With three days observing Elites on the St. Lawrence River, my boat mate Steve Bowman and I have seen anglers fishing three different patterns. Guys like Edwin Evers, Alton Jones and Bernie Schultz have been fishing shallow and sight fishing. They haven't caught big numbers but they've caught the right fish.
Josh Bertrand, Clifford Pirch and Mike Iaconelli have been drifting and fishing structure. They've caught bigger numbers. And then guys like Stephen Browning and Mark Menendez are fishing shallow and moving around quite a bit. Browning was fishing banks when we saw him Thursday. They've not been catching a lot of fish, but the ones they've caught have been good fish.
So the big story this week will be, which pattern lasts one more day.
Our driver, local stick Doug Kirkbride, believes the drifting pattern is the one that will win out. "I made that decision a long time ago," he said. I'm leaning that way too because it seems like the fish are replenishing for the drifters.
As the old saying goes, we shall see! It's gonna be fun finding out.