Anglers Could Pick What To Offer Eager Fish

By John Johnson
BassFan Senior Editor

To call Cayuga Lake a healthy fishery would be a severe understatement. No less an authority than Aaron Martens said it took him several days to wrap his brain around just how many chunky, vibrant bass swim in the second-largest of western New York's renowned Finger Lakes.

"There's millions of them here," Martens said after bowing out of the event on day 3 with a 15th-place finish. "There's maybe 10 times more than I thought."

The largemouths are scattered all over the long, narrow lake, but the majority favor the shallower, weedier northern portion. Most of the Bassmaster Elite Series field congregated in that end during last week's regular-season finale and caught a bunch of them – along with a ton of pickerel.

Winner Greg Hackney fished farther south than most and had his primary area all to himself. Second- and 3rd-place finishers Todd Faircloth and Chris Zaldain amicably shared a highly productive locale all week, but in the end neither could keep up with Hackney.

Edwin Evers (4th) turned in his second strong outing this month and Jared Lintner (5th) capped a stellar campaign with his fifth finish of 18th or better in seven points events.

Here are some of the details on how Hackney's closest pursuers went about their business.

2nd: Todd Faircloth

> Day 1: 5, 20-02
> Day 2: 5, 20-02
> Day 3: 5, 20-03
> Day 4: 5, 15-06
> Total = 20, 75-13

Faircloth, who's also playing second fiddle to Hackney in the Angler of the Year race, was right in the mix for his fifth career Elite victory until the final day, when he caught by far his lightest bag and Hackney erupted for the tournament's biggest.

When viewed through the naked eye, the place he and Zaldain divvied up had no distinguishing features. Below the surface, however, was a healthy line of grass growing from a hard, clean bottom.

"I actually caught a few (during practice) just south of there and I was just following the edge of the grass line and casting a crankbait when I found it," he said. "I caught about a 3 1/2-pounder and he had three or four more with him. After that I started throwing a worm around and getting bites and I milled around and figured out what was holding them there.

"It was deep – the bottom was about 19 feet. The grass came up to 12 to 15 feet, but that bottom was really the key. Most of the lake just has scattered grass and it's hard to find a bottom that's real clean like that."

The area was on the east side of the lake in the northern end, but a ways south of where most of the field gathered.

"There was a mixture (of vegetation), but milfoil and coontail were the biggest deal. The bright green grass that was crisp, that's where the fish were at."

Could he have won the event from that locale if he hadn't had to share it?

"It's hard to say and we'll never know now. We definitely caught a lot of fish off that one spot but it seemed like Hackney was catching a little bit better grade."

He had a backup stretch about a mile and a half away that surrendered several weigh-in fish, including three on the final day. Everything he caught came on either the crank or the worm.

> Cranking gear: 7'2" medium-action Castaway Todd Faircloth Signature Series cranking rod, Shimano Core casting reel (6:1 ratio), 12-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, Strike King 5XD (green gizzard shad).

> Worm gear: 7' heavy-action Castaway Mag rod, Shimano Chronarch casting reel (7:1 ratio), 14-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, unnamed 3/0 round-bend offset hook, 3/8-ounce Strike King tungsten weight, 6" Strike King Cut-R Worm (green-pumpkin).

Main factor in his success – "I love fishing grass – that's my comfort zone – and that lake has a lot of it."

Performance edge – "Everything was real important, but my Lowrance unit was a big key for fishing grass that I couldn't see."

3rd: Chris Zaldain

> Day 1: 5, 15-12
> Day 2: 5, 21-08
> Day 3: 5, 19-00
> Day 4: 5, 18-08
> Total = 20, 74-12

Zaldain didn't arrive at the area he and Faircloth fished until the afternoon of day 1 – about an hour after Faircloth had departed with 20 pounds in his box. Faircloth got there first on the morning of day 2 and when Zaldain arrived a few minutes later, both were surprised at the other's presence.

Zaldain had a witness to him having fished there the previous day, as his day-1 marshal had drawn out with Faircloth for day 2.

Zaldain admitted that he stumbled upon the place in practice. He was idling along and talking on his cell phone when he looked at his graph and saw the wad of fish below.

"I knew it was a winning-type area and I didn't think there was any way somebody else would find it," he said. "It was basically a big cove, but right in the middle was this big flat where the water was 20 to 22 feet deep.

"The milfoil and the coontail were thick down there, but not tall. When I found where they met up with this other type of grass that was taller, that was the winning combo. They were like high spots on the flat where the weed clumps topped out at about 14 feet."

The duo fished within a cast of each other for much of the event. Zaldain said he gave Faircloth some space because Faircloth had caught the larger day-1 stringer and was also battling for the AOY.

He did his work there with a dropshot rig. His backup program consisted of flipping a jig and throwing a frog in extremely shallow water farther north.

