RICHMOND, Va. — Diverse. That single word favorably resonates with pros choosing to fish the Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Northern Opens presented by Allstate.
The favoritism is well qualified when compared to the other geographical Open divisions. That opinion comes from Luke Clausen, who travels cross-country from Washington to fish the Northern slate of three events.
“With the Central and Southern Opens you are fishing rivers and lakes with very consistent patterns and fish behaviors,” he said. “It’s all fairly predictable fishing during summertime.’
Not so on the Northern swing. A tidal river fishery, a natural lake formed by glaciers and the smallest of the Great Lakes are on the 2015 schedule.
“Here, you get some of everything and basically you can find a fit for your own style of angling,” he added. “You get smallmouth, largemouth and all different types of habitat.”
The fisheries indeed deliver on variety with a challenging spin. On the James River the curve is matching tide chart to clock. The two rarely match up and that forces daily changes in strategy to strike a balance.
Stability returns to the mix at Oneida Lake, the largest inland lake inside of New York State. The combination of offshore structure and aquatic vegetation rank the fishery as one of the best in the state for largemouth.
Lake Erie rounds out the season with it’s prime smallmouth fishing. The challenge there, as always, is the wind. The tradeoff is experiencing spectacular smallmouth fishing.
Like Clausen indicated, the Northern schedule provides a double play of bass fishing with smallmouth and largemouth inhabiting lakes on the schedule. The sum of both makes a whole on the weigh-in scales. Sometimes largemouth aren’t always the most reliable fish in the lake.
“That’s a plus from a strategy standpoint because you have an alternative and another option to use,” said John Murray. The Bassmaster Elite Series pro from Arizona chooses to exclusively fish the Northern Opens.
“We go to some of the best smallmouth fisheries in the country and for that reason I like to fish the Northerns,” he added.
“It’s definitely the smallmouth for me,” chimed in Michigan pro Art Ferguson, also a seasonal guide on Lake St. Clair. “In summertime schooling smallmouth can add a lot of weight in a short time when they are on a feeding binge.”
Michael Iaconelli never mentions smallmouth in his conversation of praise about the Northern Opens. For the New Jersey native it’s all about the tide. He grew up fishing the tidal rivers and excels on them.
“Tidal fisheries are the most challenging of all in bass fishing because there are so many uncontrolled variables,” he said. “You must bring your ‘A’ game every day on a tidal fishery.”
He added, “Tidal fisheries are tough to fish but when you dial into the right pattern there’s nothing more satisfying in tournament fishing.”
Elite Series rookie Carl Jocumsen spent three years on the Open tour prior to moving up to the next level. He exclusively chooses to fish the Northern tour for the smallmouth, too, plus other logical reasons.
“The lakes up here just fish better during the last half of the tournament year,” he said. “The variety is beneficial because it keeps you conditioned mentally to be prepared for anything.”
Being prepared for anything and everything will be the daily mantra at Lake Erie. The season finale is late September on a lake known to show its teeth when the wind blows from the North.
Iaconelli won the last event held there in 2013, giving him one more reason why the Northern tour appeals to him.
“I was having a rough year and winning that tournament put me in the Classic,” he said. “It was a sweet win because until then I’d never won an Open.”
Still no smallmouth love from Ike, even though Erie’s famed bronzebacks accounted for that win.