The 51 Bassmaster Elite Series anglers who'll compete in this week's Memorial Major have spent the better part of July in upstate New York – for most, a long ways from home. Their extended stay in the Empire State will conclude this weekend, and at least the points-chase headaches are off the table for this event.
The qualifiers will fish a tougher Lake Oneida than they encountered last year for the first 2 days, and then the Top 12 will advance to the six-hole course at Lake Onondaga in metropolitan Syracuse on Saturday. Only the Top 6 will compete for the big prize ($250,000) on Sunday.
Why is Oneida stingier than it was just over a year ago? Primarily because the water level is down about a foot from where it was then, and a lot of productive shoreline vegetation is out of the water. That means the lake's substantial population of quality largemouths, which Tommy Biffle exploited to win last year, will be tougher to pattern.
The smallmouths were relatively easy to catch in practice, but fish over 3 pounds were scarce for most. The prevailing opinion is that just about everybody will catch 12 pounds a day, and those who separate themselves from the pack will do it with one or two 4-pound bites.
Before getting into more information about the bite, here's more about the lake itself.
BassFan Lake Profile
> Lake Name: Lake Oneida
> Type of Water: Natural lake
> Surface Acres (full pool): 51,000 acres
> Primary structure/cover: Humps, weedlines, drop-offs, rock shoals, a few docks
> Primary forage: Perch, emerald shiners, immature white bass/white perch, mayfly nymphs/emergers
> Average depth: 12 feet in west end, 30 feet in east end
> Species: Largemouths, smallmouths
> Minimum length: 12 inches
> Reputation: Mega-numbers lake with easy 2-pound average, 3-pound fish abundant but tougher to catch
> Weather: Day 1 should be sunny and mild, but thunderstorms and showers are possible for the final 3 days. High temperatures will range from the low to high 80s and there are no major winds projected.
> Water temp: Low to mid 70s
> Water visibility/color: 5 to 10 feet/a green tinge from an algae bloom in some places
> Water level: A little low (significant because some shoreline vegetation is exposed)
> Fish in: 1 to 25 feet
> Fish phase: Summer
> Primary patterns: Tubes, dropshots, topwaters, jerkbaits, Carolina-rigs, jigworms, spinnerbaits
> Winning weight: 70 pounds
> Cut weight (Top 12): 29 pounds
> Check weight: (Top 25): 23 pounds
> Fishing quality (1=poor, 5=great): 3 for Oneida
> Biggest factors: Largemouths – can they hold up for 4 days this time?
> Biggest decision: Smallmouths or largemouths, and west end or east end?
> Wildcard: Lucky bites – 4-pounders will make all the difference
Not a Secret Anymore
Oneida's real claim to fame is as a walleye fishery, but from a bass standpoint, it's best known for smallmouths. That's why many were surprised when Biffle won with green fish in 2006.
The fact that the word has been out on the largemouths for more than 12 months could be one of the reasons they're harder to catch now.
"I think a lot of the locals were unaware that that kind of largemouth fishery existed," said Texan Matt Reed, who rode largemouths to an 11th-place finish in '06. "Those fish were exposed last year, and they've been pressured.
"A lot of them you catch now have hook marks in them. I think people started fishing for them a whole lot more."
He thinks he'll need a combination of green and brown fish to make another run at a Top 12.
"I'm going to start out with smallmouths. I've caught some largemouths, but you have to fish for them in different ways than last year. I'm not comfortable enough to fish strictly for largemouths."
Biffle is, but he'll have to alter his plan of attack. He flipped extremely shallow water last year and also caught a few big ones on a frog.
Tim Horton returned to Oneida to find the grass gone from his primary areas.
"I'll stick with the largemouth, but I'll change some areas and change some of the ways I fish," he said. "Last year I caught them in a foot or a foot and a half of water, and that won't work because the lake's a lot lower than it was then."
Nonetheless, he'll have a flipping stick in his hand much of the time.
"You can flip in 10 feet of water."
Where has the Grass Gone?
Tim Horton finished 10th here last year, primarily by catching largemouths from a few key locales. That won't work this time around.
"I had some grassy areas that had some really good largemouths in them last year, but there's no grass in those places this year," he said. "I don't know why it's so much different, but it is.
"With less water, that changes things for largemouths around the bank. But you can catch some largemouths in places where they're mixed in with the smallmouths."
Terry Scroggins thinks the water level and the calendar are the biggest factors in the slower largemouth action.
"With less water in the bushes, that changes the shoreline," he said. "And it's 3 weeks later in the year (than last year's event), so (the largemouths) are more spread out and harder to catch."
Catch a Bunch, Keep a Few
The majority of the field will fish for smallmouths, and 12-pound bags of those will be no sweat. There are 2 1/2-pounders just about everywhere you look.
Some bigger ones are around too, but unlike last week at Erie, they're not bunched up by size. The only way to get a couple of big bites might be to happen upon them while wading through dozens of run-of-the-mill fish.