> Dropshot gear: 7' medium-action Megabass Orochi XX shaky-head rod, unnamed 2500 Series spinning reel, 20-pound Seaguar SmackDown braided line (high-vis yellow), 10-pound Seaguar Tatsu fluorocarbon leader (10'), unnamed 1/4-ounce cylindrical dropshot weight, unnamed 1/0 hook, Texas-rigged Strike King Super Finesse Worm (candy craw with tail dyed chartreuse).

> He opted for the stiffer shaky-head rod over the Orochi XX dropshot model in order to better maneuver the bait in the thick vegetation.

> He caught two weigh-in fish flipping a 1-ounce Strike King Slither Rig with a Strike King Rage Craw trailer and one throwing a Strike King KVD Sexy Frog.

Main factor in his success – "Staying on the outside of that main grass line in the deep water."

Performance edge – "My Raymarine DownVision was the whole key to establishing that spot."

4th: Edwin Evers

> Day 1: 5, 19-12
> Day 2: 5, 19-05
> Day 3: 5, 13-11
> Day 4: 5, 19-13
> Total = 20, 72-09

Evers wasn't tied to any specific locations. He remained on the move almost constantly and fished new water each day.

He flipped milfoil in the 8- to 12-foot depth range.

"I found a lot of fish in practice throwing a Megabass Spark Shad (swimbait)," he said. "They'd come up and roll on it and wouldn't eat it, but they'd let me know they were there.

"I fished both sides of the lake and there were plenty of other boats around, but I just kept covering water."

His bags exceeded 19 pounds on 3 of the 4 days. The lone exception was day 3, when a strong south wind caused a lot of competitors to struggle.

He caught all 20 of his weigh-in fish on the long rod.

> Flipping gear: 7'6" heavy action Bass Pro Shops CarbonLite rod, BPS Johnny Morris Signature Series casting reel (7:1 ratio), 50-pound BPS XPS braided line, 3/4- or 1-ounce BPS XPS weight, 4/0 Mustad straight-shank hook, Zoom Z-Hog (black/blue or green-pumpkin).

> He flipped the black/blue bait under gray skies and opted for green-pumpkin when the sun emerged.

Main factor in his success – "Just putting my head down and covering water, not knowing where my next bite was coming from but knowing I was going to get some. I had my trolling motor on 80 or 90 percent almost the whole time."

Performance edge – "My Optima batteries were huge, that 7 1/2-foot rod is perfect for flipping the grass and Wiley X got me a new pair of yellow lenses that there critical in those clouds for seeing the clumps and grass heads when I was going so fast."

5th: Jared Lintner

> Day 1: 5, 17-00
> Day 2: 5, 19-06
> Day 3: 5, 17-06
> Day 4: 5, 17-10
> Total = 20, 71-06

Unlike most competitors, Lintner turned south each day when he left the takeoff in Union Springs, N.Y. and traveled at least 8 miles in that direction. His areas were all between that point and the bottom end of the lake.

He also fished shallower than most, keeping his bait in the 6- to 9-foot range.

"In practice I located some of the specific thicker clumps of grass," he said. "I wouldn't catch fish off every one (during the tournament), but maybe every other one I'd get a good one."

He picked up some quality fish skipping a jig under docks while moving between grass areas. He also caught a few on a Senko.

"I hardly ever fish Senkos because you have to fish them too slow and it makes me crazy. The way they bite it there, though, you can throw it a long way and fish it a lot quicker. I was throwing it at isolated grass clumps."

> Grass-flipping gear: 7'11" heavy-action G. Loomis IMX 954 rod, Shimano Curado casting reel (7.2:1 ratio), 60-pound Sunline FX2 braided line, 3/4-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight, 4/0 Lazer TroKar straight-shank flipping hook, Paycheck Baits punch skirt (black/blue), Jackall Chunk Craw (green-pumpkin).

> The Chunk Craw is a bait that Jackall markets only in Japan. "I bought some when I visited over there and I'm trying to get the company to bring it here," he said. "It's got a nice action to it."

> Dock-skipping gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis GLX 893 rod, same reel, 20-pound Sunline Shooter fluorocarbon line, 1/2-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten jig (green-pumpkin/orange), Jackall Chunk Craw or Zoom Super Chunk Jr. trailer (various colors).

> Worm gear: 7'5" medium-heavy G. Loomis NRX 894 rod, Shimano Chronarch Ci4+ casting reel (7.6:1 ratio), 18-pound Sunline Super FC Sniper fluorocarbon line, 1/4-ounce Eco Pro Tungsten weight, 5/0 Lazer TroKar hook, Gary Yamamoto Custom Baits Senko (black/blue or green-pumpkin).

Main factor in his success – "Covering water and staying focused."

Performance edge – "I saw some crazy stuff with the HydroWave, like when I was fishing through a place and not seeing any activity, then I fire it up and yellow perch are coming right to my trolling motor and I start catching bass and pike. And my Amphibia sunglasses, the new lens is the clearest I've ever put on my head. I got them Monday night and basically threw my other sunglasses in the trash. I could just see the grass so much better."

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