The home lake advantage doesn’t apply to Kraig Kettelkamp, but the western New Yorker applied local logic to his lead at the Oneida Lake Bassmaster Northern Open.
Kettelkamp, of Clifton Springs, caught 20-07 bag of largemouths to grab a lead of nearly 2 pounds.
leader is exclusively targeting largemouth. By comparison, smallmouth filled the sacks of the other Top 4 anglers.
“In practice I caught both, but the smallmouth bite didn’t work today,” Kettelkamp said.
Bassmaster Elite Series pro Randy Howell caught 18-09 and sits in the No. 2 position. Chad Pipkens, another Elite Series angler, was 3rd with 16-15.
“I never miss a chance to fish Oneida because it’s about the only tournament fishery where you can catch smallmouth and largemouth in shallow water,” said Howell.
Here are the totals for the initial Top 12:
1. Kraig Kettelkamp: 20-07
2. Randy Howell: 18-09
3. Chad Pipkens: 16-15
4. Austin Felix: 16-11
5. Boyd Duckett: 16-09
6. Mike Elsea: 16-07
7. (tie) Pete Garnier: 16-02
7. (tie) Stephen Mui: 16-02
9. John Lorenzo: 15-14
10. Shane Lineberger: 15-11
11. Derek Yasinski: 15-09
12. Mike Kernan: 15-06
