The bass fishing isn't as good this year on the St. Lawrence River as it was two years ago, according to most of the Elite Series anglers who were here then. It took just over 17 pounds a day to make the top 50 and earn a check in 2013, when Brandon Palaniuk won with a four-day total of 88-12.
But that doesn't mean the weights will go down significantly this week. The smallmouths are still big. It's the frequency of the bites that is off.
"I still think we'll be flirting with that 16 1/2, 17 pounds a day," Bill Lowen said. "You don't get as many bites as last time. But the average fish is still about 3 pounds. You take a limit of 3s and throw in a couple of 4s or a 5 and you're right at 17."
Jacob Powroznik noted, "You've really got to work for the bigger fish. They're kind of in that transition phase, where there's some shallow, some deep and some in between. There will be a lots of rods on the deck, a lot of changing up."