Consistency is king in bass fishing and that proved itself once again on Day 2 of the St. Croix Rods Bassmaster Open at St. Lawrence River. While plenty of 20-pound bags crossed the stage on the first day of competition, it was the anglers who were able to back it up with another 20 pounds on Day 2 who found themselves moving up the leaderboard and into the Top 10.
Cory Johnston continues to lead the field with a two-day total of 49 pounds, 9 ounces, adding 22-11 to his 26-14 Day 1 performance while Vermont’s Jody White remained in second, adding 22-10 to his 25-11 mark on the first day.
Clouds, rain and wind factored changed the fishing for much of 213 boat field, particularly those anglers who made the long run down towards the mouth of the river.
With 10 boats on the water tomorrow, there is a lot of opportunity for big stringers if anglers can cope with the 10 to 15 mph west winds.
Dialing in the conditions
While it looks good on paper, Johnston did not have a particularly good Friday on the St. Lawrence River. The Elite Series pro and former Open champion ran around all day until he stumbled into some bites in his final hour of fishing time.
“I hit a ton of stuff and it didn’t work this morning. I went back to what I like to do in the last hour and a half. I caught them all within an hour,” Johnston said.
A lot of Johnston’s struggles were a result of the lack of sunlight over the fishery on Day 2.
“Sun is ideal, but the conditions are the conditions, so you gotta go with it,” he said. “When it’s cloudy, the fish don’t set up right when you’re fishing deep, they’re not off the bottom, so they’re not easy to see on (Garmin) LiveScope.”
One key area helped Johnston maintain his lead and he believes he has only scratched the surface of what that area can produce and with more sun forecasted for tomorrow, he could walk away with his second Opens trophy.
Winds were much stronger on the western side of the river where many of the top finishers ran, making navigation and positioning more difficult. Similar to Johnston, Myrtle Beach, S.C. native JT Thompkins needs more sun to have success.
In the morning hours with thick clouds and a stiff breeze, Thompkins struggled to generate bites. But as conditions cleared some during the late morning, he found success and caught 21-13 to move into 5th place with 45-5.
“I needed the sun. I caught most of mine late in the day. As soon as the sun popped out I started catching them pretty good. I probably came back a little too early,” he said. “I feel like all of these smallmouth are sight feeders. Maybe it is just a confidence thing for me, but I felt as soon as the sun popped out they were able to see a lot of the baits I was throwing.
“They didn’t want to fire deep. With the low light, I don’t think light was penetrating as deep as I needed it to. So I actually went shallow.”
For some anglers, however, the wind triggered the smallmouth into biting better than they had previously.
EQ angler Jamie Bruce caught 24-8 on Day 2, the biggest bag of the day, and moved into third place with 47-13 total. The Canadian caught his weight relatively quickly thanks to the chop on the water.
“Anytime there is a broken surface from wind or overcast conditions, it usually helps to catch them better, but it makes it harder to cover water.”
Michigan pro Bo Thomas noticed the smallmouth he found yesterday moved from the edge of the ledges he was fishing to the top of the ledge before the break. Instead of grass, the smallmouth were relating more to rock.
“With how high the wind was, I had to adjust a lot. I went shallower and saw them more frequently on my Garmin LiveScope,” the St. Clair native said. “It was easier to pick them off. They were up on top of the rocks and it was easier for me to spot them.
“It seemed like once the sun came out it got a little tougher,” Thomas added. “These fish I’m catching are really aggressive, but it has seemed like they have moved every day.”
Coming and going
White has caught the majority of his weight on one spot and he hasn’t been able to cull much outside of that area.
“Yesterday my milk run didn’t work really well and today I tried to run a new milk run. That also didn’t work really well,” he explained. “I caught maybe one fish that I weighed in somewhere other than my starting spot, which is not what you want.”
Not only has White not caught a ton of smallmouth outside that one spot, he isn’t sure how quickly the spot is replenishing or if it is replenishing with quality bass at all. That is concerning heading into a final day where he will need to overtake one of the best anglers on the St. Lawrence River.
“They are hard to get to bite,” White said. “I know there are still two there because I lost one big one and I lost one other that was probably a 4-pounder. I think there are quite a few 3 and 4-pounders left there, but I don’t know how many truly big ones are left.
“I have caught some fish that actually have beat-up tails as if they had spawned recently,” he continued. “I haven’t fished this river enough in August and September to know where they are going to go next. I don’t feel like more fish are showing up by the day. I do think it is getting picked on a little bit. It isn’t like you have a beautiful Kentucky Lake ledge situation where you know they are rushing in.”
Meanwhile, Thomas believes more bass are funneling into his area. Not only did he relocate his best school, Thomas also found a brand new group of brown fish and believes there are plenty of big ones in that school.
“I have caught too many 5-pounders there this week. The best part is, it isn’t a boulder or anything specific,” he said. “They are cruising and I feel like there are new fish every day and the school I saw today, I couldn’t tell you how many are in it.”
After a bumpy ride down to his starting spot, Josh Bragg added 22-6 to his 21-8 Day 1 performance to jump into 7th. Growing up on the Coosa River, Bragg has been able to take some of his knowledge of current and rock up North and so far it is paying off.
“I have a couple pretty special areas down there,” the Georgia angler said. “There is current and rock. They are close to some really deep water. I think they are just pulling off the bank from spawning and coming to me before they go to their deep summer places. I feel like more are coming.”
What are they feeding on?
Gobies have gotten a lot of credit for fattening up the St. Lawrence River smallmouth, but the little bottom dweller hasn’t received a ton of credit specifically this week. Perch, on the other hand, have been mentioned several times as the key to success.
“I have a tremendous amount of perch around me,” Thomas said. “That is one thing we key in on back on St. Clair, if you find the perch you find the smallmouth. There is no rhyme or reason to why I am catching big ones.”
In one of his special areas, Bragg has also noticed an impressive perch population.
“One specific area has a ton of schools of perch on it. Those bigger bites I have been getting have been around the perch balls,” he explained.
Bruce, on the other hand, has no idea what his bass are feeding on. Several of his key bass have come out of schools of other fish.
“A lot of them are pelagic and are with other fish. I caught a 5 1/2-pounder today out of a school of walleye,” Bruce said. “I just finished a walleye tournament and I know exactly what they look like on a LiveScope. I have caught some drum too.”
Best case scenario
For Bruce, Thomas, and Bragg, they feel confident that if everything goes perfectly on Championship Saturday, they can catch a 26 or 27-pound mega bag and make a run at the title. Johnston and White have already done so and will likely make a run at that number as well, which will make for a compelling final day on St. Lawrence River.
Weigh-in is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET at Whitaker Park and will be live on Bassmaster.com.
