Last month, Justin McClelland introduced himself to BassFans as he and father Mike kicked off a summer tournament odyssey that will see them travel the country together while competing in the Bassmaster Central and Northern Opens. It’s Justin’s first taste of national-level tournament competition from the front of the boat while Mike is hoping he can provide guidance and maybe learn a few things himself along the way.

The second stop on the McClelland's summer fishing adventure was the Oneida Lake Northern Open. It's a venue that Mike knows well from a few Elite Series tournaments there, but it was all new to Justin.

Unlike the Arkansas River Central Open where the two finished with the same two-day weight, the multi-species fishery treated Mike much better as he finished 65th. Justin, on the other hand, settled for 133rd, but managed to take home the big bass award for the event with a 4-13 caught on day 2.

In the latest Open Road Journal below, Justin reflects on his time at Oneida:

Justin’s View

The overall all experience of the last two events has been great.

Personally, I felt going into the Northern Open at Oneida Lake I was going to have a good event. I had found 10 or 12 different largemouth spots throughout the lake and had 70-plus waypoints across the lake where I felt like I could catch quality smallmouth.

The thing that really made me puzzled was what happened two days before the event. Leading up through official practice, the fishing on Oneida was really good. Two days before the event I started to see how hard or terrible it could be. I felt at that point that the pressure was getting to the lake.

It was a huge field, but not as big as what we have at home in some of our events. So having 200 boats on the water didn’t really affect my thoughts. I understood that there would be some people on certain places I wanted to be on and no one on others.

Dad’s Help

Before I left home for the event, I spoke with dad on several occasions trying to make sure that I didn’t forget anything. By being able to kind of get an idea of what was going on allowed me not to have to travel with as much equipment in my truck and boat. When I did finally hit the water at Oneida I did feel that there were some fish pre-spawn and a lot post-spawn. So just being able to get to talk to my dad before the event allowed me to really have a pretty good understanding of what to expect.

How it Panned Out

Leading into the first day of competition I really felt right at home. Clear-water lakes are what I am used to and have learned over the years different tricks on how to catch them. On the first day, I was due in at 4 p.m. and really felt like I would get around big ones that were feeding at some point in the day, but that never happened all day.

Dad was able to get around some better quality fish that were feeding. On day 2, I knew that I was going to have to catch a big sack of fish just to get paid and a even bigger one to make the top 12, so I went out with the complete intention of catching 20 pounds or better. The day started out great. At my second stop, I caught an almost 3-pounder. The second place I stopped at I caught the big bass of the event, which was 4-13.

The best things about the big bass were I had found her 3 days before the event in a patch of water willow and she stayed there all the way through Friday. So for the overall experience of this event I really feel like I stubbed my toe. Will I catch them at the next one? Absolutely!

Check back after the James River Northern Open (Aug. 18-20) for the next entry in the McClelland's Open Road Journal.