This week we kick off the northern swing of the Bassmaster Elite Series on the St. Lawrence River out of Waddington, NY. I’ve fished here once before, in 2015, but this makes the third time the Elites have been here and this place is on the slate for 2018 as well. The town and the fishery are phenomenal, and they really roll out the red carpet for us.
Coming into this event we all heard how high the water was going to be from all the recent rain they have gotten in this part of the country. So none of us really knew what to expect. I imagine if you were to go far enough toward Lake Ontario it is in fact high, but honestly down around Waddington where I’ve spent most of my practice I can’t tell it’s any different than the last time we were here.
The St. Lawrence River itself is known as a great smallmouth fishery, and I have no doubt you’ll see some big ones here this week. It seems as though finding those 4-plus-pound fish that you really need to do well here will be the key. I haven’t heard anyone crying about a lack of bites because the river is full of them. It’s just a matter of putting your bait in front of the big ones.
The one wildcard on this river is the largemouth population and how big of a role they will play in the tournament. I personally don’t think it can be won on largemouth, but there will be plenty of checks cashed with them. Also if a guy knows where to go catch one or two big largemouth per day, he may have the winning hand. Last time we were here I remember several of the guys in the Top 12 spent at least some of their time on largemouth so it will be interesting to see.
As for my practice, I feel like it’s been good. I’ve got a couple different things going in different parts of the lake which is always a good feeling. I’ve learned in this game it’s always good to have a backup plan, and then a backup plan to the backup plan if that makes sense. One deal I’ve got going is a new technique to me and I had never caught a fish on it until practice started so it’s been fun to learn it as I go, but we’ll talk about it later. The other way I’m catching them is on something that I guarantee every person in the field will have rigged tomorrow, a drop shot rig.
My drop shot setup starts with an MHX-EPS-81-MLXF. It’s 6-foot, 9-inch and is super-light with plenty of tip action to wear these big smallmouth down. I pair it up with a 2500-size spinning reel spooled with 10-pound Vicious Hi-Vis yellow braid with an 8-pound Vicious fluorocarbon leader. My bait is called the Slammer from X Zone Lures. It’s a very well-known bait up here and smallmouth love it. It is hand-poured and very life-like. This is the same company that I’ve been fortunate to start working with this year on a Pro Series line of baits.
I’ve been trying out a new hook from Mustad this week on my drop shot, and it is amazing. I can only think of one fish I lost in practice on this hook, and it was my fault for letting the fish jump. It’s going to be called a wacky-rigging hook, but the size 4 works amazing for drop shots. I talk about a system a lot and this hook is a great improvement to my drop shot system.
Thanks for reading and please hit me up on Facebook or Instagram if you have any questions about my system or just fishing in general.