different approach to catch smallmouth on day 2. He had most of his 19-05 limit by 9:38 a.m.
The Orlando, Fla., angler plans to focus on two spots that are loaded with smallmouth for the final day. “I haven’t seen a single boat anywhere near my water,” he said. “So who knows how many hundreds of thousands of fish I have to myself. With smallies, you can throw into the same spot a hundred times and catch 40 fish.”
Here's how the Top 12 stacks up with one day remaining:
1. Bryan Schmitt: 40-14
2. Jesse Tacoronte: 40-08
3. Chris Molineux: 40-04
4. Wil Hardy II: 38-14
5. Alton Jones Jr.: 38-05
6. Brett Carnright: 38-02
7. Bryan Labelle: 37-14
8. Adrian Avena: 37-14
9. Stephen MuiP 37-11
10. David Gaston: 37-01
11. Sam George: 36-11
12. Steve York: 36-11