"Everybody will go out and catch fish," said Dave Wolak, a recent transplant to North Carolina who grew up near Oneida (in Pennsylvania) and has fished here several times a year since he was a kid. "The big thing will be catching a couple of key fish in the 4-pound range.
Dave Wolak is back in familiar territory and looking for another strong finish.
"I'll just have to put my head down and grind it out all day because you don't find areas here that are full of bigger fish. You just have to keep culling through them and occasionally you might get the same type of bite as a 2-pounder, but it ends up being a 4."
Most are predicting the Top-12 cut to fall in the 28- to 30-pound range.
"Catching a couple of 4-pounders to jump a 12-pound bag to 14 or 15 is going to be the key," Horton said.
Better Hole Course
Those who advance to compete at Onondaga this weekend will find a more vibrant fishery than at the previous '07 Major. At the American in May, the Top 12 departed a suddenly hot High Rock Lake (North Carolina) to fish Lake Townsend, which contained some big bass, but not much in the way of numbers.
Onondaga, which is about a mile wide and 4.6 miles long, regularly kicks out limits in the high teens in local tournaments despite being one of the most polluted lakes in the country. It was subject to chemical dumping for decades prior to 1970.
Fishing was banned for 16 years, but catch-and-release angling resumed in 1986. It's now a thriving warmwater fishery, but the New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation still has advisories in place regarding consumption of fish from the lake.
Top 10 to Watch
In no particular order, here are BassFan's recommendations for the Top 10 to watch in this tournament.
1. Kevin VanDam – By his lofty standards, it's been a disappointing swing through smallmouth country to this point (he was 27th at Champlain and 16th at Erie). Will he make it three in a row in double-digits? Don't bet on it.
2. Mike Iaconelli – He's had only one Top 10 this season – his runner-up finish in the opener at Amistad. He was 6th here last year and this place suits him well, so a similar placement seems likely.
3. Dave Wolak – He's fished Oneida all his life, he was 4th here last year, and he has extra incentive to do well in a tournament that's a homecoming of sorts.
4. Skeet Reese – He's retaken the lead in the Angler of the Year (AOY) race with 2nd- and 13th-place finishes on this trip, and he's determined to end the year at the top of that list. There aren't any points at stake here, but he'd sure like to sustain his momentum.
Peter Thliveros is the defending Memorial champion and has yet to turn in a bomb in a Major.
5. Peter Thliveros – He won this event last year at Eagle Mountain and he's yet to finish outside the Top 25 in any of the four majors that've been conducted. He's a killer with soft plastics and doesn't get perplexed by dual-species fisheries.
6. Kevin Wirth – He's had two solid finishes on this trip (20th at Champlain and 7th at Erie), and he enjoys both structure-fishing and flipping. The elements are in place for a second straight Top 10.
7. Kenyon Hill – Before last year's pedestrian 57th-place outing, his record here was very strong (3rd and 4th in Northern Opens). He'll be out to redeem himself.
8. Aaron Martens – He excels in tournaments that don't present an obvious winning strategy, and usually catches a few ounces more than most in events that feature tightly compacted leaderboards.
9. Denny Brauer – Somebody's going to flip up some good largemouths, and he's always as good of a bet as anybody when it comes to that. He's had a lackluster season to this point (no finishes higher than 18th), but he could erupt at any time.
10. Fred Roumbanis – He won the season's first major at High Rock, and he's bounced back with a Top 10 after each mediocre outing this year. He was 53rd at Erie, so he's due again.
Launch/Weigh-In Info
Anglers will launch at 8 a.m. on days 1 and 2 from Oneida Shores County Park (9400 Bartell Road in Brewerton, N.Y.), and at the same time on days 3 and 4 from Onondaga Lake Park (106 Lake Drive in Liverpool, N.Y.). Weigh-ins will start at 6 p.m. each day at Onondaga Lake Park.
Weather Forecast
Here's the weather forecast for the tournament days:
> Thur., July 26 – Mostly Sunny – 88°/68°
- Wind: From the S at 12 mph
> Fri., July 27 – Scattered T-Storms – 87°/67°
- Wind: From the S/SW at 10 mph
> Sat., July 28 – Scattered T-Storms – 81°/65°
- Wind: From the S/SW at 7 mph
> Sun., July 29 – Showers – 81°/63°
- Wind: From the N at 8 mph
Notable
> The American Major at High Rock was sparsely attended, and BASS hopes the later weigh-in times (6 p.m. EST) will encourage larger crowds.
> BassFan Big Stick John Murray's finish here last year (34th) was unspectacular, but he caught gobs of fish and had a lot of fun. His practice this time wasn't the same type of thrill ride. To read his report, click here to go On Tour With The BassFan Big Sticks.
> Wolak said one of the things he's enjoyed most about being back in the northeast is watching his beloved New York Yankees each night on the YES Network.
