I left Plattsburgh, NY and drove to Chris’s House in upstate NY. He just bought a big house. It is in very nice area near good lakes. Chris made to the 2008 Bassmasters Classic and we fished together a few times. His fishing style is very versatile. Chris and Rachel just got married a few weeks ago. I hope they will have a lot of fun and wonderful time together! Kota
Second day was a little tougher than the first day for the number of bites. But I caught more quality fish than the first day. Bait fish were more scattered and harder to follow. I did not have a good morning bites. I caught only one good fish and then I had to move around many places to get better bites. I noticed that easier fish were taken the first day because when I went to new places, fish hit quicker than other areas.
I finally caught 17-10 lb and that was good for 11th place. I just missed top 10 final day by 2 ounces, but that is how this smallmouth fishing is. I was happy to catch what I had.
Well, this past 2 weeks, I stayed at Lake Champlain. I got to see many friends in this area, and I was glad that they were doing well.
I saw RC that he told me my father gave him a Ninja Tacklebox cap at the 2008 Bassmasters Classic. I was glad that he told me about my father. Because even though he passed away on December 1, 2008, he still live in my heart every moment. I saw that he fought to the very last moment, and I will not forget his teaching.
Kota
I decided to fish Stren Series this week at Lake Champlain. Weather got colder and water temperature was little lower than last week. Yesterday was the first day and I caught 17-2 that put me at 20th place. I am not sure where bigger fish went to. Fish seemed to be more scattered than last week. I caught all my fish on the proto type drop shot baits and the Crosstail shad yesterday. I will try something different today.
Here is my main tackle that I used at Lake Champlain Bassmaster Open last week.
Shimano Final Dimension proto type rods made especially for dropshotting, Shimano Stella spinning reels with reel stands. Gamma Touch series 7 pound test line. Owner Dropshot proto type hooks. Jackall Crosstail shad and Pintail shad. I moved around and rotated these baits plus the proto type drop shot baits. This ultimate combination gave me a big advantage for super dropshotting!
Kota
I went out on the lake again today. I had to try something new to find a new pattern. I caught 3 nice fish and maybe this will work? Kota
The last day was very difficult to fish. It was windy from the morning with waves. So I had to make a decision to go to the place where I can spend longer time. I got to the spot but it was hard to stay in the spot. I picked up my drop shot rig and fished there for a while. I caught 2 keepers but they were not good size so I decided to change the game plan. I moved around many places and I finally caught little over 14 pounds and finished 20th place. The last day was the decision time of how I understand the bass at that time. This lake is getting a lot of fishing pressure now because there are many tournaments this time of the year and many people know how to catch them and learn the areas of the lake. Yesterday, there was another big tournament out of different boat ramp. However, considering how hard people fish this place, Lake Champlain still gave a lot of fish to people. It is a wonderful lake! My co-angler was Ed. He was a very good fisherman. He lives here in Champlain and fish all the time. He knew how to drop shot and he even had crosstail shad in his bag!
I am third place in point standing now. I hope to catch them at Sandusky.
How is everybody fishing??
Kota
First day was finished. I struggled in the morning to get a better bites. They seemed to stay shallower than last few years. After about 10 o’clock, I started catching fish with worms mainly.
This fish hit the Crosstail Shad in the afternoon. I needed to catch four more like this bass, but I struggled to catch bigger fish. I had 17-11 pound and that was good for 23rd place.
I hope to catch them on the second day. Lake Champlain is such beautiful. I always love this place!
Kota
I have caught many fish on these baits at Lake Oneida. I am still catching them well with these baits here on Champlain.
They are mainly feeding on perches and smaller baits here.
I hope I can catch them tomorrow.
Kota
these are the main tackles that I used at the Lake Oneida Bassmaster Elite tournament.
The biggest key to catch these fish consistently was to keep changing the baits because they changed what they hit by the weather and wind direction. So I rotated these Jackall Eruption spinnerbaits in 1/2 and 3/4 oz, Squad minnow 95 in AL shad color, Crosstail shad in Ayu color and sometimes football head with single tail grub in green pumpkin. I also had a big advantage by having a Shimano Metanium MG DC reels and Final Dimention rods. These reels and rods combination can make a same long distance casting even against the wind, and that is what I needed especially first two days of windy competition days.
This Squad minnow was a brand new when this tournament started! I caught many fish on it and I noticed these bass left teeth marks everywhere on this bait for my memory!!
Kota
We just uploaded the Musle Deep 7 Crankbait movie. It was a hot morning, so I looked for the hard bottom with a little current area. They did not take soft plastics, so I picked the wide wobbling crankbait to hit the bottom hard to make them bite!!
Kota