On this first day of any given tournament, there are more questions than answers about how game plans will pan out. Here are a few things that I’ve written down in my notebook over the past couple of days for us to consider.
- Lake vs. river. When the schedule was announced, the buzz was the new opportunity to fish Lake Ontario, a renowned Great Lakes smallmouth fishery. More water, bigger fish, unpressured fish, and so on. That, versus the reliability and past history the anglers have downriver. Which will play out?
- Fishing the past. This morning I shot about 20 BASSCam videos. The question I asked? “Are you going right (downriver) or left (to the lake?) The percentage of anglers choosing to make the run to the wide-open lake was small. In fact, I can’t remember anyone planning to fish the lake. Guys are going to fish their strengths, their past successes downriver toward Waddington, site of the previous Elite Series events in recent years.
- Canadian waters off-limits. This is a biggie. Sure, the river is in play, but not all of it. In previous years, Canadian waters were open to fishing. This year they are not. Stay tuned for a blog post from me about how legit it is when the anglers say taking out Canadian waters is a big deal. Note to us all: The playing field is now level in the river.
- The weather: Today’s forecast calls for cloudy skies and light winds. Smallmouth don’t like either of those conditions. Will it affect the fishing? Maybe, maybe not. What to remember is smallmouth take cover in the sunny, clear waters, which provides concealment so they can ambush baitfish. But … this is the St. Lawrence River, right?